Growing Pains And A Paradigm Shift

It was a packed courthouse during last night’s Metro Council meeting. Droves of Nashvillians showed up to weigh in on a sole source contract with Fusus that would allow the Metro Nashville Police Department to integrate private cameras into their surveillance network. This is the second time the council heard about the technology, having deferred the resolution in October.  

While advocates touted the initiative’s usefulness and efficiency, those who spoke in opposition invoked George Orwell’s 1984 and philosopher Michel Foucault’s criticism of the surveillance state. And no, they weren’t conservatives. “We might say that this type of surveillance is the inevitable future to come, but with the Trump presidency…it could quickly turn into [a] dystopian future,” said one public commenter. “That might sound extreme, but Trump is already threatening to use military to conduct mass deportations.”

Due to the lengthy public comment period, followed by a public hearing on the bill, discussion between council members didn’t begin until two hours into the meeting. Ultimately, the body kicked the can down the road once again and deferred the vote until the first meeting in December. In fact, next month’s meeting may feel like déjà vu. The council also deferred a resolution to accept a grant from the newly formed Nashville Police + Public Safety Alliance. Though the funds would allow Metro to purchase software to help measure resident safety perceptions and trust in law enforcement, council members were uneasy about the connection between the nonprofit and MNPD, and how the surveys would be conducted. Likewise, Councilmember Jeff Eslick withdrew the much discussed proposal to increase traffic enforcement, but promised that a revision of the legislation will be filed in the near future.

Despite the council dragging its feet on a number of MNPD-related initiatives, the bulwark began to break down as the meeting continued. A resolution accepting a grant to “support local law enforcement in developing and implementing evidence-based strategies to combat violent crime” was passed, as well as the application for state funding to place full-time School Resource Officers in every K-12 public and public charter school.

The mixed feelings about backing the blue follow the Community Review Board’s recent establishment of a memorandum of understanding with MNPD. Though they weren’t extended a personal invitation, members of the CRB also crashed the Nashville Police + Public Safety Alliance’s invite-only launch event last week. Given their abrupt imposition, the CRB’s support of the nonprofit's goal to cultivate community inroads with MNPD seems lukewarm at best. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

📑 Trimming The Fat During last night’s council meeting, Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda’s bill passed its final reading. The legislation, which changes the Metropolitan Code of Laws to restructure several boards and commissions, appears to be part of the mayor’s broader effort to trim the fat across Metro. 

Headed by Dave Rosenberg, O'Connell's Director of Legislative Affairs, the administration began its work in July by sending out a 40-question survey to all board and commission members addressing efficiency. The initiative aims to consolidate overlapping functions in Metro government and address the issue of bureaucratic appointees who have, apparently, been notoriously MIA during their time of service. While some of the more recently created boards and commissions can be changed directly by council legislation, bodies established by the Charter will have to be voted on by the public in 2026.

🚙 Wanted: Designated Drivers Tonight, all the long-haired country boys and big-haired, blue-jean babies will descend on Broadway for the 58th Annual CMA Awards. But if you plan to kick up your bell bottoms downtown, you better plan your ride home in advance. According to Fox17, 200 Uber and Lyft drivers are going on strike during tonight’s celebrations. 

Nashville rideshare drivers are uniting to convince lawmakers to ban out-of-state drivers. “At the end of the day, they take the money back to their state,” local driver, Arkangelo Wilson, told Fox17’s Kaitlin Miller in October. “We the people of Tennessee are not benefitting, and they are outsourcing our job.” Wilson has formed an organization urging state legislators to follow in the footsteps of other states, such as Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, and Florida, in passing legislation to prevent drivers from crossing state lines to pursue rideshare fares in Tennessee.

DEVELOPMENT

• Nashville airport announces new nonstop flights to Orlando and Shreveport, Louisiana (Tennessean)
• Vanderbilt-area residential building sells for $2.22M (Post)
• MDHA body OKs proposed Jefferson Street project (Post)
• Downtown structure opened in 1916 hits market (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

🎻 Shostakovich Quartets @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, Choose What You Pay, Info

🪕 The Po' Ramblin' Boys @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info

🎸 The Wild Feathers @ The Basement East, 8p, $32.87, Info

🎸 GWAR @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, 7p, $35, Info

🪕 Bluegrass Night @ The American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.