...Now You Must Lie In It
🔦 The gangs are here · Homelessness issues in Bellevue · New at the Frist · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Well, the rain let up and left behind it an icy, sunny day, thus marking the end of Fool's Spring and the beginning of Second Winter. Saturday's shaping up to be warm and rainy, but I'll let the experts haggle over whether that's the Spring of Deception or just a one-off.
Onward.
On Tuesday, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee charged a group of eight Venezuelan nationals—two of whom claimed affiliation with the gang Tren de Aragua—with “various offenses arising from their respective roles in a transnational commercial sex enterprise.” This is the second known instance in the past two months of arrests involving TdA members.
When TBI Director David Rausch warned in November that the gang was active in Tennessee, his remarks were interpreted by many elected officials and members of the media as hyperbolic. But Rausch opened his remarks by saying, “I don't think we're at the point of everyone having to watch outside their homes for this infiltration” in an attempt to get ahead of the hysteria.
Even still, publications like the Tennessee Lookout and Nashville politicians cast doubt on the claims. Mayor O’Connell, in the wake of Rausch’s comments, couldn’t muster a straight answer about whether or not the gang was active in the city.
A story run by the Lookout on the morning of January 8th aired the grievances of Rep. John Ray Clemmons. In a statement, Clemmons had then claimed that Rausch’s comments on the presence of TdA were “hyperbolic” and “choreographed” in part to “demonize” the immigrant community. In a tweet that same morning, Clemmons opined that the warnings about TdA activity “threaten the safety of many families I proudly represent.”
Ironically, later in the afternoon, news broke that MNPD had arrested five Venezuelan nationals on charges ranging from promoting prostitution to evading arrest. At least one of those arrested, it was later revealed, was a TdA member. Clemmons has since been silent on the issue.
For city officials at the state and local level, concern about the negative side effects of loose border enforcement puts them in a tough position. O’Connell and Clemmons, for their part, have piggy-backed off the support of the city’s progressive factions. They’ve made their bed, now they must lie in it.
No doubt, both are trying to avoid getting on the wrong side of the growing progressive coalition in the city where well-funded NGOs like Stand Up Nashville, the Equity Alliance, and Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition—astroturfed organizations that get much of their funding from out of state organizations—dangle the prospect of organizing against them should they fall on the wrong side of an issue. DAVIS HUNT
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🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.
🏚️ Homelessness In Bellevue If you discover a homeless encampment problem on your property, Metro Nashville Police Department may be unable to help you. “MNPD cannot require someone to leave your private property (camping on your property) if you do not have a trespass waiver on file with their office,” Councilmember Sheri Weiner informed her constituents in Tuesday’s Bellevue 22 Buzz newsletter.
The reminder came alongside Weiner’s announcement that there is a plan to clear the homeless encampment adjacent to the Bellevue Recycling Center. “When folks are living in encampments, they are not safe,” wrote Weiner, addressing those concerned about displacing the homeless located at the site. “They have become victim to their conditions, and may (and, in some cases, have) become victims of others. There are those who have become victims of them either through direct or indirect contact. How is any of that fair to anyone?”
Weiner also outlined the complicated nature of addressing homelessness, and pointed out how many simply refuse the wraparound services provided by the Office of Homeless Services and the Quality of Life team coordinated by Metro's West Precinct. “We continue to seek housing solutions,” wrote Weiner, “but, remember, there is no law at this time that requires them to accept.”
🗳️ Hagerty Forgoes Run For Governor On Tuesday, Senator Bill Hagerty announced that he will seek re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2026, opting out of a run for governor. In his address, Hagerty emphasized the need to stay in Washington to help the new administration tackle the border crisis, national security threats, and economic challenges. His decision is the latest in a string of announcements shaping up the roster for next year’s gubernatorial showdown. The two clearest Republican candidates hinting at their potential bid for Tennessee’s administrative office are Senator Marsha Blackburn and Congressman John Rose.
