Good evening everyone. Today is
JUNE the 2nd, 2026 and I want
to open up our announcement
period by acknowledging that
this meeting is being held on
the unceded stolen land of the
Cherokee, Shawnee and Yuchi
people. And to remind you all
that no one is illegal on
stolen land built by stolen
labor. We have two
proclamations today. Our first
proclamation is from Council
Member Jeff Eastlake. A
proclamation recognizing Albert
Tucker for on the occasion of
his retirement from a
distinguished 42 year long
career in television news,
Council member Eastlake. You
are recognized.
Thank you very much. Whereas
MR. Albert Tucker has
established a distinguished 42
year career in television news
leading up to his forthcoming
retirement this Friday, having
leaving behind a legacy of
leadership, dedication and
trusted local journalism.
Whereas serving as news
director at Wish-tv in
Indianapolis, where the station
was recognized as Indiana
s
Outstanding News operation in
2016 and received Emmy Award
for its Heroin at Home series.
MR. Tucker moved to Nashville
in JUNE of 2016 to serve as the
news director at wkrn tv, and
Whereas, during his decade at
wkrn, MR. Tucker had led
Strategic newsroom and digital
growth initiatives, expanded
local programming and guided
coverage of major events
impacting Nashville, including
the 2016 Antioch Waffle House
shooting and the 2020 Christmas
Day shooting or bombing in
downtown Nashville. Whereas MR.
Tucker has also demonstrated a
strong commitment to civic and
professional service through
his participation on the abc
Affiliate News Directors
Advisory Board. The director of
Nashville Crime Stoppers and as
a graduate of the fbi,
Citizen
s Academy and MR.
Tucker is also grateful for the
support of his colleagues, his
friend, especially his wife
Janice, to whom he cites as the
pillar of his support for
decades. Along with his
daughter Faith and his son
Reid. As he looks forward to
this well-earned retirement.
Now, therefore, I, Jeff East,
District Council member for
district 11 of the Metro
Nashville government of
Davidson County, along with the
undersigned members of the
Council, hereby recognize MR.
Albert Tucker upon the occasion
of his retirement and extend
sincere appreciation for the
decades and dedication to
broadcast journalism. His
commitment to transparency,
civic awareness and keeping
citizens informed through
trusted local journalism and
his lasting contributions to
the people of Nashville and
communities across the nation.
Thank you sir.
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.
There you go.
Here
s actually.
Three I.
I
m overwhelmed. I
d like to
thank you for this. I
d like to
thank my colleagues. Um, living
in Nashville and serving this
community has been a great
privilege. I
ll continue to do
that as long as I
m alive. And
I thank you again. Um, it
s
really humbling.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Councilmember, and
congratulations, MR. Tucker.
Next we have resolution number.
Our is 2026-1925. Council
member Jacob Cooper. A
resolution recognizing the
contributions of linemen and
recognizing APRIL 18th, 2026 as
National Lineman Appreciation
Day in Nashville and Davidson
County Council Member Cooper,
you are recognized.
Thank you, chair Pro Tem, and
thank you for for being here.
Our wonderful line worker
representatives on a on an
incredible day where we get to
hear from the public at our
budget public hearing. It
s an
honor to recognize the folks
that work to make our city run.
And most most recently, and
most importantly in the Ice
Storm Fern, where they were out
in the cold, many of them
without their own power,
helping to keep us, keep us
safe and get electricity back
on and in dangerous conditions
away from their families. And
so it
s the least that I think
that we can do as a body to
recognize them with this, uh,
this resolution. And so I will
kick it off and have my
colleagues join. Um, this is a
resolution recognizing the
contributions of line workers
and recognizing APRIL 18th,
2026 as National Line Worker
Appreciation Day in Nashville
and Davidson County.
Whereas the United States
Congress first designated APRIL
18th as National Line Workers
Appreciation Day in 2013 as a
way to recognize line workers
in their contributions
following hurricane Sandy in
the previous year and.
Whereas line workers require
extensive training, bravery,
and technical ability to
perform the everyday duties of
their profession and. Whereas
line workers are often first
responders during storms and
other catastrophic events,
working to make the scene safe
for other public safety
personnel and.
Whereas during Winter storm
Fern, hundreds of line workers
worked around the clock in
freezing temperatures to
respond to one of the largest
power outages in the history of
Nashville Electric Service and.
Whereas the line where the line
workers efforts did not end
with the storm, as they are
still working across any
territory to permanently repair
temporary fixes and strengthen
the electrical grid and.
Whereas line workers play a
vital role in the economy by
maintaining and expanding
energy infrastructure and.
Whereas line workers must often
work under dangerous
conditions, separated from
their families to keep schools,
hospitals and businesses open
and.
Take it home.
Whereas it is fitting and
proper that this Metropolitan
Council recognized the
contribution of line workers to
keep the city going, often
under dangerous conditions.
Now, therefore, be it resolved
by the Council of the
Metropolitan Government of
Nashville and Davidson County,
that the Metropolitan Council
does hereby recognize the
contributions of line workers
towards keeping power on and
protecting public safety, and
recognizing APRIL 18th, 2026,
as National Lineman
Appreciation Day. This
resolution shall take effect
from and after its adoption.
The welfare of the Metropolitan
Government of Nashville and
Davidson County, requiring it.
To take a picture of.
To speak first.
Thank you. Metro Council, on
behalf of the lineman and nes,
I want to say thank you for
this. And I
m accepting this as
the first vice PRESIDENT Of the
union at nes. We work hard and
we
re proud of what we do. So
thank you for this recognition.
We also want to recognize the
leadership our PRESIDENT,
Teresa Boles Aplin. Without
her, we would not be as
successful. Thank you very much.
Now we get hold this up. Thank
you. Sorry.
Oh.
All right. Thank you for all of
the line people here today. And
thank you for your service to
our city. And now we are going
to go into our announcement
period. I am going to start off
with a council member, Russ
Bradford, council member.
Bradford, you
re recognized.
Thank you. Ma
am. Pro tem. I
rise this evening to announce
the start of Pride Month and to
say that we, as the Metro
Council, we stand proudly with
our city
s lgbtq community,
especially right now, at a
moment when our community is
facing relentless attacks from
state and federal legislators
who are trying to strip our
rights, restrict our access to
care, and using policies as
weapons against us and our
neighbors. It matters that we,
the local government, take a
stand and say to our
constituents, clearly you are
seeing you are valued and you
belong. Nashville has always
been and will always be
stronger for our diversity.
This month and every month, we
stand with our fellow lgbtq
community. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Council member
Bradford. Next we have Council
member Gadd. You are
recognized.
Thank you so much. Speaker pro
tempore. And also thank you to,
um, um, Council Member Bradford
for making sure we open up, um,
on on pride this month so
appropriately. Um, I do want to
take a moment for a colleagues
that are here at your desk or
if you
ll make sure you remind
colleagues when they come in.
Each one of us will have an
orange ribbon. Um, and so what?
This orange ribbon stands for
is specifically on National Gun
Violence Awareness Day, or wear
Orange Day, which is something
that is observed the first
weekend in JUNE every year.
This color was chosen the color
orange because that
s the color
hunters wear in the woods, to
alert others not to shoot. On
where Orange Day we honor
remember all victims and
survivors of gun violence this
year. Wear Orange Weekend will
be JUNE 5th to seventh. Our
Middle Tennessee Moms Demand
Action volunteers invite all of
us to wear this ribbon for your
Wear Orange ribbon on this
weekend, but also throughout
the entire month. I
d like to
take a moment and ask those
from Moms Demand Action if you
will stand and be recognized
for all of your service. So
thank you all for being here.
And um. They have also, um,
they have also wanted to make
sure that everyone is invited
this Sunday. Uh, the Tennessee
middle middle Tennessee moms
wear orange Sunday, or wear
orange will be this Sunday,
JUNE 7th at 2 P.M.. Uh, in the
center for Contemplative
Justice. And that
s going to be
on Alabama Avenue, uh, right
off of Charlotte Avenue. And we
welcome everyone to join.
You
ll have an invitation in
your inbox. And and folks can
learn about it in the community
by going through their website.
Also, social media as well. So
thank you all for being here
today.
Thank you. Council member. Um,
if I MAY take a moment of
privilege to add to that where
orange originated on JUNE the
2nd, 2015, on what would have
been Hadiya Pendleton
s 18th
birthday. So today would have
been Padilla
s 29th birthday.
So I just wanted to take a
moment to speak her name and
honor her legacy. Council
member, you
re recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Pro tem. Um,
remember not to give you a
promotion at this time. Um, so.
I
m a firm believer that all of
us make it in life because of
the people who have invested in
us. Those those folks who take
the time to get to know us, to
know our hearts, to know our
passions, and to help guide us
during our some of our most
formative years. And somebody
like that, for myself is my
oldest brother, Manas, who was
my or her was who is, um, or
who was my one of my very first
best friends, a person who has
always sought to protect me, to
look after me, to uplift me and
support me. Um, so I just
wanted to take a moment to to
say thank you to my oldest
brother, Mendez, for all that
he
s done for me, but also
taking a moment to wish him a
very happy birthday tomorrow.
The third will be his 41st
birthday. So, uh. Yes. So,
Mendez, on behalf of the
Metropolitan County Council of
Nashville and Davidson County,
happy birthday.
Councilmember, you
re not gonna
break out in the song.
New. Okay? I don
t think
anybody wants that.
Okay.
Maybe after the presentations,
we might get a little happy.
Birthday to you.
All right. Council member
Allen, you
re recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Chair. I was
trying to hold out until 626,
because in light of the fact
that we have a room that I know
includes some teachers and
other people that have been
influential and want to teach
us to love learning. I want to
wish everybody happy Palindrome
day. A palindrome is a word
that
s the same words as
backwards. Our name like
Hannah. And today is six, two,
two, six. And there are three
more, two more palindrome days
in in JUNE. So take the
opportunity to do something
symmetric and teach a kid to
learn math. So happy palindrome
day.
Thank you, Councilmember Allen.
Forever the engineer. Thank you
for gracing us with that.
Councilmember Sara, you are
recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Pro Tem, a
couple of announcements. I also
want to wish everyone a Happy
Immigrants month. Uh, JUNE is
the month where we celebrate,
uh, immigrants. And today the
Immigrant Caucus, I
m sure
chair is probably on on queue
to speak. Uh, had a ceremony
where we have a bunch of shoes
lining the courthouse steps.
And those shoes tell a lot of
stories. They tell the
different stories of different
people, people that have to go
through our ship to get here,
whether as a refugee where
there
s a an alley or even just
coming for, for better what?
For their for their families.
And it
s also represents the
immigrants that have been taken
from us with ice and through
violence. And so as we look at
immigrant, as we continue to
talk about inclusion and, and
acceptability and all of that
stuff, I want to raise, uh, the
voices and ask everyone to,
number one, uh, recognize the
contributions of immigrant to,
to our nation, uh, and also to
also recognize the plight of
immigrants, uh, when it
s not
happened to us directly. We MAY
not know all that is going on,
but a lot is really happening.
Anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim,
anti-gay, anti everything. And
so, uh, this is a plea that as
we
re recognizing all this
month that we recognize the
humanity and the people behind
it. So it
s not just shoes,
it
s the people. So happy
immigrant day. I also want to
take the opportunity to
announce, uh, Senator Charlene
Oliver will be doing a Iowa
dedication on Saturday. Uh,
this is to recognize the
trailblazer, Senator Thelma
Harper. And so are part of
Clarksville, Iowa. Will be
renamed in her honor. She
s the
first black woman to be elected
to the state senate. And she
s
the lady with the hat. We all
know she
s done a whole lot.
Uh, I love recognizing those
that came before us, because a
lot of us are standing because
of the work that that they
ve
all done. Uh, and then finally,
I want to invite everyone to my
third segment on my budget
conversation. This Sunday, uh,
will be from 3 P.M. To 4 P.M.
You can join, uh, on Facebook.
And this Sunday, I will be
talking to union leaders, uh,
to get their perspective on the
budget. Uh, as we look at there
are a lot of union members out
here. And so I want to talk to
their leaders about where we
are, what they expect. And it
s
always a very good
conversation. So join online on
Facebook, on my Facebook page.
You can make comments or ask
questions. And then afterwards
you get the blog and the
newsletter. Uh, thank you,
MADAM Chair.
Thank you. Council member Suara.
And a special thank you for
everyone who has come out today
to speak during our budget
public hearing to all of our
city workers and union workers
and our constituents, and
everyone is showing up because
you care about this city and
you
re taking time out of your
day and away from your family
to be here with us. I just
wanted to take a moment to
acknowledge everyone in the
audience today, and to thank
you all for being here. Uh,
Councilmember, you
re
recognized.
Thank you so much. Pro tem, um,
district 17 has lots going on,
and I
m really excited because
in JUNE, um, books and the Boys
and Gold have teamed up. Um, so
nsc and the National Public
Library for special edition
library card with tempo that
you can only get this month in
JUNE. So if anybody wants or
needs a library card, you can
sign up today. It
s free and
it
s perfect timing because the
Summer Reading Challenge just
started yesterday. So just want
to encourage everyone to
participate. Participate in
that and to keep reading all
summer long. Um, in district 17
on Saturday, JUNE 13th, I just
want to make sure that everyone
knows about the quarterly
district 17 Town Hall that we
will be having at United Record
pressing at 3 P.M., and also
for those earlier in the day if
they want to celebrate the main
library
s 25th anniversary, uh,
that will be happening from 10
to 2. Um, also on Saturday the
13th. And I just want to do,
um, a point of personal
privilege. Uh, my niece Bailey
turned 24 years old yesterday,
so just wanted to wish Bailey a
happy birthday. Um, and let her
know that her auntie remembers
her. So thank you so much.
Thank you, Council member Vo
and happy birthday as well.
Council gamble, you
re
recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Pro Tem, as we
are celebrating, uh, pride
month in the month of JUNE.
Also immigrant month. We are
also celebrating Black Music
Month, National Black Music
Month. So just want to remind
everyone Nam has some great
activities going on this month
in celebration of Black Music
Month and the Black Caucus will
be having a meeting this
Thursday on JUNE 4th at 6 P.M.
Uh, in Committee room two, and
anybody is invited to attend
that as well. Thank you.
Okay.
Next we have Council. Lee, you
are recognized.
Thank you so very much. I just
wanted to.
Um.
Announce we are having, um, you
know, we have such a diverse
district. Um, so.
Our Caribbean.
Brothers and sisters have
organized a group, um, and the
PRESIDENT Of that is Hamid
Ciss\. And the person that
s
doing the organizing is, um,
MR. Anthony Bower. You have
seen them before you before we
did a resolution to them
before, um, you know, they have
the, uh, jerk festival and
different things like that.
Well, I
m very proud to say
Saturday they are having a
gala, but the Kingston
s mayor,
the councillor Andrew Schwab,
is actually coming in to visit
our city from Kingston. Joe.
So, um, I would like to welcome
them. They
re not here, but I
just wanted to let you all know
we are so proud that that group
is doing that. And I
m so proud
of all the diversity in our
area. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Councilmember Lee. Colleagues,
is there anyone else that wants
to be recognized? Budget your
tombs are recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Pro Tem, uh,
on this Saturday, JUNE 6th at
10 A.M.. Uh, we are having a
Senator Thelma Harper Highway
dedication ceremony, uh,
sponsored by the honorable
Charlene Oliver. Uh, our
district 19 state senator. Um,
this 3930 Clarksville Pike.
Basically, that
s where the
Kroger is on Clarksville
Highway. Will be out in the
parking lot. Uh, so encouraging
the community to come out.
Uh-Uh. So. To Kroger, but
you
re still in the same area.
This is our area.
But versus the the parking lot
in front of the Kroger. And
again, that
s 10 A.M. This
Saturday, JUNE 6th. Uh,
celebrating the changing of the
that portion of Clarksville
Highway. The Senator Thelma
Harper Highway.
Thank you so very much.
Councilmember tombs, would
anyone else like to be
recognized? Councilmember
styles, you recognized?
Thank you. I just wanted to.
Remind people that cma.
Fest is starting this week. We
have.
A lot.
Of performers.
Coming that are diverse
downtown. Is doing activities.
We
ve got a lot of activities.
Happening on Broadway.
So if.
You have.
Some time this weekend, you
should definitely come down and
have a good.
Time.
Thank you, Councilmember
styles, would anyone else like
to be recognized? All right.
Seeing none. That is the end? All right.
Six. This is the 10th meeting
of 2026 and the 62nd meeting of
the current term of the
metropolitan council of
nashville and davidson county.
Will all members of the council,
as well as the public, please
rise for the invocation and
remain standing for the pledge
of allegiance? The invocation
is being offered this evening
by the reverend doctor john
faison, senior pastor of watson
grove baptist church. He is the
guest of district 17 council
member terry vo. Welcome.
Pastor faison, you are
recognized.
Shall we bow? GOD,
we thank you for the blessings
of an city. By your
goodness and grace, nashville
strives to remain forward
focused and prosperous. You've
given us people, creeds,
ethnicities, faiths, and
expressions of all kinds. That
diversity is the secret sauce
of our success. And for that,
we are grateful. You've given
us the incredible blessing of
potential. There is so much
ahead of us, and so much we
still can yet become, not
because of our goodness, but
because of yours. And for that,
we're grateful. Now as we
engage in the people's work in
the people's house, we ask that
you keep your hands upon us.
Bless our leadership with the
wisdom to lead well, the
steadiness, to handle the
weight of their assignment, and
the compassion to help make
nashville a place of belonging
for every expression of
humanity that exists. Bless our
elected officials, our
government, our community
leaders, and all of our
citizens. Please keep before us.
Those who are often overlooked
remind us that budgets are
moral documents, and that they
reveal our true priorities
every time. Help us make
nashville a place of
opportunity for those in this
chamber, as well as the
unhoused who sleep outside.
Just steps from this chamber.
Allow justice and fairness to one public square
to every penthouse, and to
every public housing complex in
every discussion, give us the
courage to choose inconvenient
truth over comfortable lies.
Let our choices be governed by
the public good, not private
dollars nor personal greed.
Give us the sensitivity to see
the needs of all nashvillians
as an invitation from you to
participate in your creative
genius. Be with us today and
forever. In your sovereign name
we pray. Amen. Amen.
I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the
united states of america and to
the republic for which it
stands. One nation under GOD,
indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. All right. You
MAY be seated quietly. So
please. We have a whole lot of
folks here. We're glad to see
it. Let's try to be as quiet as
possible. Thank you, reverend
faison. Okay. Welcome, council
and community members. Happy
pride month, everyone, and
happy immigrant heritage month
and caribbean american heritage
month. Thank you to immigrant
caucus of the metro council
chair vo for organizing an
awareness event on the steps of
the historic courthouse. Thank
you to the caucus this
afternoon to highlight the
contributions of immigrants and
refugees to nashville's
cultural, civic, and economic
vitality. Thank you to council
member gad and moms demand
action of tennessee for
organizing council's wear
orange effort today, JUNE 6th,
is national gun violence
awareness day, and this is wear
orange weekend coming up this
weekend with a variety of
activations to remind us that
some 47,000 americans die by
gun violence every year, which
is nearly 130 lives lost per
day. And those losses impact
families, friends and
communities deeply and broadly.
The united states has a gun
homicide rate 26 times higher
than that of our peer nations.
This should not be our nation's
normal. Public safety and
justice departments represent
22% of metro's budget and
community safety in all its
many diverse forms will no
doubt be something the public
will be speaking to us about
this evening, along with
education, which represents 37%
of the budget. For detailed
information about the operating
budget, the city's revenues and
expenditures, and the budgeting
process in general, we
encourage all nashvillians to
give a look to the citizens
guide to the budget
online@nashville.Gov. We have
some elections and
confirmations. A brief public
comment period for non budget
agenda items, and a proposed
amendment to our rules of
procedure to address. Before we
get to the budget public
hearing, I will provide you
with more specific information
about the conduct of that
hearing at that time. So let's
move right into our agenda.
Without objection, we will
suspend the calling of the roll
and ask the clerk to please
record the names of the members
present throughout the meeting.
Is there a motion for approval
of the minutes of the meeting
of MAY 19th, 2026? All right.
Is there a second? All right.
There's a motion, properly
seconded, without objection.
And seeing no one seeking to be
recognized for a change to the
minutes. All right. The minutes
of the meeting of MAY 19th are
approved, MR. Clerk. Are there
any messages from the mayor?
There are no messages from the
mayor.
Thank you, MR. Clark.
Have one election this evening
to fill two vacancies on the
transportation licensing
commission, with terms expiring
APRIL 30th of 2028, with as
there are only two nominees for
those two spots. Without
objection, we can proceed by
acclamation. The nominees for
these two vacancies are erica
penley, nominated by council
member spain and members and
MR. T and any clever. Nominated
by council member koopman. Is
there any objection to
proceeding by acclamation? Okay.
Seeing no objection. All right.
All in favor of the MISS Penley
and MISS Klaver, please say aye.
All right. Council has elected
erica penley. And if y'all are
with us this evening, do please
stand. And, annie klaver, if
you're with us. I don't believe
they are, but we express our
appreciation to them and we
will keep rolling right into
our appointees and nominees. So
congratulations. All right,
section f of our agenda.
Appointees and nominees. This
portion of the agenda shares
all persons who were scheduled
to appear before the rules,
confirmations and public
elections committee for an
interview this evening.
Referrals committee
will be by rule as part of the
council's two meeting process
for elections and confirmations.
No votes will be taken by the
body in this section of the
agenda. Chair. Cash as brief a
report as possible, please, sir.
No vote totals necessary.
Simply the names of those
interviewed and for which board,
commission, committee or entity.
And if a person is in the
appointment and confirmation
process and was unable to
attend your committee this
evening at what meeting they
will next appear, or if they
were withdrawn, go ahead, chair.
First for the central business
improvement district board
appointment, christopher
carlson we deferred one meeting.
Central business improvement
district board appointment of
patrick hamilton was withdrawn.
Contract and compliance board
reappointment of bobby and
bethany for the hospital
authority. Reappointment of
alfonso harvey for the hospital
authority. Reappointment of
doctor raymond martin. We. That
was withdrawn. And then for
social services as well. A cuff
was a one deferral and
-
for the social services
commission. Appointment of
mandy spears was approved.
Okay.
All right. Next chair cash,
you're recognized again for
your committee report on the
appointees in the second step
of your committee's two meeting
process, this time with vote
totals and a consolidated
motion for the confirmation of
those persons, or first for a
deferral motion if there are
any. Go ahead, sir.
Fire and
building code. Appeals board.
Reappointment of hahnloser
approved. Six to 0 to 0. Fire
and building code. Appeals
board. Reappointment of tim pro
for. For term expiring JULY
19th, 2030. Approved six to 0
to 0 for the board of health. A
reappointment of jeffrey stove
doctor jeffrey stovall for a
term expiring JULY 9th, 2031,
approved 6 to 0 zero and the
traffic and parking commission
appointment of tom sturdivant
for a term expiring APRIL 3rd,
2031 approved 600 and I move
approval.
All right. There a
motion to confirm these for
appointees. In a consolidated
motion. Is there a second. Okay.
does anyone wish to remove an
item from this consolidated
motion for purposes of an
individual abstention or a no
vote? All right. Seeing none.
All in favor of these
confirmations, please say I.
All right. Council has
confirmed these appointees and
appointees. Two are confirmed
appointees. If you chose to
return to the council chamber
this evening, which is not
required, do please stand as I
call your names. Council has
confirmed the reappointment of
key hahnloser to the fire and
building codes appeal board.
Council has confirmed the
reappointment of tim pro also
to the fire and building code
appeals board and then council
has confirmed the reappointment
to te board of health of
doctor jeffrey g. Stovall. And
lastly, council has confirmed
the appointment of tom
sturdivant to the traffic and
parking commission. Welcome,
sir, and thank you. Thank you
to you all. Whether in our
chamber or watching from home.
We appreciate your willingness
to serve. Thank you.
All right.
Section h of our agenda is the
public comment period. Again,
these are for agenda items than the budget members
of the public who are tennessee
residents wishing to speak
during public comment MAY sign
up at a table outside the
council chamber from 5 to 6
P.M. On the day of a council
meeting. Public comment is
limited to 20 minutes total at
council meetings, and each
speaker is allowed up to two
minutes to speak. Persons
speaking on agenda items must
be prioritized to comply with
state law. All right. Our first
three folks, I'll kind of read
the the first three invite you
to come forward, and then we
will have seven total folks for
public comment. First is chloe
donigan, followed by michael
lacey and kelly chang. Chloe
donigan is speaking on agenda
item 37. This is ordinance 1391,
a record regarding data centers
in opposition. Go ahead. You
are recognized.
Good evening.
My is chloe dunnigan. I am
a 19 year old resident of the
rutherford county of the
greater nashville area. I have
come to express concerns and
urge to limit more on proposed
ai data centers in nashville
due to the economic and
societal harm that they cause.
Only 3% of earth's water is
fresh water, and only 0.5% of
all of that is drinkable. Centers tap into the
community's drinkable water
supply and use up to 5 million
gallons of water per day, which
equates to a community of
50,000 people. Only 80% of this
used water ends up evaporating
into the air, and the other 20%
or 1 million gallons is pushed
into local processing plants.
These plants are already at
maximum capacity due to having
such a booming economy around
nashville and the surrounding
areas, and the rest of that
will become immense
environmental runoff. This
water will contain corrosive
inhibitors such as nitrates and
bbs, which is used in
antifreeze. Industrial biocides
such as chlorine dioxide,
bromine, sodium
hypochlorite, which is
literally industrial bleach,
and toxic heavy metals such as
chromium, nickel, copper, and
zinc. If this is not enough to
see that we are doing some. But
we need to protect nashvillians
more, these centers are also
corrosive and toxic to the air
that we breathe. Industrial
size diesel powered backup
generators spew dpm or diesel
particulate matter into the air,
whichis a chemical cause of
lung cancer, heart attacks, and
respiratory inflammation, not
to mention nitrogen oxides
joining together and creating a
ground level ozone and smog,
which triggers underlying
asthma and lung function,
decreases, specifically in
children from 50ml to 150ml of
reduction in their childhood. I
respect the current attempts to
restrict. However, that is
simply not enough to protect,
and I hope that you can see the
dangers that loom above us.
Thank you.
Thank you folks. All
right. We are so glad you are
here. I just want to convey we
are not going to clap after
speakers, whether in public
comment or public hearing,
because if we allow the clap
time, the definition of clap
time, then the next person like
we're going to be here for many
hours together looking forward
to it. But please, you know, no
extended clapping. Thank you.
MR. Lacey is next. He is
speaking on agenda item 13.
This is resolution 2026 2006 in
support. Go ahead.
The item
that I'm speaking on has to do
with salaries for police and
firefighters, and I'm bringing
that up not in dissimilar
context when it comes to ai
data centers, because what
you're going to hear about with
maybe some future comments and
from news articles and likely
lawsuits filed over the
implementation of a drone
surveillance program that's
currently happening is you are
seeing disproportionately, in
fact, a completely
disproportionate ratio of
drones going to nonwhite
districts. First, actual
nonwhite districts versus ones
that have a majority white
population. But I want to talk
about not just the civil
liberties aspect of this, but
the fact that in industries as
wide as you can imagine,
there's a concept of training
your own replacement. We're
seeing that it's not just
people in tech. It's not just
people who write music for a
living. It's not just people
who do marketing for a living.
We're seeing even law
enforcement have its jobs being
taken from them by the ai
powered corporate mass
surveillance. What we're seeing
with these drone programs are
not just civil liberties issues.
These are people training this
technology to replace them. And
even if people feel like that,
they are contributing to what
larry ellison describes as his
vision for a society, which is
one where everything is being
constantly recorded. Even if
you're contributing to that
vision, you're not you're still
subject to the same market
forces that are looking to
replace you in your workplace
with ai technology. So while
terms like force multiplier are
used, but with the hundreds of
millions of dollars of
marketing that is being sold,
this technology, I really want
that. There's a lot of union
workers here. And I want to
remind our police force and our
firefighters that they, too,
are a union and that they're a
budget line that people look to
cut using ai.
Thank you. Next
is kelly chang. Kelly will be
followed by mann and hall and
shawnee glapion and miriam alba.
If you want to go ahead and
come forward. Kelly, speaking
on agenda item 37, this is bl
2026 1391. Regarding data
centers in support. Go ahead.
Hi.
My comment is going to be a
little bit of a combination of
the last two. So I think chloe
did a great job covering some
of the environmental and health
impacts of ata centers. But
what I want, I hope everyone
understands and if not, you
will. Data centers are also the
back end of mass surveillance.
We don't need data centers to
use our phones to email or
watch netflix. As tech
companies have been pushing. We
need data centers to save our
retina scans and our license
plates and all of the places
that we go that are constantly
tracked by giant corporations
who profit off us as a product
and then sell it back to us. So
while I'm very concerned about
the environmental impacts of
data centers and the
environmental racism that we've
seen in memphis with x, a, I,
and I have major concerns about
a data center being built at
fisk in the midst of a
historically black neighborhood.
I think we all also need to
zoom out and understand that we
are building these data centers,
which are increasing our
electric bills and taking our
water and polluting our
environment, and there's noise
pollution and all these things
too, but we are also building
our own cages. And a lot of it
is done with taxpayer dollars
and subsidies. And so that is
why you are seeing data centers
be the number one most uniting
issue across the political
spectrum in this country, 71%
as far as a recent gallup poll
of people across the political
spectrum are opposed to data
centers. Our next elections,
the biggest issues are going to
be data centers and mass
surveillance. And I'm telling
you all that because everyone
in this room largely
understands those risks. But it
does not seem like our elected
officials have caught up. So
for those of you who are in
favor of mass surveillance, I
would suggest if you want to
keep your seats, you got to
catch up to the public opinion.
And with this illegally
implemented drone program,
there is a ton of pushback, and
there will be more conversation
and possibly lawsuits around
how it's been implemented.
Thank you. Next is manning hall
speaking on agenda item six,
resolution 1963 in opposition.
Go ahead.
Hi, guys. So once
again, you know, people using
our local dollars for private
policing. This is an extension
of a lot of what they've
already talked about, handing
our money and our values to
corporations when they don't
have our local values in mind,
you know, kind of say once
again, I know many of you all,
I think being confident in the
fact that not using our
tax dollars to hire, hire
racial profilers is incredibly
important to me. We chose as a
city to act on the driving
while black study. We've chosen
to make better decisions,
decisions with our public
safety dollars and with our
public safety actions, and
approving a budget that we know
is going to pay for private
police that work for thp that
we they won't say if they have
racially profiled. That's
incredibly concerning to me.
And I hope, you know, the
confidence that they can't give
you an answer. And that's good
enough when, you know, that's
dozens of employees that
participated in the ice raids
last year that racially
profiled against nashvillians,
against our neighbors. And
we're confident that none of
them are going to be paid with
our local tax dollars to be
downtown, where lots of people,
lots of immigrants downtown,
lots of people that have
experienced violence from these
agencies and going to end that.
I hope that you all take your
role seriously when it comes to
surveillance technology and
demand a public hearing for the
ongoing surveillance trial with
these drones. Thank you.
Thank
you. Next is shiny glapion.
Speaking also on agenda item
six, resolution 1963, and
opposition shall be followed by
miriam alba. And then lastly,
welcome to come forward, trina
as well. Go ahead, MISS Clapton.
How y'all doing? Y'all look
very engaged. I appreciate that.
I'm requesting thisbody
confirm reporting compliance
from alliancebernstein before
approving its $541,500 economic
incentive in this year's budget.
Companies have made many
promises, but we need to ensure
that they are honoring those
before issuing our public
dollars. It's imperative that
council ensures the public
interest is being served. As we
sit here in the gallery here
and fight for crumbs like the
hunger games. So y'all have a
good one. See y'all in a bit.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next is
miriam alba speaking on agenda
item 37. This is ordinance 1391
regarding data centers in
support of 1391. Go ahead.
