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# More is More?
- URL: https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/more-is-more/
- Published: 2026-10-07T19:52:37.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-07T19:52:37.000Z
- Description: 📜 Will No Right Turn on Red actually prevent pedestrian deaths? · TN farmers allowed to use untaxed diesel · Pike regains consciousness, victim’s mother says justice wasn't served · Much more!
- Author: The Pamphleteer
- Tags: Newsletter

****Good afternoon, everyone.** Last night at Metro Council: Will No Right Turn on Red actually prevent pedestrian deaths... Tennessee farmers allowed to use untaxed diesel on roads... Pike regains consciousness after failed execution, victim’s mother says justice wasn't served... And much more!  
  
****Tonight: The Limits of Mastery** Join us tonight for an evening with James Poulos as we continue the conversation about how the government should approach rapid advances in AI, Dostoevsky, human agency, and the spiritual stakes of technological power. ([Buy Tickets](https://luma.com/the-vq7c?ref=pamphleteer.co))  
  
****ICE in Nashville, By the Numbers** Check out our new page that shows ICE arrests in Davidson County, including the 47 countries those people were deported to, how long they'd lived in the U.S., and a county-by-county map of the state. ([See all the charts](https://pamphleteer.co/nashville-ice/))  
  
****Big Council Watch Update.** Our council tracking tool is no longer just a campaign finance scorecard. Follow your councilmember, and we'll tell you what they actually do. ([Take a look](https://councilwatch.pamphleteer.co/?ref=pamphleteer.co))  
  
****Like what we do?** Forward us to a friend.

#### Nashville’s council wants to do something about pedestrian deaths. The question is whether the something will do anything.

*From [Megan Podsiedlik](https://pamphleteer.co/author/megan/)*

Perhaps it was accidental foreshadowing or simply an attempt to highlight the efficiency of the current council as multiple candidates jockey for the vice mayor's seat, but Vice Mayor Angie Henderson set the tone of last night’s [meeting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNHXllwtgBk&t=547s&ref=pamphleteer.co).

“In the last year, since October 1st of 2025 through the second meeting of September of 2026, Council has adopted 768 resolutions,” said Henderson at the top of the meeting. “Ninety-four of those were honoring, recognizing, memorializing, or commemorating someone or something, or requesting, or urging, or denouncing a particular policy or legislative action.”  
  
There have also been 470 ordinances passed, for a total of 1,238 actions. “We have crossed midnight three times in the last year, but most of our meetings end between 8 and 10 p.m.,” concluded Henderson.

All of this serves as a reminder of the volume of work the council takes on throughout the year. But as the body moved into the meat of the agenda, the debate over the No Right Turn on Red legislation underscored how some of that work can come across as frivolous to members of the body itself. Particularly when a sense of urgency may be ushering in a solution that, in the end, may not be as useful as it first appeared.

Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda and other council members [introduced](https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/red-light-politics/) the[ No Right Turn on Red proposal](https://councilwatch.pamphleteer.co/legislation/BL2026-1497?ref=pamphleteer.co) amid a rise in pedestrian deaths, underscored by a deadly [Lower Broadway crash](https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2026/08/02/broadway-car-crash-leaves-pedestrian-dead-victim-identified-by-police/91140498007/?ref=pamphleteer.co) that killed an Australian tourist and injured three others. Initially, the restriction would affect more than 740 intersections across the Urban Services District. Last meeting, the council adopted a narrower version of the bill as [substituted](https://nashville.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15853688&GUID=0011B2CA-1399-4C7B-A000-F7D72AD5C5AF&ref=pamphleteer.co) by Sepulveda which would only initially allow No Right Turn on Red at 59 previously studied downtown intersections. Up to [386 additional intersections](https://www.wsmv.com/2026/09/15/traffic-commission-approves-drastically-scaled-back-proposal-ban-right-turns-red-nashville/?utm%5Fcampaign=daily%5Fdigest&utm%5Fsource=newsletter-daily&utm%5Fmedium=email&user%5Femail=1c3730980b7222067f3133bf9520c8629f6eaeada977ec764e138b9737ef80ba&user%5Femail%5Fmd5=ed216d6b12c4e2a64852dd2d4b7efb15&lctg=60e70ca9e03efb5b79694047) would also be studied over the next nine months.

