FOREST HILLS NEWSJUNE 2015 VOL20 NO2

Otter Creek ButtercupsRemembering the field of 10,000 daffodils across from Percy Priest School

Ed and Betty Thackston, residents of Priest Road since 1969, re-

member when thousands of daffodils covered the hillside where the Otter Creek entrance to the Hounds Run subdivision is now. The flowers were planted and lovingly cared for by Miss Arlene Ziegler, founder of Satsuma Tea Room, who lived on top of the hill.

One windy spring day in 1973, the Thackstons walked down to the field with their two young daugh-ters, and Ed photographed Betty, Leah, and Carol surrounded by luscious golden-yellow blooms.

ALSOFROM THE MAYOR Next Nashville mayor must be friendly to satellite cities

KELLYTOWN UPDATE Friends of Kellytown board makes careful progress

VOLUNTEER PROFILE City’s open spaces got Jim Littlejohn involved

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City ManagerAmanda Deaton-Moyer W 615.372.8677

Board of CommissionersJohn C. Lovell mayor H 615.371.1716 W 615.292.9925Lanson Hyde III vice mayor H 615.714.9699Henry A. Trost commissioner H 615.504.0293

City AttorneyMatthew Foster W 615.256.0500

City EngineerBrad Bivens W 615.383.8420

Planning CommissionWinston Evans chair W 615.259.4685George David Waller III vice chair H 615.373.2360Brian Dougherty H 615.661.9740James C. Gardner III H 615.665.0936Em Ghianni H 615.373.1359Clay Jackson W 615.292.9000Blair Myers W 615.760.5157The Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioner also sit on this commission.

Board of Zoning AppealsJanie Rowland chair H 615.665.0642Jim Littlejohn H 615.371.0008 W 615.385.4144Mark Richard Banks H 615.447.4262Emergency 615.309.1324

FOREST HILLSC I T Y O F

6300 Hillsboro PikeNashville TN 37215

615.372.8677CityofForestHills.com

From the City ManagerAmanda Deaton-Moyeramanda.moyer@cityofforesthills.com615.372.8677

Drainage policies keep Forest Hills flowing

WHEN it rains, it pours. This spring, that cliché

has been both literal and very real. During the month of April the City received approx-imately, 6.33 inches of rain. Normal rainfall for April is approximately 4.08 inches.

While this may not seem like much, we received it very quickly over a matter of only a few days. When rainfall events occur back to back, the ground gets saturated and cannot absorb any more moisture.

Once the ground is satu-rated, almost all of the rain-fall is runoff and is carried into the local stormwater sys-tem. For example, severe thunderstorms can produce three inches in thirty min-utes which is the equivalent of a hundred-year flood expe-rience. On the five-year anni-versary of the 2010 Flood, we can recall what that rainfall event looked like over couple of days.

After a rain, we often re-ceive drainage pictures that

look very bleak from very worried residents (rightful-ly so!). However, after a short period, we go out to find the pools of water diminished, flowing out through the drainage system. Drainage re-sulting from rainfall events is complex, so here are a few things to know about drain-age in Forest Hills:

■ Under Tennessee law, water has a natural easement along its natural path, and the upper and lower land owners must accept water that naturally flows onto their property. In other words, drainage is natural, and must be accepted and addressed by homeowners on their proper-ty, since the City has no right or obligation to get involved on private lands.

■ The City is responsible for drainage in the right-of-way and drainage easements This is along the roads and in specified easements, gener-ally not in your backyard or side yards. We have a policy regarding the maintenance of

drainage ditches. ■ Most of Forest Hills’

drainage flows through open ditches and under your drive-ways through culverts. There are some exceptions, but we strive for open ditches be-cause they improve water quality.

■ It is unlawful to put your leaves and brush along these ditches because they

clog the culverts and inhibit water flow.

■ During heavy (more than 10-year-frequency flood) rain events, water sometimes overloads the drainage sys-tem. This may cause tempo-rary flooding. Water eventu-ally flows through the local drainage system and eventu-ally our streams, most notably Otter and Richland Creeks.

