Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick joined Thursday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the latest developments and work from the Metro Nashville Council.
Eslick said the council’s meeting on Tuesday consisted of some good discussions on issues; however, it was dragged out by council members trying to convince other members on how to vote on certain ordinances as well as activists taking advantage of the public comment period to speak on the current situation in the Middle East.
Tuesday’s meeting, which was gaveled in around 6:00 p.m., was adjourned just after midnight partially due to members convincing others to vote.
“There are a lot of things that we’ve already done, it’s on second or third reading, which were kind of easier to get through…But then you get into the parts where we don’t agree and some of the things that become a little more difficult to deal with are when some of the other members – and I’ve done it, but not to the extent of a lot of them – stand up and make their argument why the rest of us should vote a certain way. That’s not out of the ordinary, but to do it a lot and it basically gets to the part where it’s like, you’re telling me how you’re going to vote before you vote. Just vote. I’ll vote. I don’t have to tell everybody how I’m going to vote. Don’t waste my time,” Eslick explained.
“We didn’t get out of there until 12:02 or 12:05 the other night and a lot of it could have been cut out if people would have just, instead of trying to convince, it’s like Facebook, arguing on Facebook. It’s not going anywhere. We pretty much know how we’re going to vote. And if you’re just going to regurgitate the rest of the stuff that everybody’s already said, I’m out,” Eslick added.
Eslick also noted how pro-Palestine activists used discussions on the Fusus bill, which would continue and expand an existing program that allows businesses to voluntarily allow the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to have access to the businesses’ exterior cameras in real-time, as a cloak during the public comment period to speak on the current situation in the Middle East, specifically between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza.
“What people were doing was taking their three minutes to, under the cloak of Fusus, to make statements about Gaza and Palestine,” Eslick said. “It’s tough to sit there and know that we’re in Davidson County and they want us to make a resolution condemning Israel.”
“I’m not about the symbolism, I’m about the substance,” Eslick added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Metro Nashville Council Meeting Room” by nashville.gov.
