Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell discusses transit issues in Green Hills, Southwest Nashville Walkability, traffic calming measures among planned solutions
NICOLLE S. PRAINO
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell wants everyone to know that there is something for them in the transportation improvement plan.
The News sat down with O’Connell to discuss transit issues in Green Hills and other Southwest Nashville areas.
One thing O’Connell noted, having grown up in the area, is that modernizing traffic signals will give significant advantages to drivers.
“When I was on Metro Council, Russ Pulley led an important effort to try to streamline that gateway to Green Hills so that you don’t have these segmented streets that are offset from one another but instead have intersection alignment,” O’Connell said.
Nashville Democrats Rep. Caleb Hemmer (House District 59) and Sen. Jeff Yarbro (Senate District 21) are set to introduce a new safe-gun-storage bill in the next year’s state legislative session.
Gun safety has been a continued focus for the two lawmakers. Earlier this year, the pair introduced HB 1667/SB 1695, which would have allowed large cities and municipalities in Tennessee to regulate the safe storage of guns left in unattended cars. That bill failed to even make it to a floor vote in Tennessee’s Republican-supermajority General Assembly. Yarbro and Hemmer held a joint press
conference Wednesday in Nashville’s Cordell Hull State Office Building, where they said they are still “fine-tweaking” the legislation, which has not yet been filed. The new bill resembles previous attempts at ensuring safe storage of guns in motor vehicles. If passed, the legislation could see citizens who fail to secure guns in their vehicles sent to courtordered training classes that promote safe storage of firearms.
“We’re not trying to punish people who are not breaking the law, except for this storage provision,” Yarbro said. “We’re trying to get them to be responsible, law-abiding gun owners.”
Hemmer spoke of his own personal experience as a student at Nashville’s John Trotwood Moore Middle School. In 1994, an accidental shooting at the school claimed the life of 13-year-old Terrance Murray — the first, and still the only, instance of fatal gun violence in a Metro Nashville public school. (A deadly Nashville shooting last year that claimed the lives of three students and three teachers took place at the Covenant School, which is a private school.) The gun that killed Murray, accidentally fired by a 13-year-old classmate, made
“It’s a big infrastructure project, but this program actually will support that intersection alignment being safer, whether or not you’re coming into Green Hills by car, but that whole corridor from I-440 coming in from the north or coming up Hillsboro road from the south or any other cross streets like Harding.”
O’Connell said drivers should feel like the overall percentage of green lights they hit will be increased to help relieve some of the traffic pain points such as those at Bowling Avenue and Woodmont Avenue or along Hillsboro Pike or Harding Pike.
“There are just going to be
Crowds rally against gun violence at the state Capitol, April 2023
PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
Hemmer and Yarbro preview
its way into the building after it was left unsecured by an adult.
“We’re really asking gun owners to do their part and make it a safer community,” said Hemmer, who touted recent gun-safety successes, including funding to provide free gun locks to citizens. “It’s really about personal responsibility.”
Nashville Mayor
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so many access points that I think get some relief,” O’Connell said. “Then overall, we should also be creating sidewalk networks along the way, too.”
O’Connell said he’s worked closely with Vice Mayor Angie Henderson and gotten to know her District 34 successor, Councilmember Sandy Ewing, who he believes shares a lot of the same goals as Henderson.
“When I met Angie Henderson, we were both just in the community kind of doing neighborhood-scale leadership, but one of her priorities was, in fact, walkability in the Green Hills and West Nashville area,” O’Connell said. “That’s still a priority for her.”
O’Connell says he recognizes not every street in the area would say that sidewalks are its top priority, but knows that, generally, many people in the area would like to see some connection. (On an interactive map online, which can be found at transit. nashville.gov, you can toggle certain views on and off to see just where the proposed sidewalks will be across the whole Metro.)
“For those people who are trying to be able to connect from a neighborhood very near to the retail center of Green Hills itself, or to access the schools or universities, whether it’s Lipscomb [University] or Julia Green [Elementary School] or those kinds of scenarios, improving those sidewalk networks in the places that do most need them is a real
initiative to combat car theft and related crimes” has resulted in 732 arrests and the recoveries of 384 stolen vehicles and 138 guns since Feb. 1 of this year.
Hemmer and Yarbro’s press conference also saw remarks from gun reform advocates from Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.
“Let’s be clear: This is a problem that we in the legislature created,” Yarbro said, citing a 2013 law that allows valid handgun permit carriers to keep guns in their vehicles in “any public or private parking area” — if the gun is “kept from ordinary observation and locked within the trunk, glove box, or interior of the person’s motor vehicle or a container securely affixed to the motor vehicle if the person is not in the motor vehicle.”
Yarbro called the law, which had no legal consequences for failing to secure guns in cars, “one of the most reckless laws that has the clearest data demonstrating its dangerous outcomes.”
that 46 guns were reported stolen from vehicles statewide in 2013. That number jumped to more than 2,000 in 2016, with nearly 30,000 guns stolen from vehicles between 2013 and 2022.
“This is one of those few places where there is an obvious, clear cause and effect of a law that was passed by the General Assembly and an effect that is felt in every one of our communities, and it’s time for the legislature to do something about that,” Yarbro said.
A 2024 report from Everytown for Gun Safety, which uses 2022 Federal Bureau of Investigation crime data, detailed that on average, at least one gun is stolen from a car every nine minutes in the United States. Memphis ranks as the top city in America for reported gun thefts from cars, while Chattanooga and Nashville came in 12th and 13th, respectively.
According to an Aug. 27 Metro Nashville Police Department release, the majority of reported gun thefts continue to come from vehicles, with 583 guns stolen from vehicles in Nashville so far this year. That is a 29 percent decrease in guns stolen from vehicles by the same date in 2023.
MNPD also reports that its “special
key to this overall program,” O’Connell said.
Right now, the mayor said there is a sidewalk project underway on the southern stretch of Bowling.
“It’s amazing to already be able to see how much enthusiasm there is for that simple thing of just a sidewalk on a major street that has connected a lot of different neighborhoods for decades, but that was almost impossible to walk along safely,” O’Connell said. “As soon as this implementation is done, it’s a great example of how just not even a full mile of sidewalk can often reconnect communities that it probably used to be easier to connect with before there wasn’t much traffic, when the streets just seemed a little quieter and slower. It’s also one of the reasons you’ve seen NDOT’s traffic calming program be so popular overall.”
The plan expands complete streets by 39 miles across the city, including along Charlotte Pike and West End. Also along West End, there will be a new frequent bus route to a proposed Bellevue transit center as well as additional bus improvement routes in the whole of the Southwest area. (On the interactive map, you can toggle certain views on and off to see where the proposed frequent network, new, express and local services will be across the whole Metro area.)
