Democracy In Name Only

Opinion: The Council’s Approach to Zoning Reform Undercuts Its Claim to Democratic Governance

From Davis Hunt

Let’s build an elected official from the ground up. An elected official wins majority support from the people in his area to represent them in government affairs. He goes to meetings on their behalf and represents their interests in a variety of arcane administrative manners.

It’s a division of labor of sorts. If a good elected official represents you, you don’t have to deal in politics as much. This is, in the simplest terms, what Democracy purports to be: a government composed of elected officials who represent their constituents.

One thing the zoning debate in Nashville really brings out is a political dynamic in which this standard relationship is reversed. Instead of serving as a buffer between constituents and the Metro bureaucracy, councilmembers act as representatives of the city, pitching policy proposals that emerge from this or that department.

Last week’s blowup at the Planning Commission meeting after councilmember Brandon Taylor introduced a new overlay to deal with businesses operating along Buchanan Street is just the latest manifestation.

The bill had already passed the first of three readings at the end of last year, but residents and businesses were unaware until signs started popping up announcing the public hearing at next week’s council meeting.

Taylor could’ve avoided this situation altogether. Before introducing it to the council, he could have walked down the short stretch of road the bill addressed, knocked on the doors of the various business owners it would affect, and told them about it. But he couldn’t muster the courage to execute the most basic courtesy expected of an elected official on such matters.

Similarly, Councilmember Rollin Horton could have hosted public community meetings to inform residents of his district about his aggressive upzoning bill in the Nations.

In part motivated by the city’s questionable estimate that we need 90,000 new housing units by 2035, there is a sudden urgency to pass bills that reshape and reform neighborhoods. Councilmembers are flailing around like chickens with their heads cut off, mumbling to themselves, “We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do it” to any half-baked upzoning proposal that falls in their lap.

This all started in 2023 at the beginning of the current council term with at-large councilmember Quin Evans Segall’s poorly conceived suite of bills that she called Nashville Essential Structures for Togetherness, or NEST. 

Aside from being the worst acronym ever put to print, it was wildly unpopular and resulted in Segall’s Freudian slip at one community meeting on the proposal, during which she blurted she “worked for the city.”

“No! You work for the voters,” shot back an inflamed attendee.

NEST has since splintered into a more diffuse set of bills. But passions stirred by untoward councilmember behavior around zoning reform have emerged consistently since. As it turns out, if you don’t have a carrot to offset the stick, you have to resort to more underhanded tactics.

One major procedural shift that has defined the way contentious zoning bills are introduced is that, typically, in previous councils, a bill would first be brought forward to the Planning Commission before submission to the council for a vote.

As is the case with NEST, Horton’s Nations upzoning, and Taylor’s recent overlay proposal, the sponsors put the bills before the council first so that the commission only considered the bills after first reading. This order of operations cripples community participation by design, turning public hearings into spectacles, and defangs the Commission’s ability to seriously interrogate the merits of a proposal.

Now, this arrangement is a reality. And to bring this full circle: in a city where only 20% of the people vote in city elections, and every single major public zoning flashpoint has been ground into a fine powder and put up the city’s nose, can we call this process Democratic and expressive of the will of the people?

The Men Behind the Machine We hear endless warnings about the existential dangers of transhumanism and artificial intelligence, but almost none about the individuals and interests behind their advance. What do they believe? What does their vision for the future of humanity look like? How does this affect how they organize and lead their companies?

On Thursday, January 15th, Joe Allen will join us to discuss just that. Allen is a writer and Bannon's War Room correspondent. His 2023 book, Dark Aeon, chronicles the rise of artificial intelligence and transhumanism, arguing that unchecked technological advancement poses a threat to humanity.

This is the second in a series of monthly lectures we'll be hosting. These events are for the benefit of The Pamphleteer. Every dollar earned goes toward supporting our operations and planning future events.

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HEADLINES

• 🚨 Mayor Freddie O’Connell puts head of Metro’s 911 Call Center on administrative leave.  Director Steve Martini refuses to step down after reports of harassment, toxic working conditions, and concerns about management style. (NewsChannel 5)
• 🚛 Tennessee Deptartment of Safety identifies 8,800 Commercial Driver License holders lack the required citizenship records. Both federal and Tennessee state law require proof of either U.S. Citizenship or Lawful Permanent Residency to be on file in order to obtain and hold a CDL, TDSHS said. (TN Star)
• 🅿️ TN AG nailed down the parking technology company, Metropolis Technologies, for consumer protection violations. Metropolis will pay $6.5 million to the state—with some funds going toward refunds—and provide $2.25 million in free parking credits to customers in Nashville, Knoxville, and Memphis. The company also must improve signage, customer support, technology, and certain billing practices to better protect drivers going forward. (NewsChannel 5)
• 🏈 The Tennessee Titans experienced the largest year-over-year drop in NFL home-game attendance in the 2025 season, falling 9.1 percent and selling just 85.2 percent of seats amid a 3–14 finish and a midseason coaching change. The decline comes as the team prepares to leave Nissan Stadium after the 2026 season for a new $2.2 billion domed stadium slated to open in 2027. (NBJ)

DEVELOPMENT

• Global firm spends $6.8 million on Green Hills site (NBJ)
• Green Hills commercial building sells for $3.3M (Post)

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week here.

📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.

TONIGHT

🪕 Bluegrass Monday Double-Header with Kyle Tuttle & Maddie Denton @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info

🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info

💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 7p, Free, Info

🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info

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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Davis Hunt, Megan Podsiedlik, and Camelia Brennan.