Hey
y'all. It's good to see you
again. I'm going to duck out
here soon. But you know what I
want for housing. So please do
that. But I wanted to speak on
data centers. I assume this is
something we all agree on. We
don't want dirty water. We
don't want to be coughing when
we walk outside. We don't want
to hear that noise. That
apparently is just really loud.
With data centers. We don't
want our electricity bills to
go through the roof. We don't
want to invest in something or
have others invest in something
in our city that we actually
know nothing about in terms of
long term impact. So in case
some of us do, because we think
like we need some sort of
revenue from businesses or some
deal or something like that.
And I, I have compassion for
your desire to bring revenue to
the city. I'm begging you and
asking you to stop that for
right now and regulate this
data center technology that's
coming here that has already
really, really harmed a lot of
people just environmentally.
And it's going to be real. And
it's, we got to put these, we
got to put these boundaries on
it, but we've also got to
figure out how they're going to
work in order to make us safe.
So I would ask you to just look
at the regulation, keep the
distances, keep the
environmental regulations on it.
Be forward thinking in this,
because otherwise we don't even
know what this looks like in 5
to 10 years. We just know what
it looks like in 2 to 3 years.
And it's looking really ugly
for a lot of cities. Nashville
is doing all right. I know
we're all pinching pennies here,
but it's doing all right. And
we don't need to sell to the
data centers. We don't know how
long this little trend is going
to last, but we do know that
the impact is really bad for us
as human beings. So please, I'm
asking you to really think
twice about this. I appreciate
it and fund housing. Love you
all. Bye.
Thank you. All right.
Lastly for public comment is
trina. Who will trina. I see item six here, but I
also see resolution 2006, which
is regarding the pay plan. Are
you speaking regarding the pay
plan? No. You're speaking
regarding the seabed. Yep. Okay.
agenda item six, that is
resolution 1963 in opposition.
Please go ahead.
All right.
Yeah. Good evening. My name is
trina. I live in district six.
I'm here tonight to oppose item
six, 2026, 1963. Today we are
hearing a lot about law and
order to justify the central
business improvement district
budget. But as mike lacy
pointed out today, true law and
order is the discipline of
binding power to publicly known
rules. What is being assembled
by the nashville downtown
partnership is the exact
opposite. Their contracts are
confidential and their security
operations lack public
oversight. This isn't an
isolated incident. It's a
systemic pattern of metro
bypassing this body to deploy
unaccountable law enforcement.
Just last week, on MAY 26th,
mpd launched a secret
unapproved drone surveillance
trial centered over madison.
Under metro, ordinance tracking
tech requires a public hearing
and council approval. They
skipped both. Even worse, data
shows 100% of those trial
flights targeted working class
neighborhoods, with below
average white populations,
exposing the city to massive
civil rights liability. From
unauthorized surveillance to
corporate backed ground patrols.
Metro is trying to operate a
secret city within our city.
Look at the ndp's actual track
record. They operate the
library parking garage because
of negligent oversight in their
own managed space, they caused
a catastrophic nine month
shutdown of our main public
library, destroying the single
most vital, safe sanctuary left
for our unhoused neighbors. And
tonight, they want millions in
tax surcharges to expand their
footprint and deploy private,
unaccountable policing to
aggressively sweep away the
exact community they helped
displace. Do not reward secret
drone programs, confidential
contracts, and operational
negligence. Reject this
corporate annexation of our
streets. Vote no on 2026 1963.
Thank you.
Thank you. All right.
That concludes our public
comment period. Next is agenda
section. Regarding a
amendment to a rule of
procedure. This is an amendment
to rule 46 regarding the
scheduling of council meetings
sponsored offered by council
member prep. You're recognized
sir.
Thank you, MADAM Vice
mayor. Committee report.
For
the report of the rules,
confirmations and public
elections committee chair cash.
We voted on council member prep
to substitute six in favor, one
against zero not voting. And
then we voted on the
substituted rule change. Six in
favor, one against zero not
voting.
Okay. Thank you. It's
back to you, MR. Prep for a
motion.
Thank you, MADAM Vice
mayor. Move approval.
All right.
Properly moved and seconded. Go
ahead sir.
Thank you, madam
vice mayor. Move approval of
the substitute with a brief
comment.
All right. There's a
motion to substitute. Is there
a second? Okay. Go ahead, sir.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor.
Colleagues. So this proposed
rule change effectively, what
it would have done is it would
have canceled the second
meeting in AUGUST and the first
meeting in SEPTEMBER, providing
us with an opportunity to be
more embedded within our
communities, to do a lot of the
work that we do outside of this
council chamber without the
pressures of our legislative
schedule. However, what this
substitute does is it pairs
that back and simply just
cancels the first
SEPTEMBER, still providing us
with that legislative respite
for us to be able to be
embedded in our communities and
continue doing a lot of the
work that we do outside of this
chamber, because, as we know,
the majority of work that we do
is not what happens in this
chamber. And so this substitute
is a result of some pretty
robust conversation that we had
within the rules committee last
meeting whenever we were
contemplating this. But that's
what this legislation, that's
what this substitute does, is
it it just cancels that first
meeting in SEPTEMBER, providing
us with a brief respite to be
able to do a lot more of the
things that that we do outside
of this council chamber. So
with that, I renew my motion
and appreciate your
consideration.
All right. There
is a motion to substitute. It's
properly seconded. You've heard
a description by the sponsor.
Is there any discussion? All
right. Seeing none of this is
first on the motion to
substitute. All in favor of the
substitute, please say aye.
Okay. The substitute is on the
the role. If you would renew
your motion, please, sir.
Thank
you, MADAM Vice mayor. Move
approval of substitute.
All
right. Is there a second? All
right. So there's a motion to
approve this rule of procedure
as substituted, such that the
first tuesday in SEPTEMBER
would no longer be a meeting of
the council and effectively,
the third tuesday in SEPTEMBER
would operate as the first and
only meeting. Is that correct,
MR.
Prep for.
Purposes of
zoning, public hearings and so
forth. Okay. All right. Is
there any discussion on this
motion to adopt this rule of
procedure as substituted? All
right, MISS Allen, you're
recognized.
Thank you, MADAM
Chair. Just for clarification,
there were some complications
with nominations and and public
notices with that extended
period of not meeting. Is that
resolved with moving to the
only missing one meeting in
terms of things that would
default to being approved
because we had gone so long
without meeting or having a
difficulty making the the
public notice for public
hearings.
would you like me to
address that to special counsel
or the sponsor?
I believe
special counsel.
Probe special
counsel. Wilson, you're
recognized.
Council member in
this case, one deferral would
be allowed for appointments in.
With the. With only the
cancellation of one meeting, I
would want to defer to planning
for anything on. Particularly
with notices, but I see they're
not here.
All right.
Give me
one moment.
Sponsor t while
special counsel reviews that
analysis, would you like to
respond? In the meantime, go
ahead sir.
Thank you, MADAM
Vice mayor. So with regard, I
think council member allen is
asking sort of to. Well, there
there are two components to
this question. The first one
related to appointments made by
the mayor for boards and
commissions. So the original
analysis of this bill or of
this rule change with it having
been to meetings previously,
was that would have a negative
impact on those appointments in
the sense that we wouldn't be
able to defer them at all
without them becoming an
indefinite deferral with us,
know with the rule change as
substituted, no longer
canceling that AUGUST meeting,
that no longer becomes one of
the pressures, because it's
because it would still permit
for deferrals within within
that time frame. Then, with
regard to the schedule for
public hearings and with
planning, give me one moment. I
might have some helpful insight
into that.
Sponsor t a special
counsel has that answer. Now,
if MAY I I'm going to put it
back over to him.
By all means.
Please go ahead, sir.
Council
members, at this point, if
essentially anything that would
you would want to hear on a on
an OCTOBER public hearing would
need to be filed by the second
meeting in AUGUST if something
was filed for the second, for
the second, or for the third
meeting of the third tuesday of
NOVEMBER, it would not receive
a public hearing until the
first meeting in NOVEMBER. I'm
sorry, did I did I say that
correctly?
Okay. Does that
answer your question? So we
just.
Needed to plan ahead and
be aware of that change in in
how the rhythm works at that
time if we approve this.
Yes.
Thank you for that
clarification.
All right. Yes.
MR. Prep to you recognize.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor. So
with regard to the the
scheduling for for planning
bills in particular. So I was
provided a chart that provides
us with which I would be more
than happy to share with the
council office be able to be
disseminated to, to colleagues,
but for application. So for the
MAY 13th application deadline
for for zoning bills, it would
go to the planning commission.
So it wouldn't affect a shift
of it going to the planning
commission or of its intro.
What it would do is it would
shift the public hearing for
bills for for zoning bills that
were originally filed on MAY
13th, moving that from moving
the council public hearing,
second reading from SEPTEMBER
1st to SEPTEMBER 15th. And it
would shift third reading from
SEPTEMBER 15th to OCTOBER 6th.
And so I can again. So that's
just one example of what that
shift would look like. It still
allows for thosebills to be
considered, but it simply
shifts that timeline. And again,
I'm more than happy to, to
share this with the council
office so it can be
disseminated to colleagues.
All
right. Thank you. Is there any
further discussion on this
proposed change to the rules as
substituted? All right. So
we're going to move to our vote.
This requires 27 votes of
members and special counsel.
How many do we have in the room.
We have 30 in the room. So in
an abundance of caution I am
going to put this on the board.
MR. Clark, if you would please
open the machine.
With all
votes in. MR. Clerk, would you
please show the vote? That
board is not correct, MR. Clark.
Is that so? Okay. This
colleagues, the so the screen
what you're seeing at home.
Special counsel, can you please
clarify that a an amendment to
our rule of procedure does in
fact require 27 votes total.
that was 23 votes in the
affirmative. MR. Clark, do you
seek to display the vote again
for purposes of the record, or
do you want me to put it to
special counsel to clarify?
Okay, so, special counsel, I'm
going to recognize you. Please,
sir. And, MR. Clark, could you
just could you call the vote as
you saw it? I saw 23 in favor I.
But I did not see the number
again, sir.
So. 23 in favor,
seven against.
Okay. 23 in
favor, seven against special
counsel. If you would clarify,
given the discrepancy on the
board, please, sir.
Yes. Vice
mayor, to quote rule 53 of the
rules of procedure, in part,
none of the standing rules of
procedure shall be amended or
repealed except by 27
affirmative votes.
All right.
And only 23 votes having been
achieved, that proposal has
failed at. At this time,
members can offer amendments to
our rules of procedure
throughout the term. All right.
Next we are going to move into
our bills on public hearing
section j. All right. Now first,
just for some general
information regarding public
hearings, spanish
interpretation services are
provided for all metro council
public hearings. Council office
team member karina valdez is
here as the interpreter this
evening and assisting with our
budget public hearing. If you
should have any questions, MISS
Valdez, will you please share
how you can help? Go ahead
ma'am.
Los servicios
interpretacion en espanol.
Disponible en la publica.
Gracias.
All right. Gracias. We
appreciate you. All right. Now
again, generally, for those
wishing to speak this evening
as part of public hearings,
please do state your name, but
it is not required for you to
provide your exact address. If
you do not wish to do so, you
MAY want to tell us in what
neighborhood or area you live,
your connection to, what you
have chosen to speak about, or
who your council member is. All
right, now for some budget
hearing specific information.
Again, welcome everyone. We
look forward to hearing from
you. And unlike as we shared
earlier, a time limited public
comment period that we have on
every council agenda and in
FEBRUARY for our pre budget
public comment period, this is
a public hearing required by
the charter, and it is not time
limited. Thus, all members
wishing to speak, all members
of the community here present
will be heard. Your seating
position within the gallery
does not confer any priority.
And as I know you are all
conscientious folks, I'm sure
you will be on the lookout,
whether for seniors or parents
with children. I saw somebody
with a baby in a baby bjorn
just a minute ago. And so be
conscientious as you organize
amongst yourselves. We're going
to move really peacefully and
intentionally this evening. And
to facilitate that, we will
have no more than ten persons
waiting in line to speak at one
time. Okay. And we will monitor
and maintain that limit.
Everyone MAY speak for up to
two minutes. You do not have to
speak for the entirety of the
time. Speaking will not be
organizedinto, for or against.
As is typical at public
hearings, all persons will line
up together after the first
group of ten steps forward to
the podium to line up, folks
can join the line, whether
individually or in small groups
of five. Okay, only when the
line has five remaining persons
is that the time to join the
line. As we proceed, there
should be no more than ten
people in a single file line
behind the podium, five forward
of the main door and five
behind. Okay, we have fire
marshal guidelines to follow so
the door MAY not be obstructed.
And the gallery has a capacity
number that cannot be exceeded.
Counsel office team member MISS.
Hey, shacklett is in blue.
Rosie, would you please wave so
that folks can see you?
Everyone in the gallery can see
MISS Hayes shacklett. She will
administer our line this
evening. Please respect our
staff. Okay? This can be a evening. Folks have
a lot of opinions and questions.
Understandably so. And we're
all doing our best to be clear
and fair and administering this
public hearing. Lastly, you
will see three budget related
hearing items on your agenda.
And we recognize that the vast
majority of folks are here
intending to speak on agenda
item one, which is the
operational budget. So while
there are three separate
ordinances as follows. Agenda
item two for the proposed tax
levy and agenda item three for
the capital improvement capital
improvements budget, the tax
levy being what will fund the
majority of the final budget
and the capital improvements
budget being our kind of 5 to 6
year planning document for bond
funded infrastructure. These
must all technically have a
separate public hearing per our
charter. But that said, I will
not stop someone for combining
these interrelated budget
matters in. As part of our
operational budget hearing
remarks in our first and
primary hearing. Okay, so now
back on to agenda item one,
ordinance bl20261377 sponsor
tombs. This is again
bl20261377a bill to be entitled
the budget ordinance
metropolitan government of
nashville and davidson county,
tennessee for fiscal year 2027.
This is the mayor's proposed
budget sponsor. Tombs. MADAM
Chair, you are recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor,
request open the public hearing.
All right. I declare the public
hearing open for this matter. I
ask that those folks who are
wishing to speak move calmly.
Observe your colleagues. And I
think we're at about ten. All
right, so with those folks,
please sit down again, MISS
Hayes. Shacklett. Whoever would
like to come first to the
podium. You're welcome.
Five persons in front of the
door. Five persons behind.
There should only be ten
persons in line. Okay? So just
look over your shoulder. You're
going to know it's time to
consider whether you should get
in line. Hey, folks. Folks, if
everyone would, please still
listen to me. Okay, this first
go is going to be a little bit
challenging. All right. So if
you're seated and you're kind
of considering, you know, I
think I might like to get up
right now. I'm talking to my
peers that are next to me. I
think we're going to move to do
so. I ask you just to kind of
look over your shoulder. What
we usually have is folks just
cramming in 20 deep, trying to
turn the corner, go back behind
and adding one after one after
one after one. That can become
challenging. Any way we
approach this, given our layout
is is somewhat suboptimal. Okay,
but let's please do our best
effort here. I see more than
ten personstanding at this
juncture. And so I would ask.
Hang on just a minute for me.
MISS Shacklett, are we good to
go? With ten people standing in
line? No. If you're at the back
of the line, sit down. Count
back to ten, MISS Shacklett.
MISS Hayes, will you show her
ten, please, ma'am. All right.
Okay. Now, everybody else can
spread out and relax and have
plenty of space. If you are in
line behind the podium, would
you please move to your left?
Okay. Over that way. Thank you.
So w keep the area behind the
podium clear. All right. Thanks,
everybody, for their patience.
Here we go. You're recognized.
Go ahead.
Hello. Okay. My name
is carla cristina contreras,
and I proudly serve as the
nashville local PRESIDENT Of
the screen actors guild and the
american federation of
television and radio artists.
We are one of 25 locals
representing the world's
largest entertainment union,
and our members are the voices,
faces, and talent audiences
know and love singers,
recording artists, actors,
dancers and more. The sag-aftra
nashville local processes, more
union sound recording sessions
with background vocalists than
new york city and los angeles
combined. That means the industry is not
happening somewhere else. It is
happening right here. These are
not outsiders chasing a dream
in another city. They are your
constituents, your neighbors,
the people raising families,
supporting local businesses and
building careers right here in
middle tennessee. Okay, I know
this personally. I came here
from los angeles in 1991 with
nothing more than a three song
demo, cassette tape, and a
dream, just like thousands of
artists still do today. What I
found here was not only music
city, I found a thriving
creative community of emerging
filmmakers industry
believed world class art could
be created right here at home.
Today, I stand before you on
behalf of 1600 sag-aftra
members across our region who
have chosen to build their%
lives here because they believe
nashville values the arts and
the people who create it. And
let me be clear, the
entertainment industry is not a
luxury. It is an economic
engine. It creates jobs, drives
tourism, supports restaurants,
hotels, venues, crews,
musicians, technicians, and
countless small businesses. So
today, I respectfully urge you
to support and fund the
nashville entertainment
commission. Thank you. Because
investing in entertainment is
thank you.
Your time has
concluded. Next, go ahead and
come forward. You're recognized.
Go ahead. Thank you. You're
welcome to speak. Go ahead.
My
name is tracy walden. 'm in
support employee for metro
nashville public school. I have
been employed with metro
nashville public schools since
2012. I started off in
nutrition services. I currently
work as a paraprofessional.
When I first started working
for metro, I noticed everybody
was working a second job and I
was wondering why. But guess
what? I found myself working a
second job. Also, because I
wasn't getting paid enough to
take care of my bills. My last
five years in nutrition service,
I was working in nutrition. I
was working in the last five
years in nutrition service. I
was working in the cafeteria
all by myself. I asked for for
more money to get compensated
for working in there by myself,
but they did not compensate me.
I stand before you today on
behalf of support workers. I'm
asking for us to be compensated
for the days that we are off
because there are so many days
that we're off now without pay.
I think. Nutrition services and
prayer for paraprofessionals
deserve a bonus, like the bus
drivers. Because it. Because if
it wasn't for us, the children
wouldn't be fed nor taught.
with that being said, our jobs
are just as important. I am
asking for to request to be
considered a step raise a
better cost of living and
bonuses. Thank you.
Thank you.
Next. Go ahead.
Good evening,
council members. My name is
doctor deontay williams and I'm
a resident of nashville. I
stand before you today not only
as an educator, organizer, and
advocate, but as the son of a
single black mother whose story
reflects the struggles of many
working families. That's why I
strongly support the $3 million
child care innovation and
family stability fund. Child
care is often treated as a
personal family issue, but it
is one of the most pressing
economic issues facing working
families today. When affordable
child care is unavailable,
parents are forced to make
impossible choices. Some leave
the workplace entirely, others
reduce their hours and turn
down promotions or work
multiple jobs with unstable
schedules. In many cases,
children are left in
unaffordable care arrangements
because families simply cannot
afford the cost of licensed
child care. We know that the
first five years of a child's
life are amongst the most
important years of cognitive,
social and emotional
development. Early childhood
education helps identify
learning needs early. Prepare
students for economic success,
and provides the foundations to
a life long achievement. When
we fail o invest in child care,
we are not only failing parents,
we are limiting the potential
of the next generation before
they ever enter the classroom.
Finally, I urge you tonight as
I ask you to invest in families,
invest in children, invest in
home ownership, and invest in
neighborhoods that have carried
nashville forward. And if you
need help in assisting you in
figuring out how to get to the
solutions, there are programs
and organizations like the
equity alliance, stand up,
nashville, turk civic,
tennessee that has
professionals that have been
doing the work on the ground
for years and years, and we're
here and we are ready to do te
work. So reach out and we'll do
the work with you. Thank you.
Thank you. Next.
Hello, my name
is otilia murga. I am a public
art project manager for metro
arts. I also live in district
11 with over 26 years of
experience and seven years of
service to this agency. I just
have to say that's my feelings
and opinions alone. I'm here to
urge the council to support the
immediate initiation of the
search for a permanent
executive director. While metro
arts needs adequate funding,
financial investment is only
viable under new department and
commission leadership. From my
daily observations, our agency
is structurally fractured. We
suffer from a severe lack of
transparency between leadership
and staff, between commission
leadership and its members, and
between commission leadership
and human resources. For over a
year, hr has been fully
prepared to launch an executive
search. Unfortunately, the
commission chair has repeatedly
rejected these opportunities,
which is what I feel while
misinforming its own
commissioners that hr wasn't
ready. While five other
departments have begun their
searches this past year, metro
arts is deliberately missed.
Opportunities to move first.
This gridlock directly wastes
taxpayers, taxpayers dollars
and city resources. The
distribution of grants suggests
progress. The internal reality
is one of ongoing instability.
Arbitrary decision making has
replaced standard operation
procedures. This toxic
environment has led to three
formal complaints from people
of color, including my own. Due
to systemic and marginalization
and discrimination, we are
failing local artists, our
public, and wasting public
funds through administrative
inefficiency. We are failing
our local. Excuse me. I
respectfully ask this body to
please request a special
session with hr leadership to
review the extensive efforts to
the start to the search for the
sake of our artists, our public
and our taxpayer dollars, and
the integrity of metro arts.
You must establish equitable
and transparent hiring
processes immediately. Thank
you for your time.
Thank you.
Okay, go ahead and come forward.
This. You are our fifth speaker,
MISS Shacklett.
Good evening.
Good evening, council members.
My name is christina sparks.
i'm a native of nashville, a
resident of district 32. I am a
professional author and housing
investor. I'm here tonight to
voice my support for neighbor
to neighbor and their request
for investment in nashville's
neighborhoods. Although I now
live in murfreesboro, tennessee,
I grew up in east nashville. As
a part of a large family, I
know firsthand what
disinvestment looks like. I
know what it feels like when
neighborhoods are overlooked,
when infrastructure is
neglected, when resources
are scarce, and when residents
feel disconnected from
decisions that impact their
lives daily. I also know what
is possible when people and
neighborhoods and communities
receive investment support,
when they feel safe and have
opportunities to thrive. No
matter where we live today,
many of us come from
neighborhoods that help raise
us, support us, and shape who
we became. We have shared
responsibility to ensure that
today's residents have the same
opportunity to live in a safe,
healthy, and connected
communities. What I appreciate
about neighbor to neighbor is
that they are not simply
talking about neighborhoods
that are working along
alongside neighborhoods through
neighborhood safety days,
healing zones, resident
leadership development, and
safe by us community safety and
design framework. They are
creating opportunities for
residents to participate in
shaping safer, healthier, and
more connected communities.
this work is about dignity.
It's about belonging and
ensuring the residents have a.
The tools and resources needed
to build a stronger future. I
respectfully ask you to support
neighbor to neighbors funding
requests and continue investing
in resident led solutions that
strengthen our neighborhoods,
build trust, and create
opportunities for communities
across our city.
Thank you.%
next. Go ahead.
Good evening,
council members. My name is
shalini ransom. I'm a lifelong
member of north nashville,
specifically buena vista
neighborhood in district two.
I'm here tonight also in
support of neighbor to
neighbors, funding requests and
the important work they in the
important work they are doing
to strengthen neighborhoods
across our city. As someone who
has lived in north nashville
for many years, I have
firsthand seen the impact of
disinvestment, neglected
infrastructure, rising costs,
and the challenges families
face simply trying to maintain
safe and healthy communities.
Too often, decisions are being
made about our neighborhoods
without the meaningful
involvement of the people who
actually live in there. What I
appreciate about neighbor to
neighbor is that they show up,
and that is something that's
really important. They listen.
They build relationships. They
help residents organize around
issues that matter to us. They
understand that neighborhood
safety is more about it's more
than about crime statistics. It
is about whether our streets
are safe to walk, whether our
children have safe places to
gather, whether our neighbors
know one another, and that
whether residents have a voice
shaping their future of their
communities through neighbor to
neighbor, neighbor to neighbor
safety days, they're safe by us.
Community safety and design
framework. Healing zones,
neighbor to neighbor to
neighbor is also helping
residents become a part of the
solution. They are bringing
communities together, metro
departments, public health
professionals, the community
leaders to address issues
before the before they become
crises. For nearly 30 years.
Neighbors.
Thank you. Your time
is. Thank you. Go ahead and
come forward. You're recognized.
Good evening everyone. My name
is lydia and I'm representing
the branch of nashville. We are
a nonprofit serving southeast
nashville. The branch is
requesting funding that will go
directly toward food purchasing
through our wholesale partners.
Last year, we were fortunate to
receive funds for food
purchasing. This year's request
is higher dueto many factors,
the largest being that the
demand for food assistance in
southeast nashville continues
to rise. While the food supply
systems our pantry has
traditionally relied on are
becoming much less predictable.
Over the past year, usda
supported food access has
declined due to federal cuts,
and in-kind food donations from
key partners have also
decreased. Simultaneously, the
-
families we serve continue to
feel the pressure of rising
grocery and gas costs and
broader economic instability.
In response, the branch has
made a shift in the last year
by establishing a dedicated
budget line for the direct
purchase of food. This allows
us to ensure that we can
consistently provide the items
families need most, including
fresh produce, meat, dairy and
staple goods. While we act as a
community resource for
southeast nashville through our
several different programs, our
food pantry remains the front
door to much of our work. Each
month, we serve more than 1200
households with full carts of
groceries valued at $350. We
also distribute hundreds of
emergency food boxes each month
and provide home deliveries to
older adults and individuals
with disabilities who cannot
access the pantry in person.
However, the reality is that
without additional funding
dedicated to food purchasing,
we will not be able to keep up
at this scale. Our funding
request for metro would be
instrumental in helping us
continue to meet the food needs
of our neighbors with
consistency, dignity and enough
to truly support their
households during challenging
economic, economic times. Thank
you.
Thank you. Next. Go ahead
and come forward. You're
recognized.
Good evening
council. My name is lindsay
creeks. I live in 37208 and I'm
the co-founder and director of
advocacy at open table
nashville. Just before I came
in, I was talking to some of
the folks outside this building
who sleep on the streets. They
talked aout being harassed
every day and about their
struggles to find housing in
our city. We deserve to be
treated with dignity, said my
friend shay. Not like a piece
of trash to be thrown out.
These friends are building our
city and they're cleaning it,
but they can't afford to live
here. They're dying. While our
city funnels money to new
stadiums and shiny new
development deals. We have to
make the next few weeks count.
We have an incredible
opportunity right now to invest
in infrastructure and programs
that will make our city more
equitable, affordable and just
for all nashvillians in terms
of housing and vital services.
We're asking you to fund the
contributor saw program at
$350,000 to dedicate 30 million
to the barns fund and 9 million
to the eviction right to
counsel program to establish
bond finance social housing
with a 7 million from the
revolving loan fund, and to
dedicate 500,000 for
specialized staff. Please
listen to our friends at
launchpad and the villages at
glencliff to. In terms of true
community safety, which comes
from the presence of public
goods, resources and support,
not police. We're asking you to
fully fund, reach and expand
downtown with a pilot. We're
asking you to dedicate 250,000
to red frogs, the group
providing non-police
intervention and support
downtown every weekend. We're
asking you to expand the
community safety fund to 13
million. I know that's a lot,
but later tonight, we're also
asking you to ensure that
seabed funds can't be used for
private security that employ
thp officers who harass and
cage our immigrant and unhoused
neighbors. We see the long
hours y'all are putting in and
the creativity with which
you're doing this budget. We're
very grateful. Please hear us
and make this budget season
count.
Thank you. Next, go
ahead and come forward, please. Evening and thank you for
the opportunity to speak. My
name is joshua gaglio and I
live in sylvan park. I'm here
to express support for two
efforts that I believe go hand
in hand the proposed affordable
housing loan program and the
mayor's work to preserve
nashville's historic landmarks,
specifically the fairgrounds
speedway. Too often, we frame
growth as a choice between
progress and preservation, but
that's a false choice.
Nashville is the ability, and I
would argue, the responsibility
to do both. The affordable
housing loan program is a great
example of how we can move
forward thoughtfully, gives us
tools to expand housing access,
support development, and
address affordability in a
meaningful way. At the same
time, preserving historic
places like the fairgrounds
speedway protects something
equally important identity. The
speedway is not just a piece of
land, it's a living part of
nashville's history and culture.
It represents decades of
community, tradition and shared
experience. Once something like
that is gone, it cannot be
replaced. But preserving it
does not mean stopping growth.
What it means is being
intentional about where and how
we grow. We do not need to
sacrifice historic venues to
create affordable housing.
Nashville's opportunities,
underutilized land
redevelopment corridors, and
infill potential that could
support housing development
without race in the place that
define who we are. Good
planning allows us to align
these priorities. We can invest
in affordable housing through
targeted programs like the one
proposed, while also protecting
landmarks that contribute to
tourism, community pride, and
cultural continuity. In fact,
doing both strengthens the city
as a whole, a city that
preserves its character while
expanding opportunity for more
resilient and far more
attractive than one that trains
one for the other. So I want to
commend the mayor for
recognizing the value of
preservation for continuing
efforts to protect the
fairgrounds speedway. I want to
encourage this body to fully
support the affordable housing
loan program as part of a
broader strategy that balances
growth with history. We don't
have to choose between the
future and the past. We can
build a nashville that honors
both. So thank you.
thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Good evening. Y'all can do
better than good evening. New
here. It's my first time
meeting y'all. I am doctor
james pratt, jr, professor of
criminology, law enforcement
and security studies at fisk
university. And I direct the
justice propulsion lab there as
well. Today, I speak only as a
nashville resident in support
of amendment to the proposed $3
million child care innovation
and familystability fund.
Today I ask you, how are the
children? And I hope everyone
can respond, whether out loud
or in your heart, that the
children are well. So I ask,
how are the and the
children are well. Throughout
my career, my research on
violence, on children and
family has shown that when
caregivers, teachers and those
who enforce the law lack
understanding and emotional and
material support, stress rises
and harmful outcomes like
violent attempts at discipline,
become more likely. Most
parents are doing their best
with limited time, resources
and help. We often hear, and%
many of you might have said, it
takes a village to raise a
child. Today I am asking each
of you to fund that village.
Child care providers, after
school programs, family members,
neighbors, and community
organizations help keep
children safe while parents
work. I know this personally.
Two raised by a single mother,
I benefited from a network of
people who helped care for me
when. When child care was
costly. Even in the 1990s,
giving gas, giving gas money,
supporting neighborhood cousins
and sheila academy, she was and
only able to do that work by
having extra jobs that fund.
This fund helps stand in the
gap and recognizes that when
child care workers. Families
work, when child care works,
family works, we all work. When
it all fell apart, job
stability and opportunities are
in fact at risk. And to that
end, I encourage each of you to
readily see a future where the
fruits of prioritizing extended
hours, evening and weekend
child care, supporting existing
providers, and expanding after
school summer programs allows
for us to see a better future
with bright minds. So
I hope you support amendment
two and the $3 million. Thank
you.
Thank you. Next. Go ahead.
Hello, my name is dave pomeroy,
50 year nashville resident and
PRESIDENT Of the musicians
union. I'm speaking to express
the extreme disappointment and
shock of nashville's music and
film community. At the mayor's
decision to eliminate funding
of the nashville entertainment
commission in this year's
budget. Many esteemed members
of our artistic and business
community have served on the
commission since its inception,
all on a volunteer basis. It
all began four years ago, with
various members of metro
governance fighting with each
other to gain control of the
process, and has been a
nightmare of governmental
inefficiency to be thrown under
the bus after all this time and
effort on the commission's part
is incredibly disrespectful to
the very same entities that
generate billions of dollars
for nashville's economy. We
request that the funding for
the stc be restored in the
final budget. We've jumped
through every hoop and obstacle
presented to us, including
waiting three months to add the
phrase and or to the job
description. We collectively
spent hundreds of hours
developing bylaws, budgets and
narrowed hundreds of
applications down to two
finalists for a job that
suddenly no longer exists. It
is a mystery why the mayor
would eliminate our funding
before it was even spent.
