@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.
At a special Cinco de Mayo edition on Thursday, the Metro Council deferred a proposal to buy 88 Hermitage Ave. and struggled with notice issues.
Happy ... Thursday?
Thanks to the primary election on May 3, last week’s Metro Council meeting was on a Thursday. Which, like, I honestly still haven’t gotten over. Who decided this was a good idea? Why don’t we just altogether skip meetings on the week of Election Day? Council literally just takes a break for the whole month of August every four years for the councilmembers' elections. Seems like one or two nights off for elections in other months of other years wouldn’t be the worst thing ever.
Perhaps due to the wackiness of having Council on a Thursday, the vibes were real suspect. If I didn’t know better (which I don’t), I’d say someone left some special brownies in the break room for CM Young’s birthday. (Whoever you are, you can confess. Our newly re-elected District Attorney Glenn Funk probably won’t prosecute.)
Notice Issues
In a truly bizarre series of events involving a hot-mic situation at the planning table, the Council was forced to defer a zoning bill in CM Robert Swope’s district. A woman who was there to speak at the public hearing explained that there was a typo in the notice that went out alerting the public of the hearing. Sure enough, the addresses were incorrect in both the notice and the bill itself, so after a prolonged pause for legal analysis, Vice Mayor Jim Shulman delivered the unfortunate news in a very Shulman way: re-explaining it after someone else has already explained it.
In a shocking twist, it turns out the typo investigator was there to express support for the development. Swope was visibly frustrated with the whole affair, noting that he’s been trying to get a roundabout in the area for seven years, which is longer than I’ve been trying to do anything.
Fashionably Late-Filed
The Planning Department wasn’t the only source of notice issues on Thursday night. The administration brought a late-filed resolution — as this particular administration is wont to do — to approve a five-year contract with Waste Management. Y’all may have heard we’ve had some trash problems lately. Anyway, I guess the administration thought the best way to handle the situation was to spring a five-year contract on the Council with a day or two to review it. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, the Council appears to have finally had enough of the late-filed shenanigans. Two members objected to hearing the resolution, and pursuant to the Council rules, that was enough to push off the vote to the next meeting. Not sure what that means for our trash, but I encourage the administration to consider something called “timely filing their legislation.” It’s wild, but just try it! You might like it!
Get in, Loser, We’re Buying a Dilapidated Building (Maybe)
Three years ago, the (then-Briley) mayoral administration attempted to purchase 88 Hermitage Ave., a state-owned property home to an old building that once housed the Tennessee School for the Blind. The plan was to use the property to build a new Nashville School of the Arts. The price? $11.3 million. After much debate, the Council rejected the proposal. In fact, three members of the current administration who were on the Council at that time — including current Mayor John Cooper himself — voted against the deal.
Now Cooper wants us to buy it. Based on the agenda from last month’s Parks Board meeting, Cooper’s plan is to restore the old building, use some of the property to extend the Rolling Mill Hill Greenway, and use another part of it for affordable housing. But ... is that the plan?
Hard to say, when Mike Jameson, Cooper’s director of legislative affairs, told a Council committee Thursday that there will be a “master planning process” to determine how the site will be used. There’s apparently a conceptual plan, but it’s neither attached to the board’s agenda nor to the legislation itself. The new price? $20.3 million.
Lest spokesperson TJ Ducklo curse my timeline, let me clarify that Cooper’s stated reason for voting against the purchase in 2019 was that he didn’t want to see the old building demolished. Restoring it could cost untold millions that we could use for, say, affordable housing? But OK, perhaps Metro is doing historic preservation for the state now. The Council deferred action on the resolution until the next meeting, so we’ll see how much detail they need to spend a cool $20 million.
We’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming for the May 17 meeting. In the meantime, please donate to your local abortion fund or reproductive justice organization.
