No. 344: Jahangir in the Hot Seat

📰 Here's what we're talking about today:

Intro Davis introduces Matt Malkus' review of Alex Jahangir's book on his oversight of the pandemic in Nashville.
Nashville Megan catches us up on the latest with the East Bank development and notes new AG Skrmetti's opposition to a proposed piece of energy legislation.
And More Katherine Dee joins Tucker Carlson to talk about the school shooter phenomenon and how people are afraid to address the real root of the problem.

Good morning, everyone.

The main event this morning is Matt Malkus' review of Alex Jahangir's new memoir detailing the challenges he faced over the course of the pandemic. If you remember, Jahangir was knighted as Nashville's "COVID Czar" and oversaw many of the policy decisions the city rolled out during the pandemic. His memoir reflects a striking lack of inner reflection and no admission that the course of action the city government took was wrong or misguided.

Matt's review does a good job of laying thread-bar why many of the decisions Jahangir is now celebrated for were harmful. You can read his review here.

Onward.

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Thanks for reading.

❏ A BRIEF STADIUM UPDATE

While open meetings and briefings have taken place regarding the development of the East Bank, questions are still looming about the Titans' Stadium. Let’s take a look at what factors might come into play over the next few months.

BACKGROUND

The Mayor’s office released their Imagine East Bank Vision Plan last month and the projected plan includes two different locations for the Titan’s Stadium build. Though it is unclear whether a new stadium will be built or the old one will be renovated, the $500M in state funding for the project that was signed off on by Governor Lee is contingent on the stadium being covered.

As the numbers continue to change, the initial cost of renovating the existing stadium steadily climbed from $600M to upwards of $1.8B when adding costs of things like steel framing and a retractable roof. A new stadium build could cost anywhere from $1.9B to $2.2B, $1B of which could be coming from taxpayer money. Demolition of the old stadium is a matter yet to be discussed.

THE POLITICS OF IT

In an Axios article published yesterday it was pointed out that Metro’s timeline to finalize the development plan before General Session might be an attempt to avoid retaliation in the form of interference from Republican legislators. You may recall that Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) led the charge of the Senate's removing the $500M bond proposed by the Governor’s office from the state budget. The House committee left the bond attached and the Governor ultimately signed the bill into law, including the $500M bond deal.

There seems to be internal drama within Metro Government as well. Council members have expressed concerns about the pace of the plan and whether their constituents would get answers before decisions are finalized. Affordable housing, equitable development initiatives, and inquiries about the cost of the projects from taxpayers were mentioned during the last East Bank Development Committee meeting. Council members appeared to be frustrated with an opaque Mayor’s office.

Center Square also reported, “Metro Nashville denied an open records request for its internal communications related to Nashville's East Bank, citing a "deliberative process privilege" exemption to the state's open records law.”

MORE ON THE EAST BANK

An East Bank Development meeting addressing the waterfront and boating community will take place tonight at the Sonny West Conference Center on 2nd Avenue South at 6 p.m.. We will report more on the East Bank Development plans tomorrow.

Metro is still accepting community input on the development projects from the public until Friday, Sept. 30th. (More Info)

↯ AG OPPOSES ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY ACT

Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined 18 other state AGs opposing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022 citing that the proposed legislation is a “back-door attempt to impose the failed Clean Power Plan.”

From the press release of the letter signed by the 18 attorneys general addressing Senate Leadership:

The Act will allow the restriction of the electric grid by abrogating states’ traditional authority to set their own resource and utility policies, and upset the careful balance of states and federal authority that has been a cornerstone of the Federal Power Act (FPA) for nearly a century.

In short, the attorneys general argue the Act would prevent states from being able to chart their own land-use and energy policies.

FROM GENERAL SKRMETTI

General Jonathan Skrmetti is quoted in the briefing stating, “This legislation threatens Tennessee’s continued access to affordable, reliable, resilient power. I fear that if this passes, California’s power grid problems will become our power grid problems.”

HEADLINES

Larger Tennessee Cities Rank Among Poorest In The Country (TCN) Morristown, Johnson City, and Kingsport-Bristol rank among the poorest metropolitan areas in the country.
Hillsboro Village residents mourn loss of McDougal's Chicken after major fire (Channel 5) Lunchtime at McDougal’s Chicken Fingers & Wings Hillsboro Village location was interrupted Monday after Nashville Firefighters arrived to investigate a fire.
Two Months in, 988 Hotline Levels Out (Scene) 988 saw a spike in calls in the days following the launch, up to more than 1,000 statewide in the first week, according to state data. Before the launch, the weekly call volume was averaging around 725, and in recent weeks counts have settled around 811 on average.