Nashville became music city
because of mutual respect
between employers and creators.
The purpose of the commission
is to make the process of
bringing more employers to
nashville versus other states
and cities simpler and more
efficient, which helps everyone.
Does the music and
entertainment business not
bring enough money to nashville
to have for us to have a voice
in metro government? Despite
being a right to work state,
nashville has done more union
recording work than new york
and L.A. Combined. But we need
your help to take it to the
next level. If our own city
government doesn't get it,
where are we supposed to look
for support for the work we are
doing that benefits all
nashville. We urge you to fix
this bad decision and restore
funding for the commission.
Thank you for your time and
attention.
Thank you. Go ahead
and come forward. Welcome to
both of you.
Thank you. Good
evening, council members. My
name is courtney grable nelson.
I live in district 25 and I'm
here tonight in support of
investments in affordable
housing and child care. My
husband and I are both
nashville nativesand high
school sweethearts. We rew up
here, built our lives here, and
some of our fondest childhood
memories were made right here
in nashville. We spent weekends
at the adventure science center,
went on family and school trips
to the nashville zoo. Back when
we had elephants and enjoyed
all the things that make
nashville such a special place
to grow up, and eventually fell
in love and started a family of
our own here. In DECEMBER, we
welcomed our wonderful son,
elliot. He was a wonderful
surprise and like many young
families, his arrival made us
think carefully about our
future and what it takes to
raise a child in this city.
Affordable housing and
affordable child care. They're
not just policy issues for us.
They're what make it possible
for families like ours to stay
in nashville, put down roots,
and build a future here.
Because of the mayor's we are hopeful
about the future of our family.
These investments help keep the
american dream alive here in
nashville. The idea that
working families can afford a
home, raise their children in a
supportive community, and
create opportunities for the
next generation. We're excited
to raise elliot in the city
that gave us so many wonderful
memories. We hope he'll get the
experience to say, to have the
same joy and sense of
possibility that nashville gave
us, and that one day, he'll
look back at his childhood here
with the same love and
gratitude that we do. Thank you
for your time and consideration.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Hi, my name is
charlie culbertson of district
31. First, let's set the scene.
Inflation in the U.S. Is 3.8%.
So the offer of a 1.7% cola is
frankly insulting. Now, I'm
aware that the city contributes
more to the budget than the
state does, but that's its own
issue, especially with the
vouchers. But mayor o'connell
is out here talking about a
cash incentive for the $121
billion company starbucks. We
heard that cash is found for
that, but not our schools. And
since the city agreed to the
new stadium, now we have the
super bowl on the horizon.
Where are the sidewalks?
Where's the public
transportation? Where are the
benefits for the residents
working long hours and multiple
jobs to stay in their home town?
Oh, they're dodging potholes
and traffic as they move to a
more affordable life outside of
the tourist run city. That's
completely lost the plot. My
act as a multi-generational
nashvillian and an eminent mps
teacher is this show us some
respect with a real cola
increase that matches inflation
and some social services that
benefit the taxpayers of
nashville and not the fans of
nashville. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Hi,
my name is julie morehouse and
I'm a resident of district 32.
I just finished my 10th year
teaching in metro. I'm also an
alum. I'm here to speak in
favor of a higher cola for all
m and p s workers, 1.7% is
nowhere near enough, especially
when our benefits are
increasing 8% this year. That
means that many folks wil end
up taking a pay cut this year
instead of having a pay raise.
The match is inflation. As you
heard charlene say, inflation
is at 3.8% right now. And
that's like conservative
national estimates. So our cola
should at least be that or as
approaching that as we can get.
As inflation continues to rise
and living in nashville becomes
more and more expensive, less
educators will be able to live
and work here. This means less
qualified educators here
serving our students. This,
this council needs to show
nashville students and families
that they are valued. A big way
to do that is to pay teachers
enough to stay. Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead.
Hi, I'm
mike montgomery, I'm a
commissioner on the nashville
entertainment commission, and
my son is a teacher in metro
public schools. And I agree
with everything they just said.
It has taken almost three years
with 15 commissioners having 28
full commission meetings and
probably twice that number in
ad hoc committee meetings to
arrive. At this point, we did
our job and we created a
framework for the nashville
entertainment commission, a
place where music, film,
television and all other
creative mediums could live,
overseen by a single executive
director who, armed with all
the information about our
entertainment industry, could
help recruit entertainment
projects to nashville and
davidson county. Specifically,
the laws were written, budgets
were set, a job description was
defined, and a search was
conducted. Each commissioner
examined well over a hundred
resumes. We identified six
candidates to interview in
person. From that, we put forth
two excellent candidates for
the mayor to interview. And
then it all came to a halt.
We're not sure exactly why, but
I am here to humbly ask for
your support and helping us get
this project across the finish
line and create a new economic
engine for the people of
davidson county. Memphis has
its own film office now for
over 20 years. Knoxville has
its own entertainment
commission for ten, and both
have been very successful in
recruiting. Business in
nashville might be the only
city of our size with our
entertainment infrastructure
that is already in place, that
does not have its own
commission. You know, at the
risk of.
Throwing you, sir,
your time has concluded. Thank
you. You're recognized. Go
ahead.
good evening, council
members. My name is will conley,
and I'm the executive director
of the contributor. I live in a
zip code 37221. Tomorrow
morning. While many of us are
getting ready for work, there
will be people waking up
outside in nashville who are
living with significant
disabilities, chronic health
conditions, and no reliable
income. Some of them will spend
part of their day in a. In the
emergency
nashville general hospital.
Some will spend it simply
trying to survive, and many of
them qualify for help. The
tragedy is not that these
benefits do not exist. The
tragedy is that the people who
need them most are often the
least equipped to navigate the
system required to receive them.
For the past two years, the
contributor has partnered with
the emergency department at
nashville general hospital and
with vanderbilt university
medical center to identify
patients experiencing
homelessness and help them
access disability benefits,
health care income, and
ultimately, housing. Through
our soar program, we meet
people at one of the most
difficult moments in their
lives. We help connect them to
benefits they have already
earned and create a pathway
toward greater stability and
recovery. Tonight, I'm asking
for your support for the
$350,000 funding request that
would allow this work to
continue in the emergency
department at nashville general
hospital. This investment has
already generated more than
$669,000 in annual disability
income, more than 487,000 in
back pay awards and health care
coverage for people who
otherwise would have gone
without it. The estimated one
year value generated through
this work exceeds 1.3 million.
I know there are many worthy
requests before you tonight,
including investments in
housing, mental health,
eviction prevention and other
efforts that strengthen our
community. And I'm grateful to
live in a city where so many
people are advocating for
solutions to some of our most
difficult challenges, and I'm
grateful for you, all seven of
you all, especially for
including it on your wish list.
Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead
and come forward, and y'all can
go ahead and come on forward as
well. Please keep to the left
and kind of come on forward.
Thank you. Go ahead.
Hello.
My
name is mead forsyth. I am the
executive vice PRESIDENT Of
seiu local 205. Thank you so
much. That's new. Since I
addressed y'all last formerly,
I believe I represent
approximately 4000 workers
across the state, both public
and private sector. I'm also a
nashville public library worker.
I'm a metro worker. I work at
the looby branch library under
council member tombs. I grew up
in district 15, council member
gregg's district, and that's
also where I'm from, and that's
where my parents live still.
And I really love living where
i'm from. It's been it's great
for me. I get to help my
cousins raise their babies.
It's been a real delight for
bringing up the next generation,
and they get to come see me at
the library, and everybody
wants to know when they find
out. I work at the library
about our programing, about the
puppet shows, about the story
times for the kids. And I
always get to tell them, and
it's a real delight for me. I
feel like I've won the career
lottery, right? And I know not
every job can be my job, but I
do think that all metro workers
deserve to feel that pride and
dignity in their work. And I
don't think this can be
achieved through gestures and
written recognition. But I
think the only way to really
create this culture of
municipal pride is to
adequately fund the resources
that municipality provides. I
think we must fund a national
general hospital. We also
should have a cost of living
adjustments for all metro
workers. And I do think the
public schools need to be
addressed. We should consider
granting them bonuses for the
days off that are on a calendar.
Maybe give them more days on
calendar so they can afford to
live. As a library worker, I
know that people's health has a
direct effect on my day to day
job and my safety. And when we
unevenly fund city structures,
it creates this unnecessary
strain on the system. We need
to stop doing that. Equal
funding across the board fund,
everyone. Thank you.
Thank you.
go ahead. You're recognized.
Good evening.
My name is dark
kenya waller, and I have the
pleasure of serving as the
executive director of the legal
aid society of middl tennessee
and the cumberlands. I'm here
to speak on behalf of the
eviction rights of council
program. But before I dive into
that, I'd be remiss in my role
as an advocate if I did not
just speak to briefly the
process for this. Today, as I
sit in the gallery and
experience the opportunity to
address our council, I'm
disturbed by the fact that
there are seniors, there are
folks with disability, there
are folks with children. There
are folks who don't speak the
language well, who are vying
for an opportunity to get in
this line, and it is the
strongest, the fittest who are
getting their first. I think
there should be a better
process. I can't advocate for
anything else if I don't
advocate for the people who are
right here, right now. There's
got to be a better way to
consider to consider those
people. And I just hope that
you all will take the time to
consider what that is, so that
we can have a more orderly and
fair process for those who
can't jockey for the position,
like a coworker who just gets
stuff done. The eviction right
to counsel program is working
daily to move the needle on
affordable housing in nashville.
We ensure that our most
vulnerable neighbors are not
being pushed out with the
explanation that this is just
the cost of progress. There are
dignified and respectful ways
to do this, which do not
include allowing mold to grow
in an apartment until someone
is forced to move, or sending
an immediate notice of eviction
to a tenant who clearly has
months left on a valid lease.
While this is true that the
eviction right to counsel
program helps to balance the
playing field between the 99%
of landlords
representation in court and the
1% of tenants who are not, who
do not have an attorney when
they walk into court. The
eviction right to counsel
program also works to ensure
landlords receives the rent
they deserve. Please support
the program at $9.3 million.
Thank you and thank you for
your feedback as well. Go ahead
and come forward.
Good evening
everyone. My name is sally
woodard and I am an almost nine
year employee of nashville
geeral hospital. I work in the
patient access department as a
pre-registration representative,
and I help patients gain access
to health care services every
day. And many of the
individuals that we serve
already face significant
barriers to care. Nashville
hospital, nashville general
hospital we exist to help
bridge those gaps. This year,
y'all, something really
powerful happened during the
city budget discussions. Metro
employees across various
departments stood in solidarity
with nashville general hospital
by taking a back seat and not
requesting additional funding
so that the focus could remain
on fully funding nashville
general hospital. That
sacrifice shows how deeply
people understand the
importance of this hospital.
The workers at nashville
general hospital continue doing
everything possible to care for
the community, despite
increasing health care costs,
staffing challenges and
financial uncertainty year
after year. We're not asking
for luxury. We're not. We're
only asking for fairness. We
are asking for the city to
fully invest in the hospital
that serves its most vulnerable
residents. A fully funded
budget means continued patient
care, stronger staffing,
employee retention and raises
for hard working employees who
have dedicated themselves to
serving nashville. The city
charter recognizes the
responsibility to care for the
indigent population. We are
asking the city to fully honor
that responsibility. Please
fully fund nashville general
hospital. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Good evening, city council
members. My name is brenda
gordon, and I've worked in
nashville general hospital for
seven years. I'm currently
working at the board clinic as
a clinic coordinator. And I
stand before you tonight, not
just an employee, but as
someone who sees firsthand what
the hospital means to our
community. Every day at
nashville general hospital, we
care for the people who often
have nowhere to turn. We care
for working families, seniors,
uninsured patients, and the
indigent population that has
city committed to serve under
this charter. This is not just
a member, a number. I'm sorry.
This is not just a number on a
budget sheet. These are human
beings who depend on us to
survive dignity and hope. Every
year, health care costs
continue to rise, supplies cost
more, staffing costs more. The
demand for care now continues
to grow. Yet every year we find
ourselves fighting for the
funding necessary to simply
operate and continue to serve
this city. This is not
sustainable. Our employees work
tirelessly despite staffing
shortages, burnout and
financial uncertainty, because
we believe in the mission of
this hospital. But believing in
the mission should not mean
sacrificing fair wages or
asking employees to
continuously work more for less.
A fully funded budget is not a
luxury, it's a necessity. Fully
funding nashville general
hospital budget request means
protecting access to care for
vulnerable citizens. It means
investing the health care
workers who keep this hospital
running. It means allowing
employees to receive the raises
they deserve. After dedicating
themselves to this city year
after year. We are asking you
tonight to stand with us. Stand
with the patients, stand with
the workers. Stand with the
mission of general hospital.
Lastly, we are grateful for the
solidarity shown.
Your time has
expired. Your time has expired.
thank you, thank you. Next,
please. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Hello, my name is
MISS Honey. My babies call me
MISS Honey and I work for mmps
schools. But I'm standing today
to say I stand for solidarity
budget. I'm not advocating for
myself today. I'm advocating
for general hospital, even
though I'm broke and all my
babies know I'm broke, 1.75% is
not enough. But our sisters and
brothers at general hospital,
which my students go to, have
not been made whole. We need to
make them whole. Y'all know
y'all have not done right by
mmps schools. We not even going
to go down there and talk to
y'all for 26 years about that.
But today is general hospital.
I go to general hospital, my
babies, by and large for mmps
go to general hospital. So mmps
schools is standing behind
general hospital fully fund
general hospital. We are
advocating for cost of living
adjustment. Mainly we want them
to be whole. They need doctors
and nurses. We need support
staff. Seiu needs to be
represented fully and wholly.
They serve the city. If you
want great health care, you can
go there. To some of y'all do
go. We've seen y'all there. So
if you go there and you know
it's excellent health care,
give them the money they need.
These are your fellow coworkers,
people that live in the city
with you. They have to put food
on the table as well. So when
they show up for work and take
care of patients and people who
are sleeping on the streets
because you're not funding that
either, then make sure that
they can do that with a smile
on their face. Mmps schools
stands behind general hospital
raises fully funded more than
1.75%. I can't even believe I'm
saying that. But that's what we
stand. We want to know that we
stand lockstep with general
hospital.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
I'm howard
allen. First of all, I just
want to say I'm a nashvillian
born and raised, home grown. I
have a grassroots organization
called the nashville
underground and part of the
poor people's campaign. I'm
standing in solidarity tonight
with people's budget coalition.
I want to talk about housing,
and I want to talk about social
housing. Now, the $25 million
budget. I want to talk about
$500,000. And I want to talk to
a good associate of mine. This
is to the honorable thomas
frederick o'connell and to you,
council members. We need land
to be able to do this. Social
housing of $500,000. And I want
you to be able to do it right,
because I'm demanding it. And
what it's going to consist of
is permanent housing,
affordable, publicly owned,
community controlled, and
hopefully housing for all.
Maybe we might get low income
housing, too, but this is what
I want and I'm challenging you
don't take all day about
deciding whether or not you're
going to give us the land, give
us the land because we're
demanding it. And please do it
before the super bowl because
you can do it. And then I can
go to a social housing
apartment and look at the super
bowl, and then you can tell
them the olympics are coming or
the world's fair. But do this.
Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead
and come forward. You're
recognized.
Good evening. My
name is michelle and I'm a
davidson county district two
resident and a social worker
for the national hispanic bar
association. Eviction right to
counsel. Today, I'm here to ask
you to support increased
funding for the irc program at
$9.3 million in 2025, a fiscal
impact study found that for
every dollar invested in irc,
nashville saw a return of $4.18.
Last year alone, the coalition
provided legal services to more
than a thousand nashvillians
and achieved client goals in
nearly 95% of cases. As part of
the coalition, national
hispanic bar association
provides culturally competent
legal services to all
qualifying residents, including
immigrant and latin, a tenants
that would otherwise face
eviction alone. Nahb has
already assisted more than 1500
clients, delivered over $1.2
million indirect value to
families, and has been able to
provide comprehensive
wraparound services through
interdisciplinary teams. In
davidson county. Eviction
filings continue to rise, yet
funding has remained
essentially flat for the past
three years. The mayor's
proposed budget of 2.4 million
does not account for inflation
or growing community need.
coalition organizations are
already stretching limited
resources and hba alone
supplements. Irc funding with
substantial non-metro support
just to sustain current
services and allow for
additional social work support.
Increased funding would allow
us to expand outreach, provide
more multilingual legal
education, increase
representation and help more
families stay housed before a
crisis occurs. Eviction is not
just a housing issue, it's a
justice issue, a public health
issue and an economic issue.
Stable housing creates stronger
families and safer communities.
Please support increased
funding for eviction right to
counsel and continue investing
in a program that we know
changes lives and saves
taxpayers dollars. Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead please.
Good evening. My name is ali
campbell, nashville resident
from district 14. I work as a
paralegal with the eviction
right to counsel program at the
national hispanic bar
association. Our program
provides free legal
representation to renters
facing eviction in davidson
county. We have helped hundreds
of nashville families remain
housed beyond the human impact.
This is a fiscally responsible
investment. Keeping families
housed prevents the downstream
costs of shelters, emergency
services and displacement that
fall back on the city. Eviction
right to counsel program is one
of the many critical housing
tools the city depends on, and
we hope all of them can be
adequately supported. We are
asking the council to fund the
eviction right to counsel
program at $9.3 million, so we
can continue serving the
nashville renters that need it
most. Thank you.
Thank you. Go
ahead. You're recognized.
Good
evening. My name is faith klein,
and I serve as the civil
mediation director at nashville
conflict resolution center.
Thank you for your continued
support of the eviction right
to counsel program. Since the
rtc began funding in 2023, and
crc has provided mediation
services to 836 landlords and
tenants, of those cases, 82%
resulted in voluntary
agreements, and two thirds of
those cases avoided court
judgments altogether through
mediation. At the heart of
every eviction case are real
people wth real needs.
Landlords need to remain
financially stable an tenants
need to stay housed. Too often,
courts feel like the only
option, yet many disputes can
be resolved through a guided
conversation with a neutral
mediator, allowing both parties
to be heard and developed to to
develop solutions that work for
everyone involved. Mediation
creates better outcomes. It can
help landlords avoid the costs
of delayed associated court
proceedings, while helping
tenants avoid long term
consequences of an eviction
judgment that can make future
housing difficult to secure.
For three years, funding for
this program has remained
largely unchanged despite
inflation and rising eviction
filings. As demand increases,
the capacity for
representation, rental
assistance and mediation has
not kept pace. Tonight, our
coalition is requesting 9.3
million for eviction right to the funding
level, the funding level.
Stout's independent evaluations
determined is needed for full
implementation, and crc share
of this investment would enable
us to provide every eligible
landlord and tenant access to
compassionatedispute
resolution before their case
reaches the courtroom. We
respectfully ask for your
support of this funding
increase to 9.3 million to
close the justice gap and
strengthen housing stability in
davidson county. Thank you for
your time and consideration.
Thank you. Welcome. You MAY
want to pull that mic down
towards you. There you go.
You
hear me? Yes. Okay. My name my
name is grace brady. I, I
reside in district 21 and I am
supporting funding for the
barnes fund. As nashville has
has grown, it was touted as the
it city. And much of that
concept concept is still true.
With growth comes many
challenges. One of them being
housing is new residents, along
with the residents who are
already in place. I live in
nashville called north
nashville, a sector that that
receives less attention many
than many other parts of the
city. As developments were
generated, my congregation at
clark memorial united methodist
church took note of this talent
in our neighborhood to acquire
affordable housing, and the
lesser notice given it by the
other challenges working with
affordable housing arm of the
law, we research the need and
determined to do our own part
to meet that challenge. The
result was the opening of six
affordable homes in AUGUST of
2025. Because the barnes fund
was initial and a significant
part of that funding, research
has shown that nashville has a
deficit of at least 20,000
units in affordable housing. So
it begs the question does it
make for reasonable public
policy to reduce the barnes
fund, which has helped our
project and many others to
achieve affordable housing for
its residents who live on
minimum wages or are barely a
month above it, above it.
There's also research that
shows that even even our
service workers, like police
and early responders, are who
support our city and make it
safe for all of us, must live
outside of the city because
they don't have a place to live,
which also increases our public
safety and health risk. I beg
the council to consider and
please fully fund the barnes
fund for the $30 million that
is being asked. Thank you very
much.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Good evening.
I'm irene boyd from council
district 24, and I am also a
member of the no affordable
housing task force. We know
that the barnes fund is the
city's most effective tool for
affordable housing, and we are
glad that our mayor included
$22 million for barnes in his
budget. However, I'm here today
to urge you to add another $8
million to the fund, which
would match the unified housing
strategies call for $30 million
to be funded annually. Since
nonprofit developers can
leverage $9 for every $1 from
barnes, this would unlock $300
million more in housing
investment. The positive impact
of the barnes fund has, which
has had, excuse me, the
positive impact the barnes fund
has had on the recipients of
this fund and in our city
should be celebrated and
continued, not diminished. What
could be more important in a
person's life, in a city's
reputation than their housing?
I'm a person who is a catholic
and have spent all my life
being exposed and challenged by
both charity and social justice
teaching of my church. I worked
with the catholic diocese here
in nashville, where I was very
involved with social justice
activities and and with the
teaching of social justice. I
also was an organizer with
nashville together, tnt. All of
this and more have taught me
and led me to care about and
work for justice. So now I want
to end with a quote from my
favorite pope francis, who said
this about housing. Quote, let
me be clear. There is no social
or moral justification, no
justification whatsoever for
the lack of housing, end quote.
And thank you.
Thank you.
Go
ahead. You're recognized. You
MAY want to pull that mic up.
yeah.
Thank you. One of the
things about.
Being told I'm
mike hodge, district 31, john
rutherford's district. I'm a
member of edgehill united
methodist church and the
affordable housing task force.
You've heard us speak many
times about the barnes fund
because it remains the most
effective tool we've got for
creating affordable housing.
Metro's unified housing
strategy, says nashville must
create 2000 truly affordable
homes every year just to keep
up with the need. It also calls
for investing $30 million
annually in the barnes fund.
Mayor o'connell's budget
includes 22 million, but that's
8 million short of the gol.
And because every barnes dollar
leverages roughly ten more from
other sources, that shortfall
means as much as $80 million in
affordable housing investments
getting left on the table. Some
council members are also
proposing now to reduce that
funding even further. Tonight,
though, I really want you to
hear the voice of reverend bill
barnes, the namesake of this
fund and longtime pastor of
edgehill united methodist
church. He spent years
advocating for affordable
housing and for the creation of
this fund. He died in 2017, but
in 2015, after the barnes fund
was established, he thanked
this council right here, and he
said it's a remarkable
beginning of a process. It is
the beginning. It needs a
source of resilient funding,
recurring funding, and that
will happen. I'm sure that was
11 years ago today in 2026, we
still do not have the dedicated
recurring funding reverend
barnes envisioned. But we do
have a choice. We can continue
treating affordable housing as
a beginning, or we can take the
next step and fully fund the
barnes fund. At $30 million
this year. I believe reverend
barnes would thank you once
again, not for starting the
work, but for finishing what
you began.
Thank you. Go ahead.
Please.
Good evening, council
members. My name is esther. I'm
a nurse at triage nurse in
nashville general hospital. I
have proudly served the
hospital for seven years as a
nurse. We see first hand
growing health care needs in
this city. We see patients
arrive every day who are
uninsured, underinsured, sick,
frightened, and in need of
compassionate, compassionate
health care. Nashville general
hospital contnues to serve.
Continue to serve them because
that is our mission and because
this city has a responsibility
to take care of its indigenous
persons. But caring for people
requires investment. We know
that this year, many of our
fellow metro employees showed
incredible solidarity by not
pushing for additional funding
required a request of their own,
because they understand that
nashville general hospital
needs to be prioritized. They
recognize that this hospital is
essential to the health and
well-being of nashville. That
sacrifice should not be
overlooked. And have
continually carrying the burden
year after year while health
care costs rise and staff
challenges continue to grow.
Nurses, frontline staff and
health care workers deserve
fair raises and adequate
support for the work we do
every day. A fully funded
budget request is about
protecting patient care,
retaining employees and
ensuring that the hospital
remains strong for future
generations to come. We ask
this council to recognize this
importance of nashville general
hospital and honor the
solidarity of the metro workers
across the state.
Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
My name is jeffrey
jackson and I work for
environmental services as a
technician at nashville general,
who MAY not always see the work
is always behind the scenes,
but maintaining clean and safe
hospital environment is
critical to patient care. Every
employee at nashville general
plays a role in protecting the
community. This year, metro
workers assist other
departments, showing solidarity
by stepping back from
requesting additional funding
increases because they
understood the nashville
general hospital need to be
paralyzed in this budget. That
says a lot about respect and
importance of the hospital. Is
to serve the indigent
population of nashville and
provides care to people who
often have nowhere else to turn.
that mission is essential to
the city for health care. Costs
continue rising every year,
while employees continue being
asked to do more with less.
Workers at any age deserve
raises and reflect the
dedication and sacrifices they
make every day. Fully funded
nashville general hospital is
about more than numbers. It is
about protecting health care,
assist, supporting employees
and honoring the city's
responsibility to care for its
people. We appreciate the
solidarity shown by our fellow
metro workers, and tonight we
ask this council to show same
commitment by fully funding
nashville general hospital.
Thank you for listening and GOD
bless you all.
Thank you so
much. So for those of you all
in front of the door, you can
go ahead and come forward to
the podium and go ahead and
come a little closer to the
podium, please, and far to the
left. Just a reminder. So
there's going to be one person
at the podium for people in
front of the door, and there
should only be five people in
line behind the door. I
recognize we have some folks
from our community groups that
are trying to kind of organize.
When we put our next five
people into line, but
respectfully, it looks a little
cluttered back there. I want
you to please respect our staff.
So when we're telling you. I'm
it looks like I can't be heard
back there. Is that what you're
saying? So again, there should
be just ten people in line.
Please, please respect miss
charlotte's direction. Short
gray hair, blue jacket. Our
lovely staff member. Please
respect her guidance back there.
Okay, sir. Go ahead.
Good
evening. My name is ian judd.
I'm the project manager for
eviction right to counsel
program in legal aid. I'm often
called the numbers guy, so I'm
going to throw some numbers at
you all tonight. The first is
$4.18. That's our return on
investment for every dollar
that this council has invested
in our program. That means the
$2.4 million that we've had in
the past, and what's been
proposed here for this year
would be a return of more than
$8 million to the city of
nashville and other
nashvillians. Irc has reduced
costs across the social safety
net in nashville, from shelter
maintenance to er visits to
keeping children and families
in nashville even further, the
average return for each
individual client was more than
$12,000 per client served, and
then the next number is 1069.
That's the number of households
that received legal assistance
from our attorneys and
advocates in 2025. They're in
court with our clients,
providing important and vital
legal advice and information.
Our clients are able to do this
work, and with even more
funding, perhaps $9.3 million,
wecan help even more people as
our program is scalable. The
next number here is 92%. That's
the percentage of clients who
achieve their goal of
preventing an eviction judgment
or involuntary move. 92% of our
clients that didn't want an
eviction judgment were
successful in that goal. And we
want to make sure that all of
our clients achieve their goals.
That's the first question we
ask folks, what is your goal?
And we do everything in our
power to make sure they can
achieve it. And while those are
numbers, they're also people.
They're our neighbors, our
constituents, our friends that
are seeking help, that all MAY
have lost their housing if not
for our program. We're
extremely grateful for this
council and our future with
metro planning department, and
look forward to working with
all of the initiatives in
planning and through metro
council to really create an
affordable and livable housing
environment here in nashville.
But demand continues to rise.
Every month. There are about
1200 evictions. Like I said, we
helped 1000 people last year,
and with more money, we can
make sure that we're helping
every eligible person. If we
have $9.3 million to fully
implement our program. Thank
you.
Thank you so much. Go
ahead and come on forward.
Thank you so much.
Hello. My
name is sophia colby and I am
the outreach coordinator for
the eviction right to counsel
program at legal aid society of
middle tennessee and the
cumberlands. I'm here today to
speak in support of the
continued funding for the
eviction right to counsel
program. In my role, I see
firsthand the impact this
program has on nashville
residents facing housing
instability throughout. Through
our courthouse outreach, I
provide tenants with
information about their rights
and connect them with resources
that an help them navigate the
often complex and daunting
eviction process. Many people
are unaware of their
protections available to them
until they speak with somebody
from our program. I also attend
community events and conduct
outreach through webinars and
social media to ensure that
tenants understand their rights
before they find themselves in
court. These efforts help build
trust, increase access to legal
information, and empower
residents to make informed
decisions about their housing.
As eviction filings continue to
rise, funding for this program
remains critical. The eviction
right to counsel program helps
keep people housed, promotes
stability for families, and
ensures that tenants have
access to the support they need
during a difficult and often
overwhelming process. We hope
to continue this important work
and expand our ability to serve
the community. Thank you for
your consideration and
support.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Hello,
everyone. Good evening. My name
is shannon wagner and I am the
executive director of nashville
conflict resolution center for
25 years, and crc has served
davidson county residents
across every council district,
helping people navigate
conflict through mediation and
collaborative problem solving.
You'll hear from others about
the impressive outcomes, the
eviction right to counsel
program, and the number of
cases resolved through
mediation. I would like to
speak briefly about why those
outcomes matter. Housing
disputes are often treated
solely as legal problems, but
many began as human problems a
medical crisis, a job loss, a
family emergency, or a
communication breakdown that
escalates over time when the
only pathway available is a
courtroom. Opportunities for
understanding and creative
problem solving are often lost.
Community mediation offers a
different path. It gives
landlords and tenants the
opportunity to sit down with a
trained, neutral third party
and work toward solutions that
reflect the realities of their
lives. Payment plans, move out
timelines, property concerns
and communication issues can be
addressed in ways that a court
order cannot accomplish. What
makes irc so effective is that
it recognizes that access to
justice requires more than
legal representation. It is
truly a coalition of partners
and offers multiple pathways to
resolution. Mediation is just
one of those pathways, and it
is an essential part of a
healthy and responsive justice
system. As nashville continues
to grow, we will face
increasingly complex challenges
around housing stability,
access to services and
community well-being. Investing
in irc is an investment in a
more resilient city. We are
grateful for your support of
irc and respectfully ask you to
increase, not at the expense of
other housing initiatives,but
as an investment in a program
that is strengthening housing
stability, expanding access to
justice, and helping nashville
residents find solutions that
work and stay in their homes.
Thank you for your time.
Thank
you so much. For those of you
that are in front of the door,
please don't linger by the wall.
Just go ahead and come on
forward. So come on forward to
the podium and the gentleman
behind you can come on a little
bit. Perfect. Over to the left.
Great. Right. So we can get
four people in front of the
door. We don't want to crowd
the people to see, but you can
just line up right there. Go
ahead ma'am. Thank you.
Good
evening. My name is lisa
woolley. I'm the executive
director of rooftop nashville.
We're the rent relief partner
in eviction right to counsel. I
am grateful the city is
choosing to support keeping
nashvillians in housing through
the eviction right to counsel
program. The people we serve
are the backbone of our city.
Rent relief as a part of irc
looks like closing the gap for
a single mother whose worker's
comp ended before she was
cleared to return to work, or
the resident whose company was
shut down by the state. While
the new job would cover the
rent, it wouldn't cover legal
fees. But it also looks like
limiting clients to those whose
hardship happened in the last
90 days, or to those who only
two months rent. Because
funding is limited, 91% of
clients receiving rent relief
funding from irc remain housed
at 12 months. This program
works and we hope to expand
services. We're asking that you
fully fund the program with 9.3
million. You are not alone in
investing in the irc program.
