Don't be gone too long, Bill

Harvard University, one of the oldest universities (for men) in the United States, has asked our Bill Purcell, our former Mayor, to be the new Director for the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School for Government. (I say oldest university for men because I attended the college that has educated women far longer than Harvard. Mount Holyoke opened its doors in 1837 and Harvard got around to admitting undergraduate women in the 1970's. What's a 130 years amoung friends?)

First, let me say that I find it ironic that a college in Cambridge, MA recognizes what some in Nashville cannot; that Bill Purcell is a dedicated and devoted public servant. OK, I know, if you are a lobbyist or a lawyer or a public finance banker you probably found him frustrating to deal with. While I never witnessed it, he apparently had a pretty prickly personality at times. (Truth be told, I spent a grand total of 30 minutes in Mayor's Purcell's presence while he was in office so I don't have the personal experience of some)

But ask yourself this: if you had only to concern yourself with whether your tax dollars were being spent in the most transparent way possible with the greatest level of accountability would you not agree that Purcell left the Metro government better off than he found it? Did we have community based, consensus driven land use plans before Purcell brought Rick Bernhardt to Metro Planning? Did we have a plan for sidewalks and bike paths? Did we have a master plan for our parks system that rocked the Kassbah?

The answer is that most of the time we didn't have a plan. In those cases where we had plans we didn't develop them through broad based, grass roots input. In those old days of Metro, we formed a committee just like good Presbyterians. The sub-area plan for my district was created by a committee. It looks like a nice group of prominent people there on the front piece. But, I'll take my regular old constituents who take time out of their day, to show up at a community meeting, to talk about how they think our area should grow and develop over any committee of prominent people any day.

I realize that plans can be a bit of a downer for some. If we write a plan and we can't stick to it, well that might make us look bad as politicians and bureaucrats. That is somewhat true. When we develop a plan, whether it be for Parks or Public Works or Library or Police we need to be realistic. We all know that funding is the great wild card. But even when we aren't sure exactly how much money will be available, should we not have some sense of priorities, some direction, some way to express to our constituents where we are aiming?

I think when you look at the Purcell legacy that way, you will find more courage, more dedication to the people (not the committee) of Nashville than perhaps we have given credit.

So, don't be gone too long, Bill. And, if I failed to mention it before, thanks for all you did.