Five years ago, Andover Drive looked like this.

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From the City ManagerAmanda Deaton-Moyeramanda.moyer@cityofforesthills.com615.372.8677

■ The City cares a great deal about the quality, veloc-ity, and volume of water in the stormwater system; there-fore, we require erosion and sediment control and drain-age plans on most construc-tion projects.

When to report a problem■ When there is standing

water in a ditch as a result of a driveway culvert being ex-tensively clogged.

■ When water is standing in or flowing across the road and does not drain properly into the ditch system.

■ When water consistent-ly (not just during flash/heavy thunderstorms) floods your property.

■ When a culvert is bro-ken or rusted.

■ When water presents a consistent danger to motor-ists/residents.

The City will assess your issue and determine what needs to be done, if anything. Action is not always neces-sary, but sometimes required. We will always try our best to understand the issue and de-velop reasonable solutions.

JUNE 2015 | 3

CONNECTwith the CITY

Dougherty joins Planning CommissionBrian Dougherty has

been appointed to the For-est Hills Planning Com-mission.

He is an administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration where he conducts hear-ings and issues decisions re-lated to disability benefit claims. He and his wife Ju-lie moved to Forest Hills in April 2001 with their three children Owen, 18, Liam, 16, and Sara Frances, 13, especially to be near Per-cy Priest Elementary, where he has served as PTO pres-ident.

Dougherty was born

and raised in Charleston, S.C. He attended the Uni-versity of South Carolina and Washington and Lee University Law School be-fore joining the U.S. De-partment of Labor in Washington, D.C., as a se-nior trial attorney.

Summer paving schedule continuesPaving on Beddington Park is complete. Other streets to be

paved this summer are Cromwell, Robert E. Lee south of Ot-ter Creek, Cherry Blossom Trail, Confederate Drive, General Forrest Court, and East Wilshire Drive.

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Go onlineVisit the City’s website for complete information

cityofforesthills.com

Report a problem in the CityUse your smart-phone, tablet, or computer

cityofforesthills.com/problem

Stormwater management information is provided as part of the City’s education re-quirement under its state permit. For more tips visit http://bit.ly/stormwatersolutions.

JUNE 2015 | 3

“ Drainage must be addressed by homeowners, since the City has no right or obligation to get involved on private lands ”

KNOW YOUR WEBSITE

Find complete info on City servicesThe City’s website offers

information about services for Forest Hills residents.

The Overview page pre-views the SeeClickFix smart-phone app for reporting problems, chipper/leaf col-

lection instructions with an interactive lookup, pav-ing, snow removal, Recycling Clean Out Day, and Good-will home pickup.

cityofforesthills.com/services

Mattress recycling now availableGoodwill has entered

a partnership with Spring Back, a nonprofit organi- zation, to offer mattress- removal service to City residents.

Spring Back Recycling creates employment oppor-

tunities for disenfranchised men through a sustainable business model of waste di-version.

For more information or to request a free estimate, call 615.207.2736 or visit springbackrecycling.com.

Goodwill driver likes calling on Forest Hills residents

For Goodwill Industries employee Anderson White, the residents are what makes his job providing home collec-tion service in Forest Hills en-joyable.

“My favorite part is inter-acting with the people,” he said. “I like to take a few ex-tra minutes to engage them in conversation and give them personal service.”

Being a part of Goodwill’s circle of service is very gratify-ing, Andy says.

“For us at Goodwill, going out to pick up donations is a business, but for 95% of the residents it’s a service, more convenient than loading it up and taking it themselves,” he said. “They are so nice and ap-preciative.

“You’re helping the resi-dents and helping the com-munity. It feels good,” he said.

Andy, a former downtown warehouse donations dock worker for Goodwill, was pro-moted to van driver especially for the Forest Hills home col-lection program. Now, eight months later, his route has ex-panded to other parts of town.

“I got involved with Good-will when I was unemployed, divorced, depressed, and

didn’t want to function,” he said. “One day I woke up and decided I wanted to do some-thing with my life.” He con-tacted a career counselor in 2011, completed 30 days of on-the-job training, then at-tained forklift certification through Goodwill.