Last night, the council was set to take up several amendments intended to address concerns with the bill’s language following additional public input. But the debate over those changes began well before the legislation reached the floor, starting with public comment.

“Where NDOT used a scalpel, this seems to be a shotgun approach,” Ezra Howard told the council, arguing that an amendment proposed by Councilmember Jacob Kupin (whose district would be most affected by the legislation) relies too heavily on accident data and would create gaps in the proposed No Right Turn on Red restrictions downtown.  
  
Howard cited an [article](https://peoplesjournalism.org/?ref=pamphleteer.co#article&read=byt-numbers-no-turn-on-red) he wrote about the legislation where he reviewed publicly available data to examine the 59 intersections proposed for No Right Turn on Red. He found 146 incidents within 50 feet of those locations and concluded that new signs should be implemented because the intersections have substantial activity.  
  
But the same overall weakness in the argument remains: the data doesn't show whether the crashes were actually caused by right turns on red.

“The mayor asked for a pilot. We did not get a pilot. We got a substitute written so the same idea could survive,” said Councilmember Jeff Eslick when speaking in opposition to the bill. “The numbers don't carry this. Eighteen accidents in five years at those 59 corners involving a right-turning vehicle and a pedestrian. Not a right turn on red, but a right turn.”

He concluded that Metro has written 225 tickets over the last year for violations that already exist. “Pedestrian deaths are up anyway,” said Eslick. “Doing something is not the same as doing the thing that would have prevented the crash, and the people have said no.”  
  
The council ultimately deferred the legislation on second reading for one meeting with a re-referral to the Budget & Finance, Transportation & Infrastructure, and Public Health & Safety committees. No amendments were adopted.

✰ ✰ ✰

#### ✹   **THE LIMITS OF MASTERY**

[![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/2026/09/6f7d85ca-d374-4980-b2d3-ceb9d50dfa90.jpg)](https://luma.com/the-vq7c?ref=pamphleteer.co)

**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 tonight, Wednesday, October 7 for a conversation on AI, Dostoevsky, human agency, and the spiritual stakes of technological power.

[Buy Tickets](https://luma.com/the-vq7c?ref=pamphleteer.co)

*This event benefits The Pamphleteer, Nashville and is priced with that in mind. Bard-level subscribers receive free, privileged admittance.*

✰ ✰ ✰

[![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/2026/10/newsletter-preview.png)](https://pamphleteer.co/nashville-ice/)

🧊 **ICE in Nashville, By the Numbers** ICE arrests in Davidson County have climbed through Trump's second term. In May 2025, during Operation Flood the Zone, ICE arrested 74 people in a single day. We charted three and a half years of ICE records from the Deportation Data Project:

- **2,276** people arrested in Nashville have been deported since January 2023.
- **76%** of people arrested here since January 2025 have already been deported.
- **15%** of all deportations of people arrested in Tennessee were people arrested in Davidson County, more than any other county.

The page also covers the 47 countries those people were deported to, how long they'd lived in the U.S., and a county-by-county map of the state. ([See all the charts](https://pamphleteer.co/nashville-ice/))

