Watching the Watchmen

Questions still loom over a bill passed by the council on first reading last week that would place the Metro Historical and Historic Zoning Commissions under the purview of the Planning Department. Last night, a special meeting called by the Historical Commission was held at Sevier Park. It was directly followed by what can only be described as a struggle session among members of the Historic Zoning Commission during its special meeting at Midtown Hills Police Precinct.

Both commissions heard public comments about the legislation and started to digest a rewrite of the bill set to be filed by Friday. According to the Historic Zoning Commission’s understanding of the timeline, the local legislation was brought forward after an HDR Inc. report was released back in January. As for the urgency, Metro is under pressure due to a different bill making its way through the state legislature that would restrict the Historical and Zoning Commission’s authority in Nashville’s tourist district downtown.

“If the overlays are staying in place, if the staff is staying in place, if the guidelines are staying in place, what does this reorganization do for people who are pushing the bills at the state level,” asked Metro Historic Zoning Commission member David Price during last night’s meeting. “I don't know that any of us can answer that, but it's a question that keeps running through my mind, like, what's the point? Why is this happening?”

Last week, Mayor O’Connell seemed equally uncertain whether the changes proposed at the local level will stop the General Assembly from moving forward with their legislation. “I don't know if they will be willing to give us another year,” said O’Connell, referring to his discussions with state leadership. “I think there's a little bit of a ‘Hey, we gave you a year. We expect to see some results.’”

When asked whether Metro leaders pulled the local historic commissions into any conversations to discuss solutions before the onset of this rushed timeline, the Historic Zoning Commission said no—kinda. 

While Vice-Chair Cyril Stewart explained that he had started tracking the state’s bill as soon as it was filed, it sounded as though fruitless negotiations had previously taken place. “The guidelines were in the process of being revised, but that didn't satisfy the merchants,” said Stewart. Chair Menié Bell emphasized that it was the Broadway Entertainment Association who were particularly resistant to earlier propositions.

By the end of the Historic Zoning meeting, members reflected on some of the issues plaguing their commission. Aside from highlighting misinformation and mischaracterizations spread by the media, downtown businesses, and certain councilmembers, they acknowledged the frustration experienced by those adhering to historic overlays. They explained that many of the cases they’ve rejected were because permits hadn’t been followed and the commission wasn’t approached until after a mistake had been made.

Though it’s unclear whether the state will back off its legislation, both commissions plan to send suggestions to the council by the end of the week. There will be a public hearing during the bill’s second reading at next week’s council meeting. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.

🎙️ Wired Up Did Speaker Cameron Sexton wear a wire to help federal investigators build the corruption case against Glen Casada and Cade Cothren? The former speaker and his former chief of staff think it’s possible. According to the Tennessee Lookout, they “claim federal prosecutors are refusing to disclose the identity of people who secretly gathered information against them in a fraud investigation.”

A recent filing by Casada and Cothren states that a person identified as “CHS1” recorded House Republican Caucus Campaign Committee conversations. The two defendants facing fraud charges suggest it could have been “Sexton, or someone working in the Speaker’s office.” 

Subpoenas have been issued to 20 lawmakers, including Speaker Sexton, for the trial set to start on April 22. According to our sources, General Assembly leadership plans to end this year’s legislative session by April 17.

🎓 Charter School Dropouts Get A Fighting Chance Senate Leader Jack Johnson and House Leader William Lamberth are sponsoring a bill that could change how charter schools are established in Tennessee. Instead of facing the scrutiny of local school boards, certain charters may be able to apply through the state's Public Charter School Commission. This includes existing charters starting additional schools, public colleges and universities wishing to establish a charter, and charters rejected by a local board three years in a row.

Though charter schools have been lumped into Tennessee’s contentious school choice discussions, the chatter hasn’t deterred new public charter school applications. In fact, some Tennesseans have grown tired of local leaders politicizing education alternatives. 

During a council meeting in December, five members voted against a lease agreement for the Liberty Collegiate Academy public charter school. Though the resolution passed, one commentator on Bluesky—an X alternative favored by the left—pointed out the silent protest insinuated by the snub: “People voting no the moment ‘charter school’ is mentioned is one of those things Dems should stop doing.” 

Speaking of politicization, the charter duplication process outlined in the state’s proposed bill brings to mind a prospective arrangement discussed between Governor Lee and Hillsdale in 2022. At the time, a conversation was leaked by the Tennessee Holler featuring Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn discussing the potential establishment of charter schools across the Volunteer state. Since then, controversy and politics have soured some local authorities against the college's classical education charter schools.

