Metro Nashville Council has published the agenda for its February 15, 2022 meeting.
License plate reader (LPR) use, mental health professionals and the Metro Nashville Police Department, zoning, easements, contracts, and grant approvals are issues that dominate the Metro Council’s meeting agenda.
Read the full story
Nashville Metro Council passed a resolution establishing a target of an 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 2014 levels by 2050.
Metro Council approved the resolution at its last meeting on Tuesday and Mayor John Cooper added his stamp of approval the following day.
The goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions is part of Cooper’s Sustainability Advisory Committee Report on the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County’s Climate Change Mitigation Action Plan that was issued in 2021. The report recommends that Davidson adhere to the Paris Climate agreement goal of limiting average global temperature rise to no higher than 2ºC “above preindustrial levels.”
Read the full story
Metro Nashville Council approved a license plate reader pilot program on Tuesday.
Mayor Cooper’s office, Metro Nashville PD, and NDOT supported the creation of the pilot program.
Read the full story
The Metro Nashville Council passed a resolution requesting that Metro Nashville employees undergo implicit bias training at their February 1, 2022 meeting.
A late resolution was filed by councilmembers Joy Styles, Sandra Sepulveda, Jennifer Gamble, and Brandon Taylor. It is a resolution “requesting the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County to provide implicit bias training to all employees” and “employees of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County should be required to attend training on implicit bias and the promotion of bias-reducing strategies to address unintended biases regarding race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics.” There was no objection to the resolution coming to a vote. The resolution passed by voice vote with Councilmember Allen abstaining.
Read the full story
The Metro Nashville Council has released their agenda for their February 1, 2022 meeting. $70 million dollars in taxpayer funds appropriations is on the agenda.
Other topics on the agenda include license plate readers, greenhouse gas reduction, zoning and more.
Read the full story
Nashville Mayor John Cooper has announced additional funds are going to Nashville’s communities to “support grassroots violence reduction efforts” through his Community Safety Partnership program.
In a press release, Mayor Cooper said: “Community safety requires a community-wide effort,” Mayor Cooper said. “This work takes all of us, supporting one another and learning from each other. And it takes Metro government, championing that response and investing in the strategies that work best for our neighborhoods.”
Read the full story
Metro Nashville Council had their January 18 meeting where they passed a resolution urging the General Assembly to reject the proposed congressional maps that split Nashville amongst three congressional districts. It also considered issues like license plate readers, redistricting, board appointments, settlements for property damages, approval of grant applications, zoning, and other expenditures totaling millions of dollars.
Councilmembers Zulfat Suara and Ginny Welsch late filed a resolution “urging the Tennessee General Assembly to reject the redistricting plan splitting Davidson County into three congressional districts.” The Rules Committee had no objection to the inclusion of the resolution. The resolution passed by voice vote, with one no, and three abstentions. There was no major discussion on the resolution.
Read the full story
Metro Nashville Council has posted the agenda for the next meeting, which takes place on January 18.
Included in the agenda are board appointments, settlements for property damages, approval of grant applications, zoning, and other expenditures totaling millions of dollars.
Read the full story
Tuesday’s Metro Council meeting featured dozens of agenda items in addition to the end of Nashville’s vehicle emissions program and the allocation of $3.15 million to the Metro Nashville Police Department for tasers.
In all, the Metro Nashville City Council addressed 84 items on the agenda published prior to the meeting. The municipal body dealt with issues ranging from children’s safety, building codes, and zoning to allocation of taxpayer funds, allocation of COVID-19 relief funds, the election of notaries, and more.
Six additional items totaling $16,500,000 in taxpayer funding was approved.
Read the full story
Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Nashville Metro Council Member At-Large Steve Glover to the newsmakers line to talk about a common-sense solution for homelessness and helping others run for local government.
Read the full story
The people who manage the Nashville Electric Service (NES) announced this week that they will automatically start rounding up their customers’ bills to the nearest dollar to pay for home energy upgrades for low income customers. NES currently has about 420,000 customers. The program, according to a press release, begins January 1.
Read the full story
The Metro Nashville Council on Tuesday voted to approve Mayor John Cooper’s $1.6 billion transportation plan.
The move will help Nashville to apply for federal grants to implement the plan, WPLN reported. Cooper wants to invest in the WeGo bus system even though ridership fell by half this year during the pandemic.
Read the full story
Metro Councilman-at-Large Steve Glover and owner of Peg Leg Porker, Carey Bringle, called for at least another week to review the city’s budget for the upcoming 2021 fiscal year.