Chris Fletcher, public re-lations and communications manager for Goodwill Indus-tries of Middle Tennessee, points out that most of the people who receive training through Goodwill go to work for the more than 1,700 em-ployers actively hiring through Goodwill.

“About 89% of people we train get jobs for other em-ployers,” Fletcher said. “In 2014 we had 9,558 place-ments. The majority of those were with outside companies.”

Andy came to Nashville in 2004 to be near his son, who was then 12 years old. Today, he works with his son in their lawncare business after work and on weekends.

In his free time Andy likes to read, both fiction and non-fiction. He’s currently en-joying Into Thin Air by John Krakauer, a reporter’s account of climbing Mount Everest.

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Home collections■ Schedule a pickup by calling

615.346.1628 or online at http://giveit2goodwill.org/foresthills.

■ A uniformed attendant comes to your home Monday through Friday.

■ As a courtesy, a Goodwill staff member will contact you before the attendant arrives at your home.

■ All donations are 100% tax-deductible. Save your donation receipts.

A Forest Hills resident helps Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee team member Andy White load donated items.

Schedule a Pickupgiveit2goodwill.org/

foresthills

| FOREST HILLS NEWS

Satellites need support from next Nashville mayor

ON AUGUST 6 the Nashville may-oral election will take place. With

seven viable candidates it’s a crowded field and, as of this writing, there doesn’t seem to be a clear frontrunner.

A number of issues are being dis-cussed during the race. Among them, in no particular order, are schools and edu-cation, affordable housing, traffic prob-lems and mass transportation solutions, technology, and in general how to bal-ance Nashville’s growth as an “it” city while not becoming “another Atlanta.”

It’s a long list and somewhere on it is an issue that will be overlooked by most voters including those living in Forest Hills: “What will be Metro’s future rela-tionship with its five satellite cities, Belle Meade, Berry Hill, Forest Hills, Good-lettsville, and Oak Hill?” In the past, if most of Metro’s leaders and departments thought of the satellite cities at all, it was with some irritation.

City is an historic anomaly

In large part that is because we are anomalies, existing prior to Metropoli-tan Nashville and rolled up into it at its creation in 1963. The resulting relation-ship is less than clear. For example, Belle Meade, Berry Hill, and Goodlettsville had their own court systems prior to the roll up and were allowed to retain them. Several years ago when Forest Hills cre-

ated its court to enforce our ordinances, Metro sued to block its formation. (The issue was finally resolved in our favor, and today Forest Hills has its own mu-nicipal court.)

While the relationship has been rocky it is improving. Our City Manag-er works hard to maintain good relation-ships with police and various Metro de-partments to remind them that Forest Hills is, in fact, a city with its own zon-ing ordinances and regulations. Mayor Karl Dean took a pivotal role in the ac-quisition of Kellytown. (See article on page 8.)

One issue that is almost certain to come to the forefront in coming years is the imbalance between what our res-idents pay in property taxes to Metro and what they receive in services. Forest Hills is in the General Services District as is Green Hills; the two areas are taxed at the same rate. In Green Hills, Met-ro pays to maintain the roads, provide storm water management, snow and ice removal, street lights, and a chipper ser-vice. It provides none of these services to Forest Hills; we pay for these through state-shared revenues, primarily the Hall Income Tax. This year the legisla-ture tweaked the tax slightly but left it in place. If and when it goes away the im-balance between property taxes and ser-vices is an issue that must be addressed.

We have invited all of the candidates to attend a Board of Commissioners meeting, introduce themselves and lis-ten to our concerns. To date two, Jeremy Kane and Charles Robert Bone, have appeared and a third, Linda Re-brovick, is sched-uled. The City does not support one candidate over another, but we do urge our residents to be aware that a Metro mayor has tremen-dous influence on Nashville’s relation-ship with the City of Forest Hills and to weigh that in your decision in the vot-ing booth.

