The Orbis

Media Credit: Meryem Dede

Proposed Metro Charter amendment number one reads: "English is the official language of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee. Official actions which bind or commit the government shall be taken only in the English language, and all official government communications and publications shall be in English. No person shall have a right to government services in any other language. All meetings of the Metro Council, Boards and Commissions of the Metropolitan Government shall be conducted in English. The Metro Council may make specific exceptions to protect public health and safety. Nothing in this measure shall be interpreted to conflict with federal or state law."

The proposed charter amendment is...

Bad for business
Nashville boasts 76 companies with some level of foreign investment. Those companies employ 7,660 Nashvillians and generated more than $19.6 billion in sales last year. At a time when Nashville is enjoying tremendous success recruiting international companies, the English-only effort sends a negative and inaccurate message to the world.

Japanese investment alone in Tennessee exceeded $9.4 billion in 2004, creating 40,000 jobs. Business recruiting efforts for Japanese companies and others often require our economic development officers to communicate in a different language. That would become illegal.

Tom Oreck, CEO of Oreck Corporation, said, "I can tell you that if this had been the law when we were considering Nashville, Oreck might not have chosen this city."

Bad for Nashville's tourism industry
Tourism is a $4 billion industry in Nashville. The hospitality industry ranks second behind healthcare in terms of size and contribution to Nashville's economy. Every visitor to Nashville not only spends money here, but they pay taxes. In fact, last year, sales tax revenue from visitor spending contributed $78 million to Nashville's tax coffers.

Tourism is important to Nashville, and international visitors comprise one of the fastest growing tourist segments. Last year, Nashville hosted more than 300,000 visitors from foreign countries, who averaged three days in Nashville and spent more than $150/day. As a result, those visitors contributed more than $135 million to Nashville's economy, providing jobs for our citizens and contributing taxes to Metro's revenue stream that otherwise would have to come from our property and sales taxes.

If we alienate international tourists and cause them to take their money elsewhere, we will lose their contributions to our economy, and the burden for paying for services will fall more on us. In fact, property taxes could go up because of this amendment.

A tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars
If passed, this amendment will apply to a handful of actual services, but will require thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend it against challenges that it is unconstitutional.
Its own language states that it will not apply to services that could affect public health or safety, or that are required by federal or state law. That means there are only a handful of services now being provided that would be halted. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to eliminate services that don't exist.

For example, translators for defendants in court would not be eliminated by this amendment, because they are mandated by federal law. However, it would be illegal for the Mayor's Office of Economic and Community Development to communicate in German to representatives of Volkswagen.

Unnecessary
English is already the "official and legal language" of Tennessee, and Nashville. Our city does not need to change its own constitution for that to be true.

Immigrants know better than anyone the importance of learning English. They also know that the faster they learn English, the faster they can assimilate into the society. If the concern is that immigrants are not learning English quickly enough, we should create more opportunities for them to learn.

Inconsistent with our values as a city
Nashville has been named the "Friendliest City in America" because we extend ourselves to our guests. This amendment does not reflect who we are.

Nashville is a city of faith. For many people, of various faiths, the attempt to make English the only language in Nashville rings false. The Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Qur'an all offer text supporting a more tolerant view of those who may not speak our language.

"English-only," not "English-first"
The initiative is an attempt to eliminate the use of all non-English communication by Metro government, which will have many negative consequences, while doing almost nothing to limit Metro services that are required by people who don't speak English.

Please join all of us in defeating these unnecessary amendments by voting against amendments #1 and #2 on Thursday, January 22.
    
Article reprinted with permission of www.nashvilleforallofus.org.

Voting Details
The Office of Active Citizenship and Service will offer free transportation to the polls. Shuttles run continuously from 8:30 AM to 7 PM on Thursday, January 22, leaving from both Branscomb and The Commons. Polls close at 7 PM. Bring your Davidson County voter registration card and another form of picture ID.

Vanderbilt's polling place is:
Eakin Elementary School
2500 Fairfax Ave., 35212.

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