Glover has been outspoken about Mayor Cooper’s 32 percent proposed property tax increase, and native Nashvillian Pringle made news when he shared his scathing letter to Mayor Cooper and the Metro Council about the proposed property tax increase.
Read the full story
Metro Councilman John Cooper on Sunday held his kick-off event for his campaign to try to serve as Nashville’s next mayor. Cooper kicked off his campaign at Gabby’s Burgers & Fries on Humphreys Street. Saying his event was well-attended, he posted on his campaign’s Facebook page: Cooper announced in April that he would run for mayor of Nashville after saying as early as February he would not, The Tennessee Star reported. Cooper is the brother of U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) and the son of former Gov. Prentice Cooper His campaign website is here. The mayoral election will be held Aug. 1, according to Ballotpedia. – – – Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes. Photo “John Cooper Mayoral Campaign Kickoff” by John Cooper.
Read the full story
Nashville’s bus service WeGo Public Transit is looking at a need to raise rates while cutting hours or frequency of routes thanks to a budget shortfall of $8.7 million, Nashville Public Radio says. WeGo presented its budget to Metro Council on Wednesday. The financial gap is due largely to a reduction in state funding, a dip in fare revenue and higher employee insurance costs, Nashville Public Radio said. WeGo asked Mayor David Briley for $57.3 million to maintain its service, but Briley proposed a budget of $48.6 million. The last fare increase was in 2012. According to WeGo’s fare card, rates start at $1.70. WeGo Public Transit officials told WKRN that this would be the third straight year for a flat funding level from the city. While the budget is not a cut, they are not receiving the amount they requested to cover their expenses. Activist group Music City Riders Unlimited held a rally Wednesday afternoon at 1 Public Square, according to its Facebook page. One post on Tuesday previewing the rally read: Don’t let Mayor Briley pit public services — and the public — against each other. Join us tomorrow, May 15 @ 4:30 at 1 Public Square to put…
Read the full story
Outspoken Metro Nashville Councilman Steve Glover of District 12, no friend of Mayor David Briley, will run for an at-large seat on the council, NewsChannel 5 said. He made the announcement at the firefighter’s union hall Monday, NewsChannel 5 said. Glover’s council webpage says he lives in Hermitage and is agent/owner of Glover Benefit Group and president of The Retirement Solution Show Inc. Glover told The Tennessee Star last September that Briley threatens many of his colleagues on the Metro Nashville Council. The Briley administration tells council members that he will not support projects in their districts unless they support him, Glover said. Glover has spoken out against Briley, including the way he planned for the Major League Soccer stadium. “They should never be threatened by anyone in the executive branch because they were elected to represent their constituents,” he said. Glover, a Republican, said he would not run for mayor because too many Nashville voters are Democrats. Last month, Glover asked for an audit of the city’s personnel practices, the WSMV News4 I-team said. The station determined that the list of candidates who were qualified for Nashville’s fire chief was abruptly thrown out five days before the new chief, William…
Read the full story
On Wednesday, April 11th, the Tennessee State Senate will consider updating and closing loopholes in the state’s law prohibiting sanctuary cities. Sponsored by Sen. Mark Green, SB2332 will make it harder to shield criminal illegal aliens in Tennessee. In June 2017, the Metro Nashville Council was working to pass an ordinance that would have made Nashville the most liberal sanctuary city in the country. The ordinance, drafted with help from the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), proposed instituting a practice of “don’t ask so you don’t have to know or tell” which would prohibit Davidson County and Nashville employees, including law enforcement, from providing pertinent information to ICE regarding criminal aliens. Metro Councilman Colby Sledge, one of the two chief co-sponsors of the ordinance is married to the co-Director of TIRRC. The proposed ordinance was withdrawn, however, due to overwhelming grassroots opposition and pressure from state legislators, but a 2017 report released by Openthebooks.com still lists Nashville as a sanctuary city. Tennessee’s current anti-sanctuary city law passed in 2009, only prohibits written policies that obstruct cooperation with federal immigration authorities. It’s not clear whether this narrower definition of “sanctuary city” would have applied to the proposed Metro ordinance. Other states like Georgia…
Read the full story
Burkley Allen and Russ Pulley, appointed along with five other Metro Council members by Vice-Mayor David Briley, will form a Special Committee to investigate the use of public money by Nashville Mayor Megan Barry during her two year extramarital affair with Metro police officer and head of her security detail, Sgt. Robert Forrest. The Metro Nashville Council resolution establishing the Special Committee restricts the investigation to the expenditure of public funds: A Special Committee to investigate the circumstances involving travel and other expenses, including overtime expenses, potentially related to the Mayor’s admitted improprieties involving an employee of the Metropolitan Government to determine if there was any improper use of public money. While the Special Committee is not charged with looking into the Mayor’s potential ethics violations, Briley did suggest that the Committee coordinate their inquiry with the Board of Ethical Conduct and the Metro Audit Committee which is also investigating the Mayor’s affair. With regard to selecting members for the Special Committee, Vice-Mayor David Briley stated that he was looking at “people who have demonstrated neutrality in terms of the politics and people who are open-minded in terms of looking at the facts fairly.” Last week, Special Committee members Burkley…
