Visions of Nashville's Past
Good afternoon, everyone.
Some local history to kick us off today, but also wanted to draw your attention to an interview down in the Crowd Corner section that writer Aaron Renn did with Elizabeth Landis, who wrote a book entitled The Forgotten Realm: Civics for American Christians, which makes the case that Christians need to get more involved in local politics.
She describes her awakening in familiar terms, noting that typically, people only engage in local matters when their lives are directly threatened, and upon first engaging, walk into a room full of strangers making the decisions that will affect their life.
It’s remarkable to meditate on the fact that the city officials—from commission members to electeds—dictating how the city functions are, by and large, strangers to the majority of city residents. In a way, the political class (and increasingly, the activist class) is an entirely separate segment of society isolated from the rest.
It will take more than just winning elections to change the makeup of government. The full 30-minute interview is worth a listen.
Onward, Davis.
The story of Ben Allen, a Buddha statue, and a mysterious creature called The Thing
The late 19th century was an exciting time for culture in America. Cleopatra’s Needle landed in NYC, oriental philosophy was arriving in the English language, and the telephone was rapidly revolutionizing communication. There was one man in Nashville who seemed to fully embody the curiosity that was fueling this eccentric melange. He was known for his extravagant personal library, potent psychic abilities, and piercing blue eyes. His name was Benjamin Bentley Allen, heir to the First National Bank fortune, and Nashville’s very own mystic.
“Ben Allen looked what he was, a well bred, artistic gentleman of leisure,” a 1951 profile in The Tennessean read. “His searching eyes were bright blue and his thick hair and carefully combed beard were tawny gold in his younger days and nearly white by the time he was 50. Benjamin Bently Allen became such a legend while living that fiction was mingled with fact.”
“The Home of Mr. Ben B Allen contains so many rare and lovely things that a discrimination is a difficult matter. Mr Allen also possessed one of the finest collections of antique arms in this country,” reads another 1959 profile in the Nashville Banner. Rare oil paintings, firearms, and gemstones were just a few of the curiosities you might come across if you were one of the chosen few permitted entrance into his 8th Avenue home.
Of all the countless stories orbiting Ben’s life, that of a mysterious statue takes center stage as the most peculiar. After its strange arrival in Nashville, it became his most prized possession with a special place in his home library and extraordinary tales regarding its powers. It was an ancient, four-foot-tall, wood-carved statue of the Buddha covered in gold, encrusted with gems, and carrying an origin story as mythical as that of the eastern deity it depicts.
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🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.
🚨 Freddie Says He Will Not Get In The Way Of ICE Mayor O’Connell won’t comment on Congressman Andy Ogles’ request for a federal investigation into his conduct surrounding immigration enforcement in Nashville, but he did scale back his tone during Friday’s media roundtable. “I talk closely to our legal counsel almost every day now about the overall landscape,” he said when asked whether he was afraid of getting arrested. “We are not looking to obstruct any federal or state law—don't have any reason to be concerned.”
The sentiment comes off quite different than O’Connell’s previous posts expressing his “deep concern” and rejection of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations two weeks ago. That said, he vehemently denounced the accusation that taxpayer dollars are going toward illegals. Though Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz said he was looking into “whether or not someone can announce, in advance, that there's an impending enforcement activity” and focused on the legal rights of illegal aliens during May 9th’s roundtable, O’Connell clarified that the charitable fund started by Metro and immigrant nonprofits is “not even intended to be about legal services.”
“The Belonging Fund supports families known to be impacted as a result of activities related to immigration,” O’Connell said on Friday. “But the entire point is family supports, cost of living, those kinds of things…. So it is about people who have identified food insecurity as a result of possibly losing somebody who was an earner in the household, it is about childcare, it is about basic family needs.”
💸 CM Balks At Mayor’s Tax Hike After roughly estimating the impact of Mayor O’Connell’s property tax increase on each household, Coucnilmember Quin Evans Segall told Nashvillians that she’ll be “digging into the budget” to look for ways to decrease spending. Segall included a little napkin math to explain the problems she sees with O’Connell’s proposal in her Quintessentials newsletter on Sunday.
The At-large member explained that there’s usually about 20 percent tax rate increase during property reappraisal years (to address inflation and make other necessary adjustments, she said), but that this year’s budget increase of “about $500,000,000” comes with an increase of about 26 percent: An increase she thinks is too much to ask of Nashivllians.
As you can see in that cheat sheet, essentially everyone would be paying more in taxes under this proposed rate. Notably, with an average home value in the mid-$400,000s in Nashville, a majority of residents would be paying what works out to being at or more than $50 a month. Why do I think increases that exceed $50 a month are notable? For many reasons, but mostly because (a) it isn’t uncommon for homeowner insurance and/or HOA assessments to increase by $30-40 a month under current underwriting stressors, so increases in mortgage payments of less than $50 a month are not totally uncommon even outside of taxes; (b) that’s right around 1 percent of the post-tax monthly income for our average household income in Davidson County; and (c) $50 is a little more than the amount our government thinks it should cost to feed one person for a week.
Segall says it won’t be easy, but she is looking at ways to trim down the mayor’s budget and get “realistic about what alternative funding sources make sense so we are better prepared in the long run to tackle revenue issues in a more equitable way.” Read her full rundown here.
⚖️ Casada/Cothren: Found Guilty The jury is in: Former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his former aide, Cade Cothren, were found guilty by their peers on Friday. After four days of deliberation, Casada was charged with 17 of 19 counts of conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, theft, and money laundering related to an alleged scheme involving Cothren’s political consulting firm, Phoenix Solutions. Cothren was found guilty of all 19 counts. The pair now await sentencing and could face up to 20 years in prison.
DEVELOPMENT
- 2-acre property located near the new Tennessee Titans Stadium for sale (NBJ)
- Former Tin Angel site to host new restaurant, Kuya (Post)
- Musicians Hall of Fame renews lease with Metro (Post)
- Bordeaux area eyed for apartment building (Post)
- Condo building eyed for Edgehill (Post)
✹ GETTING INVOLVED IN LOCAL POLITICS
Why Christians Must Rediscover Civics | Elizabeth Landis | Aaron Renn Show (Listen)
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
🪕 Kyle Tuttle's Bluegrass Monday @ 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, 7p, Free, Info
🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).