“Green Hills was, in fact, the location of our first community transit center partnership
In 2021, Tennessee’s permitless handgun bill was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee in a ceremony inside Beretta USA’s firearms factory in Gallatin. That law was criticized by the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association and Brentwood Police Department, among other law enforcement organizations.
Earlier this year, NewsChannel 5 reported
with Hillsboro High School,” O’Connell said. ”We know that a lot of Hillsboro High School faculty and staff but also a lot of the workforce in the Green Hills retail economy take strong advantage of the transit that’s already there.”
The all-access corridors that go out that direction are along West End and Charlotte Avenue. There are several park-and-ride facilities planned to help more people reach bus routes.
“The biggest things are to try to make
“During this upcoming session, we will rewrite this narrative,” said Drew Spiegel, a Vanderbilt University sophomore and 2022 Highland Park, Ill., mass shooting survivor who serves as a Students Demand Action volunteer lead. “We can ensure that Tennessee is no longer a leader in stolen guns, but a leader of common-sense securestorage policies.”
sure we take advantage of the community transit center that’s already there and online,” O’Connell said. “Vanderbilt remains one of the largest overall transit trip generators in the region. So, we know we see a lot of pedestrian activity along that VanderbiltBelmont-Lipscomb corridor. If we actually connected sidewalks all the way from 21st and West End or out to the Green Hills area, you would see that not just college students, but families would take advantage of the ability to just walk.”
State Sen. Jeff Yarbro
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
State Rep. Caleb Hemmer
PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
Mayor Freddie O’Connell unveils his transit plan, April 19, 2024
PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
Local high schools named 2024 FAFSA Champions
Eight Davidson County schools receive honor from Tennessee Higher Education Commission
117 high schools across Tennessee have been recognized as FAFSA Champions for the Class of 2024, including eight in Davidson County and six in Williamson County.
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) and the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) award the designation of FAFSA Champion to schools whose Tennessee Promise FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) completion rate exceeds 90 percent or increased by 5 percent or more over the previous year.
THEC/TSAC partnered earlier this year with dozens of education and community partners across the state to launch a special FAFSA Frenzy campaign to encourage and support all students and families in completing the FAFSA.
“Tennessee continues to be the number one state in the nation in the number of high school seniors that complete the FAFSA,” THEC Executive Director Steven Gentile said in a release. “We applaud and celebrate each of these high schools for their leadership and success.”
Local high schools honored as 2024 FAFSA Champions include: Davidson County
• Hume-Fogg High
• Hunters Lane High
• Independence Academy High School
• Lead Southeast
• Martin Luther King Jr School
• Nashville Big Picture High School
• Valor College Prep
• Whites Creek High Williamson County
• Brentwood High School
• Franklin High School
• Independence High School
• Nolensville High School
• Ravenwood High School
• Summit High School
Federal officials have announced that the FAFSA for the Class of 2025 will open on Dec. 1.
The state’s 56.7 percent college-going rate for the class of 2023 represents the largest year-over-year increase since the initial implementation of the tuition-free Tennessee Promise scholarship in 2015.
in Winter of 2024
Court finds probable cause in Vandy student’s pro-Palestine protest arrest Hearings for three other students rescheduled
STEVEN HALE, NASHVILLE BANNER
Demonstrators gather April 3 to protest Vanderbilt University’s treatment of student activists
This story is a partnership between the Nashville Banner and The News. The Nashville Banner is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization focused on civic news. Visit nashvillebanner.com for more information.
A Vanderbilt University student who was arrested and expelled following a proPalestinian student protest action in March appeared in court and took the witness stand at a preliminary hearing on Thursday, as other students sat in the gallery wearing keffiyehs to show their support.
Jack Petocz was one of three students arrested and charged with assault this spring after a group of more than two dozen entered the school’s administration building, Kirkland Hall — which was closed to the public at the time — and occupied the area outside of Chancellor Daniel Diermeier’s office on the building’s third floor. A fourth student was arrested outside the building and charged with vandalism. The protest was aimed at the university’s decision to block a student government vote on a resolution calling for divestment from Israel over the country’s war in Gaza.
After around three hours of testimony, Judge Lynda Jones ruled that prosecutors had established probable cause for the misdemeanor assault charge against Petocz, which stemmed from allegations that he pushed a community service officer and a school administrator during the incident.
His case will now move to criminal court. Hearings in the cases of the three other students were rescheduled for November as defense attorneys and prosecutors work on possible settlements.
“The court is very much a proponent and supporter of free speech,” Judge Jones said. “However, there is a line between free speech and violence.”
Petocz faces nearly a year in jail if he is convicted and possibly more if prosecutors decide to pursue a felony aggravated criminal trespass charge. Petocz denied the charges against him in court Thursday, and said the events that led to his expulsion and arrest “did not occur in a vacuum.”
“For months we had been organizing this issue,” he said. “It wasn’t just some immediate escalation. ... What I will say is that going into Kirkland Hall I had no negative intentions. I never intended to harm anyone or cause anyone to feel unsafe.”
The hearing got heated at times, with the judge and Petocz’s attorney, Ashley Brown, repeatedly arguing over the scope of Brown’s questioning. At one point, Jones admonished Brown for letting Petocz’s testimony stray from the more narrow point of the hearing.
“I feel like this has now become some sort of show for the media, with your client attempting to control a narrative,” Jones said.
Brown asserted Petocz’s right to testify in his own defense.
“If the court feels it’s necessary to excuse the media, then do so,” Brown said.
Jones said she would not remove the press from the courtroom.
The 27 students who entered Kirkland Hall on March 26 remained there, demanding a meeting with Diermeier, for nearly 24 hours before they were forcibly removed by university police. Following that incident, students maintained a proPalestinian encampment outside Kirkland Hall until the end of the spring semester. That area is now surrounded by fencing. Citing the school’s facilities department, university spokesperson Julia Jordan told the Banner that the fencing “is part of reconstruction on the Kirkland esplanade.”
Undergraduate classes for the fall semester at Vanderbilt began earlier this week.
At Thursday’s hearing, the prosecution put two university employees — the victims of the alleged assaults — on the stand to describe the events at Kirkland Hall. Tony Brown, a community service officer with the Vanderbilt University Police Department, testified that a female student approached the front door of the building and tried to gain entry by swiping an ID card. Brown said that when he opened the door to tell the student she could not come in without an appointment, two or three other students grabbed the door, allowing the larger group to rush in. As they did that, Brown said,
“It seemed like they just attacked me and bombarded their way inside the building.” Brown said he injured his wrist, requiring him to get an X-ray as well as pain relievers and “heat treatment.”
