No. 676: Keep Out
📅 Today, Davis talks about tourism again, Miles talks about the Preds hot streak, and Megan recaps Saturdy's contentious meeting on zoning reform.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Miami Beach rolled out a campaign at the end of last week declaring the city’s "break up with spring break." The city will implement curfews, bag checks, restricted beach access, DUI checkpoints, $100 parking, and strong police enforcement for drug possession and violence. The push comes after back-to-back shootings left two dead and massive crowds prompted a state of emergency during spring break last year.
Capturing the mood well, the headline on a story in USA Today this morning reads 'Miami, Florida cities brace for spring break 2024.' Something about this whole thing is hilarious to me. Cities bracing for spring break as though it’s a hurricane or or some other natural force we can do nothing to deter.
This isn't unique to Florida. Sought-after towns and cities across the country are breaking up with tourism.
Up in Vermont, the small town of Pomfret, which has become famous for its fall foliage, shut down the most trafficked tourist roads from September 23rd to October 15th this year, besieged by the overwhelming amount of leaf-peepers.
That's a small example, but consider Amsterdam's 'Stay Away' campaign targeted at British visitors to discourage drug tourism. In Spain, a coalition of anti-tourist activists has sprung up, slashing bike tires, throwing flares into restaurants, and attacking sightseeing buses. Meanwhile, Japan hiked bullet train pass prices up 70% for non-citizens last year.
Nashville is in the early innings of its back-and-forth with the demands of the tourism industry. O'Connell's campaign was all about giving residents more attention (something you'll learn some council members are having a hard time accepting from Megan below). What that means exactly is not yet clear over five months into his first term.
Anyway, in my opinion, we should just keep raising the taxes on tourists. After a couple of drinks, financial considerations tend to fly out the window.
Onward.
⽕ SMASHVILLE IS FLAMING HOT
From Miles Harrington
Just a little over two weeks ago the media was abuzz with rumors that the Predators’ locker room was imploding. Some even alluded to the idea that Head Coach Andrew Burnette had lost the team, and rumors circulated that his tenure as the lead man behind the bench could be short lived. Well, that massive overreaction was smacked across the face emphatically. Since an embarrassing beatdown at the hands of rival Dallas in Bridgestone, the Preds are on fire.
↬ NEST NEXTED BY DISGRUNTLED NASHVILLIANS
From Megan Podsiedlik
Nashville’s Essential Structures for Togetherness sounds like a harmonious endeavor, but the group’s divisions were apparent when Davidson County residents gathered on Belmont’s campus for a public meeting this Saturday. The NEST initiative is made up of nine pieces of legislation spearheaded by Quin Evans Segall, a freshman at-large council member who wants to reimagine zoning regulations to usher in a denser Nashville.
Segall's changes, which she claims will help Nashville tackle its middle-income housing crisis, jarred her fellow council members when they abruptly appeared on the docket at the end of January. After pushback during committee meetings and a contentious floor discussion during the bills’ introduction on February 6th, most of their first readings were deferred until April 2nd.
In the meantime, Evans Segall scheduled multiple community meetings to educate Nashvillians on the implications of the new zoning laws, which encourage small scale infill housing development; relax regulations for building materials, facades, and lot size; and widens the market for duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes, among other things.
“We’re just here to talk about the legislation,” Segall said before introducing herself to the room. “The legislation has not even, for the most part, had first reading. And many of it, we expect, will take several years to get through council.” She then referred to misinformation being spread online and how further discussion will help air out any concerns and help shape things going forward.
As the at-large member made her way through her presentation, she addressed single family housing: “We know, and we’ve known as long as we’ve had cities, that single family homes don’t pay for themselves. Single family homes are frankly the single biggest drain on our budget—”
“Back that claim up,” interjected one attendee, who could be heard on the meeting’s Facebook live stream. “Tell us why, tell us how.”
As the meeting dragged on, the crowd—including those barred from entering the meeting room due to capacity restrictions—grew frustrated. Not only were questions limited to those offered on a set of cue cards, most questions weren’t addressed during the meeting, further stoking the already inflamed Nashvillians who took time out of their weekend to attend.
At one point, under pressure from those in attendance, Segall indignantly stated, “I work for the city of Nashville,” to which the restless room of constituents were awe struck. “You work for the taxpayers,” replied one attendee.
Pushback against both the decorum of the crowd and Evan Segall’s zoning legislation flooded social media following the meeting. Interestingly, some of the studies Segall referenced showing support for her legislation were conducted by the same independent nonprofit Mayor O’Connell gleefully cited during Friday’s media roundtable: Imagine Nashville.
As of now, there are just two more public meetings scheduled in March before the majority of the NEST zoning bills are introduced in April. However, there is one bill scheduled for its first reading this Thursday, which aims “to eliminate minimum lot areas for multi-family, mobile homes, and non-residential uses in…Residential Multi-Family zoning districts.”
HEADLINES
150K+ deer harvested in TN for 2023-2024 season (WKRN) The numbers show out of the thousands of deer that were harvested, 60% were male and 40% were female. Data shows that Middle Tennessee counties led the way this season, with majority being in the top 10 for the amount of deer harvested.
Tennessee deploys National Guard to Texas as political fight over border increases (Tennessean) Tennessee will deploy two waves of National Guard troops to the border through the spring as Republican governors across the country continue to back Texas in its ongoing feud with federal authorities over immigration enforcement.
MLK Jr. Magnet School community pleads with district leaders to keep middle school grades (Firefly) Currently, MLK’s high school is under capacity with 300 seats available and nine empty classrooms. There is a waitlist for its middle school enrollment.
DEVELOPMENT
- Carter Vintage Guitars Officially Opens At Paseo South Gulch In Nashville (Now Next)
- Jack Brown's plans two Greater Nashville locations (NBJ)
- Status unclear regarding high-rise eyed for Pie Town (Post)
- Rezoning vote set for Publix project eyed for west side (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.
TONIGHT
🎸 Bombay Bicycle Club @ Brooklyn Bowl, 8p, $40.65+, Info
+ English indie rock
🎸 Wesley Dean @ The Basement, 7p, $12.85, Info
+ Americana roots
💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 8p, Free, Info
🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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- And check out our podcast, YouTube, and article archive for more.