✰ ✰ ✰

#### HEADLINES 

- 🚜 **Tennessee farmers allowed to use untaxed diesel on roads.** Governor Bill Lee is allowing farmers and loggers to use tax-exempt, red-dyed diesel on public roads through the end of October, providing relief as diesel prices remain unusually high during harvest season. The move follows President Donald Trump’s temporary deferral of federal taxes and enforcement on dyed diesel, although the federal order does not itself eliminate the underlying tax obligations. ([Lookout](https://tennesseelookout.com/2026/10/06/tennessee-governor-lets-farmers-use-untaxed-diesel-on-roads-after-trump-defers-federal-enforcement/?utm%5Fsource=newsletters.tennesseelookout.com&utm%5Fmedium=newsletter&utm%5Fcampaign=firing-up-the-chair&%5Fbhlid=c3347550d9b9f2c365040ce6fcd229bbb81fbda3))
- ⚖️ **Pike regains consciousness after failed execution, victim’s mother says justice wasn't served.** According to reports released yesterday afternoon, Christa Pike has [regained consciousness](https://wpln.org/post/christa-pike-conscious-and-able-to-speak-after-failed-execution/?utm%5Fsource=Nashville+Public+Radio&utm%5Fcampaign=99181914c1-nashvillager%5F021025%5FCOPY%5F01&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fterm=0%5F-ffaa545e30-197670614&mc%5Fcid=99181914c1&mc%5Feid=a55152012c) and is able to speak following last week’s failed execution. The botched procedure has renewed questions about the state’s execution protocols. May Martinez, the mother of Colleen Slemmer, whom Pike murdered in 1995, expressed [anger and frustration](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/article/how-the-family-of-christa-pikes-victim-colleen-slemmer-reacted-to-failed-execution-its-a-mess-104309114.html?utm%5Fsource=Nashville+Public+Radio&utm%5Fcampaign=99181914c1-nashvillager%5F021025%5FCOPY%5F01&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fterm=0%5F-ffaa545e30-197670614&mc%5Fcid=99181914c1&mc%5Feid=a55152012c) over the failed execution: “I didn’t get justice for my daughter.”
- **📜 Hagerty calls for pulling Jack Smith’s inactive law license.** Senator Bill Hagerty has filed a formal complaint with Tennessee’s Board of Professional Responsibility seeking to disbar former special counsel Jack Smith, whose Tennessee law license is currently inactive. Hagerty alleges Smith violated professional and constitutional obligations by withholding information from a federal court while obtaining phone records belonging to Hagerty and other members of Congress during the Arctic Frost investigation. ([TNJ](https://pro.stateaffairs.com/tn/politics/hagerty-seeks-smith-disbarment?ref=AAAAAAAFhccAANioAA))

✰ ✰ ✰

#### ✹ **PAMPHLETEER TOOLS**

![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/2026/09/Metro-in-english.png)

**Pamphleteer Tools** [Council Watch](https://councilwatch.pamphleteer.co/?ref=pamphleteer.co) tells you who funds your councilmember and how they vote. The [Property Tax Calculator](https://tax.pamphleteer.co/?ref=pamphleteer.co) tells you what that cost you.

✰ ✰ ✰

#### DEVELOPMENT

- 12South yoga studio owner buys Five Points building ([Post](https://www.nashvillepost.com/five-points-building-sells-for-2-67m/article%5F5b6e03ce-4547-46fc-bbba-912ff70c650b.html?utm%5Fsource=ActiveCampaign&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcontent=AM%20News%3A%20Metro%20Council%20delays%20right-on-red%20restriction%20vote&utm%5Fcampaign=Nashville%20Post%20100726%20Wednesday&vgo%5Fee=BNfNrirKp8gXNjp1T66i12S33XgAjDSornfJ%2BNFemhhFnxA%3D%3AUHI%2Buz5b7Og4tB2%2BtdBu%2Bz9LPP%2BCzkn0))

✰ ✰ ✰

![Entertainment](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/2022/01/Group-27.png) 

12South yoga studio owner buys Five Points building ([Post](https://www.nashvillepost.com/five-points-building-sells-for-2-67m/article%5F5b6e03ce-4547-46fc-bbba-912ff70c650b.html?utm%5Fsource=ActiveCampaign&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcontent=AM%20News%3A%20Metro%20Council%20delays%20right-on-red%20restriction%20vote&utm%5Fcampaign=Nashville%20Post%20100726%20Wednesday&vgo%5Fee=BNfNrirKp8gXNjp1T66i12S33XgAjDSornfJ%2BNFemhhFnxA%3D%3AUHI%2Buz5b7Og4tB2%2BtdBu%2Bz9LPP%2BCzkn0))

#### THINGS TO DO

*View our calendar for the week* [*here*](https://pamphleteer.co/calendar/events-for-the-week-of-october-5th/)*.* 

📅 Visit our [On The Radar](https://pamphleteer.co/post/on-the-radar/) list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: [Pamphleteer's Picks](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/46Yds4VbS47NzRa4blrWUY?si=2040311a7d7f403f&ref=pamphleteer.co), a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville [farmer's market guide](https://pamphleteer.co/post/nashville-farmers-market-guide/). 

