It is what it is, Because of what it was

Good afternoon, everyone.

There's a quote falsely attributed to Mark Twain that goes, "If voting made any difference, they wouldn't let us do it." You'll see it meme'd around the internet whenever election season rolls around. The origin of that line is unclear, but by all accounts, it seems to be a kind of anarchist shorthand that you'd find on lampposts and in dingy bathrooms as a hollow, surface-level condemnation of politics in general.

What Twain actually thought is better expressed in an interview he did with the Boston Transcript in 1906:

But in this country we have one great privilege which they don't have in other countries. When a thing gets to be absolutely unbearable the people can rise up and throw it off. That's the finest asset we've got—the ballot box.

Another choice line finds Twain noting:

No party holds the privilege of dictating to me how I shall vote. If loyalty to party is a form of patriotism, I am no patriot. If there is any valuable difference between a monarchist and an American, it lies in the theory that the American can decide for himself what is patriotic and what isn't. I claim that difference. I am the only person in the sixty millions that is privileged to dictate my patriotism.

Early voting locations are open around the city until October 31st. I’m an Election Day voter myself. I enjoy the pageantry of that single day, but to each their own. You can find information about early voting here.

And related to Megan's reporting below, we're constantly reminded that "crime is down," but that just doesn't square with the fact that I have to get a worker to unlock the shampoo at CVS. "If you have to resort to these measures it doesn't matter if 'crime is down,' because everyday life is so degraded," noted Fischer King. Read on to see how seriously the mayor takes these concerns.

Onward.

🚨 Violent Crime Remains Down? Police are investigating several shootings that took place over the weekend, adding to the string of deadly tragedies that have accumulated in Nashville over the last couple of weeks. These incidents include a targeted shooting at 46th & Charlotte, a 14-year-old who shot and killed another 14-year-old outside of the Parkway Terrace Apartments, and a parking lot shooting in Madison.

During Friday’s media roundtable, Fox17’s Dennis Ferrier asked Mayor O’Connell about the “elephant in the room”: the delay in establishing the LPR program. O’Connell cut Ferrier off while he described the streets of Nashville as running with blood. “This is absolutely your characterization,” said the mayor. “Okay, well we had 10, 12 shootings since Saturday,” explained Ferrier. 

O’Connell retorted again:

We are very aware of the violent crime incidents, but we're also pleased that with all of the efforts of everything that MNPD and MPHD are doing, violent crime remains down year over year. We are actively working with the Metro Council right now on Fusus, which is a technology-based approach. We just received feedback this week from MNPD that we have been waiting on about our LPR policies, and we are intending to take that right back before the Metro Council.

You can watch the full clip here.

🚍 Transit Questions: Unanswered Over the weekend, District 23’s Thom Druffel sent out a recording of a community meeting that took place at Brook Hollow Baptist Church toward the beginning of the month. The discussion included a transit plan Q&A where both sides of the issue were presented. “I want to note for all of you that Thom Druffel is one of the few council members in the Metro Council who will actually hold an open forum on this topic,” said presenter and former council member, Emily Evans. “I am sad to see that so many members have declined the opportunity. That's not the way it used to be.”

Evans argued against the long-term dedicated funding program, which would require a “highly regressive” sales tax to support the transit plan. Instead, she floated the idea that tapping into property taxes would make for better policy. Evans also pointed out the questions that have been left unanswered by the administration: How much bus ridership is projected to increase, whether the influx of commuter traffic will be addressed, and why the language on the ballot doesn’t display the $6.9 billion projected long-term cost of the plan. 

The former council member also credited Metro’s Director of Transportation Planning Michael Briggs—who also presented during the meeting—for pointing out that the proposal does not change zoning. “The Metro Council rezones property,” Evans agreed. But on May 16, 2022, the Biden administration announced “new actions to ease the burden of housing costs.” This includes a “massive incentive to the tune of $1.4 billion for our Metro Council to enact zoning reform,” she explained, before posing the question: “How long do you want to fight against a $1.4 billion incentive?”

It’s worth noting that Mayor O’Connell has mentioned allocating millions of dollars to buy up land near transit centers for housing in order to qualify for some of these grants. “When we talk about building transit centers and park and ride facilities, we're not just talking about transportation infrastructure,” he explained during the transit plan unveiling in April. “Adjacent to select transit centers, the Choose How You Move program proposes to invest in acquiring as much as 26 acres of land that will be developed into community benefits, including housing and parks.” 

📞 Send In Your CIB Suggestions “It's time again for council to submit requests for Metro's Capital Improvements Budget - aka, our ‘wishlist’ for capital improvements,” Councilmember Erin Evans reminded her constituents in this morning’s District 12 Dispatch. “In order for something to get funded in a future capital spending plan (aka, the CSP) our requests have to be in this budget.”

The CIB “is a planning tool to prioritize and coordinate investments in long-term, durable improvements.” The submission deadline for recommendations is the end of the month, and Nashivillians can suggest improvements for “Metro facilities and equipment, as well as infrastructure.” The investments must have a lifetime greater than 10 years and cost more than $50,000. You can look up your council member and find their government email here. 

MIGRANTS IN NASHVILLE

DEVELOPMENT

• Building home to male strip club sells for $2.95 million (NBJ)
• Luxury golf development planned for Spring Hill (NBJ)
• Saffire reopens in the Factory at Franklin (NBJ)
• Metro Council passes Rock Harbor Marina rezoning plan (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

🎸 Kishi Bashi @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, 8p, $22, Info

🎸 Porches @ Exit In, 8p, $27.37, Info

🎸 Cursive @ The Basement East, 7p, $32.87, Info

🪕 the Sentimental Gentlemen @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info
+ feat. Geoff Saunders and Friends

🎸 Timbo & Lonesome Country @ Jane's Hideaway, 8p, Info
+ modern take on classic country, bluegrass & hillbilly Jazz

🪕 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

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.