JUNE 2015 | 5

From the MayorJohn C. Lovell

john@jtlovell.com 615.292.9925

District 34 debate is June 10 Forest Hills City Hall hosts a debate June 10

between candidates for the District 34 council seat. Steve Butler and Angie Henderson face off at 5:30 p.m.

Butler is in business management and technol-ogy investment. Henderson is a former Belmont University official and a community volunteer.

“ We have invited all of the candidates to attend a Board of Commissioners meeting, introduce themselves and listen to our concerns. ”

Nashville mayoral electionMegan Barry • Charles Robert Bone David Fox • Bill Freeman • Howard Gentry Jeremy Kane • Linda Eskind Rebrovick

Election Day: Thursday, August 6Last day to register: Tuesday, July 7Early voting: July 17-August 1 Howard Office Bldg.

July 23-August 1 Green Hills Library, Belle Meade City Hall, others

HISTORIC FOREST HILLS

Neighbors once enjoyed 10,000 daffodils across from Percy Priest School

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Ed Thackston shows where the daffodil field was. The cedars in the upper left of the old photo grew along the bank of Otter Creek, visible above.

Otter Creek Buttercups

LONGTIME residents of the Otter Creek Road area well re-member when daffodils covered the hillside across from Percy

Priest Elementary School.Betty and Ed Thackston, who have lived in their home on

Priest Road since 1969, used to walk through the fields with their young daughters Leah and Carol. Picking flowers was a tradition among neighbors, and no one considered it trespass-ing or an imposition.

“There were probably ten thousand but-tercups then,” Ed said.

“Residents would pick them by the armfuls,” Betty added. “You couldn’t tell any were gone.”

The daffodil field was in the front yard of Miss Arlene Ziegler, founder and owner of Satsuma Tea Room in down-town Nashville. She was also an ac-tive member and grower for the Middle Tennessee Daffodil Society, founded in 1958, and co-author of the book Fun for the Gardener.

Ed recalls that the demise of the daf-fodils came in two stages, the first from sewer installation and the second from development.

“When sewers were run from the Lit-tle Harpeth River to Radnor Lake, they were built near the creek bed,” he said. “That eliminated about half the butter-cups.”

The second blow came after Miss Ziegler died in 1981 and her land was

divided and sold. “When the lots were sold, they graded two lots for houses where the buttercups were, and that de-stroyed the rest of them.”

Ed also remembers taking his girls sledding down the long curving drive-way that led up to Miss Ziegler’s house on top of the hill. “We’d get going so fast, it was like riding a toboggan down the hill,” he said.

The quiet, natural beauty of the neighborhood was a big attraction when

the Thackstons decided to move there—that, and the proximity to Percy Priest Elementary.

“That was one of the main reasons we bought this house,” Ed said. “The girls could walk to school.”

The Thackstons have seen more changes in Forest Hills than the loss of the buttercup fields. “The character is about the same, but there are more houses and bigger houses,” Ed noted. “It’s also more wooded now, which is a good thing.”

JUNE 2015 | 9

The Thackstons like to travel, and re-cently enjoyed a tour of Prague and a cruise down the Danube River. Ed likes to work in the yard and track genealo-gy, while Betty loves music and enjoys working with the Opera Guild.

Their daughters Carol and Leah live nearby. Carol, a research assistant pro-fessor in psychology at Vanderbilt, re-cently moved from Brentwood to the Lipscomb University area. She has three sons: Michael, a second-year pharmacy student at Belmont; Blake, who works for Warner Music; and Collin, a junior at Belmont.

Leah, a psychological examiner and counselor, lives even closer, on Beaure-gard Drive. She has triplets, all cur-rently in college: Katherine at Rhodes, Richard at Furman, and Chandler at University of Virginia.

Landscape design uses elements from the past

Ed Thackston, a genealogy enthusiast, has incorporated elements from his ancestors into his landscaping.

Ed’s great-great grandfather Blake Thackston was a millwright in the Sullivans Bend region of Smith County, Tennessee. He bought property there in the 1830s and ran the mill from around that time until about the 1880s. The mill was horse-powered, not water-powered: the hors-es were harnessed and walked around in a cir-cle to turn the millstone located in the middle of the circle.

