Portland, Tennessee Blog

That sounds like a great 4th you have planned !
The fireworks show at Riverfront is always so great ... and how nice it will be not to have to deal with the traffic !

I usually spend a great deal of money on fireworks ( we've been known to get fabulously ridiculous), but this year, we will be going to Nashville. With the money we'll save, we can get a nice balcony view (dinner, drinks and hotel included)

Has everyone gone on vacation? Or are we all just sitting by the window waiting for it to rain?

While we wait for a new topic......what has everyone got planned for the 4th of July ?

I had the mayor on my show last week and asked him that very question. He says we are still in good shape right now. He and the Public Works Sput. meet each Monday to discuss the water situation. For right now, they are still able to draw off of Drakes Creek and not the lake, and demand has not drained the water towers dry yet. He said if the drought continues another week or two, it might be a different story though.

Good question --- it could be soon, if no rain.

Wonder how long it will be before the city tells us to cut down on our water usage?

I don't think that sirens, or even TV is as reliable as a weather radio.

Weather radios have a battery backup, so they will work without power (TV is useless without power) AND It's actually "tuned" to the local National Weather Service office. Often you will actually get the alert a little quicker.

When the National Weather Service sends a warning, the weather radio puts out a LOUD alarm (which is especially useful if you are inside, in a noisy environment or sound asleep) followed by someone reading what the alert is about.

Yea I whished they had more. We get alot of bad weather here. I'm grateful that most of the Tornado's are south if I-20 here.

jwmason,
Thanks, yes, my post was to you. Just referred to you as JW, instead of full sig, sorry! You had mentioned you liked the sirens, so I was just making sure you were in TX, since I haven't heard any here, lol!

MDL

I think your post was to me. Yes I live in Watauga, Tx.

JW on the other hand(I think) lives there.

MDL

I think your post was to my. Yes I live in Watauga, Tx.

JW on the other hand(I think) lives there.

Well, we finally got a LITTLE rain today- just enough to tease us.

JW, you live in TX now, don't you?

Portland does NOT have weather sirens.
Wish they did!

I didn't know Portland had weather sirens ---
I live very near City Hall and I never hear any weather sirens.

I like the sirens here. They are so far from my house you can only hear them when it's quiet and your outside.

Michelle,
Thank you for responding. We actually have several weather radios in our home, in all vital areas. I was just curious if Portland had the tornado sirens many towns now have.

I am unaware of any type of warning system. Your BEST best in to purchase a weather alert radio. I know radio shack carries a variety of them STARTING at around $40.00 . . . they can get pretty expensive for the ones with "all the bells and whistles". Hope this helps.

Does Portland have the severe weather/tornado sirens many towns now have? And if so, where are they located?

Talking about fireworks --- I live in one of those OLD houses behind City Hall...and I had a neighbor once who used to shoot bottle rockets to scare the birds out of the trees, because they made such a mess on the sidewalks...and I've had those bottle rockets land on my roof ! So, I know what a hazard it is.........fireworks are almost a year round problem sometimes.....not just around the 4th of July or New Years.

I am for the ban. Preach responsibility all you want, but in a heavily populated subdivision as mentioned below, I think, NO ONE, I don't care how responsible you are, can control where they come down. Is it going to land on someone's dry lawn or rooftop and cause a fire? Like everything else, a tragedy has to happen before anything is done.

You will be hearing them every night leading up to and well after the 4th. I heard some last night a street or two over.

Maybe the local newspapers could publish the ordinances each year in the paper to promote compliance and safety.

Or maybe the City could request this year, and require in future years, for vendors to post the ordinances at the sites where the fireworks are sold.

I don't think the fireworks should be banned as it is a national tradition, but I do think that
there should be more focus on responsibility, safety awareness and yes, consideration of our neighbors.

I have to agree with dontmakemelaugh on the fireworks issue. Ban them period!!

MDL, in my neighborhood it is the teenagers and the so called responsible adults that are shooting the fireworks after hours. But I do take responsibility. I call the police.