Read the full story
In the last moments of Metro Council’s debate over the second reading of the now withdrawn sanctuary city ordinance before the June 20 vote, Nashville Council Member-at-Large Erica Gilmore, tried to assert non-existent local authority over illegal immigration, claiming “[w]e make the laws. We decide whether something is legal or not.” When the vote was held later that evening, Gilmore was among the 25 members of Metro Council who voted yes. Only 8 members of the Metro Council voted no. Had it not been for a vast grassroots uprising, an unfavorable legal opinion from Metro Legal Director, and a letter signed by more than 63 members of the Tennessee House of Representatives telling the Metro Council the Tennessee General Assembly would not let such an ordinance stand, the ordinance may have passed on a third reading. But the ordinances sponsors, Council Members Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge permanently withdrew the ordinance in light of the public backlash, and it never came to a vote on a third and final reading. But on the evening of June 20, Gilmore let her constituents know exactly where she stands on the issue. “I’m concerned when we have to talk about what’s American,…
Read the full story
Metro Nashville Council members Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge announced at a press conference held Wednesday afternoon on the steps of the Nashville Courthouse they are withdrawing the two controversial “sanctuary city” ordinances they introduced as sponsors earlier this year. Standing in front of about a dozen supporters of the ordinances from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugees Rights Coaliton (TIRCC), some carrying signs that said “Stand Up to Hate,” Mendes said he and Sledge were withdrawing both ordinances. One ordinance had already passed two of its required three readings and was scheduled for a vote on a third and final reading at the next Metro Council meeting scheduled for July 6. Mendes told the local media outlets present at the press conference that the ordinance could not be amended prior to the third reading, and therefore would be withdrawn. The second ordinance scheduled for a vote in August will also be withdrawn. The need for an amendment became apparent when Metro Director of Law Jon Cooper issued a legal opinion on Monday saying the ordinances were “not enforceable,” and Mayor Barry on Tuesday asked the Metro Council to “reconsider” the ordinances. Mendes did not indicate whether he and Sledge would…
Read the full story
Metro Nashville Legal Director confirmed today that the proposed sanctuary city ordinance BL2017-739 cannot stop the sheriff from turning illegal aliens over to ICE after they’ve been arrested. However, for illegal aliens living in Nashville who open borders advocates claim are forced to break Tennessee’s driver licensing law, the ordinance could help keep them out of deportation proceedings. The proposed Metro Nashville ordinance prohibits the collection of immigration status information by any “department, board, commission, officer, or employee of the metropolitan government of Nashville and Davidson County, including law enforcement officers,” unless required by federal or state law or by court order. The Metro Nashville ordinance closely tracks Seattle’s municipal code prohibition currently being tested with the city suing to challenge the President’s Executive Order that takes on sanctuary cities. If no immigration status information is collected, then Metro Nashville will be in compliance with the federal law governing communication exchanges “regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.” That is, unless the Tennessee General Assembly chooses to try and pass an Arizona type “show me your papers” law or simply bar local prohibitions on information collection as a way to ensure compliance with the “broader cooperative scheme between…
Read the full story
Nine State Senators released a letter Tuesday joining the 63 members of the Tennessee House of Representatives who on Monday expressed their unequivocal opposition to a proposed sanctuary city ordinance that awaits a third and final vote in Metro Nashville Council on July 6. The Council passed the controversial ordinance on second reading June 20 in a 25 to 8 vote. The letter was released by the office of State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), an announced candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, and is signed (physically or virtually) by eight additional State Senators, including State Senator Paul Bailey (R-Sparta), Senator Mike Bell (R-Riceville), Senator Mark Green (R-Clarksville), Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield), Senator Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin), Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), and Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma). The two-page statement begins: With the Second Reading of the Ordinances filed by Metro Councilmen Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge having passed and a vote pending from the Metro Council, we are compelled to make public the intent and purposes of this Ordinance and to make it known that as Representatives of the State of Tennessee, we soundly object to their passage. Tennessee is currently being represented by the Thomas More Law Center…
Read the full story