Each organization in the
coalition allocates private
funding to support irtk. The
most recent example was the
winter storm docket. Irc staff,
civil court judges, court
advocates, metro action
commission and landlord
attorneys came together to
allow residents impacted by
winter storm fern time and
resources to recover. Rooftop
provided over $100,000 in
community funding to support
the docket. I hope when the
report comes out that each of
you takes the time to read it
and understand that your
significant impact investment
has a ripple effect in this
community. The backbone of our
community deserves the support.
I hope you'll help irc
coalition continue to grow by
allocating 9.3 million in the
budget. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Council members.
My name is
richard. I'm the general
manager of the virgin hotel
nashville, located on music
square west midtown. I'm here
this evening to provide support
in favor of the civic design
center's proposal for community
engagement. Regarding the buddy
killen circle renovation for
$50,000, the midtown
neighborhood is growing at a
rapid rate. Much of that growth
is residential, which only
builds upon a strong feeling of
community as a key component
that makes it such a desirable
neighborhood for businesses,
families, industries and
residents alike. The buddy
circle is a gateway to midtown
and the west end. As a
neighborhood grows and traffic
increases, there's a continued
need for focus on safety and
the flow of all traffic through
the community, whether for
automobiles, bikers, joggers,
local pedestrians, tourists, or
people simply walking their
pets, there is a need for
improvement. Every day I drive
from work to and from work,
passing through buddy circle.
The number of cars that do not,
will not stop. For pedestrians
or joggers that are properly
using the designated labeled
crosswalks is staggering. It's
even more worrisome at night
when visibility is limited in
certain areas. You can't even
see the pedestrians approaching
the circle. The proposal will
also support a review of the
intersection of division street,
17th street and music square
west, just off the circle
throughout the day, even more
frequently from 3 to 6 P.M.
There are constant horns
honking and brakes screeching
as drivers try to avoid
accidents due to not knowing
how to navigate the
intersection. There visibly,
issues with the no turn on red
signs, and people are
constantly turning from turning
right on red into oncoming
traffic from 17th division
streets. From the other
direction on division street,
there are three lanes of
traffic coming into circle the
two left lanes for left turn
only onto music square west and
the right lane is to continue
on division street. However,
there's four traffic lights.
This confusion. This
intersection impacts the flow
of buddy circle as well. Things
like the no turn on red signs
being illuminated better and
blinking lights added to
crosswalks. The buddy circle
can make a huge difference. A
little bit of attention go a
long way. While I'm aware that
oftentimes incident and
accident statistics are used to
make decisions around funding
for projects such as this, it
MAY only be a matter of time
before something serious occurs
if it hasn't already. We have
an opportunity with a small
amount of support requested to
be ahead of the curve when it
comes to safety. As we continue
to improve our neighborhoods
within nashville, specifically
midtown. Thank you for
listening for your
consideration.
Thank you. Go
ahead.
Yes, thank you, counsel.
And I do want to also say how
much we appreciate the work
you're doing to make our our
city a better place. My name is
chris claybrook. I'm with
regions bank and I serve as a
member of our our leadership
circle. And I'm here tonight to
to talk to you also about the
request to amend the operating
budget to include 50,000 for
the community engagement and
public realm design plans for
buddy killen circle. I agree
with richard's comments earlier.
One of our challenges continues
to be just the movement of
traffic through there,
especially around that division
and 17th, we we have safety
concerns for not only our
associates, the residents in
that area, but also our
customers that are coming in
around about. Plaza is home to
125 associates that make up our
regional headquarters as well
as our branch. So we have a lot
of, of our clients coming
through there, and we have
safety we
want to make sure we get this
development done right. On the
work around buddy killen circle
and the civic design center has
put together a proposal
including community engagement,
design, development and
visualizations. To start this
process, I would ask you to
consider including this
necessary funding in the
operating budget and support
this upcoming work. Thank you
very much.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Good evening,
council members. My name is MR.
Stevenson. I stand here today
not only as an employee of
metro nashville public schools,
but as a representative of
solidarity. Standing beside my
sisters and brothers of m. P s
metro nashville government and
nashville general hospital
tonight, our ask is very simple.
Let us. Let us make nashville
general hospital financially
whole because the city cannot
thrive while the very people
saving lives are struggling to
survive. Let us provide metro
employees with a cost of living
adjustment, increase esterases
that reflect the cost of living
in this city. Let us ensure
that mmps employees receives
that cost of living adjustment
that matches metro employees,
along with compensation for the
unpaid days that are already
built in their calendars every
year. The same song is what
song. People can no longer
afford to live in the city that
they work in. But tonight we
are asking you to do more than
hear the song. We are asking
you to respond to it. Let us
live in the city that we serve.
Let us strive instead of merely
surviving. Let us choose. Stop
choosing between groceries,
rent, medicine, and even gas.
Let us stop working two and
three jobs just to make ends
meet, while still showing up
every day to educate children,
protect communities, and care
for families. Because the truth
is, the people who keep this
city moving should not be
pushed out of the very city
that they helped build. So
tonight, my ask is not
complicated. Is simple. This
let us. Let us be valued. Let
us be respected. Let us be
compensated fairly, and let us
continue serving nashville with
dignity. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Come on. Forward.
Good evening.
Well, I'm. I don't even know
what to say after what misty
said, but.
do please come a
little closer to the mic, so be
sure to hear you.
That's all I
already know. I can't even come
behind
misty. Afternoon. I'm
sorry. I am told from the floor.
But what I have heard and
what's coming in behindme is
so true. It is hard out here
for these people who are
working 2 or 3 jobs. It hurts
me to see the single moms do
that. I'm sorry. And for metro
general hospital, please,
please, please don't take it
away because I'm going to tell
you I love general hospital. I
use it. I even encourage other
metro employees. I use it
because it's beneficial and
it's affordable. That's why I
use it. Honestly, really,
that's why I use it. And I love
the doctors. I love the
employees who work there, who
does amazing job, great
customer service. You know, I
just we shouldn't have to keep
asking and asking and asking. I
know everybody in here got an
agenda. I get it. But don't
forget about the people who you
work for. You have to. I'm just
going to say this. Do what's
right.
Thank you.
Go ahead.
Please.
Good evening, vice.
Mayor and council members. My
name is sabina moideen, and I
serve as executive director of
the american muslim advisory
council. And we are coalition
partners with eviction right to
counsel program. Our role in
the coalition is to do outreach
in the immigrant communities,
as well as provide language
access for those who need it.
Recently, a thai immigrant who own home fell victim
to a foreclosure fraud. And
found herself in court without
legal representation and using
ai to try to understand what
was going on. Understanding
legal proceedings is hard
enough if you are a native
english speaker, so imagine how
hard it is for someone for whom
english is their second
language. We need more funding
to guarantee a robust outreach
to communities in
nashville, especially those
with limited english
proficiency, so they are aware
of their rights and get the
support they need. And another
case, a somali family that was
facing personal crisis received
an eviction notice because they
were behind on rent. We refer
the family to legal aid society,
legal aid society was at
capacity and they were only
able to provide advice. The
family was willing to pay what
was owed and requested a pay
and stay deal, but the
landlord's attorney was
pressuring him to sign an
eviction settlement. He called
me panicking, not sure what to
do. I am not a lawyer and could
not provide legal advice. The
legal advice he needed. We need
to make sure we have enough
attorneys to take on the
growing number of eviction
cases that we are seeing. We
are grateful for the of
metro council, but we want to
increase the budget.
Thank you.
Thank you. MISS Shacklett.
Everything okay there? Could
you please could you sit down?
miss you. And if you to
speak, MISS Shacklett needs to
go back and help administer the
line. Please, ma'am. All right,
I, I will share again because
other people have entered the
room. Okay. We are having ten
people in line at a time. One
at the podium, four in front of
the door and five in line
behind the door. MISS Shacklett,
who is in blue, is
administering the line. We ask
you please to respect when she
says this is the back of the
line. Everyone else should be
seated. Okay, so there should
be ten people. MISS Shacklett
knows who that is now. One. Two.
Here and there as she comes
forward to speak to you. Maybe
there's an extra. So let's show
some grace. But I appreciate
that you're sharing. There's
some confusion. We have two
staff members there who are
doing their best to administer.
Okay. Thank you. Go ahead, MR.
Creeks.
Yeah. We will need a
special meeting for discussing
this sometime soon too. Despite
our best intentions, it's
really been very difficult. But.
So my name is andrew grace. I
live in district 21 and I'm
with the national people's
coalition. You would have heard
from probably about 30 of our
folks, but most of them are
going to have to go home, or
some of them will. But
hopefully you'll hear from more.
After direct engagement with
thousands of working class
nashvillians over the last two
years. We are asking for three
things that together amount to
one half of 1% of the entire
operating budget. First, it's
$1 million for social housing.
You've heard this phrase social
housing is permanently
affordable, publicly owned,
community controlled, bond
financed, mixed income housing.
This $10 million ask includes
the ask we made last year and
are making again, which is
$500,000 for staff to establish
and maintain social housing in
a new independent housing
authority subsidiary. The
remainder of that ask is 9.5
million for a revolving loan
fund for social housing. The
mayor 7 million revolving loan
fund is not yet what we're
asking for, but we intend to
help ensure that it becomes
what we're asking for. It's one
thing to say that you want us
to stay here. It's another to
fund and embrace a model that
actually ensures that you have
the power to improve our lives,
and I hope you'll use it.
Second, we're asking for $13
million for the community
safety fund operated by metro
public health. The mayor
recently said there's more to
safety than policing, but you
wouldn't really know it from
looking at the budget. We spent
nearly $1 billion annually on
police, courts and jails, but
give only crumbs to non-police
alternatives. It's past time to
shift how we understand and
fund safety in nashville,
significantly increasing
funding for non-police
community safety alternatives
help start that process in
earnest. And third, we want
full funding at $2 million for
the reach program. It's an
existing solution, and we need
to equip it to meet the
enormous need in our
communities. And finally, we
want and expect each of these
things to be not just funded,
but established through a
thorough, participatory,
co-governance process. We don't
want to give input after
decisions are already made. We
want to build and govern these
institutions and policies
alongside you, because the
budget is the people's money
and the public goods that our
money funds should be governed
by us too.
Thank you. Thank you.
What is up? Y'all trying to
bring the energy? Saw some
yawns. So just try to be hype.
All right. Who wants to talk
about housing finance? Awesome.
My name is cade. I'm here with
stand up nashville tonight. I'm
here to request that you put
$500,000 in an admin account
for staff that will catapult
our self-sustaining housing
model forward. To do this, I
want to talk to you about risk,
because as we've been talking
to people in the city, we over
and over hear this word risk
and risk aversion. Okay, so for
many nashville residents myself,
including housing has become a
persistent source of
uncertainty. I don't know what
it's like where you're sitting
over there on the gallery, but
on this side, outside of the
line, hunger games and
everything else going on. I
know most of us know what it
feels like to live in a city
where housing is a gamble every
day. We often talk about new
ideas as risky, but we rarely
talk about the risk that
already exists around us. The
risk of being a renter in this
city to see your rent go up,
the risk of another family
leaving the city, another
teacher moving further from his
her or their classroom, or a
child who MAY have to live on
the street. Another young
person deciding that they
cannot build a future here. The
risk of waking up ten years
from now and realizing that
nashville has become a place
where ordinary people cannot
afford to live. Those risks are
real, and they're already here,
but they're not being carried
equally. They're being carried
by us, the renters, the working city by families
trying to hold on to the
communities they've built. What?
Stand up nashville is asking
for is 500,000 to create
capacity for nashville to build
something new, an institution
that can develop housing that
remains affordable because it
remains in public hands,
housing that creates lasting
public value for our city. The
greatest risk facing nashville
is not that we try something
ambitious. The greatest risk is
that we continue down the
current because it feels
familiar and safe. I hope
you'll consider making this
decision. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Okay. Hi, everybody.
I am.
Susan chan. I live in district
one and bells bend area. And I
am here talking to express my
support for two issues. One is
what the two fine gentleman
before me were speaking about.
I'm just learning about social
housing, and it sounds like a
no brainer to me. It sounds
like something we need to be
creating here. And I think
500,000 in the budget for the
establishment of an entity that
can kind of plan for that and
manage that makes so much sense
for long term sustainable and
affordable housing for the city.
So that'sissue number one. The
second thing I want to advocate
for is a wish list item from
doctor battle for metro
nashville public schools to
implement composting and the
hiring of a sustainability
manager for the schools as well
as training. I believe it's
lead led leadership in energy
and environmental design
certification for teachers.
This is long overdue and
obviously the composting will
remove a lot of waste from our
landfills, which I don't need
to tell any of. You are filling
up very quickly. It will save a
lot of money in the metro
budget over time. Somewhere
between 179 and $270,000 just
from picking up composting
waste in schools. And I just
would love to see that be
implemented. So please consider
including that in the budget.
That's 580,000. Again, a very
small ask for a very large
payoff for the city and for our
kids who need to learn about
the value of doing these things
and see that the adults around
them value it as much as as
they hopefully will as they
mature. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Good evening friends. My name
is how. I'm the ceo of the
community foundation of middle
tennessee and a resident of
district 24. It is nights like
this. I know that leadership
commitment and I want to thank
you for yours. Thank you for
sitting here. And thank you for
the way you've respectfully
listened to every single person
that's approached this mic.
There MAY not be a lot of
things that we universally
agree on in the city every day,
but I do think we agree on this.
Homes affordable to working
families are falling out of
reach faster than we can track.
And daily I hear where is
philanthropy on this issue?
There is a role for
philanthropy, and I am
committed and working really
hard to bring them to the table
in a coordinated way. But it is
important that metro builds a
table big enough, bold enough,
and collaborative enough for
philanthropy to join. We got a
taste of what can happen at
that table. When metro
committed $20 million to
launching the national catalyst
fund within months, multiple
private and philanthropic
investors quickly joined
ballooning that fund to 76.4
$76.5 million. That is nearly a
4 to 1 public private ratio.
And that is what metro
commitment can unlock. Every
week, I work alongside leaders
overseeing hundreds of millions
of dollars of philanthropic
capital, and I can tell you the
foundations and donors are
actively trying to figure out
how to invest effectively in
housing in the city. I believe
that the capital is ready to
move, but I also believe that
metro has to boldly lead at
this moment in time. Your vote
tonight is not just about what
the city spends. I believe it
is. It also helps determine
whether a much larger coalition
activates and follows the
cities that change their
housing trajectory. Did it by
building a system big enough to
hold all of us at the table.
This budget begins to build
that system, and I'm proud to
stand behind it tonight. Thank
you.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Hello, my
name is lindsay.
Longoria and
I'm a nashville resident of
district 25. I'm also the
community engagement and
gratitude officer for the
contributor. And I'm here to
request funding support on
behalf of the contributor saw
program. As you heard from will,
our executive director earlier,
for the past two years, the
contributor has partnered with
local emergency departments. By
the way, we also support
funding national general to
identify patients experiencing
homelessness and help them
access disability benefits,
health care income and
ultimately housing stability. I
know from personal experience,
working on the front lines as a
case manager, as well as from
well researched data that
access to housing and community
resources leads to health and
wholeness, a status that the
majority of our clients have
never experienced, especially
those who have applied for
these benefits on their own and
been denied. As the process is
not set up for individuals to
navigate alone. Tonight, I am
asking for your support of the
$350,000 funding request to
continue this necessary work
that will generate an estimated
$1.3 million in revenue for
those who need it most. This is
work that is already happening
already, work that is already
proven effective. There's no
drawback to supporting this
budget request, only a better
community that benefits when
folks folks who need it, when
they receive the benefits that
they deserve. And finally, as a
side note, I would like to note
that you could compensate
literally any m, m, p s
employee in this room to fix
this line situation in like
five minutes. Thanks. Bye.
Next.
Go ahead. MISS Styles, could I
ask, please, ma'am, so that
MISS Hayes shacklett can
administer the line? If you
might return to the chamber
floor. Thank you. Or just let.
Let MISS Hayes shacklett do her
good work, please. Thank you
ma'am. Go ahead. Sir. You're
recognized.
Good evening,
council, and thank you for this
time and for listening. It's
late. My name is christian
perot of the nashville property
tax coalition. We're a
nonpolitical group concerned
about small businesses in
davidson county. All 350 of our
members understand the property
taxes go up in a growing city,
and we are okay with that. We
also know that metro relies on
property taxes for a large
portion of its budget. Small
businesses have budgets to, and
they do their best to plan
ahead. But no business can plan
for 75%, 100, 200, and even
300% increases in their tax
liabilities. Most of these
property taxes are passed on to
the small business tenants who
occupy the commercial buildings
in our neighborhood centers and
roadway corridors. We are
asking for reasonable tax
increases, but when you have
historically high property
valuations, many of which are
incorrect in today's economic
climate, combined with an
increase in tax rate, you get
outrageous tax bills that will
force the closure of hundreds
of small businesses in the nxt
12 to 18 months. What is metro
government going to do to
preserve the small businesses
that made nashville what it is
today? Thank you.
Thank you. Go
ahead. You're recognized.
Good
afternoon. Thank you for your
time. My name is medina rasheed,
and I'm a proud resident at the
cottages of drakes creek. I am
honored to be a part of what is
becoming one of nashville's
first cooperative housing
communities, an innovative step
towards forwarding only. Oh.
Excuse me, I'm sorry. I'm
honored to be a part of what is
becoming one of nashville's
first cooperative housing
community and innovative steps
forward not only for our
neighborhood, but for the
future of affordable housing
across our city. As nashville
discussed budget priorities and
further investments, I
respectfully ask that
cooperative housing initiative
remain at the top of the
priorities. This project is
creating opportunities for
working families who MAY never
otherwise otherwise have access
to homeownership. It gives
residents stability, dignity,
and true voice in our community.
What makes this initiative so
important is that it is not
just about housing, it is about
preventing displacement,
building generational stability,
and creating long term
community investment. The
excitement surrounding the
cottages at drakes creek
reflects the hope many
nashville residents have
new and creative housing
solutions. However, I also want
to emphasize a major concern
for many current residents.
Some tenants slightly exceed
the current 50% median income
requirement, yet we are the
very people who have helped
build and sustain this
community. We recently went to
the barnes fund to ask for
consideration grandfathering.
Some of us in. And that allowed
those families to remain part
of the co-op model. We have
been told that there is no
solution at this time due to
the restrictions. With the
funding that has been selected
for this project, the barnes
fund should continue funding
and supporting these typeof
initiatives initiatives within
our city. We do not want to see
neighbors displaced simply
because they fall just above an
income threshold during this
transition. Protecting existing
residents while expanding
affordable ownership
opportunities should go hand in
hand.
thank you.
Thank you.
Your time has concluded. Go
ahead. You're recognized. That
mic up. Yeah, I got you. Okay.
Steven watts, district ten. So
I come bearing a message from
one of my neighbors at drakes
creek cooperative. So she says
it's messy. I say it's poetic.
The housing cooperative. Let's
talk about it. The safety of it
is like no other. Having your
neighborhood be your comfort
zone, the affordability, it's
life's desire. Neighbors
handpicked to merge into a
family compound. Without the
bloodline drama, the shared
responsibilities, not just
yours to carry. Land your
trusted with, to nurture, grow,
maintain without the hectic
maintenance solely on your
income and time. No more
strange neighbors. No more
wavering landlord. No more
unbalanced property tax hikes
appraised for you alone. No
more sudden relocation. No more
pit in your stomach from moving
costs or unfamiliarity. Instead
initiated cooperative living
for all. Melissa I. Roberts,
co-chair of drakes creek
cooperative council. So melissa
has also told me one other
thing that I really love. She
says being part of the
cooperative is what makes us
business partners. But being
neighbors makes us family so
quickly. What a cooperative is.
Cooperatives are similar to
home ownership associations. A
group of homeowners come
together to fight for their
shared interests. But while hoa
is come together to make sure
that their home value increases,
which makes that the home
unaccessible for people who
follow them. Instead, a
cooperative comes together to
keep costs low, to make sure
that the people who invest in
the neighborhood, when that
neighborhood increases in value,
that those people can stay. So
being employed by the southeast
center for cooperative
development, that makes me and
the drakes creek neighbors,
that makes us business partners.
But I also live across the
street from being
neighbors is what makes us
family. And so what I want to
ask for is two things. So the
barnes fund, obviously everyone
has spoken about how we need it.
We also need permanent
allocations first for
permanently affordable housing.
Lastly, I join on to the calls
of other members who asked for
that 500,000 for social housing
staff to sure that
belonging is policy, not just a
slogan.
Thank you, thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Paula williams, district 21
tonight. I did not come here
carrying statistics. I came
carrying the weight of a city
that is exhausted, a city where
mothers sit at tables hungry
because there is only enough their children. A
city where fathers work two and
three jobs and still come home
wondering can they afford the
rent? How is a family supposed
to survive when survival itself
has become expensive?
Nashvillians are hurting
mentally, physically,
emotionally. Every night
families lie awake asking, will
there be enough food tomorrow?
will we still have a home next
month? Will while luxury
buildings continue climbing
into the sky, the people who
built this city are being
pushed further and further away
from it. Affordable housing is
not a handout. It is not
charity is. It is dignity. It
is a mother. Finally, not
worrying about eviction
knocking. It is a father making
it home before his children%
fall asleep. Because right now
time is stealing from families.
Parents are missing birthdays
working overtime. Children are
growing up through exhausted
hugs and phone calls instead of
presents. Somewhere along the
way, we struggle as a
price of of living in nashville.
But I refuse to believe a city
this great cannot make room for
the very people who keep it
alive. So tonight, I demand you
stop seeing affordable housing
as numbers on paper and start
seeing the people, the tired
eyes, the empty refrigerators.
See the families one paycheck
away from losing everything.
Because a city is not measured
by the height of its buildings,
but by how it treats the people
holding those buildings up.
Nashville needs compassion.
Nashville nashville needs
action. Nashville needs
affordable housing, funded
fully because the people are
tired of waiting.
Thank you.
You're recognized. Go ahead.
My
name is.
Jeffrey gordon.
District.
MR. Gordon, will you
pull that mic up a little
closer to you? Thank you sir.
Go ahead.
My name is jeffrey
gordon, district six. I'm the
vice CHAIRMAN Of the nashville
entertainment commission. We
spent the last three years on
square one. We were summarily
removed from the mayor's budget
for the explanation ofthe fact
that we would become a
department of one, which would
afford us to flounder and fail
along the way. I take umbrage
with that, and that we've been
unable to communicate amongst
ourselves and be efficient.
Commission because of the open
meetings act, which has been
difficult to deal with. We're
asking now we're we
were $250,000. We're asking for
$300,000. Our initial ask to
the mayor was $585,000 to fund
staffing, the ability to have
an office, the ability to have
monies to actually generate the
initiatives that would benefit
our community. Speak for actors,
for singers, for songwriters,
for the coffee shops down the
street from the movie sets. I
have nothing but love for the
community. I've been here for
35 years. I make my life as a
lighting director. We make the
sites, we create the sounds.
We've been in 185 different
television markets around the
world. That brings our city to
the forefront of an
entertainment community. There
are several entertainment
communities around the world.
We are one that does not have
the proper representation to
allow our government to
maximize the opportunity, the
return on investment that a
nominal sum would create. I
thank you all for the
opportunity to speak before you.
I hope you can find your way
clear to benefit our office.
Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Good evening,
vice mayor, council members,
I'm stephanie coleman, ceo of
the national chamber and
resident of district seven. I'm
here in support of the housing
investments in this budget. To tell you who this
budget is for. And the numbers
from the city's own housing
strategy that we all helped
create. A hotel clerk in
nashville earns about $33,000 a
year. A hairstylist
43,000. A social worker
caring for our most vulnerable
children, about 57,000 for each
of them, a home that they can
actually afford runs between
800 and $1400 a month. Those
homes are disappearing. Home
values in this county are up
40% since 2019. Incomes are
only up 19% as of last spring,
there were 350 listings in all
of davidson county. That median
household could afford to buy.
The business community does not
watch this from a distance.
It's a workforce problem that
we feel every single day. You
cannot run a city. It's
hospitals, it's schools, it's
restaurants. It's small
businesses on people who can no
longer afford to live in it.
Housing has become economic
infrastructure as fundamental
to our competitiveness as
transit or schools. And here's
what the business community
most wants this body to hear.
This is a solvable problem, not
with a single headline or a
silver bullet, but the way hard
problems are actually solved
through patient, unglamorous,
evidence based work, sustained
year after year until it
compounds. And this is exactly
what this budget is. The
unified housing strategy is a
plan that sets goals, that
funds the tools, that measures
what works and builds on it.
And that's how companies row
as well, and how serious cities
solve their hardest
the payoff here isn't next
year's headline, it's the long
term return on doing the steady
work consistently.
Thank you,
thank you.
Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Yes. Good evening,
vice.
Mayor, council persons.
My name.
Is curtis bryant. I'm
a 35 year pastor in north
nashville. I live in district
seven. My church community is
in district 21 with COUNCILMAN
Taylor. And I have a
substantial project in district
nuber two with council tombs.
For over 35 years, I've worked
in the area of affordable
housing. But I want to add one
caveat to that. Not just
affordable housing, but
workforce housing. I represent
nonprofit called successful
survivors. We built multiple
affordable housing units across
the city. We have been our
leaders in providing houses,
and the north nashville area,
the cleveland park maxwell area,
and the world baptist center
area. But all faith based
housing. I'm here advocating
that ou all will commit at
least another additional $20
million to the faith community.
I represent 75 other churches
in an initiative called the
church community collective,
the church community of the
largest property owners in our
city. And I'd like to help move
them toward providing housing
for our service and
community here in nashville.
That housing can be provided
for persons live and work
in our city. I thank you all
for your hard work and your
time. I've been committed to
affordable housing for 35 years,
have dedicated most of my life
towards it. I could take half
of the night to express to you
my desire to provide housing
for individuals, people who
live and work in our city. We
must do what we can and must to
provide safe, decent and
affordable housing. Bless you.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Good evening. My
name is peter murphy. I live in
madison district nine. Today I
am speaking in support in
support of the nashville
people's budget, housing and
safety for all plan
co-governance. You have been
talking a lot about it for the
past couple of weeks.
Co-governance is necessary
because we are no longer
interested in perpetuating
systems that we pay for that
are at best ignoring us and at
worst actively starving,
beating, raping, kidnaping and
murdering us. Folks have been
saying for the longest time
that voting by itself is not
enough. And seeing the recent
actions by our state
legislature, we see why that
happened. Because we simply
voted and outsourced our
collective vision and
well-being to folks who
appointed themselves experts.
That was a terrible mistake.
Co-governance is us taking our
agency back. We are the ones
who know what we need and how
we need it. The innovation and
imagination is not up there.
It's back here. We are not
satisfied simply handing you
our money or our votes. Not
anymore. We are realizing our
mistake and we're taking
responsibility for rectifying
it. That's what co-governance
is. It's us taking our power
back. It requires you to take a
step back and respect us as
equals. We no longer supporting
systems that don't work for us.
We are dismantling them and
rebuilding them in our image.
Thank you.
Go ahead
and come forward.
Hello, my
name is tracy beard. I'm a
nashville native, grew up in
district two. I currently live
in district 32. I'm also a
housing justice researcher and
statewide coordinator for
housing for all tennessee. And
I grew up here and my mother
struggled in finding a place to
live for us during the 90s. And
that fueled the research that I
do now. And I know that
nashville can be better and,
and, and make it better for
others. And it's time for
nashville to implement
community led solutions and
fully fund the housing and
safety for all plan eviction,
right to counsel for evictions
and programs that house and
support our unhoused friends,
not criminalize them. We need
all of these levers to address
the systemic issues of housing
and public safety. These
solutions can ensure
permanently affordable housing
and community led safety, and
to ensure that all of these
things remain a human right.
And I thank you for your time,
and I thank everyone here for
their time in this process.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
I greet you in
peace. My name is karen roberts.
I live in district six, and I'm
here today as a community
member with stand up nashville.
I work as a licensed clinical
social worker, and I have been
working in the nashville
community for well over 25
years. And one of the problems,
the growing problems that I
hear from the clients that I
serve, is that I can't afford
housing. They come with major
depressive disorder and anxiety,
and it's not simply something
that you can just talk away
when they're up against
something like, I can't afford
to pay my rent. So I'm here
tonight to ask you to request
that you allocate $500,000 in
an administrative account for
staff that would catapult the
self-sustaining housing model
forward. I think a lot about
our city, not in an abstract
way, but about the actual
people who live here, the
children that are growing up
here, the young people who are
trying to survive, families and
senior citizens. Every
generation inherits a city that
it did not create, and every
generation leaves the city
behind for somebody else. The
question is, what kind of city
will we want to leave? Do we
want to leave a city where
housing is increasingly treated
as a commodity, or where
housing remains a foundation
for community stability and
belonging? I'm going to read
this poem by langston hughes
because I think it's
appropriate. What happens to a
dream deferred? Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun. Or
fester like a sore and then run?
Does it stink like meat
or crust and sugar over like a
syrupy sweet? Maybe it just
sags like a heavy load. And. Or
does it explode by the
indication of the people that
are here tonight? I think it
explodes.
Thank you.
Next. Go
ahead.
Hello, my name is dylan
moore. I live in district nine.
I am a teacher and mps and a
member of the metro national
education association. I lived
in this city for seven years
and that time I've learned that
every year, the workers of this
city have to come here and beg
to get what they need. The cost
of living is rising in
nashville, and the wages of
metro employees is not rising
with it. I'd like to bring
particular attention to the
substitute teachers, custodial
workers and support staff of
mmps. These workers wages still
fall well below a livable wage
for nashville. These are the
workers that make my job as a
teacher possible, and it is
becoming harder and harder for
us to stay in the city we work
in. Budgets are indeed a moral
document and a one person 1.7%.
Cola sends the message that
people that keep this city
running aren't a priority. Is
this the type of city that we
want to build, where the
workers that serve us can even
afford to live here, help build
a city where we can all afford
to live in and increase the
cost of living adjustment to
actually match inflation. Thank
you.
Thank you. Go ahead.
Good
evening, metro council. My name
is john davis. I'm a community
member with stand up nashville,
and I likewise am here to
request that you put $500,000
in an administrative account
for a staff that can that can
head up the self-sustaining
housing model we put forward. I
sometimes wonder what nashville
is going to look like 20 years
from now if we stay on our
current path. Every city
depends on people whose names
never appear in the development
brochures. The nurse working
the overnight shift, the
school's custodian opening the
building before sunrise, the
child care worker, the
restaurant server, the bus
driver, the city employee, the
musician playing a tuesday
night gig. Every day. These
people make nashville function,
but increasingly, many of them
are being asked to live further
and further out from the city
they serve. At some point,
we've got to ask whether this
is sustainable. City can't
thrive indefinitely. If the
people who make it run are
gradually pushed out. The
healthy city creates room for
city for workers to live where
they work, a healthy city
creates stability for the
people whose labor sustains it,
and that's why this proposal
matters. The social housing
model isn't just about creating
units, it's about creating
places where people can remain
rooted in the city they're
helping to build. But I want to
put a face on this housing
crisis. I want to tell you
about three friends of mine,
keith, jimmy, and chris.
They're unhoused people living
in the brush by I-40, all
working, all unable to afford
housing. Chris has been
unhoused for four years and
waiting for an attainable
housing most of that time. Two
years ago, he was hit by a car
while he tried to raise enough
money for a hotel room, his
only viable housing option at
the time. He was in a coma at
vanderbilt for several months.
Today, he walks with a cane,
and he's very grateful to say
he's attained stable housing
after a long wait.
Thank you
very much. Thank. Next. Go
ahead. You're recognized.
Hi,
nancy.
Similarly.