Ed made a bench from the top step of Blake Thackston’s original back porch, and used mill-stones from Blake’s mill for landscaping accents. He also used large stones, probably from the original hearth, for the back porch steps at his own house.

Remembering Satsuma Tea Room Miss Arlene Ziegler and her partner Miss Mabel Ward, two Home Economics teach-ers, started Satsu-ma Tea Room at 417 Union Street in downtown Nashville in 1918.

It remained a local favorite for many decades, specializing in home-cooked, in-expensive meals. Miss Arlene pre-sided over it as meal planner, buyer, man-ager, and sometimes cook.

In her book Fun for the Cook, Miss Ziegler says the idea behind Sat-suma was to “serve excel-lent food in attractive sur-roundings at a reasonable cost.”

Open for lunch only, five days a week, Satsu-ma became a beloved ven-ue for generations of of-fice workers, politicians, downtown shoppers, and out-of-towners who want-ed to sample real South-ern-style cooking.

WE ARE pleased to report contin-ued progress on the Kellytown

effort. On March 3, the Metro Parks board

formally approved the establishment of Friends of Kellytown as a volunteer sup-port group for Metro Parks.

On March 25, the Friends board met at Primm Park in Brentwood. Both Brentwood Mayor Betsy Crossley and former state archaeologist Nick Fielder were kind enough to let our group meet with them on the site and give us a tour. Primm Park is similar in many ways to the Kellytown site in that it was inhabit-ed by Mississippian period Native Amer-icans. The site also houses the beautifully restored Boiling Spring Academy dating back to 1832.

Because of the similarities, seeing the site and learning how it was developed from Mayor Crossley and Nick Fielder was helpful to the Friends group. Fielder pointed out how the signage in the park was designed to let visitors see the land-scape and imagine what it might have looked like centuries ago. Along with the imagination theme, the site develop-

ment was done in a minimally invasive way, which is the plan for Kellytown.

The Friends of Kellytown board con-ducted its meeting in the Boiling Spring Academy. At that meeting:

■ Fielder and Ann Roberts, former Executive Director of Metropolitan His-torical Commission, both agreed to serve on our technical advisory commit-tee. It should prove extremely helpful to use the knowledge and experience of these individuals.

■ Also at this meeting, Tim Walk-er, current executive director of Metro Historical Commission, agreed to join Tim Netsch of Metro Parks in serving

as an ex officio member of the Friends board. Walker and Netsch have been strong supporters of the project from the be-ginning.

■ Pat Cum-mings, pres-ident of the Native Histo-

ry Association, worked with Metro to draft and send a letter from Metro Parks to the Chickasaw Nation informing it of our progress and plans for the Kellytown site. The Chickasaw Nation was appre-ciative of the communication and ef-forts.

■ Joe Hodgson, landscape architect and board member, reported that he and Pat Cummings prepared a draft RFP for an archaeological survey for the entire Kellytown site. The survey will be per-formed using ground penetrating radar so as to understand the site better and be able to classify areas in degrees of im-portance. The idea is to get a heat map of the site ranging from the most archae-ologically sensitive areas to the least and use this map when designing the park.

■ With Tim Walker’s help, Friends has applied for some grant money to as-sist with developing a comprehensive plan for the site and hopes to have good news in the fall. The general consensus going forward is that the planning and development of the park should be done carefully and methodically. It’s a very culturally and archaeologically sensitive piece of property, and everyone wants to get it right.

8 | FOREST HILLS NEWS

From the Vice MayorLanson Hyde IIIlhyde@surgicaldevelopmentpartners.com615.714.9699

Kellytown board makes slow, careful progress

Kellytown is the seven-acre tract on the southeast corner of Old Hickory Boulevard and Hillsboro Pike next to Congre-gation Micah and across from City Hall. It was home to a Mis-sissippian-period village of Native Americans and has tremen-dous archaeological and historical significance.