If I'm not mistaken, I think it is only legal to sell and use fireworks within city limits the two weeks prior to and the day after the 4th of July.

Is that right Councilman Callis? Vice Mayor McDowell?

I think it is ultimately the parent's responsibility to ensure that fireworks are used as safely as possible, but I would like to see the city restrict the sales of fireworks to children who are UNACCOMPANIED by an adult. Children aren't allowed to buy lighters so it only makes sense that they shouldn't be allowed to but fireworks either.

There were quite a few fireworks leading up to, on and shortly after Memorial Day. July 4th isn't the only time people use them. I see no reason to ban them in the city limits or the county. It all comes down to RESPONSIBILITY!!!! You can't go banning things you don't care for, hazardous or not. YES, they are dangerous and MUST be used with CAUTION & RESPONSIBILITY! If the county/city would issue a burn ban (which I don't know what they are waiting for) then it would be simple to implement that to include fireworks. Lots of times it's children who are setting these off, sometimes with or without parental supervision. Again, it's simple, take RESPONSIBILITY!!!!!!!

I think fireworks should be banned inside the city limits! The firwork stands should not be allowed within the city limits. They are a fire hazard, dangerous, and a nuisance. I thought there was a 10 pm curfew for fireworks in this town but I guess not since you can hear them way past midnight.
Let the city have a fireworks display for any holiday.

In response to banning the fireworks....

isn't it a bit premature to be banning fireworks?

Its closer to June 4th than it is July 4th. I think we should probably wait to make this call!!

Councilman Callis --- THANKS !!

Yes -- on the giving as a group...we are the Bloggers !! :)

When we reach our goal, then we can challenge industry to match our donation !!

United Bloggers Fund....that's a good name :)
When you go over to give tell them it's from the UBF -- LOL

We have $75 already !

We're gonna need a bookkeeper soon...as y'all know my math skills are...not so great. :)

I'm in,
Only 997 left.

Do we give as a group?

What is our name?
United Blogger Fund

Jerry
You have a very good point about fireworks and the dryness of the area, I am in agreement with you that perhaps fireworks should be banned this year on account of that, unless we get some really good rain between now and then. It's not bad enough that you have to put up with them in abundance on the 4th of July, but for weeks leading up to and after they are still lighting up the sky's! My poor dogs, I hate having a 100lb Rotwiler trying to crawl under our bed because they bother her so bad. My two little dogs could care less.

Not sure on this but I think the City gets permit fees though from those vendors.

Judy -- THANKS !

At this rate, we just might reach that goal !

I think if I keep math to just one step...I can handle it ok....LOL LOL

I have a major concern. Conditions in this town are very dry. We haven't seen much rain for several weeks.

Having said that, I know that Portland has always allowed people to shoot fireworks in heavily populated subdivisions, or pretty much anywhere within city limits for that matter. Is this the same in all of the other Sumner County cities?

I know I have had to take them off of my roof and pick them up from around my yard many a time. What if this year, one lands in my very brown and dry yard, and starts a fire? It wouldn't take much with the current conditions...I don't want to end up like our neighbors in Georgia!

I think the city should look into restricting personal use of fireworks by private citizens. Also I don't want to hear them at 11:30 at night on a work night when I am trying to sleep.

I mentioned this to a man at The Panther Den the other morning, and he said, "You ain't gonna get them to ban fireworks, regardless of how dry it is. Don't you know who sells the fireworks in town?"

I said, "No."

I'll donate $25. only 998 more to go!! Any one else?

DeeAnna - Today's math score A+ LOL ;)

Terry ....THANKS !

I'm a contributor already.....so you'll be the FIRST ! Way to Go ! 999 more to go...... :)

I'll get this ball rolling,I'll give $25.Anyone else?

Michelle,

Your Point #2 about the library is right on.
If the $25,000 is for maintaining the building - why is that even a part of the library's "donation" ?? They can't use it for the library and buy books with it, or other things for the library..... if it's for building maintenance. Does the city do that to make it look like they are contributing that much to the library ?????

