Metro Nashville Council Approves Implementing Annual Demographic Reports for Boards and Commissions

Metro Nashville City Council approved legislation implementing annual boards and commissions demographic reports during Tuesday’s meeting. Council member Tom Cash introduced the legislation; his proposed report would focus on the makeup of racial and ethnic minorities, and LGBTQ-identifying individuals. Following submission to the Metro Clerk by October 1 of each year, the report would be posted publicly. 

The council voted unanimously to add an amendment to the legislation to include sex and gender on the demographic. The legislation passed on second reading, 33-2. Only council members Steve Glover and Robert Swope voted no. 

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Metro Council Member Robert Swope Unveils Alternative to $9 Billion Barry-Briley Light Rail Plan with ‘Intelligent Transit Plan For The It City Nashville’

Robert Swope unveils transit alt

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Metro Council member Robert Swope unveiled a new plan with a play on words, “Intelligent Transit for the It City Nashville,” Tuesday at an event at the Wildhorse Saloon on 2nd Avenue North in downtown Nashville. Joining Swope on-stage were Tennessee State Senators Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and Mark Green (R-Clarksville). Senator Ketron spoke of his personal experiences with increasing traffic issues as he travels to the state legislature, and Senator Green talked about the benefits of autonomous vehicles, including increased roadway capacity due to the ability to have vehicles in closer proximity to each other. Swope put on a high-tech presentation in conjunction with Paul Doherty, President and CEO of The Digit Group, Inc., (TDG) who connected to the meeting via telecomm from Japan, where he had been meeting earlier with the Prime Minister. TDG specializes in holistic smart city solutions, “using technology solutions as the basis” for planning, designing, building and manufacturing smart city solutions that provide safe and comfortable transportation, among other elements with solutions implemented in China, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, Europe and through the U.S., according to the TDG website. Swope told The Tennessee Star that he has served on the…

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Sanctuary Cities, Ft. Negley To Be Discussed Saturday At Southeast Nashville Conservatives’ Breakfast

Two hot topics in Nashville will be discussed Saturday at the Southeast Nashville Conservatives’ Breakfast. Sanctuary cities and the proposed redevelopment plan for Ft. Negley will be addressed by guest speakers. Metro Councilman Robert Swope will speak on the council’s recent push to make Nashville more welcoming to illegal immigrants. Proposed sanctuary city ordinances received strong support from council members but faced opposition from citizens. In addition, Metro’s law director raised concerns about the legality of a provision that would have required the sheriff to get a criminal judicial warrant to detain inmates believed to be in the U.S. illegally, instead of simply following procedures established by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Other measures would have further restricted Metro employees from cooperating with immigration authorities. At the end of June, the councils’ lead sponsors of the ordinances withdrew their two bills but vowed to accomplish their goals in other ways. On Saturday, Swope, who represents District 4 and who opposed the legislation, promises to give a behind-the-scenes look at what took place and what to expect as sanctuary city proponents continue their fight. Chris Cotton, a board member of the Friends of Ft. Negley, will speak about Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s controversial…

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Councilman Robert Swope Speaks Out Against ‘Sanctuary City’ Ordinance

Tennessee Star

  Councilman Robert Swope told WTN 99.7 FM talk show host Dan Mandis this week that the proposed “sanctuary city” ordinance would create a new class of citizens that would conflict with existing laws. The measure, which would restrict local cooperation with federal immigration officials, was passed on a second reading Tuesday and is up for a final vote next month. Swope has been against the measure from the start, being the only Metro Council member to vote against it on the first reading June 6. Seven other council members joined him this week in voting against it, but 25 voted for it. “If you are breaking the law, then you need to be punished, not be put into a separate class of citizens that says, OK, well, you can break the law but nobody else can,” Swope said in his interview Wednesday with Mandis. Swope spoke of the dangers involved in obstructing the sheriff’s ability to detain criminal illegal immigrants for deportation. Opposition to the ordinance is not about “rounding up” Davidson County’s estimated 33,000 illegal immigrants and “throwing them back across any single single border,” Swope said. In a recent week, 19 illegal immigrants were detained for deportation by the Metro Nashville…

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