A group of volunteers organized the Friends of Kellytown and began raising funds to purchase the property. Forest Hills residents played a major role in these efforts. Friends part-nered with Metro Parks, which purchased the tract at the start of the year.

To get to this point would not have been possible with-out the dedication of the Friends team led by former Mayor Bill Coke and Ridley Wills as well as the support of Mayor Karl Dean, who understood the importance of the site.

The Friends of Kellytown board meets at the restored Boiling Spring Academy.

Donations further mission of Comprehensive Plan

Forest Hill’s Comprehensive Plan provides a strategy for maintaining the community’s character and preserving important resources.

To further the mission of the Com-prehensive Plan and to promote great-er connectivity between the City and nearby green spaces, the Board of Com-missioners voted to give $500 each to the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennes-see and Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation.

The Transit Alliance encourages pri-vate and public sector support for mass transit through communication and ed-ucation. The Alliance is committed to securing dedicated revenues for mass transit in the ten-county region.

Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation’s mission is to conserve the scenic beauty and life-sustaining riches of Tennessee by creating public parks to inspire a love of nature and to conserve fragile ecosystems. TennGreen works to link parks together through greenways and corridors of protected land.

Share snapshots of City wildlifeOne of the things that makes Forest Hills spe-

cial is its natural beauty, including local wildlife. You can help document this aspect of the City by sharing your photos.

Add your entry to the Forest Hills wildlife scrap-book. Please send your interesting animal images to amanda.moyer@cityofforesthills.com.

Commissioner Henry Trost submitted these tur-keys.

JUNE 2015 | 9

Audra Ladd of the Land Trust for Tennessee addresses the open space meeting.

CNR sponsors first educational meetingForest Hills residents heard reports

from the Land Trust for Tennessee on April 28 and May 5 in the first of a se-ries of educational talks sponsored by the Cultural and Natural Resources Com-mittee.

Kay Simmons, chair of the CNR, said the committee would like to present ses-sions on a regular basis on topics of in-terest to Forest Hills residents.

“Possible topics might include con-trolling invasive plants and protecting trees and bushes from pests like the ash borer and boxwood blight,” she said. “We need to let people know what to do.”

The next educational talk will proba-bly be in the fall, she said.

Simmons introduced Audra Ladd, executive director of the Land Trust, who talked about protecting open spac-es in Forest Hills through “conservation tools” including conservation easements,

an outright donation or purchase, or a combination of options. A conservation easement is a legal restriction that per-manently protects land from future de-velopment.

Ladd explained that land owners maintain ownership of their land when a conservation easement is enacted, and can continue to use it or pass it on to family members. Another benefit, she said, is that because agreeing not to de-velop land reduces its appraised value, the land owner may claim the reduction in value as a charitable contribution and it could result in lower property taxes.

For more informa-tion about conserva-tion easements and oth-er options for preserving open land, call the Land Trust for Tennessee at 615.244.5263 or go to LandTrustTN.org.

Land Trust for Tennessee

LandTrustTN.org

TennGreen recently purchased a four-acre tract containing the Belle Forest Cave, its third purchase in the planned Ecological Corridor to run from Radnor Lake to the Cumber-land River.

Sgt. Raymond Jones Metro Policeraymond.jones@nashville.gov

615.880.1411 Midtown Hills

615.862.8600 Non-emergency

911 Crime in progress

Midtown wants to hear from youMidtown Precinct has been

open for several months, and we appreciate the support that we’ve received. We are looking forward to the future and strengthening the relationship with our commu-nity.

Below you’ll find four questions that will help us serve you better. Please take the time to respond to me by email at Raymond.Jones@nashville.gov.

■ What are the three major concerns for your neighborhood that we can address?

■ What do we need to know about your neighborhood that would help us to serve you?

■ Do you think the Police De-partment is effectively building partnerships with the community?

■ What have you seen or would like to see your communi-ty members do to build a positive relationship with the Police Department?

An essential part of establishing a relationship with our communi-ty is good communication, good teamwork, and an appreciation for different points of view. We de-pend heavily on your involvement and your communication.

