Who do you surveil?

Good afternoon, everyone.

Hope your Thanksgiving was fulfilling. The frost has set in and the urgency typifying the end of the year has started to snowball. To start it off on a pleasant note, WSMV ran a story the day before Thanksgiving about former Springfield Mayor Billy Paul Cornell crashing into a utility pole because he was “reaching for a sausage biscuit.” The headline read “Power outage caused by former TN mayor crashing while reaching for sausage biscuit.” Echoes of a more charming past.

Meanwhile, somewhere in East Tennessee, Gloria Johnson—the Ringo Starr of the Tennessee Three—announced that after getting shellacked in her run for US Senate, she’d be seeking to replace Hendrell Remus as Tennessee Democratic Party chair when the spot opens up in January. She’ll be up against Rep. Vincent Dixie and current TNDP Vice Chair Rachel Campbell. Johnson’s really making a career out of this electoral politics thing. She was so confident in her ability to defeat Marsha Blackburn that she simultaneously ran to keep her state house seat. The grift continues.

And as the O’Connell administration looks to commence all the plans outlayed in the transit referendum—which a lawsuit may gum up, more from Megan below—the city settles back nicely into the ever present debate over public safety, captured acutely by MNPD’s push to expand its use of the Fusus surveillance system. In short, Fusus allows property owners to share their security camera footage with MNPD to improve the department's efficiency in obtaining such footage during an investigation.

The Nashville Banner did a good write-up on the various sides of the debate. The resolution to extend the Fusus contract has been so amended that even Councilmember Delishia Porterfield has come around on it. But CM Sandra Sepulveda remains stalwart in her opposition. “There are no amount of amendments that can be added to this legislation that can make people feel comfortable,” she told the Banner. 

“With the stance that [the Trump administration] has taken when it comes to mass deportation, immigration in general … reproductive rights, trans issues and a number of other stances when it comes to marginalized communities,” she continued, “I think that technology that centralizes camera footage is dangerous. And I don’t know what the future holds.”

At first, Sepulveda's comments irked me because they sounded like the kind of thing a Woke AI would spit out. But on reflection, it's Sepulveda's specific concern with her political allies, in lieu of broader concern about the societal effects of mass surveillance, that looms larger. As if the question is not whether or not to surveil, but who to surveil.

Opponents of the Fusus program sound exactly like the opponents of the city’s much-ballyhooed LPR program. Beyond privacy concerns, both tools are coping mechanisms for MNPD, which is understaffed and has caved to progressive policing policy on initiatives like traffic stops. These softer, more passive policing mechanisms allow the department to give the illusion of an expanded footprint.

To be clear, the opponents of Fusus and LPRs would also likely oppose any efforts to fully staff up MNPD and increase the number of traffic stops. There’s a council meeting tomorrow night during which two resolutions will be heard: one to increase traffic enforcement, and the other to expand the Fusus contract. As transit falls gently into the background, you can expect public safety to be the next big locus of concern.

Onward.

🚌 Lawsuit Against Transit Referendum Last Wednesday, the Committee to Stop an Unfair Tax filed a lawsuit against Mayor O’Connell’s “Choose How You Move” referendum, claiming the transit plan misuses IMPROVE Act funding and that the ballot language was misleading. Former Metro Council member Emily Evans spearheads the group, which pushed back against the mayor’s transit sales tax during the runup to the recent election. 

“From the time of his announcement to the time of the election on November 5th, 2024, the Mayor attempted to mislead the public to believe a ‘Public Transit System’ as defined under the Act includes any sidewalk, bike-lane, road or highway that the public may use for transportation on a daily basis and, thus, in turn, the proceeds from the surcharge could be used for such projects under the Act,” reads the complaint. It also indicates that O’Connell’s transit campaign manipulated voters by making it seem like a significant portion of Nashville’s population uses mass transit, “which simply is not supported by the statistics,” and that projects funded in the plan do not adhere to the IMPROVE Act’s definition of a “Public Transit System.” 