📜 Historic Preservation And The East Bank With 15 sponsors, the historic zoning bill making its way through the council seems to have a good chance of passing over the next month. While some are worried that developers will try to disrupt the preservation of historic areas, the Historic Zoning Commission clarified that downtown businesses wish to maintain historic overlays during last night’s special called meeting.

A less discussed topic is whether the change could have implications for the East Bank. Historic Zoning Vice-Chair Cyril Stewart hopes if the commission moves under the Metro Planning Department, it will allow them to be included in future projects. “I don't know how much we're involved with East Bank and, gosh, how much is historic involved in those plans,” he asked. “When we did the PSC metals site, there are some existing structures that probably warranted preservation there. I've seen other cities that do that, so my hope is we'd be able to be more part of the conversation in looking at new projects.”

DEVELOPMENT

• California-based taqueria, Canadian retailer to open in Wedgewood-Houston (NBJ)
• Ford Fry details his fifth Nashville restaurant and what comes next (NBJ)
• Demo looms for Gulch former wine bar building (Post)
• Berry Hill office building listed for sale (Post)

✹ BOOK REVIEW: THE BOOK OF ELSEWHERE

From Jerod Hollyfield

Though John Wick may have returned Keanu Reeves to the A-list, he has always done what he wants on his own terms, stretching his acting ability and extracurricular interests while unafraid of being the butt of jokes. Most actors would salivate at a multimillion-dollar Netflix deal. Keanu would much rather adapt his own 2021 comic book series into the streamer’s next big franchise and decide to use the exposure to partner with lauded British sci-fi writer China Miéville for a sprawling novel loosely based on that world in the interim. As their collaboration, The Book of Elsewhere, demonstrates, Reeves has a lot more in common with Gen-X lifelong artistes like Ethan Hawke than actors content to cash their check from the latest franchise cameo or geezer teaser. 

Set in the near future, The Book of Elsewhere carefully unspools the millenia-long tale of Unute or–as his friends call him–“B”, a demigod-like being who finds himself resurrected in perpetuity during every epoch in which he has met what seems like his ultimate fate. A humanist with a passion for culture both high and low, Unute is prone to blind fits of violence when provoked that result in the indiscriminate deaths of anyone in his path. Agreeing to work with a black-ops group in an organization that merges the worst tendencies of the military-industrial complex and Big Pharma in exchange for a cure to his condition, Unute hopes to finally find a place in the world. But, as he quickly learns, even dozens of lifetimes are inadequate to fully realize such self-discovery.

Though the novel could have easily descended into a vanity project or celebrity-publishing cash grab, Reeves and Miéville aim to drag Freudian psychosis into an era that would much rather obscure meanings than probe them. As the duo write, Unute wants, “Death not as destination, but as horizon. Not death up close. His desire not for the end but to continue not-ending in a quite new way…What could it be, to exist with the banality of endlessness?” It’s an existential conundrum even transhumanism’s greatest critics have not expressed so eloquently. 

While Miéville’s talent is as endless as Unute’s life, he has displayed a tendency of playing his Euro-socialist cards a bit too fast and loose in his previous efforts. Yet, the weight of Reeves’s stardom and the multimedia universe the actor is willing into existence anchors Miéville’s writing in a refreshing even-handedness that finds him focused on grappling with metaphysical themes that base political ideology is ill-equipped to address. In The Book of Elsewhere, the duo have created a blockbuster world that balances lyrically written pulp with the big questions that have been the fodder of the Great books for centuries. 

The Book of Elsewhere is now available wherever books are sold.

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

🪕 Nick Chandler & Delivered @ Station Inn, 9p, $20, Info

🎸 Esther Rose & Twain @ The Blue Room, 7p, $25.88, Info

🎸 Kacey Musgraves @ The Pinnacle, 8p, $138+, Info

🎸Brennan Edwards @ The Basement, 7p, $12.85, 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
+ vet community here

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.

What Tennessee Gets Wrong About Food and Farms

Elizabeth Murphy of Nashville Grown talks about the need for a robust regional food system in the Volunteer State

Elizabeth MurphyThe Pamphleteer

This Week in Streaming (February 25th)

Our recommendations to counteract the endless scrolling.

Jerod Ra’Del HollyfieldThe Pamphleteer

The Nine Lives of Cars

🚗 Don’t we love our cars · State budget deep dive · Blackburn wants the black book · Week in streaming · Much more!

The PamphleteerThe Pamphleteer

In favor of things that actually work

🛜 Fast internet is a requirement · Water mains · Tale of two memos · Much more!

The PamphleteerThe Pamphleteer