Separate summer fun from drunk drivingSeparate summer fun from drunk driving

WARM weather brings a host of summer activ-ities, many of which become associated with

drinking alcohol: toasting to the future at graduation celebrations, sipping margaritas by the pool, or toting a cooler of beer out to the lake.

Along with that comes the dangers of drinking and driving.

Enhanced visibility on Nashville’s roadways and zero tolerance for impaired drivers are the corner-stones of the police department’s DUI initiative.

So far this year, extra duty of-ficers working under a Gov-ernor’s Highway Safety Office grant have arrested 207 suspect-ed drunk drivers, and the DUI Unit has arrested an additional 294 suspected drunk drivers.

Do your part to keep our streets safe. Follow these guide-lines, and make sure others in your party do, too.

■ Plan ahead, and always designate a sober driver before the party or celebration begins.

■ Designate a place to meet if you get separated.

■ If you drink, don’t drive. Period.■ If you have been drinking—even if you don’t

feel impaired—call a taxi, use mass transit, or get a sober friend or family member to pick you up.

■ Can’t get a ride? Stay where you are until you are sober.

If you think someone is too impaired to drive:■ Take their keys. Be non-confrontational.■ Explain that you don’t want them to drive be-

cause you care and you don’t want them to hurt themselves or others.

■ Enlist a friend to help you or to act as moral support — it’s more difficult to say “no” to two (or three or four) people than one.

■ Stay together and don’t leave anyone behind.

10 | FOREST HILLS NEWS

You can view online maps of area crime activityCrimeMapping.com provides

maps of recent crime activity at the neighborhood level, based on reports from the local police de-partments.

The site maintains current in-formation with new data up-loaded into the system every 24 hours.

To view crime in your area, go to CrimeMapping.com and enter your address. You can look at in-cidents within a one-mile or two-mile radius, or click “Remove Ra-

dius” to show a bigger area. If you want to see reports

from a police department oth-er than Metro Nashville, click on “Choose an Agency” on the home page then select a police department.

Register at the site to receive free email updates whenever new crime activity occurs in specified areas. From the home page, click on “Receive Crime Alerts” at the top and follow the instructions to register.

Email Sgt. Jonesraymond.jones@

nashville.gov

City’s open spaces helped get Jim Littlejohn involved

The weekend that Jim Littlejohn moved into Forest Hills is etched into his memory, but not just because he was moving into a new home. It was 1985—the year the Chicago Bears won the Su-per Bowl.

“I remember we had televisions turned on all over the house while we were moving in,” Jim says. “I grew up outside Chicago, so I had always fol-lowed the Bears.”

Littlejohn came to Nashville in 1972 to attend Vanderbilt Universi-ty and stayed after graduating. His first job after college was with Gresham and Smith, which involved “commuting” be-tween Nashville and Charleston, S.C., from 1980 to 1982. “I was here every month for meetings, so I never really felt like I left.”

When he came back to Nashville for good in 1982, Jim and his wife Lisa lived near Lipscomb University before finding their home in Forest Hills.

“We were members of Sequoia Swim Club and had young kids, and we want-ed to be closer to the club,” he said. “Of course, in those days it seemed like a long way away . . . ‘all the way out to Se-quoia.’ We thought we wouldn’t be get-ting ‘into town’ that often after we moved.”

The Littlejohns didn’t plan it delib-erately, but the house they chose turned out to be right across the street from Se-quoia on Chickering Lane, and they’ve been there ever since.

Quality of life inspired involvement

Within the first six months of mov-ing to Forest Hills, Jim said he began to appreciate the concept of the City’s qual-ity of life.

“I realized the spacious lots, lush green hillsides, and open spaces were at-tributes that had significant value,” he said. “That led indirectly to my get-

ting involved in the City’s comprehen-sive planning efforts to protect the quali-ty of open spaces. The late Charles Evers [former mayor of Forest Hills] asked me to be on a committee to help with or-dinances, and that developed into the Board of Zoning Appeals.”