#### TONIGHT

📖 James Poulos: The Limits of Mastery @ Nashville, 6p, $25, [Info](https://luma.com/realpamphleteer?e=evt-hKp72BA93aSoF8r&ref=pamphleteer.co)

🎸 Caamp @ Ryman Auditorium, 7:30p, $214, [Info](https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/Z7r9jZ1A707Os?ref=pamphleteer.co)

🎻 Top Gun: Maverick In Concert @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $81, [Info](https://tickets.nashvillesymphony.org/10514/10515?ref=pamphleteer.co)

🎸 Songs & Stories by Larry Cordle and Friends Station Inn, 8p, [Info](https://stationinn.com/event/larry-cordle-songwriter-night-11/?ref=pamphleteer.co)

💀 Tennessee Dead @ Tennessee Brew Works, 6p, [Info](https://www.tnbrew.com/livemusic?ref=pamphleteer.co)  
  
🎸 Kelley's Heroes @ Robert's Western World, 6:30p, Free, [Info](https://www.robertswesternworld.com/band-schedule?ref=pamphleteer.co)

🎸 The Cowpokes @ Robert's Western World, 10:30p, Free, [Info](https://www.robertswesternworld.com/band-schedule?ref=pamphleteer.co)

🪕 Bluegrass Night @ The American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, [Info](https://www.instagram.com/bluegrasswednesday/?hl=en&ref=pamphleteer.co)

![In case you missed it...](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/2023/01/Group-20.png) 

📰 *Check out the full newsletter archive [here](https://pamphleteer.co/tag/newsletter/)*. 

[Council Watch🏛 Metro Council preview · TDOT sued over Choice Lanes partnerships · Bowling breaks ranks by backing Hatley for governor · Much more!![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/icon/square-ico-3a637b83-2034-42e0-942c-2c0e53de9566.png)The PamphleteerThe Pamphleteer![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1618771623063-6c3faa854a61-ff497345-a5e1-4bf5-b21e-c588f15b365c)](https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/council-watch/)

[What’s on Your Ballot🗳 2026 TN Amendments: What to Know · Oracle Saves Nashville Symphony · TN Correction Department leadership change · Much more!![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/icon/square-ico-7fb9da63-1f65-43de-ba85-f414b8378ee0.png)The PamphleteerThe Pamphleteer![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1571609549239-bf07fb79f702-61305a2f-0339-4dea-8faf-9f228519663d)](https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/whats-on-your-ballot/)

[Loose Screws🏙 O’Connell’s Capital Spending Plan · A sad tale from the Westside · Lyft/Flexdrive opens Nashville AV depot · Much more!![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/icon/square-ico-1acee4c5-013c-42e7-abea-8f7048d89d9d.png)The PamphleteerThe Pamphleteer![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/thumbnail/logan-voss-eFy1oAV2CxQ-unsplash-40f6dd13-3af0-4df0-ad1b-99fe9bfd6160.jpg)](https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/loose-screws/)

[Orange Isn’t My Color🟠 Former Stratford HS Assistant Principal alleges more MNPS grade manipulation · Dispatch from the Heart of the Beast premiere · Lee pauses all executions in TN · Much more!![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/icon/square-ico-78e89284-8c7d-42b3-a4ef-6b45c5370f70.png)The PamphleteerThe Pamphleteer![](https://pamphleteer.co/content/images/thumbnail/oragne--b19b0ac9-b16a-49a1-b3e6-4e1c7c337556.jpg)](https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/orange-isnt-my-color/)

*Today's newsletter is brought to you by* [*Davis Hunt*](https://pamphleteer.co/author/davis/)*,* [*Megan Podsiedlik*](https://pamphleteer.co/author/megan/)*, and* [*Camelia Brennan*](https://pamphleteer.co/author/camelia/)*.*