Most weeks, fervent Metro government observer @startleseasily recaps the bimonthly Metro Council meetings with her column "On First Reading." Startles is taking the week off, so Scene staffer Eli Motycka has filed a substitute column in her stead. Startles will return soon.
The Metro Council addressed mass surveillance, urban density and Bellevue health care in front of a packed chamber on Tuesday. The vote to move forward on a six-month pilot for police use of automatic license plate readers brought public officials and Metro top brass to the podium, testifying on both sides of the controversial expansion of state surveillance. Appealing to national fears of increasing crime, a narrative obsessively advanced by conservatives in spite of a more nuanced statistical story, law enforcement pushed councilmembers to approve new tools for far-reaching data collection. Critics describe mistake-prone technology that will replicate biases along lines of race and class, opening a Pandora’s Box of information gathering that will add Nashvillians to a national regime of state data-sharing and spin out of the control of the city’s local police department.
Eye in the Sky
After some housekeeping, Tuesday's meeting kicked off with a public hearing on council oversight of LPRs. The resolution was the council’s stamp of approval for other bodies within Metro — the mayor’s office, police, the district attorney, procurement — to engage a vendor and start putting up LPRs across Davidson County. It was the council’s only real chance at exercising oversight before passing the baton to Nashville’s executive branch.
Police, DA Glenn Funk and Mayor John Cooper have favored setting up countywide surveillance network of cameras that passively collect license plate data. Funk and MNPD Chief John Drake, flanked in the gallery by uniformed MNPD officers, argued in favor of the legislation. Both emphasized LPRs’ role in solving and reducing violent crime, a popular talking point that relies more on anecdotes than solid research. Drake declined to share his home address, as is chamber custom when giving public comment. We assume this was a privacy concern.
“There is no more personal privacy anymore in this country,” said Nashvillian Kevin Warner, who spoke in favor of LPR adoption and argued that Nashvillians should abandon any remaining illusions of privacy. “Any time you pick up a cellphone, Twitter, internet, Instagram, TikTok, all that other stuff — they’re watching and listening.” Other Nashvillians representing specific interest groups like the Downtown Partnership and Solaren Risk Management, a private company poised to benefit financially from the adoption of LPRs, spoke on behalf of adoption. Solaren CEO Jack Byrd argued that Nashville should adopt LPRs because so many other jurisdictions already had them. In the chamber’s most honest glimpse of the power of LPRs, Byrd spoke to law enforcement’s power to combine local camera data with the National Crime Information Center, the so-called “nexus” where state, local and federal bodies data-share.
The vast power of the government to collect and access car-specific data is exactly what mobilized formidable public opposition. Jill Fitcheard of Metro’s Community Oversight Board and the Rev. Davie Tucker of Metro’s Human Relations Commission both spoke against the legislation. Opponents outlined the threat that a vast, mistake-prone surveillance apparatus will pose to Nashvillians, specifically non-white Nashvillians endangered by racial biases and most likely to be targeted by law enforcement.
“Tonight we are talking about safety and surveillance and what that could mean for marginalized groups," Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda told colleagues during floor debate. "Some of you understand this and some of you do not." This legislation does not address questions about data-sharing, specifically with federal agencies like ICE. Council critics pointed out that it rendered approval prematurely and ignored many constituent concerns.
“We don’t know who the vendor will be," said Councilmember Dave Rosenberg. "We haven’t seen policies and procedures. And we have no idea how many of these things will be installed or how their locations will be determined. There’s literally no reason we need to pass this tonight.”
The resolution passed 22-13. Metro may now move forward with soliciting a contract, purchasing cameras and beginning a six-month pilot program, after which the council will vote whether to continue using LPRs. The vote’s singular abstention, by At-Large Councilmember Sharon Hurt, could be seen as a political hedge. Hurt recently announced a run for mayor.
In the Zone
As the saying goes, God isn’t making any more land. So councilmembers are trying to zone better. Residents and legislators are coming at the city’s housing shortage from various angles with the same principle: Get more people living in the city’s limited space. District 5’s Sean Parker is carrying legislation that will scrutinize the definition of a "family," potentially making it more expansive and opening up ways to increase density. Parker teased discussion but deferred the public hearing to January. District Councilmember Freddie O’Connell advanced legislation on Tuesday that paves the way for the Lutheran community development organization Inspiritus to develop 95 units on church property at Rosa Parks and Garfield. O’Connell also secured rezoning for a development at Lea and Rutledge — do we call this Rolling Mill Hill? SoBro? SoKoVeBo? Both bills met resistance from neighbors unsettled by how the proposed units would change the character of their neighborhoods.
Nashville’s own Hospital Corporation of America got a rezone for a freestanding ER in Bellevue where Highway 70 crosses I-40. District Councilmember Gloria Hausser backed up the resolution with the quote of the night: “Teenagers do stuff. And they get hurt. And it’s really good to have an emergency facility close by those individuals.” Council passed it on second reading, for the teens.
Fourth and Long
The council deferred a vote on Titans stadium legislation, punting to Dec. 20 to make more time for public engagement. The East Bank Stadium Committee, a council-created body set up to vet the Titans’ new stadium deal, has been hard at work hosting meetings about the mayor’s proposed plan to forgo renovations on Nissan Stadium and instead build a $2.1 billion domed facility for the team. Two more public events — Dec. 12 and Dec. 14 — are on the docket before the proposed terms sheet, seen as a contract precursor, is back on the council’s Dec. 20 docket.