Littlejohn said the work of the BZA is important because it determines how the community and neighborhoods are affected by development.

“We respect the City’s streetscapes,” he said, “so that we can drive down any street and have a good perspective as far as setbacks, bulk constraints, and con-tinuity within the context of improve-ments.”

Jim enjoys serving on the BZA. “It’s intriguing, fun, and challenging. We try to strike a balance in every situation to take the applicant’s design and see if it is compatible to the neighborhood.”

Is it right for the City?

“Most importantly, we ask, ‘Is it right for the City?’ Sometimes, we don’t think that’s the case, and that’s when the spirit of compromise comes into play.”

The objective of the BZA is to take what a resident wants to accomplish and put it into an appropriate context. “We strive for a win/win situation all around,” Jim said.

Often homeowners are appreciative

of the BZA’s guidance and come back to thank them.

“People are willing to com-ply even when they don’t un-derstand why,” Jim said. “It’s very rewarding when home-owners come back and say ‘Your suggestions were right on track. Thank you.’ ”

Littlejohn Engineering

Littlejohn founded his company, Lit-tlejohn Engineering Associates, in 1989, specializing in infrastructure planning, surveying, and engineering for con-struction projects across the country. He wanted to ensure that clients receive the individualized service they might miss in a large firm. Now that his firm is larger, he takes pride in matching the right per-son to the right project with a bigger tal-ent base for solving a myriad of prob-lems.

The Littlejohns have two daughters and a son. Julie lives in Forest Hills on Tyne Boulevard with her husband Mark Champion. Anne, an interior architect, and her husband Eric Carr live in Or-lando. Son Lucas is a sophomore at Po-mona College.

VolunteerProfileJim LittlejohnBoard of Zoning Appeals

The Board of Zoning Appeals is appointed to make administrative decisions related to the zoning ordinance and to rule on requests for variances and special exceptions.

JUNE 2015 | 11

“ We try to strike a balance in every situation to take the applicant’s design and see if it is compatible to the neighborhood. ”

FOREST HILLSC I T Y O F

6300 Hillsboro PikeNashville TN 37215

PRESORTEDFIRST CLASS

U.S. POSTAGEPAID

NASHVILLE, TNPERMIT #3731

Recycled Items Fall 12 Spring 13 Fall 13 Spring 14 Fall 14 Spring 15 TOTALS

Electronics recycling (lbs.) 11,096 10,393 4,256 6,228 6,181 6,609 44,763Scrap metal/bulk items (lbs.) 4,000 6,000 5,000 10,100 5,000 7,100 37,200Batteries (lbs.) 1,274 2,010 630 642 396 392 5,344Clothing, shoes, books (lbs.) 1,000 3,000 3,000 2,000 2,700 3,700 15,400Paper shredding (lbs.) na na na 6,000 6,500 5,500 18,000Bulbs (#) 234 560 249 520 303 651 2,517Tires (#) 10 25 8 14 9 12 78Pallet recycling (#) 21 11 10 2 6 6 56Mattresses/box springs (#) 22 35 17 6 14 26 120Packing peanuts/pellets (cu.ft.) 22 20 18 9 20 10 99Medicines/lotions (cu.ft.) na 10 36 24 16 16 102Vehicles participating 275 250 175 290 225 300 1,515

Record number recycle over 10 tons at spring Clean OutThe spring Recycling Clean Out set a

record for the most participants since it started in 2012.

“The event was so popular this year, we are taking proactive measures now while planning for the fall event to decrease

wait time and to improve traffic flow,” said Jennifer Hackett of EarthSavers. “Mark your calendars for September 19.”

Residents also set a record for most do-nated goods. Participants recycled over 23,000 pounds of materials including

electronics, scrap metal, batteries, and re-usable goods. The Clean Out has recycled over 60 tons of materials since 2012.

“The feeling I get from getting rid of this stuff is so amazing. It’s cleansing!” said one resident.

sponsors City of Forest Hills • EarthSavers • Goodwill • Junk-King • Metro Police • Shred on the Run • Spring Back • Sunrise Recycling