Whose City Is It?

Good afternoon, everyone.

It’s high time we as a city accept the fact that, even if our better angels suggest otherwise, Nashville is now and forevermore a tourist town. Maybe it’s always been this way and our recent ascent to the top of the world’s most coveted destinations is just the result of years of hard work. And then suddenly without warning… NashVegas.

Choose whatever moniker you want—Music City, Athens of the South, or the Protestant Vatican (a new one for me)—but it’s undoubtedly true that, despite the best wishes of the Nashville Convention and Tourists Corp, the Chamber of Commerce, and the city council, NashVegas is the most apt description we have of the city in its current iteration. You don’t have to be happy about it, but it’s the truth

Even the financing for the November transit referendum runs off the back of visitors with 60 percent of the sales tax surcharge revenue purportedly coming from tourists and out-of-county commuters. And given the Titans’ trajectory, I wouldn’t be surprised if within months of the new stadium opening, visiting crowds dominate the stands as Nashville, among the most walkable and easy to navigate tourist destinations in the country, makes for a good weekend trip.

Titans’ CEO Burke Nihil nauseatingly called the new development the “people’s house” back in June, but it appears set to go the way of the Los Angeles Rams’ So-Fi Stadium where yesterday, a sea of red 49ers fans crowded out whatever native Los Angeles support exists for the Rams. Downtown Nashville, the economic engine of the city and the state, is not for you.

I was at the Nashville Film Festival at the end of last week, and the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp ran an ad before all the screenings. High rankings from Travel & Leisure and other esteemed and credentialed travel media flashed over shots of various Nashville destinations. As I sat there watching it, I had a hard time envisioning an alternative depiction of Nashville. Hell, I grew up hanging out in parking lots around here.

Maybe it was the big screen and the loud noises that lowered my defenses, but the CVC’s vision was tidy, almost comprehensive in its scope. I found myself basically agreeing with the image it projected onto the screen. When people come to town to visit, this is the city they see. They are here for the performance. It’s true. I even like aspects of it.

And though the priorities of Metro government don’t explicitly show favor towards the Tourist Industrial Complex and even flex on Morgan Wallen to reassure the more gullible voters that they don’t, the more pressing, foundational needs of entrenched residents—public safety, public education, and housing affordability—rarely get brought up with any sense of urgency against the high wattage production of Nashville as Tourist Mecca where a narrative war is being fought over whose city it is.

Lately, the council has been waging this war by doing things like roping the city into United Against Hate Week and passing flaccid ordinances meant to deter undesirable elements from congregating downtown. These efforts, of course, will not result in material improvements for the city’s residents (unless they only experience the city through news media). Those dastardly neo-Nazi protestors aren’t from here either.

If Nashville’s identity crisis is a question of who we welcome and not who we want to stay, then I think it’s safe to say the city has made its stance abundantly clear. But if we’re talking about the latter of the two, the answer remains murky as, despite O’Connell’s paean to “wanting you to stay,” our priorities remain… Unprioritized. 

Onward.

🏥 Crowning A New Health Director On Friday, Councilmember Erin Evans filed a resolution suggesting a joint special meeting to help the council vet Metro’s future Public Health Director. This fall, the Board of Health and Mayor O’Connell will be selecting a new director to replace Gill Wright who retired from the position last month. “This will be our third Director in five years,” wrote Evans in this morning’s District 12 Dispatch. “It is important that we get this hiring decision right.”

Wright first stepped in as interim director four years ago after the Board of Health forced former Director Michael Caldwell to resign. At the time, the council’s concerns over Caldwell’s prolonged commitment to coronavirus patient information sharing with MNPD and the board’s frustrations with his lack of transparency led to his ouster. “I am amazed at the job I am doing,” he told his colleagues during a meeting in 2020, before swiftly getting the boot. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🏠 Housing The Elderly Over the summer, the Metro Nashville Housing Division organized several community discussions about the city’s affordable housing crisis. While collecting input from constituents to help form policy recommendations for the new Unified Housing Strategy, it became clear that older Nashvillians are struggling to live here. During one meeting on July 18th, several elderly constituents on fixed incomes shared their fear of property tax increases and their lack of options to take up more modest living accommodations. Likewise, younger attendees lamented the fact that current zoning laws restricted their ability to build additions on their property to house their elderly parents.

While the cost of living continues to weigh on Music City’s most vulnerable, the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency has opened applications through September 26th for an elderly housing program. Applicants for the voucher waiting list will be selected through an electronic lottery system to place new residents in apartments at the Robinson Flats property. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

🚦 They See Me Rollin’ Mayor O’Connell’s new traffic lights may start watching over Nashville, literally. This morning, Axios’ Nate Rau explored the implications of the $158 million in traffic signal system upgrades included in the mayor’s transit plan. According to Metro’s Assistant Chief for Transportation Systems Management Derek Hagerty, modernized signals can "see," "talk," and "think."

Hagerty noted that changes could cut commute times by nearly 10 percent. "Not only can they see vehicles that are there, but they can see upstream what's coming,” he said of the new technology that could be adopted by almost 600 of the city’s signals. “They can also detect bicycles, pedestrians, and find different types of vehicles (like buses)." 

LOBBYING SPEND FOR 2024 LEGISLATIVE SESSION

DEVELOPMENT

• 12South restaurant Mafiaoza's to close after 21 years (NBJ)
• Jewelry, fragrance boutique opens in Green Hills (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

🎸 The Beach Boys @ Ryman Auditorium, 7:30p, $59.50+, Info

🪕 Bronwyn Keith-Hynes @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info

🪕 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.

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