District 23,
there are three of us here
tonight representing the
fountains of musical foundation,
a 501 c three nonprofit, which
includes a multitude of
stakeholders and supporters.
we're here to address the
capital improvement budget and
ultimately the mayor's capital
spending plan. The goal of this
project is to create a safe,
expanded and inspiring public
realm, an important third space
for residents and visitors to
nashville. Fountains of musical
foundation plans to expand the
green space, increase safety
for foot, vehicular and cycle
traffic, and at the same time
create inspiring spaces in
which to rest and appreciate
the creative power of nashville.
The water surrounding the
sculpture musical will soar up
to 60ft in the air with
beautiful, beautifully
choreographed water and
lighting. Two additional
fountains near the circle will
help expand the experience and
public space. Fountains of
musical will transform the area
into a beautiful, welcoming
public space green space that
is sorely lacking in central
nashville, midtown nashville,
nashville in general. It will
provide a gathering place for
locals and visitors while
fostering connections and
community. This bold addition
to music row will serve as a
lasting symbol of nashville's
artistic spirit and reinforce
the city's reputation as a hub
for innovation and culture.
Completing musical with the
addition of the fountains
reflects music, culture,
education, and creativity as
our core identity. It creates
an icon for our city. Finally,
fountains of musical will be a
legacy for those who inherit
this city, and a signal of what
we value as a community beyond
the needs to create a more safe
and livable space. In that
buddy killen circle.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Good evening. My name is john
dotson, district 23. I'm also
here to advocate for fountains
of music and primarily the
surrounding area. We're all
pushing citywide for more
greenways and better
connectivity. And another
example of a public gathering
space will model other
opportunities around nashville.
Buddy killen circle is in the
fountains will be an example of
so many things that are already
going on around nashville. It's
a microcosm of how we can
improve nashvillians
experiences, greenways,
multi-modal transit
connectivity, be mindful how
well we can do all these things
across the entire city. The
success of metro's excuse me,
investment in smith springs
community center, the southeast
community center. Example.
Excellent examples of public
private partnership. When the
city puts a focus on something
like the ford ice centers,
public money follows. Private
money follows. Excuse me. Like
the public plaza surrounding
the fountains of music that are
important in drawing people
together. Destinations are what
make people get up, go and walk
or bike about, and success of
the greenways turns on the
points along the way, and it's
a throughput. Buddy killen
circle and fountains music. It
can ultimately link centennial
park, fort negley, east
nashville and beyond. If it's
happening here in this compact
space, this close to town, it's
urgent to get all of these
pieces fit to fitting together
as quickly as possible, because
the more gathering spaces that
we create, the more livable
city that we have, and it's
better for the health of the
community, the more quickly we
can replicate this across the
city. And finally, as you all
know, fountains really bring an
intrinsic economic benefit to
the city. So with that, thank
you for listening to all of us
tonight. We appreciate it.
Thank you very much. Go ahead.
Welcome. You're recognized.
Hi,
my name is andre choir.
We all
appreciate the work that you
all do on our behalf and the
long hours that you put in,
even well beyond tonight. So
thank you for being here and
paying so much attention. In
the mayor's budget amendment
requests, you have heard the
request for getting the
renovation of buddy killen
circle project underway. The
civic design center and mndot
are supportive of doing this
project and beginning the
community engagement this
summer. Additionally, this is
an opportunity to leverage
metro dollars this 500 $0 for
forcommunity engagement at
buddy killen circle will be a
catalyst for millions of
dollars in private donations to
create the project fountains of
musica, which will be creating
a gorgeous public realm. We all
ask that you include. You join
other council people and
include this item on your wish
list regarding the fountains of
musica. It is in the capital
improvement budget. We support
the crb and appreciate your
support and hope that you will
encourage the mayor to include
it in his capital spending plan
for 2027. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Good evening. My name is joel
cockrell. I'm the PRESIDENT Of
the fraternal order of police
for nashville davidson county,
representing approximately 2000
members of active and retired
law enforcement. I have good
news. I don't need the full two
minutes. The cost to live this
year has increased by
approximately 3.8%. The cost of
our insurance has gone up over
16% for this next year. The
offer for our cost of living
adjustment is 1.7%. That means
the raise is gone before it
arrives. We're asking to match
the cost of living at 3.8% to
avoid falling further behind
the competition. We're asking
to just keep up. Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Hello, my name is
ezra howard. I'm in district 22.
I'm a member of seiu, so I
support the solidarity budget,
particularly on fully funding
general hospital national
general for 7.8 million as they
requested a public option for
health care service providers
in a city is an increasingly
rare gem. It's not just for
tennessee, but for the united
states. So that's something
that should be preserved. But
what I really want to talk
about as well is just the
process that goes along with
the budget. One of the things
that I noted, because I'm in
data analytics, I was looking
at the legislation and
comparing it to fiscal year 26
and 25 from years past, and I
noticed it looks like
everything got an increase. But
in the news and in the mayor's
state of metro address, that it
was being framed as a decrease.
Because when you look in the
budget book, it's higher than
what's legislated. Now in
the pd budget hearing, this was
asked smartly by cm suara, and
the way I understood it from
the budget officer is things
happen throughout the year.
Legislation passes, benefits
get moved over, and that budget
gets rectified and increases.
It is not completely fair, I
think, to compare what happens
in the beginning of fiscal year
27 to what's nearly at the end
of fiscal year 26. It irks me
for data analytics. So I think
the process should be improved.
For one, it should be better
explained where tose increases
come from. Midstream. That
should be explained in the
budget book for people to fully
understand. And two, it's the
year of our lord 2026. Why are
we just putting out pdfs and
not excel files or cfes when
we're talking about a financial
document? That would mean I had
to build a python script to
scrape 400 plus pages of a pdf
when they could just push a
button to export to excel. I
mean, I work for metro, I can
do that with my data. It should
be done with budget. All right.
Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
hi. My name
is shannon. I am the I'm in
district 22 sherry wiener.
Shout out. I also want to
second the excel spreadsheet,
not what I came here for, but
I'm always in favor of that.
What I did want to say, though,
is I am in favor of the funding
for the social housing, the irc
program. I myself am an
attorney in solo practice. I'll%
be honest with y'all, I'm tired
of doing eviction cases, I hate
them, I hate seeing the the
vile situations that my clients
are in. I hate dealing with I'm
sorry, landlords. I'm tired of
it. So if there's anything we
can do to prevent us from
getting that step in the first
place, I am absolutely for it.
And I think that social housing
is a fantastic first step. Is
it sufficient? Absolutely not.
But it is necessary and I think
it's a good first step. So
please consider that a lot of
people have already spoken to
the benefits of of housing in
this neighborhood, and I just
am here to re-emphasize that I
won't go over all the data
again. But just to say, I grew
up in alabama in a white flight
school. I didn't have diversity
in my school, and I didn't
realize how important and
essential it is to being a
holistic human being. Until I
got out into the world and
experienced other people of all
different races, genders,
socioeconomic statuses, and so
housing, I can't emphasize
enough, is not only essential
for keeping people in our city,
but it's also essential in a
selfish way for people like
myself, who need to be able to
live next to other people and
learn from them. And so this
mixed housing is I just I can't
say enough good things about it.
And then, you know, the other
thing that I think we kind of
touched on is that we are
pushing the lifeblood of this
city out of this city, the
people who keep our tourism
industry running. I mean,
nashville's a giant tourism hub.
They are the ones that support
this and keep it going. We're
also pushing out as many, you
know here are from general
hospital, those that, you know,
work in our hospitals. These
are essential people. And when
we push them out, not only have
we, you know, increased their
commuting and childcare costs,
but we've also removed their
voices from this legislative
body right here because they're
no longer your constituents.
They can no longer tell you
what's up. So let's not push
them out.
Thank you. Go ahead
and come forward. You're
recognized.
Good evening. Thank
you for your service. Thank you
for your patience. I don't know
if you know it's getting late.
My name is h g stovall. I live
in the donelson neighborhood.
My council person, MR. Jeff.
Greg, thank you for your
service, friend. Tonight I
represent nashville launch pad.
I also serve on our
homelessness planning council.
I seek tonight for you to
understand the plight of young
adults living in our city and
living on our streets. 18 to 24
we operate the city's only
young adult, focused in the
city's only lgbt friendly shelter straight from
the street. We have also had
the privilege of operating an
interim gap housing program for
a couple of years. That program
has outperformed metro programs
by about 3% on average and
nationwide by 15% on average,
and permanent housing
placements. That's a miracle,
since of the young people
launch pad has served, 88% came
from literal homelessness, 58%
have a history of domestic
violence, assault or human
trafficking. 52% have at least
one mental health diagnosis.
Please invest in protecting
these young adults, of whom 44%
are black or people of color,
and 48% are lgbtq. Plus, on
behalf of these young adults
who have called launch pad home
for 30,000 nights since 2012,
we request only $300,000 to
keep this program open for
another year. Together, let's
give hope, solve youth
homelessness, and reduce the
need for adult services in the
future. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Thank you.
Good evening council.
My name is shakira erica nash.
I live in district 33 and I am
a nashville entertainer and
artist and a local business
owner. I'm standing here
tonight because in all honesty,
I'm just curious if standing at
this microphone even truly
means anything anymore. By that
imean, over the years, I have
watched this entire city
completely change. The historic
law of nashville is fading. The
broader creative ecosystem has
shifted to where the
independent music publishing
industry we once relied on is
practically gone, and all types
of independent artists are
struggling in its place. The
city has been overrun by luxury
hotels and corporate sports
arenas. The real power belongs
to a silent corporate machine,
while the local creators and
independent businesses who
built the city soul are left
begging for crumbs. We were
promised that metro would show
true commitment to its local
creatives, but instead, the
mayor's proposed budget
completely zeroes out funding
for our newly formed nashville
entertainment commission. It
eliminates the $250,000 meant
to build infrastructure for all
independent entertainers and
artists, while broader arts
funding remains flatlined, and
we're asking the city to honor
the commitment to dedicate 1%
of funding to the arts and
entertainment. Corporate
entities get public backing and
resources instantly, but the
actual human beings who keep
the tourism machine running are
treated like an afterthought.
So the mayor's office claims
this cut is due to fiscal
constraints. But we know that
when the major corporations or
sports franchise wants
something from metro, the money
is always found. I'm asking
this council tonight to use its
power to amend the budget to
not allow nashville
entertainment commission to be
starved to death before it even
begins. Restore the funding and
stand by the 1% as promised,
and prove that this council
chamber still belongs to the
people.
Thank you, thank you.
All right. You're recognized.
Hi, my name is lewis terrell.
Normally I come up here and
speak off the cuff, but today
to ask me to write something
down. So. So today I normally
start out with I work for metro
water. Thank you, metro water.
I do notice y'all still
drinking my water. Appreciate
that. But now to the business.
Normally I advocate for metro
water, but today is for metro
nashville general hospital.
General hospital has been a
staple in nashville all my life.
I've had three aunts that work
for general hospital. One aunt
was the first black pediatric
nurse in general hospital when
it was on hermitage avenue. I
don't know if anybody's here
remember it being on hermitage
avenue. That's where it started.
Okay, so now to the biz.
General hospital has been short
changed long enough. When I say
short change, they were
promised something a year ago.
Didn't even get a fourth of it
in JANUARY. Supposed to get it
in JULY. They got it in JANUARY.
No compensation. So what I'm
asking is the council, the
mayor, to not do any back door
deals, but to also give general
hospital what was promised to
them and also compensation.
They've been short changed long
enough.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Hello,
council members. My name is
aaron james and I work at the
donaldson branch library in
district 15. COUNCILMAN Jeff
greggs district. I'm here
tonight before you and I am
very tired, and I'm sure you
are too. I'm here to ask you to
fund the solidarity budget,
which is a 1.7% cost of living
adjustment and a step raises
for general government
employees, plus bringing up the
wages of paraprofessionals and
support staff and mps. And I am
tearing up right now because I
am thinking about people who
feed the children in schools
that I went to, who cannot
afford to live here anymore. I
know one person in our union
who moved out to clarksville.
She drives over an hour to work
every day, and if a specific
exit floods, that has a much
longer commute, sometimes she's
late to work. I'm thinking of
people like MISS Honey, who
came in here and begged for
more money. Not for herself,
but for for people who work for
general national general
hospital. Last year, I was
brought to tears by a father, a
nurse on our city's payroll,
begging the council for more
money for nashville general
because they were running out
of gloves for gunshot victims.
And I hope that makes you feel
something, because that's our
town's name. That is my town. I
was born here. That's my town's
name on a hospital, and they
don't have gloves. He has a
daughter of his own to raise,
and he needs money to do that.
And they didn't get that money
like MR. Terrell just mentioned.
They didn't get that raise.
They were promised by our
government. That's y'all.
That's me that I am a part of
this government. They didn't
get that money in JULY like
they were promised. They didn't
get it until JANUARY. So I'm
asking you for money for step
raises and 1.7% 1.7% cola for
national metro general
government employees to make to
match the the minimum for metro
support staff and to give
national, metro and general
government hospitals what they
deserve. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. Come forward please.
Hi there. My name is madeline
and I'm a resident of district
20. I'm a member of nashville
people's budget coalition, and
I work as a mental health
professional here in nashville,
tennessee. And I am using my
time to talk about what's on my
budget wish list, which
consists of $9 million
allocated allocated to a
revolving loan fund for social
housing and 500 $500,000 to
social housing staff. Because
in my opinion, that is mental
health care. I went to graduate
school and learned countless
theories of development and
perspectives on diagnosing
people. But as I've come to see
it, the first mental health
intervention should be access
to consistent and affordable
housing. It's not uncommon for
people to forego medical
treatment or skip grocery runs
in order to make rent. This
stress is not sustainable, and
it's certainly not conducive to
the positive mental health that
you claim to want for this city.
You could diagnose these people
with anxiety or depression or
pathologize their anger, but
maybe this is an honest
reaction to not knowing if you
will have a comfortable, safe
place to put your head down at
night. We are not short on
studies demonstrating that
housing reduces rates of
violent crime and increases
mental health, and I think we
can all agree that we deserve
safe places to live. If we
really are worried about the
mental health crisis, we need
to first make sure that
everyone's most basic needs are
met. The mayor says he wants us
to stay, but the majority of us
can only afford to leave.
Access to housing is mental
health care. It's harm
reduction and it's safety
planning. This $9 million
towards the revolving loan fund
and the $500,000 towards social
housing staff would be mental
health care. If you'd like my
vote and the vote of many other
nashville constituents here
tonight, I suggest that the
council members at large and
mayor freddy, please listen
when we speak because the
status quo is not working, and
we'd like to work with you to
try something new. We are on
the same team. Thank you for
your time.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Hello, I'm.
Kyle cook. I live in district
24 in the district. I work in
district 19. Jacob cooper
representing. I'm a member of
seiu local 205. I'm the chief
steward of the metro nashville
government chapter. In 2001,
when nashville built a new main
library, they also built five
other branch libraries. They
built a first art museum. They
built a a country music hall of
fame, and they brought in
dozens of new workers like me.
I'm not from here. I'm from
upstate new york. I was just
blown away by a city that was
doing all this. And I was so
blessed by you to have a good
job, a good pay with benefits
like health insurance, and I
had to pay that. I could afford
to make rent. And mostly I was
blown away because nashville is
such a friendly city that you
welcome me out of state people,
newcomers. And you offered me
all these things and you
offered these cost of living
adjustments every year so I
could keep up with inflation.
And it made it a very livable
place to live and work. And now
I'm a nashvillian just like you.
And nashville is still
welcoming people from out of
state and out of the country.
And I hope we will offer the
same welcome to help me build a
life here to all of my fellow
union members and new employees
who I see every couple of weeks
that come in, and I want them
to have the same opportunity I
had. So I want you to support
the mayor's cost of living
adjustment at 1.7%, include my
union family at public schools,
and give them some paid time
off when the schools are closed,
when they've been left out of
some earlier budgets. And I
just want you to be generous to
them.
Thank you. Go ahead. Come
on. Forward.
Good evening. I'm
nicole and I live in district
17 who loves to swim. Anybody
in this room loves to swim.
Okay. Hands raised. I learned
to swim at the napier community
center pool. And last year,
terry and I, with the support
of unicycle and other
nashvillians, collected
swimwear for my neighbors. And
I mentioned that because last
week I took some of my
neighbors to the pool. We just
walked right over and there
were about 50 people in the
pool, and the pool was
renovated five years ago. And
then council member, council
member freddy and doctor
lawless. And some folks said,
we don't want this pool closed.
When I was there at the
community center last week,
most of the students came when
the. When the pool opened for
evening engagement and that was
at 2:00. Prior to that,
was not much engagement. And so
I am asking, and I know alicia
and some others have said this
before in the past. Napier
community center needs to be
funded, y'all. Right now the
pool is just the only
engagement, which is great, but
it needs to be funded. So I
just want to put that out there
quickly. Also, the tennessee
justice center no. Last year
got some funding. Funding.
Tennessee justice center is the
only organization that is
advocating for people who lose
health care and need snap
assistance. And I tell you, my
neighbors, the neighbor
community and all over
nashville go there, but
particularly neighbor community
walk there as well. Of course,
housing support and sons. I
wouldn't want you to stay
investment. I see firsthand
just how many of my neighbors
just need housing assistance.
And eviction is facing many of
them. So please, please
prioritize those. Thank you all
for all the work that you do.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Hi. Thank you for
your time. My name is taylor. I
work in the music industry and
I'm a community member here
with stand up nashville.
Tonight I tonight I'm here to
request that you put $500,000
in an admin account for staff
that will catapult the
self-sustaining housing model
forward. Lately, one image that
jkeeps coming to mind when I
think about housing in
nashville is a moving truck. I
graduated from belmont in 2020,
and I've watched a lot of
people leave this city since
then. With every person leaving,
nashville is feeling less and
less like the city I fell in
love with. I can't see a long
term future here because of our
affordability crisis. I've
personally had to relocate
within the city multiple times
as rent prices are increasing,
and it's deeply concerning and
saddening to know that I'm
actually part of a privileged
minority. More and more people
are leaving simply because they
can't afford to stay here. They
have to leave a place that
still feels like home. And
every time nashville loses
something not just a resident,
but a relationship, a story, a
piece of community. And our
community is what makes our
city so special. The housing
crisis is often discussed in
statistics. We talk about
prices, units, and percentages,
but every behind every
statistic is a person trying to
hold on to a life they've built.
That's why I support stand up
nashville's budget request,
because I believe nashville
should be a place where people
can imagine a future, and I
believe this is achievable. But
we need you to make a small but
important investment in this
moment. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Hi,
I'm kay.
Bowers and I live in
district 25 with jeff. Thank
you jeff. It's a challenge to.
Find words to speak to you
tonight that have not already
been spoken. We know that
housing affordability is the
number one concern. According
to the latest poll by
vanderbilt. And at the same
time that we have this housing
affordability crisis, we have
thousands of vacant luxury
housing units. Yet the high
rent levels remain. That's the
picture that we're facing.
Housing instability causes
tremendous stress. You've heard
the stories on our fellow
neighbors, and it spills over
into our communities. The
community youth safety plan
shows that housing instability
is a top concern of our youth.
Quality. Stable and affordable
housing is a key component of
making our community safe.
Affordable homeownership
opportunities make for
neighbors who are invested in
their neighborhoods. Yet with
our absence of the private
market, the handful of
nonprofits doing this work need
our public investment. We need
$30 million invested into the
barns housing trust fund, as
our housing plan calls for. At
the same time, let's catch up
with other cities. Let's follow
their lead, their example, and
stand up, a housing model that
provides housing for a variety
of incomes is financially
sustainable, that is
permanently affordable and
provides for public ownership.
And that means you don't have
to pay shareholders or
investments out of your profits.
These models can work. They're
being done. I ask for you to
get behind them.
Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
My name is shamika
kimbrough and I work at
nashville general hospital at
metro center. Today I came as
this is my first time coming
and I didn't I wasn't aware
that you could speak during
this conference. So today,
health care is a cornerstone of
a thriving community. Nashville
general hospital serves many of
our city's most vulnerable
residents, including uninsured,
underserved, and
underprivileged population. Our
providers, nurses, technicians,
and support staff work
tirelessly every day to ensure
that all patient care have
access to quality health care,
regardless of their ability to
pay due. However, the cost of
living continues to rise.
Employees our insurance
premiums have gone up, dental
insurance doubled, vision
insurance tripled. So today, to
increase, the health care
workers pay, I mean force
growing demands and challenges.
despite being part of a metro
nashville public service system,
nashville general hospital
employees do not receive the
same level of benefits and
compensation growth that many
other metro employees receives,
including teachers, police
officers and firefighters,
education, public safety and
health care are all essential
public services. Healthy
students learn better, healthy
families build stronger
communities. Healthy workers
contribute to a stronger
economic trade. Investment in
health care, as in an
investment in nashville's
future. We are not asking for
special treatment. We are
asking for equitable treatment.
Nashville general hospital
employees deserve compensation
and better benefits that that
reflects the value of their
work and align with their
support. Support provided to
other metro agencies. Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Hi, my name is zach
jenkins. I am a in. District 21.
I'm an educator, which is
probably why my energy is so
low right now, because I've
been dealing with kids all day.
But with that being said, I'm
going to be real quick. So I
come here today to say that I
stand in solidarity with seiu.
Many a all the nashville
general hospital employees and
every single educator, nurse
and support staff worker who
keeps our schools and hospitals
running. I'm a specifically
speak on schools today. Our
schools are the heart of this
community, but it's the people
inside them who keep the heart
beating. When we talk about the
budget,we're talking about our
values, and we cannot claim to
value education if we don't
fully value our educators. That
means ensuring that cost of
living adjustments keep pace
with the soaring cost of living
here in nashville right now, a
raise that doesn't match
inflation is not a raise at all.
It's actually a pay cut, truth
be told. Furthermore, we must
also protect and honor our step
raises for mps and nashville
general employees, step raises
aren't a bonus or luxury. Truth
be told, they are a fundamental
promise. They honor, experience,
dedication, and years of
service to our teachers and to
the people who visit our
hospitals every single day. So
we protect cost of living
adjustments and step raises.
We're not just supporting
teachers. We're not just
supporting metro general,
nashville general employees.
We're investing in the
stability of our classrooms and
our hospitals. We're investing
in the future of our students.
We're investing in the future
of people who need health care.
So finally, last thing I want
to say is to the nashville
general workers, to the nurses,
to mpamnea to the sei. You
support staff, workers in our
school, exceptional educators
and every educator. We see you,
I see you, we thank you. And I
stand with you. Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized. Thank you.
Good
evening, council members, and
thank you for the opportunity
to speak tonight. My name is
rosemary henkel rieger. I live
in district 34. I'm the
co-director of the southeast
center for cooperative
development. And together with
some local partners, we are
converting a 60 unit complex
into nashville's first limited
equity housing cooperative. And
this was only possible with a
$7 million commitment from the
barnes fund. And thank you
again for that support. This
barnes fund support will turn
renters into owners. Residents
will sit on the board and
control their own housing costs
and shape their own policies.
They are building modest, what
we call pocket wealth. And
because we are pairing the
cooperative with the community
land trust, that affordability
will never expire. There is no
covenant that lapses once the
mortgage is paid off. There are
no re subsidizing the same
units. The land comes off the
speculative market permanently.
That is what the barnes fund is
making possible. And it is why
I'm asking you to go further
than the mayor's proposal. We
are grateful for the largest
ever general fund allocation of
22 million. But metro's own
unified housing strategy calls
for a minimum of 30 million a
year. So we're not asking for
somethingnew. We are asking
you to fully fund the barnes
fund to the $30 million level
that your own strategy says
nashville needs. We stand with
our friends, many who have
spoken tonight from noaa, stand
up nashville, the southern
movement committee, and the
nashville people's coalition,
and our neighbors who are
working to create social
housing. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Good evening, metro council. My
name is jessica davis. I am.
The co-owner.
Of bridging the
gap learning center, founder of
the chris foundation and
founder of the bridge network.
The bridge network is a
statewide organization
supporting home based child
care providers. I'm speaking
tonight as a provider, an
advocate, and someone who has
spent more than two decades
serving nashville
children and families. I want
to be clear nashville does not
simply have a child care
affordability crisis. We have a
child care access crisis.
Families cannot afford care
because there is not enough
care. Last year, I made the
decision to create more child
care opportunities for families
by opening bridging the gap
learning center. We were invest.
I was investing in my community.
What followed was a maze of
barriers, fees, approvals,
inspections, zoning
requirements and delays that
many small providers simply
cannot survive. The reality is
that every time a child care
provider gives up, closes their
doors, or decides not to expand,
families lose access, children
lose opportunities, parents
lose options, and our workforce
loses workers. The reason
bridging the gap center exists
today is because of
organizations like the equity
alliance, who stepped up and
believed that child care
matters. The equity alliance
stood by me as I navigated
barriers that often keep small
providers from opening doors.
But the truth is, families and
providers should not have to
rely on luck, connections or
extraordinary persistence just
to access or create child care.
The stories are heartbreaking
and predictable. Parents are
working multiple jobs and still
can't afford care. It is the
infrastructure that allows
parents to work, businesses to
operate and children to thrive.
If we are serious about
economic development, workforce
participation, family stability,
we have to be serious about
child care.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Hello,
everyone.
Good evening. Hope
you are having a good night so
far. Thank you, by the way, for
bearing with us in this meager
form of democratic
representation. I know it's a
long night. I'm zach, I'm a
member of the democratic
socialists of america here in
middle tennessee. And I just to you about
some preventative care that
maybe we can do for our city.
I'm a big fan of preventative
practices. It's important to
learn from your mistakes and
prepare for what's going to
come next. We all know about
winter storm fern knocked out
power to nearly 230,000
nashvillians. Thousands were
without electricity for nearly
weeks. The total damage is
estimated at $140 million. The
budget increase proposed by the
mayor does raise funding for
the office of emergency
management, but most of that
goes to warning sirens and
response positions, not
prevention. For the next
disaster, we need to be
proactive in investing in
sustainable stormwater runoffs,
hardened power infrastructure
and,most consequentially,
dedicated funding to protect
our most vulnerable
neighborhoods. These types of
investments pay for themselves
tenfold, both in cost reduction,
for dsaster relief and in the
lives that they save. Climate
resilience is not a luxury.
It's life or death for the
working people in this city.
Preventing the next disaster
requires a comprehensive
program. Preparing for and
preparing and planning for
future needs to be the highest
priorities. That means going
beyond disaster prep, solving
issues at the root, creating
better infrastructure, social
housing, community centered and
led programs. All of these
things contribute to building a
resilient city. All of these
things have been talked about
by the number of people who
have spoken before. The people
of this city need to know that
their lives are prioritized by
the city. Every time you vote,
I want you to ask yourself, how
does this center the people of
nashville? How does this the land of tennessee?
Is there a way to make this
program sustainable, equitable,
and natural for the environment?
Nashville can be a model for a
new future, and it can be a
better future.
Thank you.
go
ahead. You're recognized. Go
ahead and come on up.
Hello,
council. My name is ariel fears,
and I am a resident of the 16th
district for 12 years, and I'm
a member of the national
people's budget coalition. I'm
here tonight to urge you to
fully fund our housing and
safety for all plan, which
includes the 500,000 for
staffing that you've been
hearing about from so many
people. Tonight, I am raising
my family here, and since we've
been here, many of our friends
have had to move away just due
to the impossible housing
situation and due to safety
concerns for them or their
children. And that's lonely.
And it's an unrecognizable
place in many ways. And it's
getting harder and harder to
stay here, not only because, of
course, we're financially someone mentioned
before, my family sure as hell
can't afford child care. My
partner and I just trade our
children off like this to each
other all the time, which
limits how much we can work
anyway. I stay because I'm
stubborn and because of people
like this behind me, and
because I can hang on a little
bit longer. But it's
increasingly hard to do that
without extreme dissatisfaction
at the fact that our city is
funding punishment more than it
funds prevention. And I don't
care what anyone says. I care
about what we're actually
funding. Okay, we are watching
that. You've heard people say,
we want co-governance I cosign
that you've heard lots of
things tonight. And as someone
who works in healthcare myself,
but in private practice, it's
abhorrent to me that our
government, health care workers
have to come up here and plead
every year just to have some
kind of reasonable pay. I it's
insulting to me. It must be
insulting to you to have to
operate in that kind of system.
We have to find a way to do
better. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead. Come on. Forward.
You're recognized.
How y'all
doing? My name is trevor gwin.
I am I live in district 32. A
little bit of a confession.
This is my first public hearing.
So kind of sat back and
observed as I listened to
everyone tell their stories,
I'm here on behalf of
nashville's people budget
coalition, to ask that you
fully fund the housing and
safety plan for all that's and
hold $25 million budget. As
with $500,000 for social
housing staff, 9 million for
social housing revolving loan
fund, 13 million for community
safety fund, 2 million for the
reach non-police mental health
program. So a bit off the cuff
for me as I listen to each and
every one of the citizens come
up and talk about their issues,
they seem to all be rooted in
the same thing of affordability,
of living in this city and not.
I've been in antioch for since
2014. And like my constituents,
I'm going to echo her saying as
well, it's hard building a
community here with people you
love, working class people that
are working hard to make this
city run and be a nice place to
live. But it's sad hearing that
they have to leave because they
cannot afford the city that
they are living in. It's
frustrating. I have two little
boys now and I'm trying to look
for a new place to stay, and
with the the rise in the rise,
in the pricing of homes, it
always seems like, well, I just
can't afford to be here. The
next place that I go, I'm
asking that you please, please
fund this social housing
program. Thank you.
Thank you.
Go ahead and come on forward.
Good evening, council members.
Thank you so much for your time
and attention today. My name is
malik with a c. I just moved
from COUNCILMAN District into
COUNCILMAN Capps district with
my fiance about two weekends
ago in east nashville. So
waiting on my government issued
trucker hat, which is east
nashville uniform. On behalf of
the nashville area chamber, I
want to add to the chorus of
voices speaking in support of
housing advocacy, the 2000
businesses we represent, and
the tens of thousands of
employers we know in nashville
that housing is one of the
biggest challenges we're facing.
Last year, the average down
payment for a house was over
$50,000. We now know that the
majority of nashville's public
workers can't afford to live in
the city, and the majority of
working class nashvillians
can't afford to buy a house
inside of the city. One thing I
want to say, though, is as a
public policy professional,
like each of you, we know that
we're trying to pay for this
budget by rubbing two nickels
together. The city doesn't have
that much money, but we know
that other cities are able to
do these innovative financing
models. Our neighbors in austin
were able to pass $350 million
in voter referendum, passed
bond financing. Our neighbors
in charlotte wereable to do
250 million for similar things.
But we know that the $69
million in the housing budget
today is a foundation of how we
do this in the future. So my
request for each of you is that
we've heard some pretty
incredible things from all of
our neighbors from all over
nashville. They're each
incredibly important. My
request is to make it additive
and not remove anything from
the current housing budget,
because any dollar removed from
the $69 million we have right
now is just going to make it
harder to build affordable
housing in the future. Thank
you for all of your time.
Thank
you.
Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Hello, everyone. My
name is anton christiansen
galena, and I'm on the
commission that oversees the
barnes fund. And I live in
terry falls district. So today,
the most effective tool that
the city has to meet the
affordable affordability crisis
is the barnes fund. Last year,
with $35 million, the barnes
fund backed the construction of
nearly 800 homes and attracted
$274 million of outside
investment. So here's how it
all works. The barnes fund
gives nonprofits money to build
houses. The nonprofits bring
their proposals to a commission,
which then grades projects and
decides whether or not they'd
be a good use of our city's
money. Last year, we were only
able to fund half of the
projects that nonprofits
brought to us, and we said no
to a lot of projects that I
wish we'd been able to build,
but what we have been able to
build has been spectacular. The
magic of the barnes fund is the
creativity of the nonprofits.
They bring us projects that
couldn't get done in other
cities. We've supported
projects like homes built on
church land. We funded a
beautiful house on a flower
farm for expectant mothers. We
funded a project that
refurbished an old motel to
give teens who age out of
orphanages a place to call home.