Surveillance footage from inside Kirkland Hall shows the moment students entered the building, trying to push past Brown as he first sought to close the door then tried to hold the students back. After reporting the incident to his supervisors, Brown said he went to the third floor where the students had gathered outside the chancellor’s office. At that point, Brown testified he was “verbally assaulted” by students who called him a “coward” who “only makes $20 an hour” and should join their protest.
Petocz’s attorney, Ashley Brown, walked through the video of the incident during her cross-examination of Tony Brown. In the end, he acknowledged that he couldn’t recall whether it was Petocz who made physical contact with him. Petocz explicitly denied making physical contact with Brown or interacting with him at all.
The prosecution also called Dr. Dawn Turton, the chief of staff for the chancellor’s office. She alleged that Petocz bumped into her as the students got off the third-floor elevator and that he later pushed her as she tried to block the group from entering the chancellor’s office. She also said Petocz was “screaming” that it was “their university” and that they were “coming in.”
At one point, she said, she was “body checked” from behind and lost her balance, but did not fall. Although Turton said that neither Petocz nor any of the other students threatened her directly, she described it as “a very threatening, distressing situation.”
Petocz testified that he never intentionally pushed Turton and denied that he was screaming at her. While reviewing surveillance footage with his attorney, Petocz said it was a different student who pushed Turton from behind.
Ellie Kearns, the vice president of Vanderbilt’s student government, attended the hearing in support of Petocz and sent the Banner a written statement afterward.
“The Diermeier administration has had a history of walking out of meetings with students and refusing to meet with student leaders in crucial moments,” Kearns says. “In March, they had a chance to embody the spirit of open dialogue which they have long praised. ... Instead, Diermeier’s administration continues to use their power to suppress student activism, discourage dissent of university policies, and prevent students from learning how to best use their voices to advocate for what they believe is right.”
PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
Patients wrongfully lost TennCare coverage, federal court rules
Years-long class action suit found insurance provider violated ADA, 14th Amendment
HANNAH HERNER
Following years of litigation, a federal court ruled that Tennesseans saw their TennCare coverage wrongfully terminated.
TennCare, Tennessee’s brand of Medicaid, violated the due process clause of the 14th Amendment and the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to a Monday ruling from the United States District Court of Middle Tennessee Nashville Division.
The class action suit was brought in 2020 by the nonprofit Tennessee Justice Center, the National Health Law Program, the National Center for Law and Economic Justice and the law firm Selendy Gay PLLC. The organizations brought the case on behalf of 35 adults and children for whom the state had terminated health insurance coverage without proper due process. The suit alleged that thousands lost their insurance without notice, and TennCare disenrolled nearly 250,000 children because their parents did not complete paperwork requirements.
However, shortly after the case was filed, TennCare paused yearly evaluations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
From April 2023 to March, more than 500,000 were terminated from the TennCare roll following a restatement of yearly evaluations, with more than 300,000
not responding to the renewal packet. Confusion and clerical errors impeded the process, as The News sister publication the Nashville Post reported, while “Obamacare” enrollment spiked.
In a memorandum opinion, Judge Waverly Crenshaw stated that “Poor, disabled, and otherwise disadvantaged Tennesseans should not require luck, perseverance, and zealous lawyering to receive health care benefits they are entitled to under the law.”
Michele Johnson, the Tennessee Justice Center’s executive director added, “This is a tremendous win for the plaintiffs and all TennCare members who have lost their vital health coverage due to TennCare’s unlawful policies and practices. We are proud to have stood with the courageous families that brought the case in order to protect the health coverage of many thousands of their neighbors across the state. We will continue to fight as this case moves forward.”
TennCare spokesperson Amy Lawrence told the Post that the organization does not comment on pending legal matters.
This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Post.
Tennessee not entitled to
family
planning funds, court rules
The Tennessee Department of Health would not discuss abortion with patients, so the federal government pulled its usual $7 million in Title X family planning funding in 2023.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that Tennessee is at odds with the rules of the federal grant distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services, and therefore is not entitled to those funds. The court wrote that the state had the option of either rejecting federal funding or offering patients a toll-free hotline number to access information about abortion.
Tennessee Attorney General Anthony Skrmetti sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, claiming the state was entitled to the family planning money in October 2023. His office told the Tennessee Lookout that it was evaluating next steps.
Abortion is illegal in most circumstances, save for a few carve-outs, but abortion counseling is still legal in Tennessee. Additional carve-outs failed to pass at the state legislature earlier this year. When the funding was pulled last year, Gov. Bill Lee replaced it in his budget. In addition, Planned Parenthood used a work-around to allow its Virginia branch to funnel funding to Tennessee and Northern Mississippi.
HANNAH HERNER
Shift Nashville coalition kicks off transit push Advocacy leaders lay grassroots groundwork for the mayor’s Nov. 5 transit
ELI MOTYCKA
referendum
While the sun set over a packed parking lot at the Ezell Road home of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Tequila Johnson rallied the crowd at Shift Nashville’s formal kickoff event.
“We are engaging in the community,” Johnson told the crowd Thursday evening. “We are going to multiple churches every Sunday, because we have churches, but we
don’t have sidewalks. If you want to join us, if you want to work with our organizations out in the community, sign up to canvass and volunteer.”
Johnson’s organization the Equity Alliance has joined fellow leading local advocacy groups TIRRC and Stand Up Nashville to form Shift Nashville, a campaign backing Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit
overhaul plan. That plan, titled “Let’s Move Nashville,” will appear in front of Davidson County voters as a referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The same groups that are now set on turning out votes for the Nov. 5 referendum have more regularly served as harsh critics of the mayor’s office under Megan Barry, David Briley and John Cooper.
The Thursday evening event also featured remarks from Odessa Kelly, executive director of Stand Up Nashville, and several more members of each organization, who focused on connecting the referendum with broad goals for economic and racial justice in Nashville. Shift leaders repeatedly emphasized the ongoing need for community involvement in major city projects like the transit overhaul.
Toward the end of the meeting, organizers split the room into groups to hear individual concerns and priorities related to transit. Groups consistently brought up bike and pedestrian safety, bus reliability and affordable housing near the urban core. Some suggestions — like bus-only lanes on major corridors, sidewalks and better bus shelters — are existing elements of the current transit proposal. Others — like raising the minimum wage and increasing the supply of affordable housing — speak to a large cost-of-living crisis in Nashville.
“I spoke with TIRRC at the beginning of my term about a broad collection of issues,” Mayor O’Connell tells the Scene Friday morning. “They have raised this issue as something that’s of interest to their members, that better transportation options are meaningful to them. I haven’t had any conversations with Stand Up Nashville or The Equity Alliance.”
