Transit Behind the Times

Last week, we sat down with Ben Cunningham, veteran anti-tax crusader and founder of Tennessee Tax Revolt. Cunningham is less than optimistic about O'Connell's transit proposal; over the past couple of months, he's taken to calling the mayor "Freddie Two-Tax," on the hunch that transit plan's sales tax increase will be shortly followed by a property tax hike. Now he doubts O'Connell's dedication to buses, calling it "old-fashioned."

We're here to talk about Mayor Freddie O'Connell's robust transit initiative, but some would call you an anti-tax activist. This isn't your first rodeo. Do you want to explain a little bit about why you're looking into this transit referendum, what you see, and what it is that you're pushing back against?

Just to give you a little history, I had a little internet company in the 90’s which turned into a full- service internet provider, and I sold it in ‘99. I've always been a low tax, limited government kind of guy, and around that time is when the income tax protest started, in 2000 basically. That was just a revelation for me and everybody else involved. Thousands of people would show up, literally honking their horns and driving around the Capitol….That was 25 years ago, but that's how I got my start. 

At that point, we formed a little nonprofit called Tennessee Tax Revolt, which was a 501c4, and that’s when I started my self-assigned career of helping and facilitating taxpayer groups around the state. In 2018, when the transit referendum was proposed by Megan Barry, I started researching it. I love doing research. I'm kind of a research nerd, and it became fairly obvious pretty quickly that it was a complete and total boondoggle and a way to throw money down a bottomless pit. I got involved with several transit experts at that point. Randal O'Toole, who used to be with Cato, is a big transit expert. He and I started exchanging emails and have continued to over the whole six-year period. 

So when this initiative came forward, and we knew, obviously, that Freddie was going to do this, I started doing research, and it became very clear that the bus system here is a very, very tiny part of commuting. In fact, less than one percent of people use the bus to commute. It is an old-fashioned, 50-year-old technology with fixed route buses where you have to somehow get to the bus stop. You go to your destination, probably after changing buses two or three times, then you have to connect to the correct bus stop to get to your work. It's a very clunky, time-consuming, obsolete way of commuting. 

Through my research, I found that it typically takes twice as long to commute via public transit, and buses are the most time-consuming mode of public transit. The average commute time one way is 46 minutes. So, when Freddie starts saying, “Oh, this is going to be a boon to immigrants or low-income commuters,” that's absurd. It's the worst possible way that they could get to work. 

💸 ActBlue Fraud From January 2023 to August 2024, 68-year-old Margaret Mayer made 4,200 individual donations to various left-wing groups. The Retired Americans PAC, the Stop Trump PAC, and most frequently the Stop GOP Governors PAC, for which she’s the second-largest donor. However, she may have just been a “ghost donor.” After The Washington Examiner alleged that the progressive donation platform ActBlue is engaging in fraud and money laundering, discovered seven Tennesseeans who have made thousands of suspect, small-dollar donations through the platform. Several alleged donors have confirmed that they were unaware of the donations and haven’t contributed to any campaign before, while other donors allegedly don’t exist. TYLER HUMMEL

🔵 Blue Tennessee State Democrats have found an opportunity to undermine the state’s Republican supermajority. According to The Nashville Banner, Republicans have an advantage of 51 seats, but nine upcoming races could reduce the gap, and Democrats are pouring their hopes (and cash) into them to reshape the state long-term. Mayor O'Connell tells Axios that the poll surge for Kamala Harris has emboldened Democrats to believe this is possible, and could affect imminent issues like the transit referendum. 

“Stopping the supermajority in Tennessee is not going to be easy.” said Ashley Coffield, CEO of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood. “We have a plan this year to flip four seats, and three after that, so we break the supermajority before redistricting in 2030.” Though chances are slim, Coffield remains optimistic. “I think politics is cyclical, and I think we are seeing an era where we are reverting back at least to the middle in Tennessee. And I’m hoping that the outcome in November affirms that.” TYLER HUMMEL

⚠️ Fraud Alert The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office Division of Consumer Affairs issued a warning on Wednesday for a pair of intensifying government imposter scams. Jury Duty Scams and Customs and Border Patrol Scams involve scammers calling a victim and threatening fines and outstanding warrants using private information discovered online to pressure the victim into wiring money, gift cards, or cryptocurrency. TYLER HUMMEL

