The Role of Local Government

Why more of us aren't involved

This week my husband and I got away for a little “staycation.” We didn’t go far, so we were still able to watch the local news from our hotel. Don’t judge, anywhere that I’m not doing dishes or canning or cleaning is a vacation when you are mother to 7. We don’t watch the local news here at our house. It tends to be biased and sensationalized. We did, however, watch from our hotel.

“Red Alert Weather!!!” The air quality was bad from the wild fires. At one point the weather man actually said don’t concern yourself with the numbers, just know that the air is in the “unhealthy” zone. Wow, thank you for treating us all like five year olds. Don’t ask questions, just do as you’re told. We both remembered why we don’t watch the news. But I digress.

The biggest issue was the commercials for the mayoral candidates in Nashville. There was 2-3 political ads during each commercial break. They all had the candidate walking through Nashville in various states of business casual attire while talking at the camera about what they were going to do. The hot issue is obviously housing. Housing is the hot issue in all of middle Tennessee right now, for different reasons in different areas.

“Affordable Housing,” is the hot topic in the Nashville mayor’s race.

The numbers in the beginning of this article are staggering. However, let’s unpack those just a little bit. In 2018, Nashville was growing at a reasonable pace, as was the surrounding area. (Unless you were in Mt. Juliet) In January of 2020, rent was still reasonable both in Nashville and in White House. Then Covid. This is not the place to discuss the abysmal handling of Covid, but we will look at the ramifications. Those numbers in the article above were caused by government. The federal government put a moratorium on evictions and rent. Some landlords didn’t get paid for over a year. Guess what, when the moratorium was over, they raised the rent to cover their lost income. You can call them greedy all you want, but imagine working for the entire year and not getting a paycheck. That’s what was done to these companies. So rent increases, caused by the government.

Housing prices skyrocketed. That was caused by the government as well. California lost their minds. Their governor kept them inside and forced them to wear masks at the beach. When TN went back to “normal,” CA was still in a semi state of lock down. As was New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Michigan just to name a few. Those lock downs caused companies to allow their employees to work from home. Well, why would you stay in a state where you have to wear a mask outside when you could live in TN and be free? Incomes are higher in CA and NY. Those people brought their work at home incomes and the cash from selling their houses here.

The top house sold in LA this month for $1.7 million. The bottom sold in White House last month for $392k. Notice the square footage is just a little bigger on the WH home. This happened for several years. WH looks like a steal after living in LA.

Even Nashville looks cheap when you are leaving LA.

So here we are. People have moved from out of state with out of state incomes. People that live here in middle TN still have to be able to live and work here, and the cost of housing is going up. The cost is caused by the government, and now the government is going to try to fix it.

In Nashville, the mayoral candidates are all looking at ways to increase “affordable housing.” Which takes us back to the role of local government. The same article that I took a screenshot of at the beginning, went on to say this.

This is all true. Prices have gone up and those that work in Nashville, and White House should be able to afford to live here. However, here is where it gets sticky for me and should for you too. $30 million of their tax dollars will go to a non profit to build “affordable housing.” You live in Nashville or buy groceries in Nashville, and $30 million of your dollars are not filling pot holes, paying EMS, or dealing with traffic, it is being given to a non profit that you didn’t vote for to spend your money on housing you won’t qualify to live in. One of the candidates for mayor wants to increase that to $100 million. The candidates are spending this money as if they earned it. In fact most of government treats tax dollars that way.

Here’s a newsflash for those of you that don’t know this, the government can NOT make money. They don’t produce anything. They can only TAKE money from you the taxpayer. You vote for the least corrupt person to spend your tax dollars on the things that you and private industry cannot do. Those items are roads, fire, police, schools (although I do this one on my own), economic development, paramedics, codes, zoning, and parks. I’m sure I missed something, but this is really what the government is supposed to be doing.

I don’t have the answer to the housing problem. The only thing I know is that government usually creates the problem and then wants more government to solve the problem. We as citizens have become complacent and lazy. We throw our hands in the air and say, “Well, there’s nothing we can do, the system is corrupt.” WRONG!! You have control at the local level, you just need to pay attention. Speak up when you don’t want another subdivision built or the potholes need to be filled. Pay attention to your city and county government. Go to a school board meeting. See how those people are spending your money. If you are tired of school taxes and dismal results, email those board members.

The grasshopper in A Bug’s Life told the ant that alone he was powerless. He also said as soon as the ants realize that if they stand together, they out number the grasshoppers, their reign was over. That’s where we are. Here in White House we stood as ants and put our own into office. Keep at it people. Educate yourself on how the government is supposed to work. Do things for yourself and your neighbors. If we can get to the point where we need government less and less, it will get smaller and smaller. After all, an educated electorate does not need to be taken care of. We only need the government to stay out of the way and keep the opportunity available.

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