Instead of being left to the
streets. Across the country,
people have been calling our
housing office in nashville to
ask about the barnes fund. Why?
Because we've successfully
built a tool that helps
nonprofits build homes for
people. We built policies and
procedures that ensure those
homes are built to high
environmental accessibility and
-
building standards. We built
thousands of good homes for
thousands of families. As a
city, we should be proud of the
barnes fund. I am, and
nashville needs it fully funded.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Vice mayor and
council. My name, melvin james.
I'm from murray county. I'll be
61st JULY, third of next month.
I met this coalition two weeks
ago knocking on my door about
the housing thing. I can be
pointed at whatever. GOD has
been good to me. I raised one
kid. He's 42. He's
nissan. I'm divorced as of 2008.
I have bounced around from
murray county, columbia,
tennessee housing here, white
bluff, white county. It's all
about the money. I made a
mistake of messing with chicks
in 99, so I really don't have
no power to vote. I voiced my
opinion. I can't get my voting
rights back, but I'm not
switching over to the maga and
all that to get it. Say all
that. Help the people that need
help. I mean, I'm making it. By
the grace of GOD, I got
assistance even being a felon,
I got assistance. The street I
live on, whites, whites, creek,
pike, we don't even have a bus
thing now. Somebody hit it. So
we got to stand out in the rain.
Sidewalk from trinity ane to
hanes garden, where I live at.
Barely got a sidewalk to walk
on. That's enough for I cry.
Thank you for coming out. Thank
you. Go ahead. You're
recognized. Come on up.
Good
evening council.
My name is
andrea pemberton and I'm in
district 21. I'm here with
stand up nashville and with
nashville people's I'm
here tonight to ask for two
things. One is to invest in
social housing, including 9
million for social housing,
revolving loan fund and 500,000
for dedicated social housing
staff. I'm also here to ask
tonight for council to create
more opportunities for
meaningful public engagement in
the budget process. Political
strategist james carville once
famously said, it's the economy,
stupid. But tonight, resident
after resident has stepped up
to make a similar statement
painfully clear here it's
housing dummies. Housing is at
the center of so many of the
issues our city is trying to
address. Housing often
determines whether someone can
keep a job, recover from an
illness, injury or addiction,
escape domestic violence,
complete their education, start
or expand their family or age
with dignity. Housing is health
care. It's economic development.
It's public safety, and it's
educational opportunity.
Without access to safe, secure,
quality, affordable housing,
every other problem becomes so
much harder to solve. Housing
MAY not be every individual's
personal issue right now, but
it is our city's largest
collective problem,and it's
only going to get worse if we
don't address it. That's why
I'm asking tonight for you to
invest in social housing and
investment in social housing
demonstrates that nashville has
the political curage to try
new, innovative approaches to a
problem that is growing faster
than our existing solutions can
address. Secondly, the line of
residents waiting to speak
tonight makes one thing clear
people want a meaningful voice
in how public dollars are spent.
If this many nashillians are
taking time to come here and
weigh in on the budget, we need
a process that gives them more
than two minutes at the
microphone. I'm also asking for
council to expand opportunities
for residents to participate in
the budgetary process. On the
front end, we can require
departments to hold public
budget workshops before
submitting. Requests to
mayor. Require public responses
explaining how community
recommendations are addressed,
and bring back participatory
budgeting programs where
residents can propose projects,
departments can review for
feasibility, and the public can
vote on final investments.
Thank you. You.
Go ahead.
Now come on up just right after
the next person. Come on up.
Don't wait for the collapse,
which should not be happening,
but keep on coming. You're.
You're good. Go.
Hello. My name
is megan. I live in district
five. One of my favorite things
about living in nashville is
the community mindedness of its
residents. I feel really proud
to be a part of, and I'm
inspired by the group of people
here. I'm here to support the funding of $500,000
to an administrative account
for staff that will facilitate
permanently affordable housing,
treating homeownership as an
investment rather than an
expense. These returns in the
form of residents who are
deeply connected to their city
and its long term well-being.
Like the people you've heard
from tonight, they know
nashville the best because they
are the best of nashville. It
might seem that on the whole,
some of the budget requests
being made are in competition
with one another. That funding
one and two could mean three
and four won't be funded. I
want to point out that these
requests are all being made by
residents showing up and
speaking up for their home and
their neighbors, arranging work
schedules, child care,
transportation preparation,
research, and committing to
speaking to their
representatives directly. It's
an amazing thing, and I want to
take notice of which which
interests are not here tonight.
And let that speak for itself.
I strongly urge you to invest
in social housing for the
residents who have already
invested so much in nashville.
Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
I'm mason
caples once again. Before you,
I've done work with the equity
alliance, also stand up
nashville and most notably seiu.
Speaker, today I'm just going
to give you what I've been
experiencing in the past year.
In NOVEMBER, sheriff nikki
taylor, she was touted for
stopping and helping an
individual who needed help on
the side of the road. He was
incapacitated. There's also
corporal marvin ramsey. He's
another sheriff who was
recognized in FEBRUARY because
he. During those storms, he
offered his room to an
individual, an elderly couple
who couldn't stay at the hotel
because they were full. These
are stories about nashville
caring about nashville. We're
asking you to care about
nashville as much as we do. The
people who live here, who work
here, not just the nurses
against or the health care
workers against the students,
against the doctors. We all are
asking for funding. And in the
fundamental I went and said,
and our students are at the
highest level in davidson
county. They're peaking at the
top level of history. They're
doing the best. Our students
have grammy, tony awards. Why
are you not funding teachers?
They're the individuals who's
teaching these kids to be this
great. It's all it's up to all
of us to keep us going. Housing
is a fundamental right. That's
how I feel. There is no reason
that bill barnes funding should
ever be reducted from reduced.
These are the things I'm a
beneficiary of, bill barnes.
These things are things that
other individuals said and said,
this is important. I know you
all will do the right thing.
Keep doing it. Please do
something about the minimum
wage. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Go ahead and come on
board.
I'm angus, but you all
know that this is my favorite
meeting of the year because
y'all don't get paid by the
hour. I'm tired. I don't want
to be here. But once again, all
of these neighbors inspired me
to come down and speak truth to
power. I've listened to lots of
folks tonight mention
unfulfilled promises. We do
this every year because you
continue to fail. The people
who call nashville home. It's
pride month, and one of my
closest friends, a trans woman,
felt she had no choice but to
flee nashville days ago because
it is no longer city where
she could feel safe, not
because she didn't have a
robust community of support,
but because elected officials
don't have the courage to make
bold decisions. The mayor
wanted us to stay. And yet,
every daythe city feels like a
less like a place anyone would
want to call home if they could
even afford it. I'm sick of
begging for scraps. I'm sick of
catering to tourists and
downtown bar owners. I'm sick
of having to annually ask you
to even attempt to meet the
basic needs of your
constituents. We do not want
surveillance. We do not want
police drones. We do not
believe that cops keep us safe.
We do. We do not want expanded
business partnerships. We have
pretty humble requests for safe
streets, affordable housing,
accessible green space, fully
funded schools, public transit
accessibility, a robust library
that doesn't have to close
because special interests blew
up an adjacent garage. All we
want is for you to serve the
people of nashville to
prioritize the most basic needs
of our neighbors. I never
thought I would do this, but
I'm going to quote lamar
freaking alexander from a
recent local podcast appearance.
My advice would be to use your
word focus on the soul of
nashville, on the music, on the
parks, on the people, on the
schools. Focus on those things.
Thank you. Go ahead and come on
up. You're recognized.
I'm
jessica, I live in district
seven. Emily is my council
person. Is she here? That's a
bummer. I don't know how I'm
supposed to follow angus. He
kind of said it all. I would
like to specifically ask that
you fully fund the nashville
people's budget coalition's.
You know, the plan, everything.
Everybody's already said it
tonight. I'm going to make it
quick. Don't give public money
to people like the music
foundation, fountain party,
whatever. I mean, a fountain
would be cool. Ellen maguire,
arguably like a national
treasure. But I mean, virgin
hotels could sneeze $50,000.
You know what I mean? Like,
it's. That's insane. People are
begging for their lives and
livelihoods. So yeah, that was
quick.
Thank you. Next. Go
ahead. You recognized.
Hello,
my name is philip kinzer and I
live in district 24. I've lived
in nashville for almost 29
years, but my roots go back way
further than that. My family's
been here for several
generations. I'm here tonight
because I believe in the
nashville people's budget
coalition's housing and safety
for all plan. And the time that
I've been here, nashville has
become a city where workers
struggle to afford rent, let
alone to buy a home in the city
where the median housing
outpaces the median income.
There's been very little done
to balance that. Like many of
my peers, I've been applying
for jobs in other cities,
hoping to leave and find a
place where my income is more
suited to living. I want to
make nashville a place where
the people who work here can
live. My concerns are not just
for my life, but for those
around me. I don't want just
want a city safe for myself,
but for the strangers that I
pass on the street. I want to
live in a city where everyone
feels valued. I believe that
the value is expressed in many
ways, but the way we spend our
money is the most obvious one.
We need to be investing in long
term housing solutions to give
people safe and dignified
places to live. I believe the
people's budget coalition plan
is a strong first step in
showing nashville citizens, you
actually want us to stay here.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Hello.
My name is
nevo polanski. I'm a resident
of district five, and I'm a
member of the national people's
coalition. I'd like to use my
time to uplift our
organization's safety and
housing for all plan.
Specifically, the importance of
funding requested to hire staff,
administrative service fees,
fees dedicated to furthering
social housing in nashville,
and funding for revolving loan
fund used to finance social
housing development. I believe
that a budget is both a
reflection of a community's
values and a roadmap to address
existing problems. We all know
that access to affordable
housing is a problem in
nashville. Similarly, I feel
confident in saying that
everyone wants to feel safe in
their community. We're looking
for creative solutions to
improve community safety. One
solution nashville is working
towards is creating 750 new
beds in the form of a jail,
which MAY cost up to $410
million, separating people from
their communities after harm
has already happened. I bring
up the jail because the amount
of money our organization is
asking for just under $10
million for new, permanently
affordable housing pales in
comparison to the money we are
ready to dedicate to that new
jail. Social housing offers an
alternative that I would like
to believe is more in line with
our values as a community.
Additionally, as my peer
madeline noted, research shows
that providing affordable
housing reduces crime,
especially violent crime. When
we have the option to make our
communities more safe by
addressing crime before it
happens, I think we should take
that option. I would rather
live ina community that values
providing support to our
neighbors in need, instead of
punishing people after they
cause harm. I would rather live
in a community that focuses on
proactive solutions to
community safety instead of
reactive punishments. I'd
rather live in a community
where everyone has a home. This
budget is an opportunity to
affirm the values that drive
our community and decide what
solutions we will prioritize to
address the problems that face
us. Please support the social thank you for
your time.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Hey,
everyone. Good evening. Good
night. Whatever it is, I don't
even know if it's the next day
yet.
We got two more hours till
that.
So I was getting I was
getting a little worried there.
My name is kenneth hamby. I
work as a specialty pharmacy
liaison in nashville general.
I'm also a very proud member of
district three. Thank you,
councilmember gamble, for
everything that you continue to
do for us and all of you. I
mean, this is this is an insane
thing to go through. This is my
first one, and I cannot imagine
doing this as a part time gig.
That's incredible. So as I said,
I work at nashville general, so
that's what I'm here to talk
about. I've been with nashville
general for a year now, but
I've been a player in the
national health care game much
longer. Even in my short time
in nashville general, I quickly
learned how important this
hospital is to the people of
nashville. I work closely with
patients who often need
assistance accessing specialty
medications, treatment
coordination, and health care
support they MAY not otherwise
receive. Many of our patients
are already dealing with
serious, complex medical
conditions while also facing
financial hardships. Housing
national general helps ensure
that they are not forgotten.
Not to mention, we are one of
the only health care institutes
in all of nashville that even
accepts a medicaid patient,
which is insane to. The
hospital is a obviously a
crucial part of our city. This
year, the majority of metro
workers across many different
departments, which thank all of
them. I mean, that's the show
of support, is amazing across
all the departments have
foregone a lot of their funding
requests to make sure that we
are compensated fairly for the
things that we've done for
years without, you know,
getting that. So shout out to
them. They've really made us a
priority. And I hope one day we
can return the same favor. The
reality is health care costs
continue to rise every single
year. Medication costs rise,
operating costs rise, patient
needs continue to grow. Yet
nashville general continues to budget season just
to secure necessary funding,
let alone a cost of living
raise. We. I will say we also
contend with much less
important issues. Quite frankly,
I chose to go last as national
general often does, so I hope
that that's taken into account.
Thanks.
Thank you. Go ahead and
come on forward. You're
recognized.
Okay. Hi, I'm.
Lilia, I'm from.
District 20.
Been here since 2013. Family
came up here from south georgia
and I recently became an
independent renter. Shout out
nashville general and mnps my
mom was a public school teacher
in williamson county, so I get
it. And I am also here
expressing that I would love
for you to fund the full
nashville people's budget
coalition. Housing and safety
plan for all. That's a mouthful.
And while I have not faced
housing insecurity myself,
except for recently became this
renter. And you know what? I'm
feeling it already. I am
familiar with the cycles of
violence and how the two are
often very connected. I've had
friends recently who have had
to stay in unsafe housing
situations because of violence,
neighbors as well. And thinking
about the super bowl coming up
and the fact that people are
living on the streets, which is
no place to live. I don't want
to be like the example of
atlanta, where people are
sweeping up homeless people
from the street. There's a lot
of people that, you know, are
willing to help with this. And
I think the alternative of
social housing in lieu of
affordable housing is that
affordable housing is subject
to market fluctuations. So
social housing would be more
permanently affordable. And I
think if you also look like me
and family or generations
have benefited from land owning
in the south, now is the time
to start turning the tides. And
if you vote against that, then
I'm not saying anything. But,
you know, there might be
something after, you know, you
perish into the afterlife. I
don't want to say anything, but,
you know, do the right thing.
yeah.
Thank you. Go ahead. Come
on. Forward. You're recognized.
Go ahead.
Hi. My name is trina,
and I live in district six. Let
us get real. About what we need.
A people's retainer of jigsaw.
Sam reed. Get the people listed
as a billable client. So on
this one night a year, reliant. Sam works for
the titans and for the ndp
whose private police could
replace him in pd, at least the
central precinct. We could sell
it for parts, convert it to
apartments or studios for the
arts. Maybe sam could convince
y'all to invest in the grid or
to hide power lines like the
unhoused y'all did. Maybe we
could get sam to restore our
power. If only we could afford
jigsaw's billable hour. Instead
of wondering why freddie's
staff wears jigsaw swag, let's
get us on his roster and get
sam read his bag. Until we do,
we should refuse all taxation
when sam's the only one here
with real representation, the
satire is over. But our housing
crisis crisis isn't. Instead of
answering any. Ask from mmpd
the least trusted department in
the city which keeps bypassing
the peopl's will and this
council's authority to deploy
corporate surveillance
technology like fuzes and
illegal drones. I'm asking you
to fund what the people
actually need a permanent
eviction diversion court,
permanently affordable social
housing at least 1% of the
budget dedicated to local arts,
with half of that going
directly to individual artists,
fully fund the varsity spending
plan and find the missing 8
million for the barnes housing
trust fund. And lastly, fund
the solidarity budget and make
nashville general hole
nashville boycott eighth and
roast. Thank you.
All right.
Next you're recognized.
Hi, my
name is claire hennigan. I am a
community organizer.
With noaa
living in district five.
Although I am going to have to
move soon because nashville is
in a crisis. The people who
keep the city running are being
priced further and further out
of it. I'm sure many of you
sitting in front of me are
feeling this. Your neighbors
are changing, workers are
disappearing, and homes in your
district, maybe even your own,
are affordable anymore. We have
a chance to build a better
nashville. The unified housing
strategy is extremely clear. It
states, as nashville's most
significant and flexible source
of affordable sets of
local affordable housing
subsidy, the barnes fund often
plays a pivotal role in the
funding process of affordable
housing by contributing the
first grant funds to a capital
stack. Now, that was a mouthful,
and I hope I'm not alone,
saying I barely understood that
when I first read it. But then
I listened to developers like
nelson community partners,
first horizon bank and clark
memorial united methodist
church, even who have used
barnes funds exactly that way
to open a door to more money,
or really to open doors and
windows and skylights and
whatever else, because every
dollar we get from we put into
the barnes fund yields nine
more elsewhere. This is why $30
million is so important. When
we invest in barnes, people
invest in nashville. The us is
not a multiple choice quiz.
Noah stands strong with our
allies and the people's budget
and stand up nashville. When we
say this, your cost burden
constituents don't deserve to
be treated with scarcity
thinking. Not when downtown
just received almost $15
million in a state grant. Not
when we've been sounding the
alarm for decades, and
definitely not when we have a
super bowl coming to town. Just
four years. 65% of households%
in nashville do not earn enough
to buy a house, and over 50% of
us are spending too much on
rent. As my friend kenneth
patterson would say, these are
not statistics. These are
warnings. Our educators, police
officers, firefighters, city
council staffers can't afford
to stay here. To our cities,
employees want more tanks and
cameras or real opportunities
to actually own a home in the
city that they serve. Please
fund the entire unified housing
strategy and put $30 million
into the barnes fund.
Thank you.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
I'm stacy elliott, a resident
of district 16, a member of the
party for socialism and
liberation, a member of the
national people's budget
coalition, and a union member
who supports the solidarity
budget and social housing. Like
most of us, I know we need
investments that actually serve
the people who live and work
here, instead of passing
budgets that keep finding new
ways to hand our money over to
the capitalist epstein class, I
don't have time to cover a
comprehensive list of factors
on how we got to this current
housing crisis, but here's a
brief recap as this country's
housing policy moved farther
and farther away from
recognizing housing as a basic
human need and right, it leaned
more into technocratic policy
that makes housing a commodity
controlled by the greed and
whims of an ever shrinking
group of corporations and
private firms, all the while
being subsidized by our public
tax dollars. Decades of
divesting from the public good,
of government housing, and
investing in neoliberal schemes
driven by anti-blackness and
anti-communism, is largely how
we got to the capitalist
hellscape hellscape of economic
violence. We're currently
enduring. All that to say, we
know that any market based or
neoliberal scheme for forcing
the taxpaying public to split
housing responsibilities with
capitalist firms ultimately
only benefits the exploiter
class of landlords. While the
public foots the bill and
becomes more precarious.
Working class renters in
nashville already pay an arm
and a leg. Just to be able to
barely scrape by in housing.
Were neglectful. Absentee
landlords, collect fact checks
from our wages subsidized by
our tax dollars, while
landlords face almost no
recourse when they refuse to
make repairs or even provide
basic accommodations. We can't
count on private actors and
o-called public private
partnerships to responsibly
steward public dollars, because
being a decent human being
would cut into their profits
too much. We want what has been
proven to be effective in
countries all around the world,
including the U.S. Social
housing, permanently affordable
housing. Instead of having a
slumlord and rising rent costs,
residents have dignity and
autonomy. We want funding for
social housing that allows
working class people of
nashville to live in housing
that is democratically held by
the people and is permanently
affordable for the people. Free
tony caruthers, free palestine,
free them all. Thank you.
Next.
Go ahead.
I'm luis, I live in
district 13. I am new to
nashville. I finally came back
after 29 years, having been in
nashville since I was about a
year old. And you guessed it,
it's because housing. So now
that I lived here this year, I
thought it'd be a really great
to go to my first council
meeting and talk to you about
why you should put $500,000 in
an admin account for staff that
will catapult the
self-sustaining housing model
forward. Permanent affordable
housing is not just a dream.
It's a worthwhile goal that
acknowledges working class
families are the backbone of
this city. This is a measurable
step towards that goal. As a
community member that has
worked with thousands of people
from an immigrant or refugee
background and people in mixed
status households like mine.
Growing up, I know that housing
instability is one of the
biggest indicators of whether
or not you thrive in your
community, especially in the
city. Planning for the future
and putting down roots becomes
hard when every month you have
to pay for the roof over your
head, and that roof has a lot
of damage that has been fixed
by a very shady landlord. It's
not news. It's not an
exaggeration. It's a simple
truth that no council person
here can deny today. And that's
the latino immigrant, black
working class and refugee
community members are the ones
that run the city, not the
millionaires who have bars over
on broadway, not the
billionaires who own the
buildings in downtown and the
gulch in midtown or wherever.
It's not the millionaires who
sorry, it's just a little it's
a little bit emotional with
this man. It's not just the
people who open hospitals reap
the benefits from the working
class, who make sure the
hospital runs, and they send
those funds that trickle down
to a few dozen millionaires who
don't even live in the states,
the people who make broadway
function day and night, the
people who ensure our hospitals
are pen, our libraries are
open, who maintain our streets
and keep them clean. The people
who provide education to our
youth, the people who help
navigate their neighbors when
they are in crisis. Those are
the people that run this town. In social housing.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Good evening. I'm
happy pride. It's exciting to
see all these flags. As a
person who's lived in tennessee
my whole life, my name is
sophia lawson and I'm a
community member with stand up
nashville, and I work as a
middle school teacher here in
nashville. Tonight, I'm here to
request that you put 500,000 in
an admin for staff that
will catapult the
self-sustaining housing model
forward. I want to bring your
attention to a few individuals
in the city, the teachers and
school support staff who get to
school hours before the
students arrive. The nurse
pulling an overnight shift at a
hospital downtown. The metro
bus drivers starting their
route before sunrise. The child
care worker who makes it
possible for everyone else to
get to their jobs. The thing
that all these people have in
common is that nashville cannot
function without them, and
increasingly, nashville is
making it impossible for them
to afford to live here. It's
hard for me to count the number
of teachers, cafeteria workers,
custodians, bus drivers,
paraprofessionals that I have
met in my school who are having
to live up to an hour from the
school that they support. Due
to the current affordability
crisis, these people show up
every day because they believe
in supporting the students of
this city, but are unable to
live sustainably in the areas
that they support. A city that
cannot house the people who run
its schools, staff its
hospitals, drive its busses and
care for its children, is
quietly dismantling itself.
Essential workers should not
have to feel like a martyr to
the cause of keeping the city
functioning. The housing
production fund is a direct
response to that problem.
Permanently affordable,
publicly owned housing gives
essential workers a real shot
at living in the communities
that they serve. We're asking
for the infrastructure to build
homes where the people who keep
nashville running can actually
afford to live. Please fund the
housing project fund. Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Good evening. My
name is erica and I'm a
community member here with
stand up nashville. Tonight.
I'm here to request that you
put $500,000 in an admin
account for staff that will
launch the self-sustaining
house housing model forward.
One thing I love about
nashville is the community I've
built here. It's what is not
measurable by the construction
permits or tourism revenue or
population group growth. You
can't measure the community,
the people who watch your cat
when you're out of town, the
teachers who've taught three
generations of the same family,
the local bartender who knows
your regular. When you walk in
the door, the feeling of
knowing the names of the people
on your bock. These things are
harder to count, but they
matter just as much as the
other economic indicators. The
challenge nashville faces is
that many of these people who
are creating these
relationships and community are
finding it harder to stay, not
because they stopped
contributing, caring, or loving
for the city, but because
housing costs keep rising
faster than income. Every time
someone leaves, because they
can no longer afford to remain,
nashville loses something. It's
becoming a transient city built
for those not keeping the most
integral parts of our city
running, but the corporations
and tourism that much of our
city's money is going to. My
peers and I are at a point in
our lives where we're trying to
decide whether we are going to
build our lives, our families
and our communities here, or if
we'd be better served to go
elsewhere. I want to stay here
somewhere that prioritizes
communities that are struggling
before the tourists and
corporations stand up.
Nashville's proposal is based
on the belief that the people
who suppot the city should
have a future in it. That's why
we're asking for funding to
create a social housing
development entity, because we
need tools that do more than
react to the displacement after
it happens. Nashville future
should include the people who
make nashville what it is.
Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Hello, my
name is lucas simmons. I'm a
professional engineer and I am
a member of the democratic
socialists of america middle
tennessee chapter. I'm here on
behalf of the nashville
people's budget coalition.
You've all heard the talking
points that we've been making,
but I want to speak on my own
experiences here in nashville.
I've been practicing
engineering for about six years,
and I've worked on a lot of
these private, affordable joint
ventures. I've worked with
holiday ventures, I've worked
with dominion group, and it
seems to me that every single
time they will cut costs and
they will cut corners to build
a development, while not being
able to sustain that
development in the future. And
I think that the answer in the
future, nashville should be
social housing. I'm not going
to again.
I think you guys get it, but I
just think that we should do
something different. We should
try something different, and
I'd really appreciate your
support in that matter.
Thank
you, thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Hey, what's
going on? Council. Andrew. Okay.
Nashville native, member of
middleton dsa and people's
budget coalition fully support
people's budget coalition and
what they're doing to get
affordability to nashville and
housing. But, you know, sitting
through this tonight after
hours of hearing what people
had to you know, I can't
not think that maybe this is a
sham in some ways that maybe
you don't hear the people and
what they're saying. And I got
to think, you know, what you do
when you leave this room today
and how you vote is really
going to mean something to the
people that were here. Because
if you don't vote that way, I
mean, what do they think to the
people that you serve here? You
know, that that said something.
We came as a unified front with
many groups here speaking on
things that matter to them. In
some ways, they're trying to
survive and live a life.
Growing up in nashville all my
life, I see, you know, certain
interests coming and taking
grift onto the city that I love.
I choose to stay here. I'm
going to be here. I move a lot
in your your council districts.
And I see these stories and I
feel these stories. And I'm
just asking, pleading that you
take something from this and
you're not following the status
quo or whatever interests you
serve. Serve the people here.
If you feel tired and fatigued,
then action that you MAY do,
you're going to really feel
some fatigue then. So please
vote with the people here and
take these stories to heart.
Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead.
You're recognized.
Good evening.
I'm seamus and I live in
district 18. To borrow a line
from nina simone. Freedom is
living with no fear by show of
hands. Council, would you say
that you believe in protecting
our freedom? Would y'all see
berkeley? Do any of y'all okay?
Every year you hear from folks
across the city who say that we
do not believe in reactionary,
punitive policing, folkswho
oppose surveillance, and
neighbors who come begging for
material support, like fair
cost of living adjustments,
community education, and
commodified housing. These
conversations always center on
a deep fear of tangible
consequences of what will
happen if y'all ignore us. I'll
tell you what we'reafraid for
our family, for our friends,
family, and neighbors in this
city. We're afraid for the
lives destroyed and senselessly
ripped away from us because you
protected brutal policing.
We're afraid of the stalking,
as we are seeing from fascist
ice officers enabled by
surveillance technology. We're
afraid that you will sell out
our workers and children. The
beating heart of nashville for
a quick dime from tourists. And
most of all, we're afraid that
y'all will once again toss
aside the hope, effort, and
livelihood of our neighbors.
For once, this city has got to
take a risk doing the right
thing, supporting the people
who run this city requires
y'all to take innovative risks.
If y'all. If you believe in
protecting our freedom, then
you will listen to the people
who have come here tonight and
the many more who are not able
to show up. Following nina
simone's idea for the people of
nashville to have freedom, you
must address our fears.
Thank
you. Welcome. You're recognized.
Hello. Thank you. Thank you for
your patience and your
endurance. I'm one of the last
people speaking because I don't
have the endurance to stand up
for a long time. I think I was
here first, speaking at a
budget hearing 35 years ago,
speaking in favor of quality
child care. And I'd like to
speak again in favor of that.
I'm here representing th
nashville peace and justice
center. We're a coalition of 27
nonprofit, nonpartisan
organizations and several
thousand individuals. And so
this year, just like the year
before last year, I've been
sent to support the people's%
budget coalition's request for
permanently affordable social
housing and also for people
friendly community safety. So
all the years that I've lived
in nashville, two things that
I've noticed. One is, of course,
the increasing glamor and the
cost of living of living here.
The other thing is that not
just nashville, but nationally,
statewide and citywide, the
militarization of of so-called
safety. And so I met, I met a
freddy mayor freddy at the
earth day festival, and I was
chatting with him, and I was
telling him that the downtown
partnership has got to be made
accountable and has got to be
made transparent. He assured me
that the city council would do
that. So I think I hope it will
do that. Martin luther king
spent his life combating the
triple evils of racism,
militarism and unbridled greed.
And I'm afraid that nashville
right now, although it was the
home of civil rights movement,
I don't think it measures up
very well. Thank you.
Thank you.
go ahead. You're recognized.
Hi,
everyone. My name is alexandria
danner. I am the metro
organizer with seiu, and I was
originally not planning on
speaking tonight. I don't have
anything prepared to say, but I
am feeling particularly called
because I've been through this
process for a long time. And a
lot of you have, and it's been
a really painful night for all
of us on this side of the wall
and all of you on that side of
the wall. And I just I cannot
think of anything else besides
how much this process is just
busted. You all know this
process is busted. All of us on
this side know this process is
busted. The mayor knows it's
busted. Metro, hr and finance
know it's busted. All of the
department heads and all of
everyone down the chain.
Everybody knows that this
busted. And for lewis, who came
here earlier and talked about
his perspective for all of the
metro employees and the nps
employees who are who are
willing to sacrifice the food
on their table and the money
that they're going to be able
to spend on their kids clothing,
to be able to make sur that
their coworkers and their
friends and their community
members over at the hospitals
are made whole for them to make
that sacrifice. And then for us
to hear, I heard 3 or 4 hours
ago when we were getting here,
that now their health insurance
is going to go up by what, what,
15? 16. 18%. And so that just
leaves me with what are we
doing here? If, if every year
the onus is put on you 28 days,
29 days before the end of the
month that all of these people
have to, you have to make these
employees whole every single
year. This process should be
done at the beginning. This
process should be done in in
NOVEMBER and DECEMBER. JANUARY,
FEBRUARY. Why is this the end of the goalpost?
Every single year people are
having to beg for their lives.
You've heard all of our asks
this year from all of the
employees, but I am personally
begging all of you that this
process has to be fixed before
next year and the next year and
the next year, because none of
us, including all of you, can
continue to do this. So thank
you for the time that you've
spent tonight to hear all of us
out.
Thank you. Go ahead.
Michelle flynn.
Last call. If
anybody else wants to speak,
please come forward. Pardon me.
Go ahead.
Sure. Just a quick
comment. I've been really
struck tonight by the challenge
for the council about flipping
the way they look at budgeting.
In addition to the question
about doing this work earlier.
It seems to me that funding,
first and foremost, what people
here have said are the service
needs in this community, and
that be the point that from
which a budget is then formed
first, to fund these things
people have talked about. And
then you sit and look at things
like the police budget and
other budgets that you have
made. People have made requests
or agencies have made requests
to you about. Now, that may
seem really odd to you, but I
would say that is a thing that
each of us does with our own
families. We sit and say, what
are their most pressing needs
for our children? What are the
most pressing needs for me to
age out in this community?
Right? These are the kind of
things that we do naturally as
people that have a certain
amount of money coming in, and
there's demands on those
resources. And if you were to
sit first and say, what is it
that people from the community
need? It's not a paternalistic
approach. It is actually an
equitable approach. And then
you sit and say, who else is
asking us for money? For what
things? And have you really
heard them come and speak from
their hearts and their souls
about where this city needs to
be and where it needs to go? I
think it's a much different
approach, a much more humane
approach, and one that you can
all be very proud of and we can
all be very proud of. Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Good evening
everybody. My name is alex. I
am from district 18. You've
heard a lot of good points
today. A lot of you have
probably already made up your
mind on some of the things, how
you're going to vote on budget
matters. So I'm not here to
convince you on many of the
great points you've heard. I
agree, especially with the last
speaker, that one of the things
you've heard a lot today is
about.
Could you move a little
closer to the mic? Thank you.
just one of the things you've
heard today was about a lot of
people's needs. I want you to
remember back to the start of
this session. We started this
session today with a prayer.
