Tent City: A Nashville Story of Survival Deep inside Tent City, a tattered American flag flutters feebly in the breeze.  The camp surrounding it is astonishingly well built.  The main structure is joined by a "sun porch" that has been entirely constructed of wooden pallets.  Underneath its shelter are a couple of sofas and a coffee table. Home. A little way further down the dirt path another series of camps are clustered around a perfectly kept dirt yard.  The fire pit has been emptied.  Trash burns in a metal bin nearby.  Even the dirt floor has been swept until it is free from debris.  As I step into the clearing, two men nearby look up from their conversation to see who has come to call.   The smell of the coffee they are brewing drifts through the treetops and down to the river below. Introductions are made and they offer me a seat.  The conversation is angry but the anger is a thin veil for the panic underneath it.  They have been told they will soon be forced to leave this bit of comfort they have carved out for themselves from the trash bins and dump sites of the more fortunate. An unfamiliar noise halts the debate.  Three black and white all terrain scooters pull deep into the camp. "The police are here." Everyone falls silent.  Quickly, a BB gun used to kill rats to keep them from the food supply is hidden out of sight.  The officers remove their helmets and walk deep into the living room of the homeless. Fearful, wary eyes watch them from all around as steaming coffee cups sit forgotten.  The lead officer draws near to a fence that has been constructed around the perimeter of the camp, built by one of the residents to keep the animals away.  The officer removes his sunglasses and says for all to hear, "Good fences make good neighbors..." (Robert Frost) By Sherri Gragg Metropolitan Homelessness Commission Newsletter/October 2008 Sherri Gragg, a local freelance writer, had never been to a homeless camp before visiting Tent City, one of the largest homeless campsites close to Downtown Nashville. She entered the camp the day after Metro Police announced a clean-up of the site, which is located on Metropolitan government property, state property and private property. Since then, the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission met with city officials to ask for and was granted a deferral of the clean-up. The original clean up had been planned for Sept. 23. But it has been delayed and no definite new date has been set at the printing of this newsletter.