Taming the Tech Wild West

Good afternoon, everyone. Metro Council moves to tame the data center boom... The mayor is buying votes with TIRRC funding... OPINION: Don’t Let Credit Scoring Reform Put Taxpayers at Risk... And much more!

The Rise of Spencer Pratt Join us June 18th for a conversation with filmmaker Gabriel Mann on his work with Spencer Pratt and what's gone into his wildly successful campaign. (Buy Ticket)

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Metro Council hopes to wrangle data center growth in Davidson County with zoning legislation.

From Megan Podsiedlik

Amid growing concerns over energy use, water use, noise, and other environmental factors, members are looking at a bill to add definitions, regulations, and conditions for data centers.

If passed, it would not only completely ban hyperscale data centers but would also severely limit the possibility of constructing any new centers. In the legislation, a half-mile buffer is required for medium/large centers, which are limited to industrial zones and prohibited from popping up in residential, agricultural, mixed-use, or certain commercial areas.

The local effort aligns with a new state law requiring large data centers to cover their own power infrastructure costs. But what’s good for the locals could be bad for two high-profile projects.

Fisk University’s planned 30 MW “Quantum Leap” data center—which aims to generate revenue for the HBCU and support academic tech programs—may have to go back to the drawing board. Same for the proposed DC Blox facility adjacent to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere Park, which has faced strong opposition from the zoo and community due to environmental and animal welfare concerns.

With roughly two dozen existing data centers in the region and more pressure from AI-driven demand, Nashville is shifting from a largely unregulated sandbox to one with clearer guardrails focused on sustainability and compatibility with residential neighborhoods.

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✹ THE RISE OF SPENCER PRATT

The Rise of Spencer Pratt Filmmaker Gabriel Mann, a California native who fled to Nashville in 2021 and made his name with the wildfire documentary Hotshots, has been behind the scenes for Spencer Pratt's improbable rise from reality-star-turned-aggrieved-homeowner after the Palisades fire destroyed his home to a competitive candidate in LA's mayoral race.

Mann witnessed Pratt's transformation firsthand, starting in the aftermath of the fires, and has produced every one of the groundbreaking campaign ads that've captured the nation. Join us Thursday, June 18, at Bungalow Studios for the inside story.

Buy Tickets

This event benefits The Pamphleteer, Nashville and is priced with that in mind. Bard-level subscribers receive free admittance.

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✹ MISSING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES

The Mayor is Buying Votes with TIRRC Funding

From Davis Hunt

Since our report last week on the Mayor’s allocation of $735,000 to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition in this year’s budget, Republicans across the state have drawn attention to the matter.

First the Tennessee Star picked it up and then Senator Marsha Blackburn chimed in, tweeting, “I urge the Metro Council to reject this. Anti-ICE groups like TIRRC should not receive a dime of Tennesseans’ hard-earned money.”

House Speaker Cameron Sexton followed suit, tweeting, “Metro’s budget request of $735k for TIRRC could be in violation of Tennessee’s no sanctuary cities law.”

Fox17 asked the mayor about the grant and whether “public money will go to undocumented immigrants.” O’Connell responded with typical word salad.

The story has become all about the city’s open support for TIRRC, and less about O’Connell’s naked purchase of votes. But as we made clear in our initial reporting, TIRRC Votes – the political arm of TIRRC – endorsed and campaigned on behalf of Mayor Freddie O’Connell in 2023.

I don’t know about you, but by my estimation, the story here concerns a mayor who is blatantly purchasing votes from a lavishly funded NGO.

Additionally, the mayor’s support for TIRRC creates major political risk for those that object to the expenditure, warping the electoral calculus for would-be candidates. Support TIRRC or else you will have to fight against the $10 million war chest the organization has at its disposal.

So, how deeply entwined are the two organizations?

Independent auditors have flagged financial-control failures at TIRRC in each of the last three years, including back-to-back qualified compliance opinions in 2022 and 2023 on the ARPA funds Metro routed to the group.

Those same audits also describe the two organizations as operating under "common control." In other words, TIRRC fronts the staff, supervision, and overhead costs, and TIRRC Votes reimburses its share based on how much of each employee's time goes to political work.

Since 2021, TIRRC has transferred more than $755,000 in direct grants to TIRRC Votes, on top of cost-sharing reimbursements that fund shared staff and overhead. As a reminder, TIRRC reached 470,000 voters during the 2023 election in support of their slate, which included Mayor Freddie O’Connell.

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✹ METRO COUNCIL WATCH

New Council Watch Features We've added additional features to Council Watch. In addition to who's funding your council member, you can now see how they vote and who they vote with most frequently. (Take a Look)

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✹ OPINION: Don’t Let Credit Scoring Reform Put Taxpayers at Risk

When Washington Rewrites Mortgage Rules, Taxpayers Bear the Risk

From Patrick Gleason

The Great Financial Crisis of 2008 provided a case study on the way in which government manipulation and forced suppression of credit standards can result in unintended negative consequences not just for lenders and borrowers, but also the broader economy. At a time when the housing market is already under pressure, changes to how mortgage credit is evaluated should be approached with care. That’s why the current conversation around credit scoring reform deserves a more measured approach.

At the center of this debate is a proposed shift in how mortgage creditworthiness is evaluated. Today, mortgage underwriting largely relies on established models. However, federal regulators are now considering changes that would allow lenders to use multiple credit scoring models when issuing mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In that mix is VantageScore, a scoring model that is jointly owned by all three credit bureaus themselves. While intended to introduce more flexibility, this change raises important questions about how risk is measured and whether underwriting standards will remain consistent.

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HEADLINES

⚡️ Tennessee powers up with fusion regulations starting June 9. Next week,Tennessee will become the first state in the nation with its own regulatory framework for nuclear fusion machines. The new rules establish licensing requirements for fusion machines, with Type One Energy’s commercial site near Oak Ridge expected to be among the first licensees for its stellarator-based fusion power plant development. (TN Gov)