Stuck in the Echo Chamber
🗣️ Echo chambers · East Bank update · Astronomy photos of the year · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
We've got a Christmas Party on the calendar for next week. It should be a good time. We throw the best parties. If I don’t sound enthused, it’s just because I’m stating facts. RSVP below to get the location.
In other news, a funny development has been the slow migration of people and institutions on the left away from Twitter (currently known as X) and towards a competitor platform: Bluesky.
You now have two siloed-off forums whose politics are more or less explicit. For example, it’s understood on Bluesky that you can post glowingly of the man who gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson without getting pushback. The consensus around the acquittal of Daniel Penny this morning is that it is a bad sign.
To the people on Bluesky, the healthcare assassin (who was purportedly caught this morning) is an angel, but Daniel Penny is a demon. Twitter, though seemingly more center-right, has a much greater diversity of opinion on both of these hot-button issues.
Our own mayor has an account on Bluesky where he posts more frequently than on Twitter. His last Twitter post was on December 3rd when he made a last-minute effort to stump for the Fusus contract renewal. On Bluesky, he promoted the city’s annual Christmas tree lighting Friday—something he did not do on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the official account of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County on Bluesky has only one post, clarifying that the city hasn't made an official decision on whether it will use the platform, and if so, how.
Twitter has about 611 million users, while Bluesky has around 25 million. You can read whatever you want into this, but the mayor seems to think his constituents live on Bluesky, not Twitter. Or maybe that's just how he prefers it.
Onward.
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🏗️ On The East Bank Last week, the council passed another bill to drag downtown’s Urban Zoning Overlay across the river. The change would affect properties located south of Interstate 65, west of Interstate 24, and east of the Cumberland River—59.71 acres mostly owned by Oracle.
Over the summer, Councilmembers Jacob Kupin and Clay Capp hosted East Bank Subdistrict Information Sessions, which covered some of the zoning changes expected for the area. In August, the council approved the Planning Commission’s suggestion to expand the Downtown Code to the 30-acre area surrounding the new stadium, with the aim of fulfilling the Imagine East Bank vision. According to the commission, that vision has four main components: equity and affordability, mobility, resiliency, and building neighborhoods.
The council also accepted a grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to investigate brownfield sites adjacent to the East Bank. Brownfield sites are properties that may have the presence of hazardous pollutants. According to the state’s Department of Health, the Tennessee Brownfields Redevelopment Program “has worked with developers, communities and property owners to bring over 1,700 brownfields properties across the state back into productive reuse” since 1996.
⚽️ FIFA Nashvegas Over the weekend, Nashville Soccer Club CEO Ian Ayre announced that Geodis park will host three FIFA Club World Cup matches this summer. “Since we started even thinking about a soccer stadium for Nashville, it was always in our minds that the venue should be capable of hosting world class events,” he said.“ We look forward to welcoming the teams playing in Music City at our stadium and to showing them some Nashville SC Southern hospitality.” Between December 17th and 18th, Nashville SC season ticket holders will be able to get first dibs on general admission tickets.
🚸 Protect Children Online Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk have both backed Senator Marsha Blackburn’s bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act. “We can protect free speech and our kids at the same time from Big Tech,” wrote Trump Jr. on X yesterday. “It's time for House Republicans to pass the Kids Online Safety Act ASAP.” Musk followed up on his own platform: “Protecting kids should always be priority [number one].”
Tennessee’s Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, has also strongly urged congress to pass Blackburn’s bill, which would “provide young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms.” On Saturday, X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced the social media platform’s endorsement of recent updates made to the KOSA bill.
“Led by X, the new changes made to the Kids Online Safety Act strengthen the bill while safeguarding free speech online and ensuring it is not used to stifle expression,” said Senate Sponsor Blackburn and Blumenthal in a statement. “These changes should eliminate once and for all the false narrative that this bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans. We thank Elon and Linda for their bold leadership and commitment to protecting children online and for helping us get this bill across the finish line this Congress.”
DEVELOPMENT
- Barista Parlor, Scout's Barbershop expand to Wedgewood-Houston (NBJ)
- Buds & Brews Cannabis Bar & Restaurant expands to Memphis (NBJ)
- The Chef and I closes after two decades (NBJ)
- MetroCenter building listed for sale (Post)
- Germantown commercial building listed for $3.4M (Post)
✹ ASTRONOMY PHOTOS OF THE YEAR
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 and yearly festival guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 Cliffdiver @ The Basement, 7p, $19.27, Info
🪕 Bluegrass Mondays - Bronwyn Keith-Hynes @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info
🎸 Timbo & Lonesome Country @ Jane's Hideaway, 8p, Info
+ modern take on classic country, bluegrass & hillbilly Jazz
🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
💀 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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