“The Choose How You Move plan and the referendum fully comply with state law,” said Metro Law Director Wally Dietz in a statement following the suit’s filing. “This lawsuit is a nuisance and a case of legal sour grapes by repeating arguments raised and rejected by the voters.”

🚨 This Land Is Gangland “I know MNPD is aware of their presence in Tennessee and they’re monitoring what the situation looks like in Nashville,” said Mayor O’Connell last week when asked whether a dangerous Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, is active in Music City. Last Monday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced the arrest of Adelvis Rodriguez-Carmona, a known member of the notorious gang, during a joint sex-trafficking sting operation in Chattanooga. 

The TBI requested funding two weeks ago to address the gang’s operations across the state. The violence has been brazen, and TBI Director David Rausch said that he expects it to escalate. “Recently, there was a video that they shot where they shot an individual—a cartel member—31 times, broad daylight, on video, and posted it to social media,” he said of Tren de Aragua, which has been connected to human trafficking in Tennessee. “They are here, and they’re here in numbers.”

“I think that part of the reason President Trump was elected last week is because people in this country are tired of gang members—from Venezuela, for example—coming across our border,” Governor Lee told Fox17’s Kylie Walker before promising to take a closer look at the TBI’s budget request. Despite media attempts to debunk Trump’s claims that violence ​​by Venezuelan gang members has turned American cities like Aurora, Colorado into “war zones,”  Tren de Aragua is active in 16 states according to FoxNews.

👑 Leadership Picks House Republicans and Democrats have elected leaders for next year’s 114th General Assembly. Once again, the super-majority GOP selected unopposed Representative Cameron Sexton of Crossville as House Speaker. As for the Democrats, Representative Karen Camper of Memphis will reoccupy her position as House Minority Caucus Leader after beating out Memphis Representative G.A. Hardaway, and Representative John Ray Clemmons of Nashville faced off against Memphis Representative Justin J. Pearson to reclaim his position as Chair.

House Republican Leadership

• Speaker—Rep. Cameron Sexton (Crossville)
• Speaker Pro Tempore—Rep. Pat Marsh (Shelbyville)
• Majority Caucus Leader—Rep. William Lamberth (Cottontown)
• Majority Caucus Chair— Rep. Jeremy Faison (Cosby)
• Majority Caucus Whip—Rep. Johnny Garrett (Goodlettsville)
• Assistant Majority Caucus Leader—Rep. Mark Cochran (Englewood)
• Majority Caucus Vice-Chair—Rep. Tim Hicks (Gray)
• Majority Caucus Floor Leader—Rep. Paul Sherrell (Sparta)
• Majority Caucus Secretary—Rep. Kip Capley (Summertown)
• Majority Caucus Treasurer—Rep. Rebecca Alexander (Jonesborough)
• Freshmen Leader—Rep. Fred Atchley (Sevierville)

House Democrat Leadership

• Minority Caucus Leader—Rep. Karen Camper (Memphis)
• Minority Caucus Leader Pro Tempore—Rep. Larry Miller (Memphis)
• Minority Caucus Chair— Rep. John Ray Clemmons (Nashville)
• Minority Caucus Whip—Rep. Sam McKenzie (Knoxville)
• Assistant Minority Caucus Leader—Rep. Harold Love (Nashville)
• Minority Caucus Vice-Chair—Rep. Bob Freeman (Nashville)
• Minority Caucus Floor Leader—Rep. Torrey Harris (Memphis)
• Minority Caucus Secretary—Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (Chattanooga)
• Minority Caucus Treasurer—Rep. Ronnie Glynn (Clarksville)

DEVELOPMENT

• Project eyed to replace 3rd and Lindsley building scrapped (Post)
• 12South building housing Draper James sells for $16.44M (Post)
• Ex-church building in SoBro eyed for update (Post)
• Diptyque opens at The Mall at Green Hills (Post)
• Nashville Yards slated for wine bar (Post)
• Ugly Bagel opens in The Arcade (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

🎸 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.