POLITICS

Legislation To End Transgender Surgeries On Tennessee Minors Likely In 2023 (TCN) Legislation was presented and considered during the last session of the Tennessee General Assembly that would have prevented Vanderbilt’s mutilation of minors but it was killed in the Senate. Now, some Republican legislators are stating that new legislation is likely in 2023 that would effectively remove Vanderbilt’s ability to perform transgender surgeries.
House chairman knocks charter commission override authority (Lookout) The House chairman of the Joint Government Operations Subcommittee on Tuesday criticized the authority of a state commission to overrule local school boards that turn down charter school applications.

DEVELOPMENT

SoBro hotel developer claims contractor delays, defects have cost millions (Post)
Georgia-Pacific Announces $425 Million Investment in Jackson, Tennessee (Star)
L.A. developer pays $4.72M for Midtown properties (Post)
Music Valley property offered for $11M (Post)
Chicago developer pays $8.05M for North Davidson site (Post)
Permit issued for mixed-use Midtown building project (Post)

✹ CHART OF THE DAY: OLD CONGRESS

⚔ MISSIVES ⚔

💥 European governments raced to safeguard their energy infrastructure after detecting leaks on two major Russian natural-gas pipelines that officials said were the result of sabotage.
🏦 House Democrats released their bill to ban stock trading by members of Congress, judges and senior government officials as they work to gather enough votes to pass legislation through the House before the midterm elections.
🌵 The teachers’ union-backed campaign to overturn school-choice expansion in Arizona appears to have flopped, according to think tank projections relying on preliminary vote tallies.
🏛 Today, the White House released its five-pillar strategy to end hunger by 2030 in advance of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health that begins on Wednesday.
📉 Morgan Stanley’s Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Michael Wilson said that he’s convinced a corporate earnings recession is coming—and that it could be worse than a “normal” recession.
💸 Joe Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for federal aid borrowers is expected to cost about $400 billion. The estimate is for a period of the next 30 years and will add to the country's deficit.

THINGS TO DO

View the full calendar here.

🍺 The Pamphleteer hosts Bar Hours on the third Thursday of every month (the next meeting is this Thursday, October 20th) at Lucky's 3 Star Bar from 6-8 PM.

🤠 Undie Fest - September 29th through October 2nd, 60 artists, 2 stages all at the Underdog in East Nashville.

👨🏻‍🌾 The Pamphleteer farmer's market guide.

⚔️ The Knights in Armor exhibit is running till October 10th at the Frist: European arms and armor from the renowned collection of the Museo Stibbert in Florence, Italy.

🎧 Listen to the Pamphleteer's Picks on Spotify, our playlist of the best bands playing in town this week.

TONIGHT

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

🎻 Chamber Ensemble: Brahms Sextet @ The Grove Church, 7p, Free, Info
+ Part of the Nashville Symphony's neighborhood residency in Edgehill

🎙 Shannon McNally @ Dee's Lounge, 8p, $10, Info
+ Country/western

🎸 James Carothers @ Nashville Palace, 9p, Free, Info
+ Honky tonk

🍸 Electric relaxation @ Bar Sovereign, 9p, Free, Info

ON THE RADAR

🕺 Remi Wolf @ Brooklyn Bowl, (10/6), $30, Info
+ Young talented funk/pop/hip-hop singer, one of the few

🎸 Yes @ Ryman, (10/11), $60, Info

🕯 W.I.T.C.H. @ Blue Room, (10/17), $15, Info
+ The biggest rock band in Zambia in the 1970s and spearheaded a new genre: Zamrock

🎻 Mozart & Tchaikovsky@ Schermerhorn, (10/28-29), $25+, Info

🎸 Smashing Pumpkins @ Bridgestone Arena, (10/10), $133+, Info
+ 90's alt-rock from Chicago

🎸 The Doobie Brothers @ Bridgestone Arena, (10/12), $43+, Info

🎺 Too Many Zooz @ Basement East, (10/31), $20, Info

🎸 Widespread Panic @ Bridgestone (10/30-31), Info

🌶 The Gypsy Kings @ The Ryman, (11/1), $39.50, Info
+ The roving band of flamenco guitarists

🎻 Sierra Farrell's NYE Circus Spectacular @ Brooklyn Bowl, (12/31), $35+, Info

🎙 Weyes Blood @ Brooklyn Bowl (2/22), $23+, Info