In April, O’Connell announced the transit plan in Southeast Nashville, one of the county’s few remaining enclaves for working-class and middle-class residents. High bus ridership numbers on Nolensville Road and Murfreesboro Pike routes, both of which are slated for extensive improvements under O’Connell’s proposed transit plan, indicate that the area relies more heavily on WeGo than other parts of Nashville.
This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Scene.
Democrat LaRhonda Williams sees vouchers, gun safety as key issues in House District 65 race
HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
State House District 65 Democratic nominee LaRhonda Williams is set to face off against Republican Lee Reeves in the Nov. 5 general election for the seat currently held by retiring Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin).
In 2022, Williams unsuccessfully ran for the Williamson County Commission’s District 1 seat.
“That experience taught me that there
are people out there that are kind of brave enough to step outside the line,” Williams told The News, adding that she sees earning the support of both Democrats and moderate Republicans as an important aspect of her state House race.
“I would love to have the support of Republicans that understand that this party is changing and that it’s okay to think in the purple mindset.”
Williams previously worked with the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole and with the Tennessee Department of Corrections, where she advanced to the role of associate warden of a women’s correctional facility. In 2020, she began working with the Tennessee Department of Health.
Williams said that her experience with corrections has informed her views on increasing public gun safety training and
supporting gun reforms, including the implementation of red-flag laws and raising the age to legally purchase a rifle from 18 to 21
“Legally, once those red-flag laws are being utilized and someone has a gun taken away from them, they have every right, if the charges are dismissed or dropped, to go back before that judge and ask for their gun privileges back,” Williams said.
“I think if we were to take
Signage at Shift Nashville’s Aug. 29 kickoff event
PHOTO: ELI MOTYCKA
Nashville lands $4.7M
Federal
away the politicalness from it, and that’s going to require a lot of courage from lawmakers to say, ‘you know what, both sides agree that no one wants to take guns away.’ You just have to do it in a safe way, in the smart way.”
In a July 10 pre-primary District 65 forum, Williams said that she is “simply against [school] vouchers,” standing in stark contrast to Reeves, who was the only Republican candidate in the August primary who supported Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed voucher bill, which failed in the last legislative session and will be revived in January.
Reeves’ campaign saw a flood of provoucher “dark money” political action campaign (PAC) funding in his successful primary run, something that Williams characterized as “savage.” She added that it was “unfortunate” that Reeves’ main
for EV work
Republican opponent, sitting Williamson County Commission Chair Brian Beathard, didn’t win the Republican nomination.
“His main objective, unfortunately, is to be a spokesperson for vouchers,” Williams said of Reeves.
Williams is against arming teachers with guns, instead arguing for more funding for school resource officers, and is in support of women’s reproductive rights.
“In District 65, our education system is at stake [in this election,]” Williams said.
“I really hope that with this election people understand that you have two very dynamic candidates between myself and Mr. Reeves; you have private experience compared to public experience,” Williams continued. “You have a PAC that is investing in you to ensure that we get vouchers, and you have someone that understands that you have to use evidencebased practices to make decisions.”
funding to help replace, enhance, add chargers at 34 county-wide locations
STAFF REPORTS
Metro Nashville will receive nearly $4.7 million in federal funding to upgrade and expand the city’s network of publiclyavailable electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure and charging stations.
According to a release, the funds will be used to replace, enhance and add chargers at 34 Davidson County locations.
The United States Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration are providing the funding, with the award stemming from a 2023 application to the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program submitted by the Office of Mayor Freddie O’Connell, the Metro Department of General Services and the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure. Nashville Electric Service will collaborate in the effort.
To be called Electrify MUSIC City, the project will establish an accessible and reliable electric vehicle charging infrastructure network, with the effort to double the number of EV charging locations in Nashville. Once completed, more than 60 percent of the city’s charging locations will be located in historically underinvested areas, according to the release.
“From Choose How You Move to EV infrastructure, we’re accelerating our transportation future here in Nashville,” O’Connell said in the release.
“Thanks to this grant from the Biden-Harris administration, we have the opportunity to give those choosing to drive EVs more convenient public charging options, allowing us to tackle the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Nashville. Receiving support from the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant Program is a big win for our work to support cleaner, healthier communities and people.”
Metro General Services expects 200,000 electric vehicles on Tennessee roads by 2028. As of 2022, EVs accounted for fewer than 1 percent of all registered vehicles in Tennessee, according to vehicle
data from the state. This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Post.
An EV charging station near Nissan Stadium on the East Bank PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
LaRhonda Williams PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
The only apartment building in Belle Meade A nearly 100-year-old complex demonstrates how the affluent suburb
has maintained its exclusivity
ALEX PEMBERTON
Black sheep usually stand out more than this. The Helena Court apartment building at 527 Belle Meade Blvd. stands barely taller than the mansions that sit snugly at its sides — one a historic Tudor, the other an opulent new-build. It is a basic early20th-century courtyard apartment building that would look just as much at home in Edgefield, in Hillsboro Village or on West End Avenue. Boulevard House — which opened to residents in the 1930s as Helena Court — is as nondescript as it gets in Belle Meade, with its three stories of bricks and bay windows lacking a broad facade or pretentious ornamentation. It is not style that sets Boulevard House apart, but substance. Boulevard House is the only remaining rental apartment building in Belle Meade. How it earned this title strikes at the very heart of why Belle Meade became its own city.
FROM PLANTATION HOUSE TO APARTMENT HOUSES
The 12-unit Boulevard House sits in the first subdivision cut out from the Belle Meade Plantation. Like other turn-of-thecentury streetcar suburbs, the subdivision once included deed restrictions to establish exclusivity — such as large lots with 100foot front-yard setbacks and mandatory minimum construction costs — and forbade ownership or tenancy by “persons of African blood or descent.”
When those restrictions expired on Dec. 31, 1926, the lot was subdivided again. One new parcel was sold with a different set of deed restrictions — apartments were now allowed, though Black people were still barred from owning or occupying them — and the construction of Helena
Court soon commenced.
When the building opened to residents in 1930, it commanded among the highest rents in the region. A two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment went for $110 per month — a little north of $2,000 in today’s dollars. But four years later, as the Great Depression reached its depths, those apartments went for just $70 to $75 per month. Helena Court was the last gasp of the Roaring ’20s in Belle Meade.
The Loneliest Little House in Nashville
A ZONING CODE WITH A CITY
As economic conditions improved, a proposal for the first new apartment project in a decade alerted Belle Meade residents to the fact that the deed restrictions covering most of the enclave were to expire at the end of 1938. The apartment proposal caused a crisis — renewal of private deed restrictions was at the discretion of individual property owners, but many were intent to sell for top dollar to an apartment builder or commercial enterprise.