🌳 State Parks Last week during the Tennessee Conservation Summit, Governor Lee announced that the state will open a new office for state park development. As Center Square reports, the Office of Outdoor Recreation will draw upon the $207 million budgeted for state parks and farmland conservation and help improve access to the outdoors for both tourists and residents. Eight new state parks could also be formed, among them Cardwell Mountain, Hiwassee Scenic River, Head of the Crow, Fort Southwest, and Ocoee River. TYLER HUMMEL

💨 Nashville Steam Locomotive 576, famous for its association with Johnny Cash and once on static display in Centennial Park, is nearing completion after five years. The volunteer team restoring the historic steam train tells WKRN that it may be pulling excursion trains as early as late 2025 after its boiler and steam tests are completed next year. According to The Preservation Society’s 2023 Annual Report, the team raised $748,569 in 2023 and $684,463 in 2022 and will require at least another $675,000 to fully restore the locomotive. The Society will host a fundraising and merchandise booth at the upcoming Tennessee State Fair at Fiddler’s Grove. TYLER HUMMEL

DEVELOPMENT

• Arnold's Country Kitchen owner plans new restaurant in North Nashville (NBJ)
• Italy-based sandwich shop all’Antico Vinaio expands to Nashville (NBJ)
• Charlotte Avenue religious property to be sold (Post)
• Ex-firehall on Charlotte side demolished (Post)
• Plaza Mariachi to sell shops, pay debtors (Post)
• Ex-Cafe Coco space set for cocktail bar (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 and yearly festival guide.

TONIGHT

🎸 Austin Stambaugh and the Electric Weepers @ Dee's Lounge, 9p, $5, Info

🪕 Ralph Stanley II & The Clinch Mountain Boys @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, 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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✹ REVIEW: KNEECAP (2024)

The unfortunate result of hip-hop’s pop-music domination is that its status as a revolutionary form has become flattened. It’s a globally popular genre sharing stories from the streets. However, in a world this in thrall to identity politics, those streets considered sites of real rebellion must exclusively fit into the framework of what Paul Gilroy deemed the network of The Black Atlantic–a triangulation of influence between North America, England, and Africa that traffics in the oppression of exclusively black bodies. Nevermind that Eminem’s late-90s white rage provided a counternarrative to the prosperity of the Clinton years or that it prophesied MAGA populism, which would have been impossible without the electoral votes in the Detroit rapper’s home state. Even with a resume of always-evolving artistic heights and Dr. Dre collaborations, he’s a cultural appropriator the same as the rest of us. 

So when Kneecap, the new biopic about the eponymous Irish-language hip-hop trio, barely made an impact during its wide release earlier this month, its public reception seemed par for the course. Unlike the readily apparent pop subversiveness of Kendrick, Kanye, and Eminem, the comparative politics Kneecap asks of its viewers seemed a bit overwhelming in a climate where the media boils down the recent wave London protests as fueled by the same anti-immigrant sentiments as Brexit and only brown people can lay claim to colonial legacies. Armed with a Sundance audience award, it’s a film that caters to the self-styled enlightened urbanite crowd. Unfortunately, it makes the fatal mistake of nuance and singularity–aesthetically and ideologically at odds with the wave of proselytizing social problem pablum that has come to define the type of movies that debut at America’s most renowned film fests. As the all-too-rare movie that figures out how to make its audience both think and feel, it was likely doomed from the start.

Taking a page from Eminem’s 2002 biopic, 8 Mile, the members of Kneecap play themselves in this recounting of their formation in 2017 as the debate over the ultimately successful “ Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act” that gave Irish equal language status as English in Northern Ireland began to rage. The film never shies away from the type of drug-induced debauchery one would expect of an indie that touts its counterculture street cred. But its depiction of the British police state and exploitation of identity politics by budding IRA gangs more interested in self-enrichment than cultural preservation proves as compelling as it is intelligent thanks in part to Michael Fassbender’s turn as Belfast terrorist legend who can’t reconcile his fame with his failure as a father to the group’s frontman. 

As high-school teacher DJ Próvai mentors and eventually collaborates with Kneecap’s OG hood rats, Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap, their accidental rebellion becomes a testament to the power of region in forming true artistry. Kneecap’s marketing may remind viewers that a native language disappears every forty minutes. But, if its utter shunning by audiences and the press is any indication, politically savvy films as entertaining as they are smart may also not be long for this world. JEROD HOLLYFIELD

Kneecap is now playing in theaters.

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