Organizers of a rally planned to stop the proposed sanctuary city ordinance tell The Tennessee Star the event will be held outside Metro Nashville Council’s chambers in front of the Metro Nashville Courthouse at the corner of 3rd Avenue and Union Street in downtown Nashville at 4:30 pm on Thursday, July 6. The rally will start an hour and a half before the Metro Nashville Council meeting begins where the vote on the third and final reading of the controversial sanctuary city ordinance is scheduled to be held. After the rally, attendees will go inside the Courthouse for the Council meeting in anticipation of the vote on the third reading. T-shirts saying “Keep Nashville Safe. Just Vote No,” will be available at the rally. As The Star reported, the Metro Nashville Council voted 25 to 8 in favor of the proposed ordinance at a second reading held at its June 20th meeting. On Monday, organizers formed a 501 (c) 4 non-profit organization, Tying Nashville Together, Inc., whose sole purpose will be to stop the sanctuary city bill. A website and Facebook page will be up soon, organizers tell The Star. Founding board members will be announced later this week. On…
Read the full story
Sixty-three members of the 99 member Tennessee House of Representatives, all Republicans, released a statement opposing the passage of a proposed sanctuary city ordinance by Metro Nashville Council. “With the Second Reading of the Ordinances filed by Metro Councilmen Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge having passed and a vote pending from the Metro Council, we are compelled to make public the intent and purposes of this Ordinance and to make it known that as Representatives of the State of Tennessee, we soundly object to their passage. Tennessee is currently being represented by the Thomas More Law Center in a lawsuit questioning the ongoing practice of settling refugees in Tennessee through various non-governmental organizations without the proper vetting, channels or protocol being followed,” State Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma), State Rep. Bryan Terry (R-Murfreesboro), and State Rep. Sheila Butt (R-Columbia) said in a statement released on Monday from Matheny’s office: The Ordinances would formally put policies in place that would officially make Nashville a Sanctuary City. In essence, the Ordinances would: 1) Prohibit Metro Nashville employees from inquiring into anyone’s immigration status, effectively enabling illegal aliens to access public benefits they would otherwise be barred from using. This practice is not…
Read the full story
Almost immediately after the Metro Nashville Council voted on second reading to pass a sanctuary city ordinance last week, Congressman Diane Black (R-TN-06), State Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) and gubernatorial candidates, Mae Beavers and Bill Lee, issued strong rebukes to the city’s move to violate federal and state law. The Randy Boyd campaign, despite being asked directly by The Tennessee Star for a comment regarding the proposed Nashville ordinance, did not respond. In a state where The Tennessee Star’s polling results showed that 1,007 likely Republican primary voters rejected in-state college tuition for illegal aliens by a stunning 84 percent to 11 percent margin and where 1.5 million voters helped elect President Trump, Boyd’s silence on a key immigration issue, could prove costly to his campaign. Three days after announcing his candidacy for governor on March 6, 2017, The Star reported on Boyd’s $250,000 donation in 2016 to Conexion Americas, an affiliate partner of the National Council of La Raza (NC La Raza). Renata Soto, co- founder and executive director of Conexion Americas served for three years as vice-president of the NC La Raza Board and was elected to lead the NC La Raza board in 2015, the year before Boyd made his donation. Days later The Star asked Boyd whether he knew…
Read the full story
NASHVILLE, Tennessee–An overflow crowd of about 200 met at John A’s restaurant on Music Valley Drive in Nashville on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and heard from opponents of the proposed Metro Nashville Council sanctuary city ordinance, who outlined the actions they can join to defeat the proposal at its third reading on July 6. As The Tennessee Star reported last week, “[t]wo ordinances filed by Metro Councilmen Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge, drafted with the assistance of the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and cheered on by Mayor Megan Barry, will make Davidson County and Metro Nashville the most liberal sanctuary city in the U.S.; in fact, even more liberal in its policies than New York City or San Francisco.” TIRRC, an affiliate of the National Council of La Raza and a recipient of funding from a George Soros front group, has been agitating for Nashville to formalize its informal sanctuary city practices since the election of President Trump. The two bills co-sponsored by Mendes and Sledge which will have their second reading tonight, will accomplish that goal. Trying to pass off the ordinances as “in line with state and federal law” the other Mendes/Sledge bill if…
Read the full story
State Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) gave it to the Metropolitan Davidson County/Nashville Government with both barrels in a brief speech he delivered at the Cannon County Republican Party Reagan Day Dinner in Woodbury on Friday night. “I pledge, along with my colleagues in the House, to orchestrate a massive response to Davidson County’s attempt at embracing sanctuary city status,” Matheny told the crowd. Matheny then spelled out exactly how opponents of the Metro Nashville Council’s proposed sanctuary city ordinance in the Tennessee General Assembly will respond. “They come to us every year for a lot of money, for professional sports teams, mass transit, tourism, business development and other initiatives they ask the state to support,” Matheny said. “If the council won’t yield to the pressure they will face prior to the July 6 third reading of the proposed ordinance, then my colleagues and I will do everything in our power to deprive Metro Nashville of funds,” he vowed. “On July 7, there will be all out political war after July 6,” Matheny said. The crowd, estimated to number about 125, appeared to be unanimously in agreement with Matheny’s sentiments. In addition to Matheny, State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) and…