There should be more clear lines separating these funds -- it shouldn't be this confusing or such a gray area.

The people of Portland also have a responsibility to support the library -- they are the ones benefiting from it. I'll try math again....lol
If 1,000 people gave $25 to the library for a donation...that would be $25,000 per year -- that would match what the city gives, right??

And imagine how much they could get if the businesses and industries would give more support on a regular basis !

It would make a huge difference and we could have a library that would come up to the standards that are set for our town's size.

A few years ago the Library was set to recieve a one time donation of $25,000, but each year it has stayed in there. No one has got together to cheat or to fraud anyone. The Library (if I am not mistaken) has asked it would stay as a chartiable donation; they were worried (if I am not mistaken) that it may cause confusion concerning their other revenue.
I am basing this info on the way I percieve it, and it may not be a 100% accurate.
The Library has needs and it helps serve the communtiy. The city should be giving and it does. Could it do more? I am sure it could.

I can only speak for me, but it's unfair to say that it's dishonest to list money going to the library as a charity. What are you basing that on?
The library needs money to operate. Portland should be giving more money and Barbara shouldn't have to beg for it.

Are The Presidential Debates Controlled?

Once again the corporate media made sure that Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain got more time speaking than any of the other during last night’s Republican debate. While those three had the opportunity to spew their emotionally charged answers to obvious staged questioning the most popular Republican according to almost every online poll was only given around 8 minutes of time! Ron Paul even cleaned house on the CNN poll but they ignored him anyway. What is going on here? Why is the media ignoring the people’s most popular candidate? Could it be because he is for liberty and freedom, against the Iraq and pending Iran war, and clearly against the dissolving of our borders with blanket amnesty? You are probably asking yourself what is wrong with those ideas. This sounds like what our founding fathers were for doesn’t it? There is obviously a different agenda at work here and I suggest you research for yourselves until you get the answers you deserve. www.americawideopen.wordpress.com

Does anyone plan to attend the big concert at Richland park on Sat the 16th? It looks like alot of fun! And its FREE!!!!!!!!!

I know the issue of "charitable contributions" made by the City of Portland was covered last week, but I would like to address it further.

1. The Chamber of Commerce is a BUSINESS ASSOCIATION with a POLITICAL PLATFORM. They use their SuccessPAC (Political Action Committee) to support politicians who support their platform. I don't think this is a "bad" thing, but the CITY has no business funding the CHAMBER.

If the City PARTNERS with the CHAMBER for a SPECIFIC EVENT, the City should either retain control of funds and/or require STRICT accountability for funds provided and return of monies that are not used for the intended purpose.

2. The library is a vital component to our city's infrastructure and should be funded regularly and generously, BUT if the City and the Library have made arrangements to "word" the funding as "charity" for the purpose of avoiding the loss of OTHER funding, THAT'S DISHONEST and should be corrected immediately.

If the money is, as Councilman Callis previously stated, being used in part to maintain the building that is owned by the City, then it shouldn't be allocated to the library, it should be a part of the City's maintenance department's budget and the remaining amount should be allocated on the part of the City's budget designated for the library. It's just THAT SIMPLE!

I agree that the library is WORTHY of our community's support and I hope that they receive all the money they can get their hands on, but their service is not so important that it would justify circumventing the rules established by the donors who support their work.

Operating a NON-PROFIT is hard work and obtaining funding is an extremely competitive, daunting task, but it's par for the course. Anyone who chooses a career with a non-profit SHOULD know this is part of the job for which they are PAID.

Congratulations, Jody !! I watched the Council meeting last night on tv.....was so happy to see you get the Vice-Mayor position !

Jody, I have the utmost respect for you amd I am confident that you will do a FINE job! Congratulations!

Thanks MDL, I promise to treat that position with the most respect

Congrats to Jody McDowell on being appointed as the new Vice Mayor!