Maxing Out Civic Bandwidth

Last night, after an hour and a half of formal discussion, the die was cast: Metro Council chose to defer two Charter Amendments, making Mayor O’Connell’s transit referendum the crown jewel of Davidson County’s November ballot. It was East Nashville’s Councilmember Clay Capp who motioned to postpone the vote: “We've put…a historic, meaningful, potentially giant transformation for Nashville on the ballot already this year in the form of the transit referendum,” he said. “I think we ought to do what we can in our public communications, in our meetings, in our communications with everyone across town to focus on and campaign for transit.”

Though Capp feared loading the ticket with amendments would distract from the referendum, some of his colleagues weren’t as eager to sacrifice their chance to present a few Charter changes. “Remember, we only have two times a term to put Charter Amendments up,” said Councilmember Tom Cash of West End. “I worry about ballot fatigue in 2026 if we're going to put everything, all of our Charter Amendment eggs, in one basket.”

The majority sided with Capp: seventeen months from now, the council will revisit Charter Amendment One, which would address the procedures to fill a vacancy of the director of finance’s office, and Charter Amendment Four, which would introduce a break from regular council meetings during the month of September (presumably to curb confusion during council elections and give members time off).

Notably, neither Charter Amendment Two, which would have permitted non-US citizens to work for the Nashville Fire Department, nor Charter Amendment Three, which would have lowered the minimum age to run for Metro Council from 25 to 18, made the cut.

Though many council members mentioned their desire to see more young blood in the mix— “I want the average age of this body to be 25, not 45,” said Councilmember Emily Benedict—multiple members took issue with the amendment’s use of the term “qualified voter” to determine the eligibility of a candidate. 

Councilmember Quin Evans Segall noted that the phrase limited those with prior felony convictions from serving, “though, with recent comments by Attorney General Skrmetti with respect to former President Donald Trump, I think that that is now an open question.”

However, the most entertaining argument against the bill came from Councilmember Jeff Preptit, who pondered the development of a human’s cerebral cortex during a Charter Revision Committee meeting three months ago. "You've got, like, a God complex whenever you're younger,” he said at the time. “You're not necessarily always fully able to grasp the long-term implications of certain decisions.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🧢 Compromise This Last council meeting, you’ll remember CM Courtney Johnston brought forth a late-filed resolution condemning the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. CMs Terry Vo and Ginny Welsch snuffed out the opportunity to hear the resolution. Nevertheless, she persisted, and her legislation appeared on the docket this week. But not without fanfare.

On the agenda was a proposed substitution put forth by CM Porterfield which, among other things, cut the language specific to the attempt on Trump’s life to condemn more broadly all forms of political violence, such as the assassination of Malcolm X, Trump’s “inflammatory rhetoric directing neo-fascist white nationalists to ‘fight like hell’” alongside other political violence such as the “forced continuation of pregnancies,” and “violence at borders such as the use of razor wire in the Rio Grande” (yes, really). “This is a nation that unfortunately has been built on political violence,” Porterfield droned in support of her resolution. “I think it’s important for us to recognize that and to name that, but also, to speak against it.”

When it came time to vote on the resolution, the council split Porterfield’s proposed substitution into its own resolution, so both were voted on separately. The resolution put forth by Porterfield was passed unanimously, and Johnston’s Trump-specific resolution passed 30-3-1 with three no votes from Joy Kimbrough, Ginny Welsch, and Deonte Harrell and one abstention from Antoinette Lee.

Vice Mayor Angie Henderson congratulated the council on reaching a compromise between the two resolutions, but what was there to compromise on in the first place? DAVIS HUNT

📰 Quick Headlines Lipscomb University issued a “Heritage Statement” affirming their commitment to the traditional definition of marriage being between “one man and one woman.” According to Tennessee Conservative News, the school is preparing for backlash from Nashville LGBTQ groups.

Late last week, the FBI executed a search warrant on Rep. Andy Ogles over his campaign financial filings. According to Ogles, his cell phone was confiscated, and he fully intends to cooperate with the agency for the course of the investigation, saying the slip-up was a result of “honest mistakes, and nothing more.” The Tennessee Star insinuated that the investigation was a political response to the impeachment papers Ogles filed against sitting Vice President Kamabla Harris.

DEVELOPMENT

• Scrap recycler moves some East Bank activity to West Nashville site (NBJ)
• Controversial tower project on Eighth Avenue lands approval (NBJ)
• Pie Town properties listed for $12.4M (Post)
• Villa Castrioti opening downtown looms (Post)
• Segment of industrial park sells for $71.5M (Post)
• Mel’s Drive-In to open first location outside of California (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

🎸 Rough Lovers @ The Basement, 9p, $12.85, Info

🪕 Pam Setser Band @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info

🎸 Kenny Vaughan's Imperial Blues Hour @ Dee's Lounge, 8:30p, $10, Info

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

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.

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