Though exclusive streetcar suburbs within Nashville city limits had established zoning restrictions a few years earlier, the elites of Belle Meade distrusted inner-city machine politics and disfavored the higher tax rates associated with annexation. With no county zoning ordinance, there was no easy option for a majority of property owners to impose restrictions on the rest.
Radical action was required. On Oct. 25, 1938, 397 poll-tax-paying residents of Belle Meade voted to establish a city “for the purpose of protecting property values by zoning and planning, and for no other purpose.” The first item of business: a
zoning ordinance that banned apartments and all commercial uses. The only other duty of the Belle Meade city government was basic street maintenance
To adapt the famous quip about the Prussian Army: Where most cities have a zoning code, the Belle Meade zoning code has a city.
SPLINTERS AND SATELLITES
The withdrawal of its richest enclave set off alarm bells in Davidson County and bolstered the push for county zoning — an ordinance was passed in July 1940 that covered the booming automobile suburbs extending up Gallatin Pike and across Green Hills
But county zoning did not appease the forces that drove suburban balkanization. Against appeals to civic pride and metropolitan unity, more small areas sought to defect. Tiny working-class Berry Hill incorporated with a rush vote in February 1950, driven in large part by a desire for liquor stores, which were then allowed only in incorporated cities. Critics of the 138135 vote for the “hazardous experiment” of a “sham city” warned that the town was too small and poor to financially sustain itself or provide adequate services.
Other “splinter cities” incorporated in the image of Belle Meade. As the push for citycounty consolidation accelerated, residents of Oak Hill and Forest Hills organized to preempt annexation or absorption into the city and its land-use regime. Like Belle Meade, both prohibited new commercial uses, banned apartments, and imposed large minimum lot sizes while offering limited urban services. (Nashville residents would ultimately vote to incorporate in 1962, with the Metro Government of Nashville and Davidson County being implemented the following year.)
WHAT IS A CITY? WHAT IS A SHAM?
The divergent forms and fortunes of each splinter city — officially “satellite cities” under the Metro government — are the outcomes of a natural experiment in urban governance.
The critics of Berry Hill were right: It could not sustain itself on residential property taxes alone. In 1968, just 18 years after incorporation, it rezoned its entire area to allow commercial uses — which generate taxes at 1.6 times the rate of residential property per dollar of value. Today oldtimers in midcentury ranch houses and newcomers in tall-and-skinnies peacefully coexist side by side with small businesses of all stripes. With a loose, pro-growth zoning code enabling large apartment complexes, Berry Hill grew its residential population
nearly fourfold in the 2010s. When scant wealth is not extracted from elsewhere, it must be built up from within.
Belle Meade, Forest Hills and Oak Hill have maintained their physical and cultural landscapes; each remains more than 90 percent white, and social change has come slowly. Of course, there has never been a suburb of nothing — the wealth that sustains these privileged enclaves is not generated by their mansions, but in the office buildings, stores and factories of the city its residents rejected. Perpetuation of the past is a privilege of wealth; all others must adapt to changing times.
So there Boulevard House, formerly Helena Court, stands, a tie to the past and a vision of an alternate future — a hint of how exclusivity might present, if it were not so dependent upon exclusion.
This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Scene.
LOGAN BUTTS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS NEWS REPORTER AND PHOTOJOURNALIST
NICOLLE S. PRAINO STAFF REPORTER
LISA BOLD PRODUCTION MANAGER
CHELON HASTY SALES OPERATIONS MANAGER
ELIZABETH JONES CORPORATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
TODD PATTON CFO
MIKE SMITH PRESIDENT AND CEO
BILL FREEMAN OWNER
Boulevard House PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
Onward opens Green Hills office, reaches 300 agents
WILLIAM WILLIAMS
Locally-owned Onward Real Estate has announced it has added more 300 agents since the company’s launch on June 1.
According to a release, and related to the growth, Onward has added a Green Hills office, located at 1A Burton Hills Blvd. Joni Miller will oversee the office as managing broke, joining the Onward leadership team of Jenni Barnett, Scott Cornett, Dawne Davis, Matt Ligon, Danny Anderson, Marie Parks and Bob Parks.
Miller, with more than 20 years of real estate experience, formerly worked at Nashville-based residential real estate
company Parks Real Estate. Previously, Miller served as a commercial real estate paralegal for Bass Berry and Sims.
The creation of Onward was spurred by Parks Real Estate — at which the Onward leadership team last worked — and Compass Inc. of New York having recently announced a merger.
In addition to the Green Hills location, Onward has offices in Cool Springs, Murfreesboro and Wedgewood-Houston.
This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Post.
OPINION
TICKED OFF!
CHEEKWOOD VS THE SWAN BALL
We moved to Nashville 10 yrs ago. Being near the grandkids was our primary reason. But to this ex-New Yorker building a home within walking distance of the Cheekwood Mansion, Museum and Botanical Gardens was an unexpected plus.
We couldn’t believe that this incredible cultural landmark could coexist with The Grand Ol’ Opre, Dollywood, Lower Broadway, The Country Music Hall of Fame. The Jonny Cash Museum & Music Row…yet, 1/2 million visitors visit this historic landmark every year.
They’ll never forget the 55 acre estate, it’s 30,000 sq.ft mansion, built in 1929 by the Cheek family, its world renown botanical gardens, art collection, museum, annual christmas lights, its social and charity events. It’s unbelievable.
So what’s the problem?
It’s always the money… What funds Cheekwood?
The $24 entrance fee is a bargin. Thankfully the 20,000 members who donate every year helps… , tax deductible, of course…
So in 1963, the amazing Swan Ball Charatable Group had an incredable idea… They started an annual black tie event, for all of Nashville’s rich and famous,,, raising over $1 million dollars year after year. You “had to be seen” at this nationally known Swan Ball….sound good doesn’t it? Well not so fast,“He said. she said “, followed It came to light that the charitable nonprofit running The Swan Ball has only been donating 30% of the money raised to Cheekwood, claiming that the rest pays the
cost of the event.
Cheekwood claims that the national norm for this type of philanthropy is 70% certainly not 30%. why should this interest every Nashvillian?
1- If Cheekwood is right, where is the Swan Ball money going? that’s easy. “follow the money”. open up their books and let forensic accountants see for themselves.
