Do people even know about the transit plan?
💸 It's cheap, what do you care · Helene aftermath · Bathroom breakdown · Scrapping the yard · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Nashville got real wet over the weekend, with 4.45" of rain on Friday alone, making September 2024 the fifth wettest September on record. But that’s nothing compared to the damage wrought in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Megan has some details on how the fallout from Helene impacted residents to the East of us in the state. From what I can tell, it will be a long road to recovery.
In other city related news, as November’s election approaches, Mayor O’Connell’s transit referendum continues to maintain as low a profile as possible. Aside from a bit of reporting here and there in local media and signs scattered through the city, it doesn’t come close to the big budget production that presaged Mayor Barry’s 2018 initiative.
For all its flaws, it felt as if the 2018 transit plan genuinely sought out popular consensus. Maybe the relatively mute campaign launched by Metro is due in part to the lack of well-funded opposition (Americans for Prosperity is sitting this one out), but given the modest ambitions of O’Connell’s plan, it is not all that surprising it has received so little scrutiny and deftly flown under the radar. The ad released recently is so lukewarm and forgettable that I doubt it'll even register in the thalamus of the viewer.
The offer on hand from advocates essentially amounts to emphasizing that the tax surcharge is not going to cost you that much, so you needn’t worry about it. I know I’ve flogged this horse up and down the River Styx, but it’s important. What leadership prioritizes is important, if not only for the fact that it portends the allocation of time, energy, and resources, but also that it reflects the coalition that leadership is aligned with.
For the vast majority of Nashville, talk of bus line expansion is so “out there” as to be bewildering. To address its particular claims (it’s cheap for you, what do you care) is to lose the forest for the trees. The entire plan, what it says about the priorities of the O’Connell administration, indicates a fundamental misalignment of priorities between what he and the rest of Metro want and need and what the people of the city want and need. The plan is not so much a vision of a new, more mobile utopia as it is an attempt by entrenched political interests to expand programs that they’ve been babying for decades.
In a compelling essay for First Things on political developments in the 90s following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Christopher Caldwell notes that it was during this decade that politicians across the West cashed in on the popular support they inherited from previous leaders in order to install a class of experts tasked with carrying out their pet programs. “They ruled as if the main criterion for government was not whether it operates in the name of the people it represents but whether it carries out its projects,” writes Caldwell.
This most recent effort by the city to expand bus service (which is fine as it is, let’s be real) and unlock billions of dollars in federal grants to continue funding it and infrastructure around it, is the perfect example of this mindset. Unless you’re getting access to these grants, genuinely, what do you care that the city gets billions more dollars to fund a bus system that only a tiny minority of the city utilizes? Who is the audience for that pitch? Not a rhetorical question, by the way.
If the city were really concerned about the cost of living, it wouldn’t do this clever end around to alleviate them. It would start by liberating the poorer parts of town from the thrall of crime which, more than almost any other factor, does a good deal to ensure the continuation of poverty generation over generation. In addition, the schools in Davidson County are dismal. A more intractable problem in many ways, but one more befitting of the label “crisis” and in need of urgent action than expanding a bus system that no one wants to ride if they can help it.
Onward.
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🌊 Helene On Earth At least two people have been confirmed dead in Tennessee following the landfall of Hurricane Helene which has claimed more than 100 lives across six states—one-third of which have been reported in North Carolina—while thousands remain missing. In Tennessee, there are currently 62 people missing in Washington County, 47 in Unicoi County, 4 in Johnson County, and 40 in other surrounding counties.
In response, Governor Lee declared a state of emergency and on Saturday, the Biden administration granted Public Assistance (Category B) emergency protective measures for Cocke, Hawkins, and Washington counties. Sevier, Jefferson, Greene, and Unicoi counties have also been named among the areas most heavily impacted by dangerous flooding.
There are still two flood warnings in effect for Knox and Sevier counties until Tuesday evening. Five bridges have been swept away, 14 state highways have been shut down, and I-40 between Knoxville and Asheville has been washed out and shut down indefinitely. Lee has since traveled to Northeast Tennessee to assess the damage. While concerns were raised about the Nolichucky Dam in Greene County, the Tennessee Valley Authority has since reported that it’s in stable condition and the Governor relayed that there is no longer any imminent threat.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has pledged resources to assist the Volunteer State. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency has also asked those who wish to help to be wary of where they donate and how they lend a hand. “Please DO NOT send donations that have not been requested by state or local authorities,” they posted on Sunday. “TEMA is not accepting volunteers or donations until the life safety mission is complete. Tennesseans, do not self-deploy to disaster areas - this will hinder response and recovery operations.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK
🚽 Bathroom Breakdown Last week, US District Judge William Campbell reestablished the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act—a.k.a., the Bathroom Bill—by dismissing a case challenging its implementation. The bill, passed in 2021, gives students, parents, and employees the ability to sue “for all psychological, emotional, and physical harm suffered” if caused by school officials allowing intersex use of bathrooms or locker rooms. It also allows for legal action if a student is required to share sleeping quarters with a member of the opposite sex (at birth), unless that person is a family member.
Over the last three years, the “Bathroom Bill” has consistently been tied up in the courts. Last week’s dismissal involved a case where a transgender student claimed that their school stopped supporting their social transition following the passage new state policies addressing transitioned students. A year ago, a different lawsuit was filed by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) on behalf of an 8-year-old transgender girl entering the third grade in Williamson County. The child’s family sued both the Tennessee Department of Education and its commissioner over the enforcement of state law.
In 2021, District Attorney General Glenn Funk stated that he would not enforce “transphobic or homophobic laws” in reference to the “Bathroom Bill.”
🗑️ Scrapping The Scrap Yard The SA Recycling site, a 45-acre scrap metal recycling plant owned by billionaire Carl Icahn and located on the East Bank, is going up for auction. The land is situated near the new Imagine East Bank site set to be developed into a commercial destination and entertainment district over the next few decades. The Nashville Business Journal reports that it will go up for auction around mid-November.
Back in March, when asked whether the O’Connell administration had been in talks with Icahn, Chief Development Officer Bob Mendes answered, “No”.
DEVELOPMENT
- Coca-Cola affiliate pays $56M for Berry Hill property (Post)
- Ex-Mellow Mushroom building lands tenant (Post)
- Major permit issued for Midtown tower work (Post)
- Berry Hill property listed for $1.4M (Post)
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown 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 and yearly festival guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 M. Ward @ The Blue Room, 7p, $58. 24, Info
🎸 Khruangbin @ Ascend Amphitheater, 8p, $54.35, Info
🎸 Post Gonerfest Throwdown feat: Split System, Class, Wesley & the Boys, Gross Motor @ The Basement, 9p, $12, Info
🪕 Bronwyn Keith-Hynes @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info
🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 8p, Free, Info
🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info
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