Money for Something

Good afternoon, everyone.

Listened to the Titans game on the radio while I did some work on my car yesterday. This is now my preferred way to monitor these games. I don’t have to see how bad Will Levis’ pass was, I can just listen to the ticker tape of events. Takes the edge off the unforced errors. Highly recommend.

In political news, the Tennessean issued a second report on Bill Lee’s business development voyage to France and Italy. In their first account, the paper had cast aspersions on the governor’s excessive expenditures during the trip. Total expenses for the group amounted to $117,000 for flights, hotel accommodations, meals, and transportation. The delegation consisted of six state employees, two of their wives, and two members of the governor’s security detail.

As it turns out, the trip was fruitful, leading to $184 million in investments from four different companies and 583 new jobs. Most of these came from Schneider Electric, which has a longstanding relationship with the state and facilities in East, West, and Middle Tennessee. 

It’s easy to criticize the delegation for their staying in luxury hotels and the like, but who would  want to do business with an entity unwilling to put its top brass up nice? What would that say about how they would treat you? You don't want to do business with someone who is too cheap and miserly. You also want some indication that your prospective business partner has money and resources. Sure, it sounds superficial, but that’s how deals are made.

Onward.

🗣️ Let’s Talk On Friday, Mayor O’Connell encouraged robust conversation about his four proposed “public safety” bills that passed on first reading last week. “I am legitimately interested in hearing public comment on those, which I imagine there will be some,” he said. “I'm very interested in council member deliberation on those because what we heard from several council members, lots of Metro employees representing different departments, people participating or trying to participate in [the] public comment hearing when we had disruption in this building was that a lot of these steps would be very welcome.” 

O’Connell recognized that some found his legislative response to be “too strong,” but “...from the standpoint of safety and prevention of violence, it's worth exploring.” He then explained that  the new bills would allow Metro to regulate groups of less than 25 people involved in “intimidating” activities. 

When we asked how easy it would be to determine a group’s premeditation or to identify whether someone was wearing a mask out of malice, the mayor said it would be a hurdle. “I do think that it presents challenges from both what is the actual legality and what are the actual constitutional protections in play,” he said. “And then, yeah, what can be meaningfully enforced? And that's why I'm interested in public discussion about it.”

While O’Connell hopes everyone will weigh in on these bills, it’s worth comparing his encouraging attitude to the silence surrounding the passage of the transit referendum, which made it through all three readings on the consent agenda without so much as a floor discussion. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🚌 Fourth Quarter Comeback During last week’s roundtable, the mayor took care to highlight an uptick in WeGo ridership. “The airport…route is one and a half times pre-pandemic levels,” he said. “Murfreesboro Pike up 133 percent, Dickerson Pike up 124 percent, and Nolensville Pike up 118 percent. We know that when we make transit more accessible, ridership always increases.”

Though the number of Nashvillians using public transit to commute had been dwindling since before former mayor Megan Barry’s transit proposal in 2018, O’Connell attributed the slow ridership recovery over the last four years to COVID and a change in work patterns. “I think you're seeing two things here: One is a return to a level of comfort just being in a vehicle with other people,” he explained. “Two is, I think you're starting to see some stability in the workforce in terms of employers that have… gone back to an in-office strategy, a stable hybrid in-office/remote strategy, and those that may still be fully remote.” MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🅿️ Park It Today, the Traffic and Parking Commission will consider extending Metro meters from a two-hour parking limit to a maximum of ten hours, as well as reducing Metro parking rates for underutilized spaces. Last week, the mayor also signed off on a $250,000 contract, hiring a company from Minnesota to do an analysis of Nashville’s off-street parking conditions and signal timing. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

HOW OLD IS YOUR CITY'S SKYLINE?

DEVELOPMENT

• Small east side commercial building sells for $1.1M (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

🎸 Common and Pete Rock @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, 8p, $36.5 Info

🎸 Timbo & Lonesome Country @ Jane's Hideaway, 8p, Info

🎸 Open Mic Mondays @ Tennessee Brew Works, 6p, Free, 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

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.