@startleseasily is a fervent observer of the Metro government's comings and goings. In this column, "On First Reading," she'll recap the bimonthly Metro Council meetings and provide her analysis. You can find her in the pew in the corner by the mic, ready to give public comment on whichever items stir her passions. Follow her on Twitter here.
On an archetypal dark and stormy Tuesday night, the Metro Council approved a rezoning request in Bellevue and debated a proposal to resurrect the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
Sugar High
With only two regular meetings left in this council term, things are getting wacky in the Historic Metro Courthouse. The meeting was peppered with wild laughter from the council, largely emanating from some particularly egregious gigglers on the back half of the floor. CM Kathleen Murphy tried her hand at wordplay with a Hamilton reference, to middling results; she says it played better in committee. CM Kevin Rhoten’s head literally started bleeding, an injury caused by banging his microphone against his head in an attempt to signal CM Courtney Johnston that she forgot to ask for committee reports. Procedural propriety is out the window, folks; we’re in “anything goes” territory now.
Gloves Off; Helmets On
If I asked you to list the most contentious items the council has considered this term, you’d probably include the Titans stadium, the speedway deal, license plate readers and perhaps a few major development proposals. But unless you’re a true local government nerd, you might miss one of the hottest-ticket items: the creation of new commissions.
The creation of new commissions has sparked feuds that I suspect will last for centuries. The grandchildren of CMs Joy Styles and Jeff Syracuse will sit in rocking chairs on front porches with their own grandchildren crowded around their feet, weaving tall tales of the epic battle that tore their two families asunder. After Tuesday night's meeting, a similar fate may befall the descendants of CM Sean Parker and CM At-Large Burkley Allen, who went toe-to-toe in a good old-fashioned Tabling Motion Tango.
At issue was CM Freddie O’Connell’s bill resurrecting the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. O’Connell crafted the legislation to bring back the committee in the form of a commission and place it within the Metro Code of Laws. The former BPAC, which was disbanded years ago, was subject to the whims of the executive branch. O’Connell and others in the bicycle and pedestrian advocacy community look to form a permanent body, created by law to ensure that it will outlast any changes in the mayor’s office.
Allen, who sits on the Greenways Commission, proposed an amendment to O’Connell’s bill. She said she brought her changes “in the spirit of inclusivity” and wanted to ensure that nonprofit organization Greenways for Nashville had a seat at the table. Greenways for Nashville has been a thorn in the side of bicycle advocacy groups for years, particularly on the issue of allowing e-bikes on Nashville’s greenways.
CM Parker moved to table Allen’s first amendment with a sobering speech about his experiences as a bike rider in Nashville. A tabling motion works like a duel: All debate is cut off except for the maker of the tabling motion (here, Parker) and the maker of the original motion (here, Allen). “I’ve never missed a council meeting in this term,” Parker began, “and if you ever look over here, and you see an empty seat, based on the way I choose to get around this city, the most likely cause of that seat being empty is a motorist put me in the hospital.” His voice wavered as he spoke of the risks for cyclists and pedestrians in Nashville and detailed the ways Allen’s amendment would blunt the impact of the commission.
After his motion to table failed, with Vice Mayor Jim Shulman casting the deciding vote against him, Parker got backup from fellow biker-CMs Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge. Sledge wasn’t pulling punches. He railed against Greenways for Nashville — a group he called “hostile” to “forms of transportation that make our city more accessible” — and suggested that passing the amendment would be akin to “letting the fox into the henhouse.” Mendes, who was hit by a car while riding his e-bike earlier this term, joined Sledge in denouncing the outsized influence of Big Greenway.
Allen was ultimately outmatched, and O’Connell’s bill passed in its original form.
Abolish At-Large?
At the last meeting, CMs Dave Rosenberg and Sharon Hurt sparred over a rezoning in Bellevue. On Tuesday, that rezoning was up for final approval. Hurt, who is running for mayor, attempted to pass several amendments to the bill, each of which Rosenberg batted down easily with tabling motions. It’s hard to know if CMs were voting in favor of Rosenberg or against Hurt, who angered more than a few of her colleagues by referring to district CMs as “gentrification overseers” at a mayoral forum over the weekend.
After the vote, CM Parker tweeted, “Abolish at large,” an apparent response to CMs At-Large Hurt and Allen voting “no” on the rezoning and CM At-Large Zulfat Suara abstaining. (The Ariza Bellevue development was ultimately approved.) He clarified that he was “mostly joking,” but it’s an interesting thought experiment. How are at-large CMs meaningfully different from district CMs? In theory, they should be leading the way on countywide policy issues, but in practice, district CMs do at least as much of that work as at-large CMs do, if not more. If at-large CMs vote against a supermajority of the council — a body made up of 35 people representing 35 districts that add up to the whole county — then are they really representative of the county they serve? The whole may be greater than the sum of its parts, but it shouldn’t be diametrically opposed.
The council also approved a bill to reconstitute the Community Oversight Board to comply with a state law passed earlier this year, without fanfare or discussion. That change won’t take effect until October. The new mayor will be tasked with filling those board seats, which reminds me: Early voting ends July 29! Election Day is Aug. 3. See all the Scene's election coverage via this link.
