Loose Screws
🏙 O'Connell's Capital Spending Plan · A sad tale from the Westside · Lyft/Flexdrive opens Nashville AV depot · Much more!
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O’Connell details Nashville infrastructure and neighborhood investments in his Capital Spending Plan as Metro works to hold its budget together.
From Megan Podsiedlik
From one of the busiest firehouses in the country, Nashville’s Station 9: "The Bottoms,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell shared his new capital spending plan during this morning’s media roundtable. O’Connell highlighted investments in fire stations, schools, transportation, roads, parks, libraries, and neighborhood infrastructure.
“In addition to schools, we're making several neighborhood investments that address some important needs: improvements to multiple greenways, upgrades to Metro Action Commission's Head Start campuses, a new Richland Park library, an eight-figure investment in improving the safety of our streets through Vision Zero, and improved infrastructure that will catalyze a new mixed-income community in the Napier Sudanese neighborhood with our partners at ODHA,” said O’Connell.
Though this year’s $544.72 million capital spending plan is $13 million more compared to last year, O’Connell said departments are consistently having to tighten the belt when it comes to the budget.
“We seem to be in a period right now where gas prices and interest rates are all elevated,” said the mayor. “I think everybody here knows that in a growing city, our property values have put pressure on that for any property owner, residential or commercial. And in that environment, maintaining a budget process that is predictable and consistent is a goal, but it's always an aspirational thing.”
That said, O’Connell highlighted several areas where the pinch has helped Metro get creative in finding ways to improve efficiency. This includes energy-efficient infrastructure, creating a standalone Department of Waste Services, and addressing deferred maintenance, which has reduced operating costs by millions of dollars.
“We had seen that several years ago too, where you might have surpluses ranging into as high as the nine figures every year,” said O’Connell. “That's good for investment. Another important choice we made, though, was to create a serious rainy day fund, and so to have that rainy day fund and some budget stabilization ultimately means you're actually spending less on operations but preparing yourself for a future where you may need that. And so, it is tight, but we are better prepared for future financial difficulties than we were before I took office.”
✹ THE LIMITS OF MASTERY
The Limits of Mastery with James Poulos As AI grows more powerful, the question is no longer just what machines can do, but whether human beings still know how to govern themselves. James Poulos argues that our technological age is forcing an older question back into view: What does real self-mastery require? Join us Wednesday, October 7 for a conversation on AI, Dostoevsky, human agency, and the spiritual stakes of technological power.
This event benefits The Pamphleteer, Nashville and is priced with that in mind. Bard-level subscribers receive free, privileged admittance.
✹ ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
The fifteenth installment in Tales from the Westside
From Rachel Gladstone
From 1903 to 2010, the Charlotte Ave. Church of Christ stood at the corner of Charlotte and 46th. Constructed of Limestone and brick, it boasted a two-story bell tower, stained glass windows and one of the largest congregations in Nashville. But over the decades, those folks either passed away or moved on leaving the church to close in 2007.
I’d been driving past that old church for years and taken it largely for granted. As long as I’d lived in the neighborhood, its doors had been open, and when they closed, I assumed someone else would take possession of it. After all, it was a landmark, so I never considered the possibility that, like so much of my neighborhood, it could be wiped off the map in an instant and replaced with something far less evocative.
For years several ‘For Sale’ signs dogged the church’s increasingly lonely façade, as the once manicured churchyard gave way to a tangle of overgrown grass, untended shrubs and dying trees. The building looked so forlorn and forsaken that the sight of it broke my heart on a daily basis. Gone were the celebrations and sermons, weddings and funerals, bake sales and pageants congregants had hosted there over decades and every moment that had filled that building with the light and purpose of the community that belonged there had been swept away as if it had never existed.
There was talk of the church being repurposed to house a Rescue Mission or a halfway house for troubled youth. But even the whisper of such a thing was unwelcome to many in the neighborhood; gentrification had begun in earnest, and they feared such a move would stop the process in its burgeoning tracks.
Many of us dreamed about the building becoming a theater space or a music venue, which would have been a great addition to the neighborhood. But sadly, saving this outmoded relic was not at the top of anybody’s bucket list. Anybody with money, that is. But then, one day, a woman who had nothing on her bucket list besides memorializing the historic church set up shop just across the street.
HEADLINES
- 🚗 Lyft/Flexdrive opens Nashville AV depot. Flexdrive, a Lyft company managing Waymo's Nashville autonomous-vehicle fleet, has opened an 80,000-square-foot depot for charging, maintenance, and fleet operations. The facility is expected to bring more than 70 full-time jobs this year, with Waymo vehicles scheduled to begin arriving October 12. (Lyft)
- ⚖️ Blackburn sues Jack Smith over phone records. Senator Marsha Blackburn sued former special counsel Jack Smith, alleging his team unlawfully subpoenaed her Verizon phone records during the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Her lawsuit argues that the records were obtained without properly notifying her or the court that the target was a sitting senator; she is seeking $1 in nominal damages and a ruling against the alleged constitutional violations. (Politico)
- 💉 TN halts executions after Christa Pike attempt. Christa Pike survived a failed lethal-injection execution after receiving two doses of pentobarbital and remaining conscious and breathing for an extended period before being taken to a hospital. Gov. Bill Lee has paused all scheduled Tennessee executions for the remainder of 2026 and ordered an independent, third-party review of what went wrong. (AP)
- 🏢 Holtzman Vogel expands Nashville office. Holtzman Vogel is moving its Nashville office to Broadwest and expanding its footprint to more than 8,000 square feet initially, with plans for nearly 13,000 square feet and space for up to 37 attorneys. The firm says demand has exceeded expectations since opening in Nashville, and the Vogel Group will share the new office.
✹ PAMPHLETEER TOOLS
Pamphleteer Tools Council Watch tells you who funds your councilmember and how they vote. The Property Tax Calculator tells you what that cost you.
DEVELOPMENT
- Runout Record Shop announces soft opening at Alison's Record Shop site (NBJ)
- Centennial Park-area building listed for $975K (Post)
- Germantown site eyed for mixed-use building (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
🎸 Six Foot Blonde @ The Basement, 9p, $13, Info
+ soulful indie pop
🎸 An Intimate Evening with Copeland @ The Blue Room, 7p, $37.98, Info
+ chill emo adjacent
🎸 Umphrey's McGee @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, 8p, $54, Info
🎸 Undie Fest 5 @ The Underdog, $10, Info
🪕 Richard Bennett @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, Info
🎸 Country Club Day ft. The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12:30p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley's Heroes @ Robert's Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
SATURDAY
🎸 Greta Van Fleet @ The Basement East, 8:30, Info
🎸 Sunn O))) @ The Caverns, 8p, $59.50, Info
🎸 Umphrey's McGee @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, 8p, $54, Info
🎸 Undie Fest 5 @ The Underdog, $10, Info
🪕 Shawn Lane & The Lane Brothers @ Station Inn, 9p, $20, Info
🎸 Kelley's Heroes @ Robert's Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
SUNDAY
🎸 Undie Fest 5 @ The Underdog, No Cover, Info
🪕 Bluegrass Jam @ Station Inn, 7p, Free, Info
+ a night for musicians and singers from all over the world to gather and enjoy making music together
🪕 Sundays Between with Easy Green @ Tennessee Brew Works, 1p, Info
+ a fusion of two beloved musical genres – Bluegrass and the iconic sounds of the Grateful Dead!
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Davis Hunt, Megan Podsiedlik, and Camelia Brennan.