Part of that prayer was talking
about how a budget is a moral
document. Now, I know for
myself what my morals are. I
ask you today what your morals
are. Are your morals going to
allow you to tell people that
they don't need what they're
telling you they need? Are you
going to vote for a budget that
doesn't fulfill their basic
needs? And we as people have
very few basic needs. You know,
we need a purpose. We need
sustenance, housing, health
care, food and water. People
have stood in front of you
today and told you that they
need housing. They need health
care. They need food and water.
Are you going to vote for a
budget that doesn't give them
that? So I want you to think
about what your morals are when
you end up voting, what your
final decisions are, and make
sure that you vote with your
morals. And I want to leave you
with one lesson that I learned
pretty young from my parents
today is your words matter, but
they matter. They don't matter
at all unless your actions
follow them as well. Thank you.
Thank you. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Good evening, metro
council. My name is jessica
williams and I reside in
district one. I want to start
by saying that I really admire
all the work that you all do in
nashville. I have taken time to
really study and learn how the
city operates, from the metro
council to the planning
commission, and just how all
the decisions are made within
the city. Something I do want
to leave with you all is that
as a real estate developer and
owner of a real estate
brokerage, smart girl
development, I cannot help but
notice how our city is falling
apart. What I mean by that is a
lot of our new construction
builds are deteriorating away.
So you see a lot of people's
homes that have invested quite
a substantial amount into their
properties that no longer that
are functioning or are
experiencing a lot of financial
investment that they need to
make back into their own homes.
And so as we as I drive around
and I see I would like to be
able to see a better quality of
builds being done and issued
from the code side department
so that we can ensure that
we're delivering homeowners
solid homes that are not
dilapidating after five years
of purchasing it. Also, I want
to share, as a real estate
developer about my kids. So on
17th avenue north, I had an
opportunity to develop two%
homes and I took all the kids
off the that were on the block
and taught them how to build
the houses. And so when the
homes were finished, they were
able to do the open house and
share with all of their family
members and people in the
community about their
properties or about those
properties that they helped
build. What I would like to see
is at least $150 million into
children, to investments, to
the parks that they play in, to
the sidewalks that they walk in
because they walk up and down
the street and they really have
nowhere to go.
Thank you. All
right. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Hey, it's kelly.
I'm back. I was really mad, but
honestly, I'm exhausted. And
this whole thing is
embarrassing. It's embarrassing
for y'all. It's embarrassing
for everyone here. Like people
come here every damn year and
beg for scraps and pennies, and
we act like there's all these
other things that can't ever be
touched. I have a specific
memory last year, discussing
the substitute bill, where
somebody brought something and
there was an ask for 10 or
$15,000 and, you know, where's
it going to come from? And
somebody suggested pd budget
and we would never dare take
10,000 or $15,000 from pd
budget from their $350 million
they're giving every year. It
feels like someone has a gun to
your head or someone has
something on you, because we
literally cannot break. We can
take money from everywhere else.
We can. We feel comfortable.
Y'all feel comfortable taking
money from schools, from kids,
from starving elderly people,
from people living on the
streets, from organizations
that help all of those people.
You feel comfortable taking
money from everywhere. But we
have to make sure every cop has
a car to take home. We have to
make sure every cop has a body
camera and a taser and a gun
and a baton and everything else
to brutalize the people of this
city when they deem it
necessary. And we never once
stop and say, hey, what if we
tried for one year to not give
them 10% of our city budget?
Crime is dropping without
surveillance technology, I
might add. Thank you to
everyone who has supported that
fight over the past five years.
And we still. What what
adjustment has there been to
pd's budget? What is the
average 21% less crime overall?
Did we take 21% of their
dollars, or is that what you're
going to do? You have a few
more weeks. Are you going to do
that? You're not. And you're
not going to tell me you're
going to because you would
never do that. And so I want to
remind you that these are our
kids. These are our elderly
people. These are people who
make the city what it is. These
are not expired.
Thank you.
Thanks. Next. Go
ahead.
She was on the road,
MISS Angie. She just. Okay. All
right. How y'all doing, shani?
District eight represented. I'm
tired. I see y'all still
holding strong. I appreciate
that they got a we have some
carrot cake out there if y'all
need a little sugar rush, you
know? So I'm here with stand up
nashville and we are asking for
you all to approve $500,000 to
create a new housing entity
that can build and own
permanently affordable housing
in nashville. We are looking
for staff right now, right? We
want in the admin budget. We're
trying to find a home for it.
We you all have a whole lot of
questions. You all want to know,
how is this going to work? What
what y'all asking us a lot of
questions. I know my
counterpart cade has talked to
you all or attempted to talk to
you all if you replied. And so
there with with this $500,000,
it allows us to have one
individual that's going to help
us push this thing forward. We
can't expect you all to fully
do it. We need somebody that
can that can take that on as
their full time job and really
get the answers that you all
say you need in order to push
this forward. And then when we
think about where the money
comes from, I like when I think
about social housing, I think
bout all the people that have
spoke before me. These are the
people who social housing is
for, right? So you got your
teachers, you know, they, they,
they are saying they're not
making enough money. This type
of housing allows them to have
a permanent, affordable space
to live in, to thrive in, to
build their life upon. I am
lucky to be a home on owner. I
would I don't know where I
would be living if I did not
purchase my home in 2018. This
rent is ridiculous, right? And
so we need a place that has
permanent affordability at. A
spot where, you know, it's also
mixed income so people can come
together.
Thank you. Your time
has expired.
Take it home, man.
You're recognized.
Hey, that's
a lot of pressure. District
five mendenhall. First off,
actually found a parking
validation on the floor, so if
anybody lost theirs, I got
yours. You pulled in at 507.
Y'all have heard a lot of great
reasons of why. To support
social housing and social
housing staff in this budget,
the city will not move unless
council members push it too. It
is time to match the risk that
everyday nashvillians by existing and living
in the city. That does not work
for them right now. Please take
a small risk and amend this
budget with funds for social
housing staff. Stay on metro
finance and planning to issue
bonds for housing. The best
time to plant a tree was 20
years ago. The second best time
to plant that tree is today.
This is for all nashvillians
today and tomorrow and forever.
Build social housing that
community controlled, community
owned and permanently
affordable and will be back to
say thanks.
Thank you. Are you
seeking to speak in the white
jacket? Okay. Go ahead. You're
recognized.
Okay. Good evening,
council members. My name is
nikki ellis and I'm a proud
resident of district five. And
I'm a metro employee serving as
a convenience center supervisor
with the department of waste
services and the founder of
forward focus. And I believe in
second chances initiative. 17
years ago, I was a health care
executive and a vice PRESIDENT
Of marketing and business
development. In 2009, I was
convicted in federal court of
misprision of a felony and
served in the same and served
18 months in the same federal
facility as martha stewart.
When I returned home, I quickly
learned that serving my
sentence was only part of the
hallenge rebuilding a life,
supporting a family, finding
employment and secure and
stable housing represented
obstacles that many people
never see. Today, I stand
before you not only as a metro
employee and a community
advocate, but as proof that
people can overcome their past
when given the opportunity to
support to do so. Unfortunately,
many justice impacted
individuals who are ready to
work, care for their families
and contribute to our city
still face barriers to
affordable housing and
coordinated reentry resources,
and we know this challenge is
significant in davidson county
because it's the highest in
class. It is the home of the
highest incarcerated zip code
in the country. But this issue
is much more about adults
returning home. Here in
tennessee, approximately
144,000 children have
experienced a parent
incarceration. Let that sink in.
144,000. This is not not simply
a housing for justice impacted
individuals issues. It's about
children. It's about families.
It's about housing stability,
and it's about the future
safety of our communities. If
we truly want safer communities,
we must invest in the
conditions that create safety.
Thank you so much. Appreciate
you coming out. All right.
Seeing no one else seeking to
be recognized, I will declare
the public hearing closed at
1050 ish, and I will go back to
sponsor tombs budget chair, for
a motion on your bill, please,
ma'am.
Thank you, MADAM Vice
mayor, I move for approval with
the re referral to budget and
finance, and I will make a
brief comment.
Okay. Let's see.
I'm getting a committee report
aswell. Reminder from special
counsel.
Thank you very much.
Let me find my paper.
I saw you
taking a lot of notes. So I
know it's I know it's under
there somewhere.
All right.
Budget and finance voted to
recommend approval with the
referral to the budget and
finance committee. Nine in
favor, zero against zero not
voting.
Thank you ma'am. All
right. Renewing that motion. Is
there a second? Okay. Is there
any on that motion?
Oh with a brief comment. Yes,
ma'am. Go ahead.
So for the
viewing audience and a few
folks who are still here. I
just wanted to give just an
overview of how we've gotten to
this point and where we are in
the process.
Yes. Appreciate
that.
So in FEBRUARY, we had
what's called a pre budget
hearing, where individuals from
the public could come and speak
to the council.
Public comment.
Public comment. Yes, ma'am. Yes.
but anyway, so that.
FEBRUARY
early budget. So that community
members could come out and talk
to the council and also is an
opportunity publicly voice
what they want to see in the
budget ahead of the mayor's
budget coming out. So that's
interaction with with the
council. Then I hosted a four
part budget education series in
different parts of the county,
and then we're here now at at
public hearing, which is
another opportunity for the
public to come and address the
council. Obviously, any day of
the week you have the
opportunity to reach out to
your individual council member
to talk about budget concerns.
We've also been having we had
two weeks of council budget
hearings where members of the
public could come and view
those as well. We've also had
council budget workshops this
past week, and we have one
tomorrow as well as thursday,
and those are open to the
public. Folks can come and sit
in and listen to the the
conversation. A lot of the
groups that spoke today, we
invited to those work sessions
so that they could speak to
council members and also speak
with departments. So I want to
put that out there, because
there's always an effort every
year to involve the public
earlier so that folks can feel
like they have an input into
the budget, and it's not last
minute. And when we get to
today, where we have our public
hearing is meant to be a
conversation. It's not meant to
be an hour where the public has
to come here and beg us to
include things in the
substitute budget is an
opportunity to once again,
because because of life and
work and family obligations,
every council member doesn't
get a chance to come to the
budget hearings, doesn't get a
chance to come to the work
sessions. So this is another to get in front of
council members and talk about
what is important to you.
Not a it's not begging. It
shouldn't be feel demeaning. We
are all community. And so this
is a chance for us to come
together and figure out what's
the. To hear from the community
about what ideas they want to
be incorporated into the budget.
And obviously we take that back
and try to make something out
of that. And I just want to put
that out there for the public.
So this is supposed to be a
collaborative process, and we
tweak it every year to try to
make it better. But this is
really about community and, and
about what's doing what's best
for nashville. And with that, I
ask for approval.
Thank you,
MADAM Chair. Appreciate you.
All right. Any further
discussion? Seeing none. All in
favor, please say aye. Any
voting? No. Any abstaining? All
right. MADAM Chair, I know
we're tired, but just because
our charter requires it again,
as ialluded to at the start,
we did not preclude anybody in
that one first public hearing
talking about the capital
improvements budget or the tax
levy, but just from a
procedural standpoint, our next
agenda item is agenda item two.
this is ordinance bl 2026-1378.
Sponsor teams. This is an
ordinance establishing the tax
levy in the general services
district for the fiscal year
2026 2027, and declaring the
amount required for the annual
operating budget of the urban
services district pursuant to
section 6.07 of the
metropolitan charter budget
chair tombs, you're recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor.
Our request to open the public
hearing.
Okay. I'm going to
declare the public hearing open
on 1378, which is the tax levy.
Is there anyone who seeks to be
recognized specifically on the
tax levy? Seeing none, I will
declare the public hearing
closed. And it's back to you,
chair tombs, for a motion on
this bill.
The committee report ma'am. You do.
Thank you.
Budget and finance
voted to recommend approval
with the re referral to the
budget and finance committee.
Nine in favor, zero against
zero not voting. Move for
approval with the re. Referral
to budget and finance.
Okay.
Properly moved. Properly
seconded. Is there any
discussion on this ordinance on readings?
Seeing none. All in favor,
please say aye. Any voting okay.
Any voting no. Any abstaining?
MR. Slick, you'll be recorded
as an abstention. MR. Clerk, if
you would. Next is agenda item
three, ordinance bl 2026-1380.
Also sponsor tombs, an
ordinance adopting the 2026
2027 through 2031 2032 capital
improvements budget for the
metropolitan government of
nashville davidson county as
the official capital
improvements budget of the
metropolitan government of
nashville and davidson county
for the fiscal year 2026 2027.
Sponsor. Tombs, you are
recognized.
Thank you, MADAM
Vice mayor. Request open the
public hearing.
All right. I
declare the public hearing open
on 1380. Is anyone seeking to
be recognized? Go ahead, sir.
You're very welcome.
Hey, y'all.
I'm back. I'm still here, so
I'll just comment on it. All
right. So bonds, we're really
trying to get that going
already talked about in the
operating budget. When it comes
to the capital improvements
wish list this year and other
stuff that y'al can put your
weight behind. Like we said,
really looking for people to
step into that leadership role
and really get this ball moving.
So this is a great chance for
y'all to do that, to show the
city that there is, you know, a
demand behind this and that
council members really want us
to invest in this new model. We
can pilot this program with the
bonds. We're a little bit ahead
of where the city is on this.
But again, that whole
conversation about taking risks.
So this is a great opportunity
for you all to do that. Hang in
there. Long night. Everyone's
looking good. All right. Bye.
Thank you. Is anybody else
seeking to be recognized
specifically on the capital
improvements budget? On its
second of three readings?
Seeing none, I will declare the
public hearing closed. And it's
back to you. Budget chair, team
sponsor for a motion on this
bill as well.
Committee report.
Yes, ma'am.
Budget and finance
voted to recommend approval
with a referral to budget and
finance. Nine in favor, zero
against zero not voting.
All
right. We also need a report
from the planning and zoning
committee chair horton. You're
recognized, sir.
Thank you,
vice mayor. Planning and zoning
recommended approval. Eight in
favor, zero against zero not
voting.
Okay. Thank you sir.
Back to you, MISS Tombs, for a
motion mindful of the JUNE 9th
special called meeting. Do you
have that information that you
need on that one on that motion.
So move for approval with the
re referral to the JUNE 19th
meeting.
Yes. Or JUNE 9th
rather. So next tuesday there
is a special called meeting
specific to the crb. Okay. It
will 6:00 meeting start 5 P.M.
Joint special committee in
advance of that. 6:00 start. So
that is the motion passage on.
Second in a re referral into
the committees for joint
special committee meeting at 5
P.M. On tuesday, JUNE 9th. Is
there a second for that
extended motion? Thank you. Is
there any discussion on that
motion? All right. Seeing none.
Anything. Yeah. Yes. Go ahead
please. Chair.
in my previous
comment I forgot to include
that the budget is on third
reading on JUNE 16th. So take into
account all of the ideas that
were shared today. There will
be a substitute budget will
work on that. But third and
final reading, the final vote
on the budget is JUNE 16th, two
weeks from today.
And I believe
there's an extra opportunity
for wish list. Having heard or
incorporated.
Wish list are due
tomorrow. 11:59 P.M. Okay.
All
righty. Okay. Is there any
further discussion on 1380, the
crb capital improvements budget?
Seeing none. All in favor,
please say aye. Any voting no
or abstaining. All right. That
concludes our bills on public
hearing. All right. Let's let's
lean in. Council members. We
have a pretty short agenda.
We've got a lot of stuff on our
consolidated consent agenda.
And let's just keep on rolling.
Okay? This is agenda section k,
all resolutions and second and
third reading ordinances on
this agenda are included on the
consent agenda. If recommended
for approval unanimously by all
the committees to which the
item was referred, items on the
consent agenda will be voted on
at a single time. The item
number, along with the
resolution and ordinance number
for the items on the consent
agenda will be read by me.
Members of the council MAY
remove any items from the
consent agenda by request
before the consent agenda vote
is taken. All right. Here are
the items proposed for the
consolidated consent agenda.
First is agenda item seven.
Resolution 2026-2000. Agenda
item eight. Resolution
2026-2001. Agenda item nine.
Resolution 2026-2002. Agenda
item ten. Resolution 2026-2003.
Agenda item 14. Resolution
2026-2007. Agenda item 17.
Resolution 2026-2010. Agenda
item 18. Resolution 2026-2011.
Agenda item 19. Resolution
2026-2012. Agenda item 20.
Resolution 2026-2013. Agenda
item 21. Resolution 2026-2014.
Agenda item 22. Resolution
2026-2015. Agenda item 24.
Resolution 2026-2017. Agenda
item 25. Resolution 2026-2018.
Agenda item 26. Resolution
2026-2019. Agenda item 27.
Resolution 2026-2020. Agenda
item 28. Resolution 2026-2021.
Agenda item 29. Resolution
2026-2022. Agenda item 30.
Resolution 2026-2023. Agenda
item 31. Resolution 2026-2024.
Agenda item 32. Resolution
2026-2025. Agenda item 33.
Resolution 2026-2026. Agenda
item 34. Resolution 2026-2027.
Agenda item 35. Resolution
2026-2028. Agenda item 36.
Resolution 2026-2029. Okay,
that concludes the items or the
resolutions proposed for the
consolidated consent agenda
next to bills on second reading
proposed for the consent agenda.
First among those is agenda
item 77 ordinance bl 2026-1358.
Agenda item 80 no wait. Agenda
item 78. Is that a change? 78
on consent okay. Agenda item 78.
Ordinance bl 2026-1379. Agenda
item 80 ordinance bl 2026-1382.
Agenda item 81 ordinance bl
2026-1383. Agenda item 82
ordinance bl 2026-1384. Agenda
item 83 ordinance bl 2026-1385.
Agenda item 84 ordinance bl
2026-1390. Next, for items on
third reading bills proposed
for the consolidated consent
agenda. First among those is
agenda item 85 ordinance bl
2025-882. Agenda item 86
ordinance bl 2025-883. Agenda
item 87. Ordinance bl 2026-1368.
Agenda item 88. Ordinance bl
2026-1369. Agenda item 89.
Ordinance bl 2026-1370. Agenda
item 90. Ordinance bl 2026-1371.
Okay. Agenda item 91 ordinance
bl 2026-1372. Agenda item 92
ordinance bl 2026-1373. Agenda
item 93. Ordinance bl 2026-1374.
Agenda item 94. Ordinance bl
2026-1375. And then lastly
proposed for the consent agenda
is agenda item 95, ordinance bl
2026-1376. Do any items need
be removed from the consent
agenda? If so, members, please
join the queue to request that.
Excellent. There is no one in
the queue, MR. Clark. Are all
committee reports in for the
items on the consent agenda?
Yes. All committee reports are
in.
Thank you, MR. Clark.
Members, is there a motion for
approval of the consent agenda?
Properly seconded. All in favor,
say I. Council has passed all
items on the consent agenda.
All right. Now we will go back
in agenda order for items that
were not on consent. First with
resolutions. Okay. First among
those is agenda item four. This
isresolution 2026-1801.
Sponsors benedict and bradford.
This is a resolution urging the
electric power board of the
metropolitan government of
nashville and davidson county
to terminate the employment of
theresa kaplan as chief
executive officer of nashville
electric service. MISS Benedict
is not present. MR. Bradford,
you are next on the sponsor
list. There you are recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor,
committee reports.
For the
report of the rules,
confirmations and public
elections committee chair cash.
We moved to indefinitely. Defer
five to 0 to 0.
Okay. And for
the report of the
transportation and
infrastructure committee chair
evan siegel, please.
The
transportation and
infrastructure committee
recommended that it be deferred
indefinitely. Ten in favor,
zero against and zero not
voting.
Okay. All right. So
with the sponsor not present,
we we have to it's not over
their objection in their
absence. So we do have to take
this up because rule 8.2 does
not apply here. So MR. Bradford.
Would you like to make a motion,
sir.
Yes, I believe is is is
the sponsor's intent to defer
this until after we get more
information. So I'll go with
the committee's and move for
indefinite deferral.
Okay.
There is a motion to
indefinitely defer. It is
properly seconded. Is there any
discussion on the indefinite
deferral motion. Seeing none.
All in favor, please say aye.
Any voting no. Any abstaining?
Okay. This has been
indefinitely deferred. Next is
agenda item five. This is
resolution 2026-1954. Sponsor
styles. This is a resolution
expressing a lack of confidence
in the performance and
leadership of the electric
power board of the metropolitan%
government of nashville and
davidson county for its
failures during winter storm
fern. Let's see, MISS Styles.
What we have here though,
instead, with you present and
with rule 8.2 in effect, which
requires an indefinite deferral
if recommended by committees
with a two thirds over the
objection of the sponsor. Okay,
but we will need your committee
reports if your request does.
Please, ma'am.
Committee report
please.
Okay. For the report of
the transportation
infrastructure committee chair
evan siegel.
The transportation
infrastructure committee
recommended that it be deferred
indefinitely. Ten in favor,
zero against and zero not
voting.
Okay. And for the
report of the rules,
confirmations and public
elections committee chair cash.
Did nothing. No recommendation.
All right. Rule 8.2, though,
simply requires the
recommendation of an indefinite
deferral in one committee does
not require that of both
committees, and, I presume,
MISS Styles. That is over. Your
objection. Okay. And with that.
Rule 8.2 is, in effect such
that special counsel. What
happens at this juncture, sir?
it is then just indefinitely
deferred by rule.
Yes. Vice
mayor, this would in this case
would be an indefinite deferral
without debate or discussion.
Okay. All right. Thank you,
special counsel, for the
clarification. Okay. So that
has been indefinitely deferred
per rule 8.2 with no debate or
discussion. All right. Next is
agenda item six. This is
resolution 2026-1963. Sponsor
coupon. This is a resolution
approving the fiscal year 2027
central business improvement
district budget and accepting
previous central business
improvement district budgets.
MR. Coupon, you are recognized,
sir. Oh I'm sorry sir.
Thank
you, MADAM PRESIDENT. Committee
reports please.
For the report
of the budget and finance
committee. Chair. Tombs, you're
recognized.
Thank you, MADAM
Vice mayor, budget and finance
voted to recommend approval.
Seven in favor, two against
zero not voting.
All righty.
That's the one committee report
back to you, MR. Cooper, for a
motion.
Thank you. I'd like to
move approval with a comment.
All right. That properly
seconded. Go ahead, sir.
Thank
you. So I appreciate all the
work that's been done on this.
And I'm speaking representing
22,000 downtown constituents
and many businesses who do
appreciate and want to see the
work continue of the cleaning,
safety programing and so much
more that happens downtown.
We've heard all night about
really important things that
have not been funded in the
budget, and I appreciate the
millions of dollars that
downtown residents reach into
their pockets and put into the
bucket for, for our city to be
better. And the whole city does
realize that benefit. I
recognize that that benefit
does not always trickle out of
downtown, and that's something
I'm working on as well. But in
this situation, it is, you know,
about honoring the wishes of
these of these folks that are
put in this hard earned money
into a bucket. Some of the
concerns, as we know, since the
expansion that have come up.
One was about past budgets that
we heard that for two decades,
it wasn't approved by council
and individual resolution. It
was important to me, and I
appreciate the downtown
partnership supporting the
efforts to bring this to you
all. As you're seeing it
tonight as a standalone. I also
asked that they and finance go
back through the records and
put all the previous budgets in
there so that we have those on
the record as well. And so I
appreciate that that
collaboration to make that
happen. We talked about
community safety funding and
looking at alternative ways to
make downtown safer, safer and
appreciate again, downtown
partnership, open table.
COUNCILMAN Suara, myself,
working together on some
initiatives that we you should
have gotten an email about, but
we should have legislation in
the coming weeks to set up a
dedicated mental health
services for downtown. So
really excited about that. And
we know that the private
policing has been a big
conversation. We know that's
something that's important for
downtown. We know that there
have been questions about can
mpd staff it. I had
conversations as recently as
today asking central precinct
can is there any way that we
can find the officers? And they
reminded me that the e d u
itself remains unfunded in this
current budget. So they're
trying to figure out how to put
that together. We don't. So
they don't have any extra
people to do it. And so that
being said, there's a new
operator. And I've told folks
day, night, morning, evening,
4:00 in the morning, if there
is any issue, any incident,
anything going on with private
police or anybody downtown,
call me, reach out to me. It's
important to get to the bottom
of it. I can't go back in time.
I can't go back into whatever
happened or didn't happen in
the past. But my commitment
going forward is to make sure
that everything is taken care
of. And again, you know, the
work we spent a lot of time
talking on talking about a
piece of the work that happens,
but there's so much great work
that happens with, again,
cleaning, safety programing,
things that really make our
downtown run. So appreciate all
that work. And I urge my
colleagues to support the
resolution. Thanks.
all right.
We're on to discussion. First
in the queue is quinn evans.
You're recognized.
Thank you,
MADAM PRESIDENT. I rise tonight
because I want to share
something that happened last
night in committee for those
who were not able to be here,
which is that I asked the
downtown partnership if it was
committed to going forward,
making sure that safety was
holistic, that it involved safe
streets. And the answer I got
was no. The downtown
partnership use its mandate as
clean and safe and clean and
safe as trash and cops. And I
think if you ask most
nashvillians what clean and
safe means, it's not just
picking up trash. And it is not
just funding officers downtown.
It means that when people walk
on sidewalks downtown, that
they feel like they're not
going to die. And what we have
every single year downtown are
tourists coming to this city,
paying this fee and dying on
our streets. They are dying on
scooters. They are dying on our
sidewalks. And the downtown
partnership doesn't view that
as a safety issue. It doesn't
view the garage blowing up on
us. And. People are talking and
it always throws me for a loop.
Please don't interject while
members.
But when the garage
blows up and we have visitors
and people who live here whose
cars are stuck there for months
on end, and what is a hazardous
site that is neither clean nor
safe? I believe very strongly
that beds are important, and i
believe that what this city for was a clean and safe
downtown. Ironically, I'm going
to again quote lamar alexander
tonight. I don't think that he
expected to be quoted twice at
council tonight. But the first
part of his quote, the latter
of which we've already heard,
was, well, I think the number
one goal of the chamber of
commerce should not be
recruiting more jobs to
nashville, but keeping it a
nice place to live. And that's
what this bid should be focused
on. It should be focused on a
nice place to live and a nice
place to live. Looks nice and
it feels nice, and it is
actually safe in all the ways
necessary for people to live
downtown. And that's what the
downtown partnership should be
doing with this budget. This
budget looks like a tax. It
feels like a tax. It walks and
talks like a tax. People
believe it is a tax. You read
on your receipt. It is a tax
and it is a sales tax required
to be paid for a clean and safe
downtown. And we owe it to
everybody paying that tax to
make sure that this budget is a
reflection of a clean and safe
downtown.
All righty. Council
member parker, I believe you
sought to be recognized for
having a little bit of a tablet
issue there, but go ahead.
You're recognized, sir.
Thank
you, vice mayor. For whatever
reason, when I hit the button,
it's showing on my screen, but
not on my screen.
I'm not
seeing it here either. Yeah.
Well, well, anyway, I'm, i
don't want to get too into the
weeds. We've had a lot of good
committee discussion about the
sea bed and how they utilize
their funds that, you know, I
do want to note on the on the
safe streets issue, I don't
really think that the ask is
for them. For me personally, my
view, the ask is not for them
to spend a bunch of their
special collections on, you
know, like capital
infrastructure improvements,
but rather to stop impeding the
deployment of safe
infrastructure within their
area. They, they have a habit
of, of, of, of doing that. And
again, I don't, I don't want to
get into the specifics of a lot
of good committee discussion
about that. I do want to talk
about what we're doing here
tonight. And, and I think I was
the council member who read the
code and realized that we were
supposed to be doing this every
year. I brought it up in a in a
committee discussion. And you
know, what we've got before us
now is not just the fiscal 27
budget, but decades of
oversight that we're being
asked to kind of engage with.
At 1115, after a lengthy public
hearing, I doubt that this has
gotten the attention either the
fiscal 27 budget or the decades
of of oversight that it
deserves. And and, you know,
we've heard from the lobbyists
and leadership of the
organization that they are
going to try to address some of
these concerns that people have
brought up. They have a new
private police contractor. They
say that they're going to stop
blocking safe infrastructure
downtown so that fewer people
get hurt downtown. That's great.
I haven't seen that yet. I need
to see a little bit of a track
record from this organization
before I'm comfortable
approving these budgets. So I'm
going to be voting no, because
I think that we have a critical
oversight role with regards to
this entity. You know, it's
it's spelled out what happens
if this budget fails in this
body. It's not the downtown
partnership goes away. It's not
that they don't have any
funding. It's not that
everything is terrible. It's
that they have to redo their
budget and they have to bring
it back to us. And if the board
members are curious what we
need to see in a budget that
gets voted down here, they can
communicate with us. It's it's,
it's there's, there's a, I
would take a call from any
board member of the downtown
partnership or the sea bed to
talk about my concerns and what
I would like to see out of this
organization, how they could
better serve the city. But I'm
not ready. Based on the issues
that have arisen in debate in
recent months this year, last
year to vote for this, I'm
going to be voting against this,
and I would encourage any
colleagues who are interested
in exercising our oversight
authority over this entity to
join me in voting no tonight.
Thank you, MR. Parker. MR.
Cuban, I'm going to go through
other colleagues before I
return to you, sir. Okay. Are
you seeking to be recognized
again, or you just happen to be
in the queue? Okay, okay. All
right, MR. Huffman, you're next
in the queue, sir.
Thank you,
vice mayor. And I'll be brief
with these comments. Really
want to highlight a couple of
things, colleagues. The first
thing is that siren was a bad
actor. We all know that
terrible actor, not a good
representation of this city. It
was such a bad actor. It put
people in, in our unhoused, our
most vulnerable residents in
bad situations. There's no
doubt about that. And what did
the downtown partnership do?
They fired them. I want you all
to realize that the downtown
partnership is very much a
partner to us. And they saw a
problem and they addressed it,
and they addressed it by hiring
a new company who I don't know
who's looked it up yet, but I
definitely invite you to look
up their records and other
cities, look at their track
record for de-escalation
tactics specifically, and think
about that as you're
considering your vote for this.
If that is your inflection
point on if you're going to
vote yes or no. We have a
commitment to this city to keep
it safe. And whether we like it
or not, the city runs on
tourism, and these tourists
come to downtown. Recently, I
think it was billboard. I don't
even know if it's called
billboard magazine anymore, if
it's just billboard mentioned
that bridgestone arena is now
10th nationally for growth,
gross revenue. They're 18th
globally. And I mention that
because there's always people
coming in to downtown, 20,000
people on any given night. And
all of those people are
frequenting the businesses
downtown. They're buying $15
drinks and $20 drinks at bars,
and we get a chunk of that to
fund the projects that the
people in the back were talking
about tonight. So I urge you to
support this, because we owe it
to this city to keep it safe.
And the last thing that I will
say as well, especially around
our unhoused friends, because
it's just that is a really,
really soft spot for me. The
downtown partnership has a
deescalation policy, and I
learned that because I took a
ride, a ride along with them
last year, and I encourage all
of y'all to do the same thing.
Anytime that they see an
unhoused person having an
interaction with a police
officer, they automatically
intervene. They automatically
start to deescalate that
situation. Thank you.
All right.
Next in the queue,
councilmember, you're
recognized.
Thank you, vice
mayor. Tonight I rise in
opposition to this resolution
for me, just like my colleague
just said, if it has a large
track record in my research, it
said that it was launched in
2026. So for me, it might be
part of an organization that
has decades of experience, but
it itself was only launched
this year. So I have lots of
questions. I'm not sure how you
can have a track record if you
just were started a few months
ago. And you know, for me, I
just have multiple other
concerns. We all the time in
metro government have to work
on rfp. And we always have to,
you know, try to find the best
bid. And I just want to
understand, did the see bid and
did they do the same thing? And
if so, I'd just like to
understand how that process
went. But I definitely don't
feel comfortable, especially
with the 20 years of finances.