2- If the Ball Committee is right. and 7080 % is going to pay expenses, for the event,
a- is it really worth the effort.
b- has any money been misappropriated and ending up in the pockets of the sponsees
c- do we taxpayers subsidize Cheekwood?
d- what are Cheekwood’s real estate taxes or are they exempt.
e- if you paid $250 a ticket , thousands for a table, did you expect more money donated to Cheekwood?,
3- Don’t you think they could have run a much less expensive event and donated more to Cheekwood?
let’s not judge before the lawyers and accountants present their case.
Clean up the mess, and let all of Nashvillians and visitors and partygoers. go back to enjoying Nashville’s #1 attraction. Cheekwood!!
Maybe using the additional funds to admit us free of charge …
The comments in the Ticked Off column do not reflect the views of FW Publishing.
BID NOTICE
Sealed bids for Backdoor Pickup for Garbage and Recycling Service for the City of Oak Hill will be received by the City of Oak Hill at the City Office, Nashville, TN 37220 until 2:00 p.m., Thursday, September 5th, 2024 and then at said time and location, publicly opened.
The BID SPECIFICATIONS AND DOCUMENTS may be obtained at the City Office, at the below address. Copies are also available.
CITY OF OAK HILL
Oak Hill Office 5548 Franklin Rd, Suite 101 Nashville TN 37220
The City of Oak Hill reserves the right to reject all bids and to waive all technicalities in bidding.
City of Oak Hill
J. Steven Collie City Manager
Vanderbilt’s Pavia proves Lea right in season-opening victory
Lightly recruited
JOHN GLENNON
quarterback earns SEC offensive player of week honors
Diego Pavia didn’t receive a single FBS scholarship offer coming out of in high school in Albuquerque, N.M.
His phone wasn’t exactly blowing up two years later either, following his stint at New Mexico Military Institute.
So maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that when Pavia does find believers, he rewards them well.
That was the case at New Mexico State last season, when Pavia totaled 3,896 offensive yards, earned the Conference USA offensive player of the year award and guided the Aggies to their second 10-win season in program history.
It appears Pavia’s just as intent this year on repaying Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea, following the transfer quarterback’s performance in the ‘Dores’ season-opening 34-27 overtime upset of Virginia Tech. Pavia was named the SEC offensive player of the week Monday after accounting for 294 yards of offense (190 passing yards, 104 rushing yards) and three touchdowns against the Hokies, who were two-touchdown favorites. He threw for two touchdowns and rushed for a third, becoming the first Vandy quarterback to top 100 passing and rushing yards in the same game since Mike Wright on Nov. 12, 2022.
“I wanted to do it for [Lea],” Pavia said following the win, which snapped the ‘Dores’ 10-game losing streak and improved Lea’s overall record to 10-27.
“You can tell he’s been through a lot. [But] just having a head coach who believes in you … I told him from the day I stepped in, `I’m going to be your guy’ ... So for coach Lea to just trust me and let me ball, he really is a motivator. He’s like my biggest fan on the sideline, so I appreciate him. I just feel so good for him. We’re going to do something special here this year.”
Those words are much more believable now than heading into the weekend, when a Vanderbilt team with an overhauled coaching staff and roster had many wondering what exactly to expect of the 2024 Commodores.
One of the reasons the 6-0, 207-pound Pavia looked so comfortable so quickly in his first Vanderbilt game was because he’s playing under offensive coordinator Tim Beck, who held that same role at New Mexico State for the past two seasons.
Another, however, is the energetic confidence he exudes.
“The biggest compliment I can pay [Pavia] is … when the ball is in his hands, you’re never out of the fight,”
Diego Pavia PHOTO: DAVID RUSSELL
Diego Pavia PHOTO: DAVID RUSSELL
Lea said. “We say in this program that belief is a practice. That means your actions, no matter your circumstances, should reflect the deep belief you have that you’re going to come out with a positive outcome.
“Diego embodies that in everything he does, whether it’s the way he trains, whether it’s the way he studies film, certainly the way he competes in practice. We saw a warrior out on the field that was going to put the
game on his back.”
Pavia did just that late in the fourth quarter, with the ‘Dores trailing 27-20 after blowing a 17-0 lead. He guided Vandy on a six-play, 70-yard drive, capping it with an eight-yard scoring pass to Sedrick Alexander that tied the contest with just under two minutes left in regulation.
And even when Vanderbilt kicker Brock Taylor missed a potential game-winning, 43-
yard field goal as time expired, Pavia began overtime just as he’d finished the fourth quarter. He ran into the end zone from four yards out on Vandy’s first possession, points that would hold up for the victory when the Commodores’ defense stifled Virginia Tech’s last scoring chance.
“I thought to myself this is God’s plan,” Pavia said of the overtime. “What better way to put it in my hands and go win the football
game? I’m very blessed, highly favored. It’s all God’s doing. I’m not really supposed to be here. I’ve been doubted. I had no offers out of high school. Had to walk on to a junior college. So from here on out, it’s a chip on my shoulder wherever I go.”
This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Post.
Nashvillian Joe Delagrave leads Team USA wheelchair rugby to silver medal at 2024 Paralympics
LOGAN BUTTS
Whether you’re a certified Olympics Superfan like me or someone who enjoyed casually tuning in during primetime to check out gymnastics and swimming, you’ve likely noticed the rings-shaped void that has existed since the closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. If you find yourself missing that irresistible combination of high-stakes international competition and inspiring performances, you’re in luck. The 2024 Summer Paralympics are taking place through Sept. 8, also in Paris. And as with this year’s Olympics, there are local connections.
Nashville resident Joe Delagrave spent 13 years playing for Team USA’s wheelchair rugby squad and was a key part of winning silver in Tokyo in 2021 and bronze in London in 2012. Now the two-time Paralympic medalist is leading the team — and he’s made the often-difficult transition from player to coach look easy.
While serving as the program’s interim coach, Delagrave led Team USA to its first world championship final in 12 years at the 2022 Wheelchair Rugby World Championships. Now, after being installed as the team’s full-time head coach, he has led the United States to a silver medal in Paris.
“Going from athlete to coach and coaching some of my former peers that I played with, it’s definitely a tough transition with letting some of those peer-to-peer relationships dissipate so I could build a coach-player relationship,” Delagrave says.
“That’s a really special bond that you have. … Having that special bond off the court and on the court is so important to who you are and your identity, and removing myself from that and playing a different role as head coach took some time to adjust, but I think we’ve come a long way since that first season. I couldn’t have done this without the support from the athletes, our staff, and being able to to build those relationships.”
When Delagrave was 19 years old, heading into the sophomore season of his
Division II football career at Winona State, he suffered a spinal cord injury during a boating accident. It took time for the collegiate athlete to adjust following the injury, but when he happened upon a video of a wheelchair rugby game, he immediately wanted to get involved. Skills developed from his years playing football — physicality, hand-eye coordination, working within a team dynamic — made him a desirable wheelchair rugby recruit. Delagrave found himself fast-tracked to the national team.