⛓️ Retractable Bollards On Broadway Alongside police presence and sidewalk bollards, salt trucks and mobile Meridian barricades are the two lines of defense currently deployed to protect Nashvillians during special events downtown. During Metro’s Traffic and Parking Commission meeting on Monday, Nashville Department of Transportation’s Scott Kibby told members that they’re hoping to add retractable bollards into the mix by establishing a pilot program east of Fifth Avenue on Broadway.
“They are designed to stop 60,000 pounds traveling at 50 miles per hour,” Kirby said, who explained that they can be operated both on-site or remotely and adjust to shut down entire roads or individual lanes. If successful, the pilot may expand to the entirety of Lower Broadway. Currently, NDOT is seeking funding from Metro’s capital budget but hopes to pursue additional funding from other sources, such as the Nashville Downtown Partnership.
DEVELOPMENT
- Sylvan Park Boarding House to show tourists a different side of city (NBJ)
- Wedgewood-Houston mixed-use property sells for $79.4M (Post)
- Edgehill Village listed for sale (Post)
✹ LATE WINTER AT THE FRIST ART MUSEUM
Like most cultural institutions, The Frist has struggled in the wake of the pandemic. But the timing for Nashville’s destination art museum couldn’t have been worse as it was in the middle of preparing a crown jewel Picasso retrospective that ended just as restrictions began lifting in 2021. While the museum has curated some exceptional programming over the last few years, including last summer’s Alexander McQueen Rendezvous, its current offerings demonstrate a glorious return to form.
Since it opened on January 31, Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism has drawn crowds similar to the museum’s pre-pandemic heights. Featuring dozens of paintings from France’s greatest Impressionists, including Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Rosa Bonheur, and Paul Gauguin, the exhibit “explores the intersections of art, gastronomy, and national identity in late nineteenth-century France.” Spanning representations of food from various class perspectives, the exhibit is divided into five sections that focus on farms in France and its colonial territories, merchants and customers of French markets, food workers, still-lifes of French foods ripe with symbolism, and dining tables and restaurants central to the period’s culinary culture.
While the event boasts its fair share of iconic images from Monet’s The Haystack (1891) to Renoir’s paintings of Algerian bananas, it also features an impressive collection of works that deserve equal attention. More than any other painting in the exhibit, Narcisse Chaillou’s Rat Seller During the Siege of Paris in 1870 (1871) demonstrates the haunting and often glossed-over effects that the Franco-Prussian war had on the homefront (Ratatouille it is not). The exhibit also makes a case for lesser-known Impressionists like Alfred Sisley, a pioneering figure of the movement who has somehow ended up as a footnote.
As always, The Frist has also devoted significant attention to positioning Farm to Table in local and global contexts. The exhibit directly links to Tennessee Harvest: 1870s-1920s, a collection of impressionist-influenced work from the state. The museum is also hosting What the Body Carries, an exhibit of Haitian art from M. Florine Démosthène and Didler William that shows France’s enduring influence on the Caribbean.
Those who make plans to visit The First this weekend will also be able to catch the final days of Journey Through Japan: Myths to Manga, an expansive collection that links the nation’s past with its inarguable stamp on global pop culture. Structured around representations of Sea, Sky, Forest, and City, the exhibit intersperses contemporary anime and consumer icons like Hello Kitty with a series of nineteenth-century woodcuts whose vibrant color challenges perceptions of what art looked like before the modernists. There isn’t a better anecdote to the last days of winter on Nashville’s cultural calendar.
Farm to Table runs through May 4th while Journey Through Japan ends Sunday. More information and a schedule of special events can be found on The First’s website.
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
🎻 West Side Story: Film with Live Orchestra @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $36+, Info
🪕 The Howlin' Brothers @ Station Inn, 9p, $20, Info
🥁 LIVE JAZZ: Parker James, Paul DeFiglia, & Anson Hohne @ Vinyl Tap, 7p, No Cover, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
🎸 Open Mic @ Fox & Locke, 6:30p, Free, Info
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