I don't feel comfortable also
passing that tonight. So I just
ask my colleagues to consider
this and before voting. So
thank you so much.
Thank you.
Next in the queue is council
member styles. You're
recognized ma'am.
Thank you
very much.
I'm rising in
support. I also have a sea bed
in my district, and I look
forward to being able to use it
for many of the things that my
constituents ask for, which is
safety and beautification and a
variety of other things that
this sea bed currently provides
downtown that we as a city are
not able to do. We do not have
in and got a bunch of trucks
that are coming out and
cleaning the sidewalks and
getting rid of vomit and a
variety of other things every
single night. We can't. Well, I
guess we could. We just haven't
prioritized that. And I think
when we have tourists coming,
it does matter when they come
and they see filthy streets,
they're telling people don'tgo
to nashville. And we do survive
very much on our tourists. We
have residents and tourists.
Everyone is important, but to
act as if they are a problem
because they are handling
scenarios that we actively are
not. I don't think that that's
right. The sea can be a
very beneficial thing. I think
that we should support council
member koopman in his efforts
for this sea bed. And if there
are questions that you have, by
all means, I mean, we have
certainly passed things with
people having questions and
still said, oh, it sounds like
a good idea. We're going to
move forward. Why is this any
different? Thank you.
Thank you.
Next in the queue is council
member nash. You're recognized
sir.
Thank you, MADAM CHAIRMAN.
I my sense is this is kind of
the first year that we've
decided we've got to approve
their budget, although it was
in ordinance previously. So
here we are for the kind of the
first go round. They have
obviously heard us because
they've made some changes. And
I think we're going to have a
better sense of how this new
process is going to work and
how the new security thing is
going to work. If we go ahead
and pass this budget and watch
over this next year. Kind of
say, we're not going to give
you budget, we're not let you
go forward except on your money,
but we're still going to try
and find out what you're doing,
I think is kind of opposite of
what we want to be doing. Let's
let's give them a chance to get
started. New process. We'll
watch them. And if we don't
like it, we get to vote next
year.
all right. Next in the
queue is council member
porterfield. MADAM Pro tem,
you're recognized.
Thank you,
vice mayor. Yesterday there was
a really interesting
conversation in budget and
finance in which myself and my
colleague, council member quinn,
voted against this legislation.
I just want to speak to a few
reasons why why I voted against
it, in addition to the concerns
that my colleague lifted up,
there was conversation around
the secondary employment unit,
and the work by the secondary
employment unit will be done by
thp the tennessee highway
patrol. And we noted that there
had been concerns about
behavior from various entities
of various patrol members from
the thp I'm going to come back
to that point. Another concern
was civility, which is, I guess,
an offshoot of block by block.
There was concerns about
concern for me about this being
a no bid contract. But I want
to quote some things from an
article in the banner that was
written by our very own stephen
elliott, who, sitting right
here to my left. And three
things from the article that I
really wanted to highlight. Let
me pull that back up here.
Three things from the article
that I wanted to highlight. One
when asked about thps work with
federal immigration agents last
year and which troopers ignored
traffic violations, cited
broken english and other
demographic markers when
turning people over to ice,
turner said that he remained
confident in chp officers. So
even though we have video
evidence of the work of the
officers are saying that they
still are confident in those
officers, we have confidence
that chp will address those
issues that arise with us or
anyone else. I don't have
confidence that this will be
addressed. There was another
concern about, again, block by
block, which was an entity that
was just started this year.
We're hearing so much about
like their track record, but
this was an entity that was
started just a couple of months
ago. But I also wanted to lift
up that mpd confirmed that
block by block kept fuel in the
library parking garage that
blew up. So we're saying that
we have confidence in thp even
though we see what the chp
officers have done, we are
saying that we
have confidence held fuel in
our library that, in essence,
blew up our library. That
definitely didn't keep us safe.
So if we know that this entity
has done this, more do we
need to vote against this? When
we see that they've literally
blown up our parking and this
doesn't make everything go away,
we want downtown be
safe, residents and tourists.
If we vote this down, the board
just has to bring back another
budget that will approve. So
we're not saying that we're
going to vote down everything,
but we are saying bring us
something back that's going to
keep our residents and our
tourists safe. So I'm voting
against this, and I would
encourage my colleagues to vote
against it as well.
all rght.
Next in the queue is council
member ellis. You're recognized
ma'am.
Thank you, MADAM
PRESIDENT. I just wanted to
throw up a flag. And and I'm
not sure the procedure on this,
but my colleague had mentioned
that solarin was a bad actor,
and I'm not standing up to
defend them, but I would like
to see the receipts for who
bought those bus tickets to
ship out those unhoused people
who the nashville downtown
partnership hired. So I want to
see some receipts before moving
this thing along. So if I were
to file an open records request,
would I be able to get those
documents from the nashville
downtown partnership or through
the c bid?
I can address that
to special counsel wilson.
Councilmember, the downtown
partnership is technically a
separate organization from the
seabed. They are a private
organization. They are not
subject to open records.
So. So
if the seabed has contracted
services with the vendor, can I
get the records of that
contracted service provider
through the c bid, since
they're getting taxpayer money?
Special counsel.
I can't speak
to what records the seabed MAY
or MAY not have, but the seabed
is, at least in part, semi
semi-governmental. So that
would be different than asking
downtown partnership directly.
Okay. All right. I'm just going
to pump the brakes just for the
record and be a no vote on this
until we can get I can get some
more records for myself. I
don't want to rubber stamp this.
All right. Next is
councilmember evans. You're
recognized.
Thank you, vice
mayor. I am standing to speak
in favor of the sea bed tonight.
This was a, I would say, a very
lengthy conversation that
started from last term when the
late jason stein would message
me about things that are
previous. The previous vendor
of the sea bed was doing in
downtown. And so over time, you
know, there were a lot of
rabbit holes that I personally
chased down kind of related to
this process. And I think that
the outcome of the council
member who raised, you know,
the concern about the budget
red flag and the approval
process, I think, you know, I
wish we had all known that a
lot earlier and we could have
started having that
conversation, you know, back,
you know, when some of those
details were emerging over time.
I'm grateful that we learned
all of it and that we now have
a budget, you know, that we
have had an opportunity to have
the sea bed and downtown
partnership team speak in front
of the budget committee, like that will be a
process carries on as long
as metro council exists and as
long as this relationship
exists. And so I'm looking at
this as a fresh start with
commitments that have been made
in a public setting on a
recording. And I'm choosing to
kind of give this relationship
and dynamic another opportunity,
because we have the mechanism
as a result of that work, to
bring this budget to the
council, to be able to follow
up and enforce it in a very
different way than we had
previously, because we were
ignorant to how it should have
been done. So anyway, I'm
grateful to the budget chair
for her bringing that forward
to the council member who
identified that this was an
issue. But I'm also going to
choose to let's give this
another opportunity, start from
scratch and see if we can have
a better experience this time.
Thank you, MISS Evans. Next is
council member suara. You're
recognized ma'am.
Thank you,
vice mayor. I just wanted to
say on record some of the
things that I said in budget
yesterday, as well as some of
the private conversations
that's gone on that it's been
alluded to. But I just want to
make sure that all of that is
put on record, especially for
follow up and for
accountability. Like I shared
yesterday in budget, there were
three things that bothers me or
that concerns me about downtown
safety, security, and the
conversations that we've had
over this past several months.
The three are the unhoused
population. The third one is
just general security downtown.
And then the third one is thp
slash ice. So when this
conversation started, one
the things that I did was talk
to some of the partners that
work on the. Because last time
we were talking about this, it
was the owners population piece
that was very, very troubling
for most of us. And so that was
the area that I wanted to make
sure that we addressed first.
And so talking to open table
and talking to downtown
partnership and also talking to
chief swan, there is now
movement to make sure that
there's a proposal down that
will address how our own house
population will be treated
downtown. The proposal will be
should be today, tomorrow,
wednesday is when the chief
said, but there is movement
along making sure that people
arenot just jailed or people
are not harassed because they
are on house. And to make sure
that we have mental health
services downtown. So that's
that's on that and that's being
worked on. And I think we
should make sure we follow up
on that. It's very critical.
The next one is just general
security downtown. One of the
questions that I asked chief
drake was, if we have
entertainment district, we have
a unit downtown. Why do we need
a private company to deal with
security? And the chief said
it's because they're
understaffed. But he did say
during his budget hearing that
his goal is that that is where
we move to, and that's what he
would like to see happen. The
downtown people also said this,
that they would love to see us
move towards that model. So I
think what we need to keep
working on between now and the
next budget is how do we fully
fund that entertainment
district so that it is empty,
that is there and not a private
company? And then lastly on chp,
this is the one that gives me
the most in all the
conversation. Because when you
think about everything that's
happening, we just one year
into the ice raid in nashville,
it's a lot of support for thp
and the private company will be
using chp officers. And that's
something that I that I found
troubling. But in light of all
the conversation that's going
on in light of finding people
to do it, and mpdmpd doing it,
I do believe that our goal and
what we should be working on is
making sure that we don't have
private organization and that
we're not using thp. Thp law is
just so different. It's it's
the tennessee law that allows
unhoused people to be arrested
for being on public spaces. I
think that's just too much for
us to be. And that's where we
need to, to go. So the whole
point of all this conversation
is just to talk about where we
are, what's going on, what we
need to do, and what we need to
continue to make sure that the
chief and everybody is working
on how do we keep downtown safe
without a private policing?
Thank you, MR. Koopman. I
appreciate your kind of waiting
till the end of the. Q so your
other colleagues could say
something and you could bring
up the rear, would you, MISS
Allen? I'm going to recognize
you since the sponsor already
spoke earlier. Go ahead.
Thank
you, MADAM Chair.
I just want
to build on a couple of things
that my colleagues have said.
First of all, I do want to
point out that the sea bed is
funded by two sources. One is
the sales tax that was referred
to, but the larger piece is the
property assessment that the
individual downtown owners,
property owners who have chosen
to pay this additional
assessment are paying for, and
they are part of the group that
that decides what their
definition of safe is. I hope
they hear us loud and clear
that we would like for them to
broaden their definition of
safe. And I believe that they
have they have the ability to
do that, but it does require a
board change to do that, not
the people that were here
answering the questions
yesterday. So I think this is
our way to send a message to
that board that we consider
safe, that the streets are safe
from a from an infrastructure
standpoint, as well as from a
policing standpoint. And I also
want to just echo the the
statements that have made here.
This is that because this this
scrutiny has been put on this
process, a lot of good things
have happened. I mean, the
importance of looking at both
how the budget is reviewed. We
now have a process in place to
do that. We've also called for
accountability on all the
security encounters that happen
downtown, and I would again,
encourage the organization to
provide us, not just with
annual reports on what their
security encounters look like,
but they have given us a
quarterly one, and I would like
to see those submitted
quarterly as well. That's not
something that's that's baked
in, but changes have happened
because of the robust
conversations that we've had. I
appreciate all the work that my
colleagues have done into
looking into how this process
has worked. It has not been
perfect, but it has, I think,
improved significantly because
of this scrutiny. And I think
that the the organization on
downtown partnership are all
aware of the things that are
important to us and that we
will continue to push for those
changes to be made. So, as
other council members have said,
I'm willing to give them a
chance to put this in place and
to continue to work on making
this process better. Now that
we've had a really good chance
to explain the issues that are
important to us.
All right.
Thank you, MISS Allen. Sponsor
coupon. I'm going to come back
to you because I do not believe
you used all your time to start
to pull it together. But please
make it quick, sir.
Thank you,
MADAM PRESIDENT. And so I just
want to address quite a few
things that were said. You know,
first of all, last year at the
expansion conversations, one
thing that was brought up is
that I am the ex officio member
representing the council on the
dmc board and ndp board, and I
took that to heart. I took that
really seriously as my job to
represent everybody here, and
that's the work I've been doing
over the last year in pushing
and pushing ndp. You know, on
the things that the council has
deemed important. And that's
why, you know, again, recently
I had tom turner and lindsay
krings with open table sitting
across from each other
discussing ways to partner on
downtown safety. That's not
police based. Right. We're
seeing that progress. We have
the budgets before us, which we
haven't had for two decades.
Right? So we are seeing forward
progress. We are seeing
movement. I completely agree
with COUNCILMAN Evan siegel. My
heart breaks. Talking to the
families. I talked to the
families of the people that die
on our streets and die on our
roadways. And nobody nobody's
heart breaks more than mine
when I have when I get to do
that. So I take that very
seriously. I was part of some
great conversations with
downtown partnership and mndot
on some quick build for connect
downtown and other things like
that. And then director alarcon
left, and those have stalled
out. And I recently have been
re reinvigorating those. A bid
is supposed to supplement
services. It's not supposed to
replace services. And I think
my position has been clear that
we are failing as a city
downtown and throughout the
city. Vision zero pedestrian
deaths are up across our city
and we need to do more. A bid
should support, should
supplement, should add some
funds to that, but they
shouldn't be the only one held
responsible when that fails.
And so I think that we are
failing as a city to keep our
roads safe. And we're watching
people die on our watch. And so
I think that the bid again, and
I would encourage them to
supplement it, but not to that
not to be fully taken over. But
at the end of the day, to me,
this is about 22,000 residents,
22,000 people that support a
budget and support the bid and
support this budget. It's a
little concerning to me that I
hear references to 11:00 at
night, and as if this is last
minute, this bill was first
made public on MAY 13th, when
the ndp appeared for a budget
committee. There have been
weeks of conversation.
COUNCILMAN Suara and I, through
at some of these meetings, have
had conversations through ndp,
have had conversations. So here
some of this concern come up in
literally in the 11th hour is
concerning to me concerning my
constituents. I appreciate the
concerns. My commitment is
still to be your ex officio
member is still to work on your
concerns. I was telling someone
earlier today that even if this
passes, this is not the end.
Holding a budget over
somebody's head to me is not
the way to make progress here.
It's to continue to collaborate,
to continue to partner. I will
continue to push. That's my
promise to everyone here.
There's more work to be done.
There's more things to be
addressed. But again, a vote
against this bill is telling
22,000 people that put money
into our budget, millions of
dollars into our budget,
telling them that we don't care,
we don't trust them, and that
we know better. And I just
think that's not fair.
Right?
Seeing no one else in the queue,
we will move to the vote. MR.
Clark, this is a resolution
several members have declared
from the floor that they will
be voting no. If we have but
one no vote on a resolution, we
do have to be on the board by
rule. And so, MR. Clark, if you
would please load the vote, sir.
Colleagues, this requires 21
votes for passage. Everyone
voted. All votes. And, MR.
Clark, please show the vote.
MR. Clark seems to be the
second time we've encountered
this issue. Can you confirm in
special council? Can you
confirm that this does indeed
require 21 votes for passage?
Special council.
Vice mayor,
under ordinance number oh 98 to
1270. Future annual budget
submitted by the district
management corporation MAY be
approved by resolution by 21
affirmative votes of the
metropolitan council.
All right.
I saw 20 affirmative votes. I
did not catch the remainder of
the vote. MR. Clark, can you
please call the vote, sir, for
the record.
20 votes in favor,
eight against. And I believe
there were two. Two abstentions.
Okay. 20 votes in favor, eight
against and two abstentions.
And this resolution has has
failed. All right. Next is.
Agenda item 11. This is
resolution 2026-2004. Sponsor
tombs and hill. This is a
resolution adopting a new pay
plan for the general employees,
the metro government of
nashville and davidson county,
excluding employees of the
board of health, the board of
education, and the police and
fire departments. Effective
JULY 1st, sponsor. Tombs. Madam
budget chair, you're recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor.
Committee reports budget and
finance voted to recommend a.
To defer to the JUNE 16th
meeting. Nine in favor, zero
against zero not voting.
Okay.
So that's a effectively a one
meeting deferral to a regular
meeting. The JUNE.
We didn't
want to confuse it with the.
JUNE.
No I appreciate that.
JUNE 16th meeting. Okay. And
for the report of the
government operations and
regulations committee chair
hill, you're recognized, ma'am.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor. We
recommended one meeting
deferral.
One. Colleagues. Okay.
I'm not sure what's going on
because I'm focused on
committee reports, but let's
please. Okay. Okay. Colleagues.
Everybody. Everybody. Deep
breath, deep breath. Hey hey
hey hey.
No no no.
No no, we're
not doing that. If people want
to have a calm discussion off
the floor, that's fine. If we
ever say take it outside in
this room, that means for a
substantive, calm discussion in
the hallway, that does not mean
for any escalation of tempers
and feelings in here.
Colleagues, from a professional
perspective. Okay, look, we
need to get it together. Okay?
Everybody take a deep breath.
It is very late. You have all
been very patient. I know that
was probably an outcome that
was not anticipated. And thus
some folks are emotional about
that. But we need to maintain
our professionalism. We are in
the middle of a committee
report. We owe the respect to
our constituents and the people
who have spent the time here
this evening. We need to
proceed through our agenda.
We're talking about pay plans.
Pay plans matter. Let's make
sure that we keep them on track
with the budget and renew our
focus so that we can hopefully
proceed and get on out of here
by midnight. Okay. Is everyone
sufficiently calm to proceed at
this juncture? Okay. All right.
MADAM Chair, I apologize. I
believe perhaps you were amid
report for government
operations.
Yes, on 2004. Defer
one meeting, five in favor,
zero against zero. Not voting.
Okay with that per rule 8.1
that will be deferred by rule
having that track with the
budget, it will be taken up at
the meeting of JUNE 16th. Next
is agenda item 12. We have a
series of pay plans here.
Resolution 2026-2005 sponsors
tombs, huffman and hill. This
is a resolution adopting a new
pay plan for the employees of
the metropolitan board of
health, effective JULY 1st,
2026. Chair tombs, you're
recognized.
Thank you, MADAM
Vice mayor. Committee reports
budget and finance voted to
recommend a deferral to the
JUNE 16th meeting. Nine in
favor, zero against zero not
voting.
Okay. And for the
report of the public health and
safety committee chair huffman,
you're recognized, sir.
Thank
you, vice mayor. Public health
and safety recommended deferral
nine in favor, zero against
zero not voting.
Okay. And for
the report of the government
operations committee again,
chair hill.
We recommended one
meeting deferral five in favor,
zero against zero not
all right. Then by rule 8.1,
this is an automatic deferral
by rule to the meeting of JUNE
16th. Next is agenda item 13,
resolution 2026-2006. Sponsor
tombs, huffman and hill. This
is a resolution adopting a new
pay plan for employees of the
metropolitan departments of
police and fire, effective JULY
1st, 2026. Sponsors tombs,
huffman and hill again, budget
chair tombs, you are recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor.
Committee reports. Budget and
finance voted to recommend a
deferral to the JUNE 16th
meeting. Nine in favor, zero
against zero not voting.
Okay.
And for the report of the
public health and safety
committee chair huffman.
Thank
you, vice mayor. I'd like to.
Public health and safety
recommended. Deferral one
meeting, nine in favor, zero
against. You're not voting.
Okay to meeting of JUNE
16th. And for the report of the
government operations and
regulations committee. Chair
hill, please, ma'am.
We
recommended a one meeting
deferral, five in favor, zero
against not voting.
All
right. So by rule 8.1, this is
a mandatory deferral by rule to
the meeting of JUNE 16th. That
is our regular meeting. So not
the meeting of JUNE 9th,
is a special called meeting.
Okay. All right. Okay. Next is
agenda item 15, resolution
2026-2008. Sponsors, tombs hill,
huffman, ewing and suara. This
is a resolution approving
application for a comprehensive
opioid stimulant and substance
abuse use site based program
grant from the U.S. Department
of justice to the metro
government acting by and
through the metro board to
implement a pilot, a pilot of a
sobering and stabilization
center to provide a coordinated,
community based response for
individuals experiencing
substance related crises and
reduced reliance on emergency
departments and incarceration
by creating a safe, appropriate
diversion option. MISS Tombs,
sponsor your recognized.
Thank
you, MADAM Vice mayor.
Committee reports budget
finance voted to recommend
approval. Ten in favor, zero
against zero not voting.
Okay.
And for the report of the
government operations
regulations committee chair
hill, you're recognized.
Thank
you, MADAM Vice mayor. We
recommended a one meeting
deferral, three in favor, two
against zero not voting.
Okay.
And then for the report of the
public health and safety
committee chair huffman.
Thank
you, vice mayor. Public health
and safety recommended approval.
Not in favor. Zero against zero
not voting.
Okay. But with the
one meeting deferral in
committee for gov ops, rule 8.1
applies such that that will be
a mandatory deferral by rule.
Again, this will be to the
meeting of JUNE 16th. Okay.
Next. Well, no, we took that.
We put that back on consent. So
not that 123 agenda item 23.
Resolution 2026-2016 sponsors
tombs, huffman and ewing. This
is a resolution approving
amendment one to a grant from
the tnnessee department of
finance and administration to
the metro government, acting by
and through the
family safety to host a
tennessee family justice
centers statewide conference to
enhance the statewide network
of family justice centers and
increase the capacity and skill
of statewide teams. MR. Chair,
you're recognized.
Thank you,
MADAM Vice mayor, budget
committee report. Budget
finance voted to recommend
approval. Ten in favor, zero
against zero not voting.
Okay.
And for the report of the
public health and safety
committee chair huffman, you're
recognized, sir.
Thank you,
vice mayor. Public health and
safety recommended approval.
Not in favor. Zero against zero
not voting.
Okay. All righty.
So I'm not sure why that was
not on consent. But if we could
be back to you, MISS Tombs, for
a motion, please.
Move for
approval.
Okay. Is there a
second?
Second.
Is there any
discussion on this item? Seeing
none. All in favor, please say
aye. Any voting? No. Any
abstaining? Okay. You have
adopted this resolution. I
believe there were abstentions
in committee which explains its
removal from consent. No
worries. Okay, now we are at
bills. That concludes our
resolutions. Now we are on
bills, on introduction and
first reading. By rule, all
items on first reading shall be
voted on at the same time,
unless requested otherwise, by
a primary sponsor or by two
other members. Do any items
need to be removed from the
collective vote? Okay, MISS
Evans, I see you there in the
queue. Now. You are recognized.
Go ahead ma'am.
Thank you, vice
mayor. I apologize because I
was not prepared with the
number, but I just need to
thank you. Item number 37,
council member haughton's bill.
Okay. Would you also like to
remove its companion 38? That
requires certain materials.
They have to.
Actually have to.
Okay. Yeah. That's fine.
They
do. Ideally they track together.
Okay. Okay, so 37 and 38. Let's
see. You are not the primary
sponsor. Are there two members
that would seek to have that
removed? Okay. I see several
seconds. Okay. That will be
taken off of first reading. Do
any other items need to be
removed from the collective
first reading vote? Okay.
Seeing none, is there a motion
for approval of all items
remaining on first
consideration? Okay, it's
properly seconded. Without
objection, you have approved
all items on first reading. All
right. Now we will go back to
those two pulled items again.
They are companions to each
other. First among them is
agenda item 37. Ordinance bl
2026-1391. Sponsors. Haughton,
porterfield, gadde, hoffmann.
Welch, tombs. Prep. Tee.
Benedict, spain. Parker. Weiner.
Vo. Bradford. Koopman. Ewing.
Johnston. Sepulveda. Evans,
cortez and hill. This is an
ordinance amending title 17 of
the metro code of laws to add
various new data center uses
and related definitions and
conditions to the zoning code
and its companion agenda. Item
38 ordinance bl 2026-1392.
Sponsor. Haughton. This is an
ordinance that requires certain
materials to be restricted in
the construction of buildings
referred to or related to. 1391
okay, sponsor horton, you're
recognized sir.
Thank you, vice
mayor. Move for approval,
please.
Okay. Okay. There's a
motion to approve. Is there a
second? Okay. All right. We're%
on to discussion. Council
member evans. You're recognized.
Thank you, vice mayor. I think
that the sponsor has brought
forth a very important piece of
legislation that is probably
very overdue. We also have
another bill that is late filed,
and the reason why I asked for
this one to come off of consent
is primarily because of the
late filed nature of the other
piece of legislation that there
it's possible that two people
or more will raise their hands
to remove that item or not
allow it to proceed to, you
know, to be considered on first
reading. And so I think, you
know, one of the things that I
feel like is important,
especially in the heightened
tension that we have just
witnessed in our body, is to
really think through even if
you don't agree with a bill, if
you don't agree, you know, with
maybe the direction of
something, being able to have a
conversation as a body, I think
isreally important, especially
when we're a diverse council of
40 people with different views,
experiences, etc. But I think
we will all be unified about
this topic. And so I think that
there's aspects of the late
filed legislation that are
important to consider. And so I everyone will
give this topic the due
consideration as we pass this
piece of legislation to also
consider, you know, the ceo of
nashville zoo and his
perspective about the late
filed bill as well. So that's
all I'm in total support of the
direction that we're headed.
Thank you.
All right. Is there
any further discussion on the
motion, the consolidated motion
to approve 37 and 38, which are
on introduction and first
reading. MISS Weiner, do you
seek to be recognized? Go ahead.
Yes, ma'am.
Thank you, thank
you. I'll be brief, I promise.
We really don't have to choose
between these two bills and the
bill that's late filed. We need
them all. We need to make sure
that we cut any opportunity out
in the imminent future. So that
we can work our way through the
long term picture of the bills
that we have filed, that we
have before us right now. We
need to think collectively. We
need to think in terms of short
term as well as long term.
Excuse me. And and so we need
to protect the zoo. We need to
protect the proposed potential
neighbors of any new data
centers that could come on
board without a moratorium, as
we'll discuss shortly. Thank
you.
All right. Any further
discussion? Again, this is a
motion to approve on 37 and 38
missiles. You're recognized.
Thank you. I'm I'm not in
support of these bills at this
time. Not because they're not
needed. I think they are. But I
do think that the upcoming bill
gives us an opportunity to
council member evans point to
have more robust conversation
as a body, to figure out what
are all the things that we'd
like to see when we're
discussing with the future of
data centers look like here in
nashville. So to take a moment
to pause, breathe, reassess,
make sure everything is in line,
and then create some new
ordinances. I think it's a wise
move. So I would be a no on
these. Thank you.
All right.
council member porterfield,
you're recognized.
Thank you,
vice mayor. I'll speak very
briefly. I rise in support of
this legislation. I would ask
my colleagues to support this
legislation as well. I know
that it's been several
references to a late filed to
some late filed legislation
that will be coming up, but
this is amendable. So if there
are things that people want to
see that are not currently in
that this can be amended on a
future reading. I'm standing
in support. Thank you.
All
right. Seeing no one else in
the queue will move to the vote.
All in favor of approval on
first of three readings of this
title 17 bill, which is
amendable in the future and can
be deferred multiple times.
3738 all in favor, please say any voting no. Any
abstaining? Okay. All right.
Several no's. That's fine. It
passes. First reading 37 and 38
have passed their first reading,
even though there is some no
votes. Okay. All right. MISS
Lee, were you you were an
abstention. Okay. All right.
Now, as just touched upon, is
agenda item or rather section
in late bills in one unnumbered
is an ordinance declaring
temporary moratorium upon the
acceptance, processing,
approval and issuance of zoning,
building or grading permits for
data center developments on
property within nashville and
davidson county. Sponsors
johnston, huffman, bradford,
evans, copan, eastlake, ellis,
rutherford, stiles, spain,
wiener, nash, webb, drawful and
gregg. In the absence of the
primary sponsor, does the
second sponsor seek to be
recognized? MR. Huffman, your
second sponsor on this bill? Do
you seek to be recognized? For
potential suspension of the
rules?
Yes. I'd like to
consider suspension of the
rules with the body.
Okay. So
there's been a motion to
suspend the rules. Chair. Cash,
did you take up the late filed
nature of this in your
committee?
Yes we did. We and
we voted to approve the late
filing and voted five in favor.
Zero against one did not vote.
Okay. So having heard the
request of the second sponsor
and the report of chair cash,
is there any objection to a
suspension of the rules? Okay,
it just takes two. And so the
rules are not suspended,
meaning that this bill will not
proceed on first reading at
this time, but it can be timely
filed for our next agenda. Okay,
next, we're on to bills on
second reading that were not on
consent. First among those is
agenda item 76, ordinance bl
2026 1356 sponsors tombs, evans,
siegel and benton. This
ordinance, amending chapter
2.24.225 of the metro code of modify appraisal
requirements for certain real
estate acquisitions made by the
national department of
transportation and multimodal
infrastructure, aka in dot and
for. Choose how you move
projects. Chair tombs. You're
recognized to get the committee
reports and then the bill
before us. Please, ma'am.
thank
you, MADAM Vice mayor,
committee report, budget and
finance voted to recommend
approval as substitute. Nine in
favor, zero against zero not
voting.
Okay. And for the
report of the transportation
infrastructure committee chair
evans. Siegel. Go ahead, ma'am.
I'm trying. I just had a
butterfinger. The train. It was
not your fault. Council member
allen, the transportation and
infrastructure committee voted.
And this is 1356 voted in favor
of the substitute. Ten in favor,
zero against. You're not voting.
And to approve a substitute,
ten in favor, zero against.
You're not voting.
Okay with
those committee reports in.
It's back to you chair tombs
for motion to get the bill
before us please.
For approval.
Is there a second? Okay. Back
to you.
Like to move the
substitute.
Second for that
motion. Anything you want to
say about the substitute.
It
changes the fees.
Okay. Is
there any discussion? Very
cogent. Is is there any
discussion on the motion to
substitute on the substitute?
Seeing none. All in favor of
the motion to substitute please
say aye. Any voting no or
abstaining. All right. And if
an abstention this is on the
substitute motion MISS Styles.
So the substitute has passed
and is on the bill. If you
would please renew your motion.
Move for approval of
substituted.
Okay. Second for
that. All right. Any discussion
on that. Okay. There's a motion
to approve as substituted on
second of three readings.
Seeing none. All in favor
please say aye. Any voting no
or abstaining MISS Styles.
That's an abstention there.
Okay. You'll be recorded as an
abstention. All right. Next on
second reading is agenda item
79. Okay. Ordinance bl 2026
1381 sponsor coupon. This is an
ordinance approving the fiscal
year 2027 gulf central business
improvement district council
member cooper, you're
recognized sir.
Thank you,
MADAM PRESIDENT. Committee
reports, please.
For the report
of the budget. Finance
comittee chair, tombs.
Budget
and finance voted to recommend
approval. Seven in favor, two
against zero not voting.
Okay.
All right. It's back to you,
MR. Koopman. For a motion to
get the bill before us.
Move
approval.
Okay. Is there a
second? Okay, so we're on to
discussion. But you have the
floor. First. You want to go to
the queue. Okay. Council member
porterfield, your first in the
queue. Go ahead ma'am. Sorry.
That's me. Go ahead.
It's all
good. Thank you. Yesterday I
had a question that I asked
publicly and I did get the
answer. So I just wanted to
like speak it into the record.
The question that I asked was
around safety. And if we knew,
was any of the money for this
going to like thp or civic or
any of those other things, and
it is not the money is going to
the downtown partnership safety
ambassadors. So I just wanted
to get that information on the
record for anyone that MAY be
wondering. So thank you.
Okay.
Is there any further discussion?
Okay. Let's see. I guess we'll
try by voice to start because
this is it's a bill in second
rather than a resolution. Okay.
All in favor of this ordinance
on its second of three readings,
please say aye. Any voting? No
any abstaining. All right. This
is passed its second of three
readings. Next we're moving
into third reading items, none
of which all of them were on
consent. And so with that, that
concludes this evening's agenda.
Our next council meeting will
be a special called meeting on
tuesday, JUNE 9th to take up
the capital improvements budget.
The joint special meeting will
be at 5 P.M. In the main
meeting with a very brief
agenda will start at six. There
will be no announcements.
Portion. Is there a motion to
adjourn? We are adjourned.
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