Patchwork Politics
🏛️ Last night at the Metro Council · CHYM · Good tariff news · Reappraisals · Stupid judge of the week · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Saw a Tesla with a "No Elon" bumper sticker on it, like painting lamb's blood on your door jamb. A tame council meeting last night. Megan has the skinny to kick us off this afternoon.
Onward, Davis.
Last night’s council meeting—gavel to gavel, minus announcements—was a very efficient hour and a half that highlighted the work-in-progress that is Metro Nashville.
Those who regularly tune in to meetings are accustomed to organized protests during public comment periods, polarizing resolutions, and the occasional stump speech from the chamber floor. But if you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll find that our local government is more like a big boat with a bunch of holes that our elected and unelected officials are constantly trying to patch. Sometimes it even feels like they’re creating new holes faster than they’re fixing the old ones. Council members often throw around an understated term for this: unintended consequences.
The overture: The lone speaker to step up during last night’s public comment period encouraged the council to advocate for more density and public transportation while exposing Metro’s latest transit plan blunder. Given the recent Housing and Infrastructure Study, Vanderbilt poll, and “the Tennessee Court of Appeals’ ruling, which will not allow [Choose How You Move] funds to be used to purchase land for housing,” the District 3 constituent asked council members to hurry up on affordable housing solutions.
“Please be brave,” he said, referencing how state legislators encouraged local leaders to address the missing middle housing market during Tennessee's first Transit Day on the Hill last Wednesday. “Please up-zone people. Let's invest in more community-controlled housing on Metro land.”
After facing the fact that Mayor O’Connell’s transit plan might not deliver on some of its promises, the council passed a resolution to put five properties into the Nashville Community Land Trust under The Housing Fund, Inc. (THF). These properties were originally granted to THF in 2019 for the development of affordable housing, but were reverted back to the Division of Public Property after the permitting process gummed up development. “THF was unable to obtain title and develop eleven of these properties within the five-year period required by RS2019-1570 and the properties reverted to the Division of Public Property.”
The council also did a bit of cleanup by approving more than $1.4 million in a settlement over the city’s stormwater capacity fee. In December, the Beacon Center of Tennessee brought forward a class action lawsuit claiming that the fee charged to those seeking development permits was unconstitutional.
According to the Banner, attorneys working for Metro Legal believed they had a viable defense but Metro Water was willing to abandon the fee since it wasn’t generating as much revenue as they anticipated. That said, Metro has run into a similar issue of constitutionality in the past and eventually lost a court case in 2023 for allowing the city to withhold building permits to enforce sidewalk fees. (We’re still paying for that mistake.)
Speaking of settlements, council members also urged “the Hospital Authority to adopt a transparent process to consider the ongoing feedback from community stakeholders, including Nashville General Hospital employees, as part of their selection and future evaluation of the next Chief Executive Officer of Nashville General Hospital.” This request follows the body’s recent decision to award Joseph Webb nearly $900,000 following his controversial departure from his position as Nashville General Hospital’s CEO. The council was all but strong-armed into granting the sum to ensure Webb’s quiet exit and make up for a slip up regarding retirement benefits promised to the ex-CEO by Metro in 2020.
Rounding out Metro’s patchwork for the evening, the council passed a bill on second reading that would increase Metro Legal’s autonomy and allow the Legal Department to settle more cases without council approval. In the same vein of clean up and efficiency, the body also approved a bill to modify the structure of various boards and commissions on its first reading. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK
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🚏 CHYM In Tact Minus Housing Projects & Parks Yesterday, the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld most of Mayor O'Connell's $3.1 billion Choose How You Move transit plan, but affordable housing development is off the table. Earlier this year, Metro prevailed after the Committee to Stop an Unfair Tax took legal action against the initiative, claiming the plan would misuse IMPROVE Act funding and that the ballot language and information campaign connected to the referendum were misleading. The initial ruling by Chancellor Anne Martin in January compelled the Committee to kick the case up the food chain.
“We fail to see how the purchase of property for housing development and parks is consistent with Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-4-3201(3),” reads the unanimous opinion released by the court of appeals. “Metro will have to find other funds to accomplish this goal. We reverse the trial court's decision on the purchase of property for housing and parks.”
"This opinion is an overwhelming victory for Metro," Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz told Axios. "The court's ruling allows the transportation plan to go forward as approved by the voters and Metro will be able to build out the transportation system completely as presented in the referendum."
The Chair of the Committee to Stop an Unfair Tax, Emily Evans, was also satisfied with the outcome, but plans to seek clarity on the potential impact the campaign’s promise of affordable housing may have had on the outcome of the November’s vote. She also questions the city’s decision to hire state Senator Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville), “charging the taxpayers God knows what as a private lawyer,” to represent Metro during proceedings.
You may recall that during oral arguments in the Court of Appeals, Yarbro agreed with Judge W. Neal McBrayer, who was wary about some of the projects laid out in Choose How You Move. “There's nothing in this plan that says it's going to actually use dollars to build and support affordable housing,” said Yarbro, even though the initiative’s campaign included the acquisition of land near transit centers for housing and parks.
💸 Positive Tariff News According to Axios, President Trump's 25% tariff on imported vehicles has prompted Nissan to reverse its earlier decision to cut production at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant. The facility, which employs approximately 5,700 workers and manufactures the Nissan Rogue, will maintain two production shifts, ensuring continued employment and local manufacturing. Nissan now sources over half of its U.S. sales volume from its Tennessee and Mississippi plants, highlighting a shift towards domestic production.
REAPPRAISALS ARE COMPLETE
DEVELOPMENT
- Urban Cowboy Bar Plans Soft Opening for April 17 in The Arcade (Scene)
- West Nashville property eyed for development listed for sale (Post)
✹ STUPID JUDGE OF THE DAY
▪︎ Judge Khadija Babb significantly reduced the bond of a man who kidnapped and raped two tenneage girls at gunpoint late last year because he has been unable to support his girlfriend and her two children while in jail. (More Info)
❁ LANA DEL RAY GOES COUNTRY
Lana Del Rey - Henry, come on (Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)
🎵 Additionally, a good write-up on the single and her plans for a full country album from Don't Rock the Inbox.
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
🎸 Naked Giants @ The Blue Room, 7p, $23.41, Info
🎸 Ben Kweller @ The Basement East, 8p, $33.44, Info
🎻 Vanderbilt Youth Orchestras Philharmonia & Curb Youth Symphony @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7p, $7+, Info
🎸 Amos Lee @ Ryman Auditorium, 7:30p, $40+, Info
🪕 Tim O’Brien @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
🪕 Bluegrass Night @ The American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).