RAVENWOOD- A POLITICAL FAVOR FOR FREEMAN-WEBB INVESTMENTS

The money trail for political favors continues with Bill Freeman ($1000), Jimmy Webb ($1000) and Kent Burns ($500) of Freeman-Webb Investments (FWB). They purchased 90 acres from Ravenwood Country Club in Hermitage. They wanted White to rezone it for them. There was no access road into the 90 acres, so they offered to run a road through the FWB owned PineBrook Apartments (formerly Ravenwood Apartments). That would put all of the traffic onto Hickory Hill Lane and into Hermitage Hills and Stones River Estates. These roads, especially Hickory Hill Lane, already had heavy traffic problems with cars cutting through.

White held secret meetings about the Ravenwood project in the home of one neighbor. White told the press and the Council that he had held several community meetings. This of course was NOT TRUE. When the neighbors of the area found out about the project and the secret meetings they were furious. They asked the Donelson Hermitage Neighborhood Association to hold a community meeting. White and the developers refused to attend.

At the public hearing for the project at the Metro Council, Freeman -Webb brought in a bus full of residents from Pine Brook Apartments to raise their hand in favor of the rezoning. Many of them could not even speak English. The area neighbor who had hosted the secret meetings was the only homeowner who spoke in favor of the project. Many area neighbors spoke in opposition and then presented a petition of over 600 names from their neighborhood in opposition. Councilman White blew them off and ignored their pleas. Several members of the Council were very upset with White and requested that he hold a community meeting before third reading.

White held the community meeting at a church in Donelson in a crowded basement instead of in Hermitage at a public building. The neighbors had to stand up in the back of the room because all of the chairs had been taken by developers and members of Ravenwood who did not live in Hermitage. Councilman White sat in the back of the room and did not say a word. The lawyer Tom White had control of the entire meeting. Neighbors did not have their questions answered and left frustrated.

White rezoned 90 acres on behalf of Freeman Webb Investments and ignored a petition of over 600 of his constituents. See what $2500 will get you if want Harold White to rezone something for you. Harold White sold his constituents off cheap.

Neighbors still wonder if there was a secret reward for Councilman White like the secret meetings that he held? What about the campaign promise "to vote with the majority of property owners effected by any decision"? Did White forget again or was Ravenwood just another BIG WHITE LIE?