Read the full story
The Mendes/Sledge Ordinance BL2017-739 that passed on second reading by twenty-five Metro Nashville Council members on Tuesday will, if passed on a final vote, force Davidson County and Nashville law enforcement personnel to violate federal and state laws. The sponsors’ other bill, BL2017-743 seeking to terminate a 1996 contract that reimburses the Davidson County jail when it detains criminal aliens for ICE pick-up, has been deferred to the Council’s August 1, 2017 meeting. Both bills are in line with Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s left-wing open borders, pro-illegal immigrant political philosophy. BL2017-739 expressly prohibits the “use of any funds, resources or facilities” to assist ICE and also prohibits Davidson County and Nashville employees, including law enforcement, from providing pertinent information to ICE regarding criminal aliens. Federal law, however, specifically addresses these information exchanges: a Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, [federal immigration authorities] information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual. The Mendes/Sledge bill attempts to circumvent this law by prohibiting the collection of immigration status information, possibly inviting the Tennessee General Assembly to pass a law…
Read the full story
Twenty-five out of thirty-nine members present at Tuesday’s Metro Council meeting voted to pass the Mendes/Sledge ordinance forward to a third reading and final vote at the next regularly scheduled Council meeting. The ordinance will, in effect, turn Nashville into a “sanctuary city,” and set up an inevitable confrontation with both the state and federal government. It is also in line with the left-wing, open borders, pro-illegal immigrant political philosophy of Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, a Democrat. The vote was preceded by impassioned statements both pro and con; some more factually accurate than others. Admissions were made that parents are not taking their children to be immunized, victims of domestic violence complaints are not coming forward and there is pervasive fear of interacting with law enforcement. Councilman Scott Davis claimed that downtown hotel cleaners aren’t getting paid because they’re told “you’re illegal. I don’t have to pay you.” The general theme running through supporters was this bill would make the city safer for everyone, “citizens or not,” phrasing used by Councilman Mendes to avoid the legally accurate term “illegal alien.” Mendes claimed that cities are allowed to “have choice” regarding how much they do over and above federal and state law and…
Read the full story
Two ordinances filed by Metro Councilmen Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge, drafted with the assistance of the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and cheered on by Mayor Megan Barry, will make Davidson County and Metro Nashville the most liberal sanctuary city in the U.S.; in fact, even more liberal in its policies than New York City or San Francisco. The Metro Council may hold the second of the three required readings of one or both bills during its regularly scheduled meeting tonight. TIRRC, an affiliate of the National Council of La Raza and a recipient of funding from a George Soros front group, has been agitating for Nashville to formalize its informal sanctuary city practices since the election of President Trump. The two bills co-sponsored by Mendes and Sledge which will have their second reading tonight, will accomplish that goal. Trying to pass off the ordinances as “in line with state and federal law” the other Mendes/Sledge bill if passed will, by prohibiting Metro Nashville employees from inquiring into anyone’s immigration status, effectively enable illegal aliens to access public benefits they would otherwise be barred from using. Using the ruse that it’s “bad policy and bad practice”for the Metro Council to…
Read the full story
Airbnb, the online service that helps people “monetize their extra space” with short-term rental agreements, has launched a new platform called “Open Homes” that lets homeowners donate that “extra space” and host refugees, saving the federal contractors time and money in meeting the terms of their agreements with the U.S. State Department. By “donating” space in privately owned homes and apartments, any restrictions on use of private property imposed by local governments, can be by-passed. One hundred offers for hosting have already been offered in New York. Airbnb has set a goal “of providing short-term housing over the next five years for 100,000 people in need.” Regulations put in place by the Nashville Metro Council have attempted to curtail the use of privately owned property for short-term rental use, whereas the Memphis City Council opted to take the cash and charge “extra space” hosts the same taxes and fees paid by hotels. Chattanooga’s city government requires specific zoning for short-term rentals except in the unincorporated parts of Hamilton County where only a special permit is required. Knoxville property owners must also secure special permits to profit from short-term hosting. None of the local government ordinances appear to address the scenario…
Read the full story