“Any sport where you get to put on a USA jersey across your chest, it’s a pretty special moment,” Delagrave says. “For me, the ultimate was in 2012. I made the Paralympic roster for London, and representing our country, putting on that jersey, having my wife and parents in the stands, our newborn Braxton who at the time was 6 months old was there, it was such an honor and something that I don’t take lightly, still to this day.”
Delagrave wants to use the platform wheelchair rugby has given him to inform more people about the realities of living with a spinal cord injury. Since 2018, the Wisconsin native has been involved with Wings for Life, a nonprofit dedicated to spinal cord injury research. In September — National Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month — Delagrave will auction off a gameused rugby ball to raise money for spinal cord injury research.
“A good analogy for a spinal cord injury is the iceberg visualization,” Delagrave says.
“You see the wheelchair and you see that they have a disability, and you’re probably thinking, ‘OK, that’s not an easy thing to navigate around in an accessible world.’ But below that is all the different things that come with it, whether that’s pressure sores or regulating your body temperature or using catheters to go to the bathroom or autonomic dysreflexia and nerve pain, or whatever it is.
“There’s a lot of awesome organizations
and nonprofits out there that are doing great work,” he continues. “But it’s just great to be aligned with an organization like Wings for Life that is truly looking to help spinal cord injuries — whether that’s walking again, more
Joe Delagrave PHOTO: SUBMITTED
Analyzing Titans’ initial 53-man roster Team keeps five tight ends, three running backs among final moves
JOHN GLENNON
The Titans trimmed their roster to 53 last week, releasing more than two dozen players in preparation for the team’s Sept. 8 opener in Chicago.
The team also made a big trade acquisition, adding starting inside linebacker Ernest Jones IV from the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for a 2026 fifth-round draft pick. Tennessee traded a 2026 sixth-round pick in the deal. Jones’ addition will max out the Titans’ roster at 53.
The biggest surprise keeper was likely tight end Thomas Odukoya, who joined the organization as an undrafted free agent in 2022 as part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway program. Odukoya looked markedly better in camp this year after spending the last two seasons on Tennessee’s practice squad. He made a remarkable special-teams play in last Sunday’s preseason win over New Orleans, hustling the length of the field to knock a runner out of bounds just short of the goal line on the last play of the half.
Other so-called “bubble players” who made the roster included tight end David Martin-Robinson, edge rusher Caleb Murphy, and offensive linemen Andrew Rupcich and John Ojukwu.
Included among the cuts were cornerback Caleb Farley, a first-round draft pick in 2021 who was limited to 12 games in three seasons; wide receiver Kyle Philips, a fifth-round pick in 2022; and running back Hassan Haskins, a fourth-round draft pick in 2022, who played in 15 games during his rookie year. Defensive back Elijah Molden was also traded to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Some other notable names released included former Vols running back Jabari Small, former Vandy and Tennessee cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lolly, cornerback Tre Avery, edge rusher Rashad Weaver, cornerback Eric Garror, wide receiver Mason Kinsey, former Hillsboro High star Matthew Jackson and former Tennessee State standout Lachavious Simmons.
The remainder of the cuts, including ones made on Aug. 26: defensive tackle Abdullah Anderson, defensive lineman Quinton Bohana, defensive back Shy Carter, offensive lineman Geron Christian, linebacker JoJo Domann, offensive lineman Brian Dooley, edge rusher Khalid Duke, defensive back Keaton Ellis, defensive back Tay Gowan, wide receiver Tre’Shaun Harrison, wide receiver Kearis Jackson, defensive back Robert Javier, defensive lineman Isaiah Iton,
linebacker Mikel Jones, cornerback Anthony Kendall, wide receiver Mason Kinsey, kicker Brayden Narveson, wide receiver Bryce Oliver, edge rusher Shane Ray, linebacker Thomas Rush, wide receiver Sam Schnee, offensive lineman Cole Spencer, tight end Steven Stilianos, offensive lineman Leroy Watson and punter Ty Zentner.
The Titans also placed defensive lineman T.K. McLendon and linebacker Chance Campbell on injured reserve (not designated to return), meaning they are done for the season.
Here’s a look at the Titans’ initial 53-man roster, which will likely change before the season opener:
QUARTERBACK
Number kept: Two
On the roster: Will Levis, Mason Rudolph
Evaluation: Any doubt about whether the Titans would keep three at this position was eliminated Monday when the team traded Malik Willis — a third-round pick in 2022 — to Green Bay. The team will almost certainly add a third quarterback for the practice squad. Both Levis and Rudolph had strong preseasons. Levis enters the year as the
starter for the first time, playing in a passfriendly scheme under coach Brian Callahan after throwing for 1,808 yards in nine starts last year. Rudolph finished well in Pittsburgh last year, guiding the Steelers to three straight regular-season victories.
RUNNING BACK
Number kept: Three
On the roster: Tony Pollard, Tyjae Spears, Julius Chestnut
Evaluation: The Titans will employ a more balanced rushing attack in 2024 after eight years with Derrick Henry. Pollard and Spears have interchangeable skill sets and should get similar amounts of opportunities. Chestnut adds some power and explosive ability at the position. He’ll also need to be good on special teams, following the Titans’ decision to release Haskins, a special-teams standout. It’s certainly possible the Titans could add Small to the practice squad after releasing him.
WIDE RECEIVER
Number kept: Six
On the roster: DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, Tyler Boyd, Treylon Burks, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Jha’Quan Jackson
Evaluation: This is one area of vast improvement for the Titans, who added Ridley and Boyd during the offseason to take pressure off Hopkins. Ridley is the speedy deep threat and Boyd is the reliable slot option, a player who spent the last five seasons under Callahan in Cincinnati. Jackson adds slot capability, and speed and impact in the return game, taking the spot of Philips.
TIGHT END
Number kept: Five
On the roster: Chig Okonkwo, Josh Whyle, David Martin-Robinson, Thomas Odukoya, Nick Vannett
Evaluation: Callahan said Monday the tight-end room had evolved from a question mark at the start of the offseason to a position of strength. He wasn’t exaggerating. Okonkwo heads into his third year after posting 86 catches for 978 yards and four touchdowns in his first two seasons. Whyle appears to have made impressive strides heading into his second year and MartinRobinson was the surprise of training camp, earning a roster spot as an undrafted free agent after totaling nine catches for 113 yards in the preseason. Odukoya had a good camp, and has steadily improved over the past two years on the practice squad.
DeAndre Hopkins PHOTO: DONALD PAGE
OFFENSIVE LINE
Number kept: Nine
On the roster: JC Latham, Peter Skoronski, Lloyd Cushenberry, Dillon Radunz, Nicholas Petit-Frere, Daniel Brunskill, Jaelyn Duncan, John Ojukwu, Andrew Rupcich
Evaluation: From left to center, the Titans are much better heading into 2024, as new left tackle Latham — the seventh overall pick of the 2024 draft — should help keep Levis safer than last season. Cushenberry, too, is a bigger and better player than last year’s starter at center, Aaron Brewer. Radunz and Petit-Frere will have to prove themselves on the right side of the line, as Radunz hasn’t played a lot of right guard in his career and Petit-Frere missed most of last season. Brunskill adds veteran experience and versatility, someone who can play center or guard. The Titans will continue to develop Duncan, a sixth-round pick in 2023.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Number kept: Four
On the roster: Jeffery Simmons, T’Vondre Sweat, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Keondre Coburn
Evaluation: There is talent and size at the position, as Simmons and Sweat could form a frightening duo on the inside. Joseph-
Day was an underrated signing as well. The Titans took some injury hits here, however, and also cut Bohana and Ito. It’s possible another player is added to the group before the opener.
EDGE RUSHER
Number kept: Five
On the roster: Harold Landry, Arden Key, Jaylen Harrell, Caleb Murphy, Ali Gaye Evaluation: The Titans have to feel better about this position than they did a few weeks ago, when it appeared Key would be suspended for the season’s first six games. Key since then won an appeal, meaning he won’t miss a contest. In addition, Harrell, a seventh-round pick in April, looks like a steal after strong showings in training camp and the preseason.
INSIDE LINEBACKER
Number kept: Seven
On the roster: Ernest Jones, Kenneth Murray, Jack Gibbens, Otis Reese IV, James Williams, Cedric Gray, Luke Gifford
Evaluation: Jones’ addition will mean two aggressive, pressuring players in the starters’ roles. Gibbens is a smart, tough player behind those two. Gray, a fourthround draft pick in April, missed most of camp with a nerve-related shoulder injury.
So, when he recovers fully, the group will likely change again.
CORNERBACK
Number kept: Four
On the roster: L’Jarius Sneed, Chidobe Awuzie, Roger McCreary, Jarvis Brownlee Evaluation: The starters on the outside, Sneed and Awuzie, represent a massive upgrade from last season. McCreary and Brownlee both look like good fits in defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson’s system. Seeing Avery, Garror and Jeudy-Lally cut was a little surprising. But remember that safeties Jamal Adams has experience playing in slot and nickel packages at corner, so that may have factored into the decision-making.
SAFETY
Number kept: Six
On the roster: Amani Hooker, Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams, Mike Brown, Julius Wood
Evaluation: Hooker and Diggs appear to have good complementary skills, although it remains to be seen if communication will pose an issue after Diggs’ late signing. It’s certain that Wilson will put Adams’ strong blitzing skills to use from time to time, while Brown is a good special-teams contributor.
SPECIALIST
Number kept: Three
On the roster: Nick Folk, Ryan Stonehouse, Morgan Cox
Evaluation: The return of Stonehouse in the Titans’ final preseason game was a welcome relief for the team. Tennessee now has arguably the league’s top punter, and an accurate, experienced kicker and a Pro Bowl snapper.
This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Post.
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BUSINESS BRIEFS
Plans progress for Belle Meade Plaza redevelopment
WILLIAM WILLIAMS
Plans to reinvent West Nashville’s Belle Meade Plaza shopping center site with a high-profile mixed-use development are moving forward.
Nashville-based Adventurous Journeys (AJ) Capital Partners will seek a final site plan approval from the Metro Planning Commission, according to a document. A date for the planning commission to vote seemingly has not been finalized.
AJ Capital is calling the future development Belle Meade Village. The company paid $87 million for the property in July 2023.
The property includes a retail and office building hugging the White Bridge Road viaduct and recognized as the home of Agave’s Mexican Restaurant and Belle Meade Premium Cigars, among other businesses. The main address is 4500 Harding Pike.
The property also includes the structure housing a Kroger, with the grocery business to eventually relocate to the former Belle Meade Theater building, the space last occupied by a Harris Teeter.
AJ Capital officials could not be reached for comment.
AJ Capital’s plan includes four buildings of between 100 and 150 feet tall. One of the proposed buildings will include 78 hotel rooms and 388 residential units. Smaller buildings will front Harding Pike.
As previously reported, the incorporation of Richland Creek as a water feature and river walk are planned. About 60 percent of site will be devoted to green and open space.
To supplement the effort, a Nashville Department of Transportation study shows multiple streetscape improvements AJ Capital plans to incorporate. These include the widening of a portion of Harding Pike and the alteration of signal light placements to improve traffic flow.
Opened in 1961, the two-level modernist Belle Meade Plaza and the Kroger structure sit on roughly 10.57 acres. Belle Meade Plaza includes about 205,500 square feet and represents one of Nashville’s first mixed-use buildings (retail on level one and office on floor two) oriented in a suburban manner, with the structure separated from the street by surface parking.
This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Post.
Bellevue-area apartment complex
sells for $88.2M Virginia company seemingly makes initial foray into Tennessee with purchase of The Lodge
WILLIAM WILLIAMS
A West Davidson County garden-style apartment property located near retailer McKay’s Nashville that sold for nearly $70 million seven years ago has changed ownership hands once again, this time for $88.2 million.
According to a Davidson County Register of Deeds document, The Lodge Bellevue’s new owner is affiliated with Richmond, Va.based General Services Corp. The company
website lists 64 apartment properties located primarily in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
The purchase seemingly represents General Services Corp.’s initial foray into Tennessee. Company officials could not be reached for comment.
The seller was Atlanta-based multifamily investment and management firm Cortland Partners. The company, as
Belle Meade Village as seen from the intersection of Harding Pike and White Bridge Road PHOTO: AJ CAPITAL
noted, paid $69,552,000 for the property in December 2017, acquiring it from a partnership created by Westplan Investors, also based in Atlanta. Westplan acquired the property in April 2015 for about $4.35 million, according to Metro records.
Opened in 2017 and previously called Accent Bellevue, The Lodge Bellevue has an address of 645 Old Hickory Blvd. and sits on about 30.5 acres. It offers 322 units, with the transaction the equivalent of about $274,000 per apartment (a figure that is on par with those marks of similar and recent apartment sales).
The aforementioned McKay’s — known for its large selection of used books, CDs and DVDs — operates across Old Hickory Boulevard from The Lodge entrance.
The News sister publication the Nashville Post was unable to determine if brokers were involved in the transaction.
This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Post.
Dallas company pays $17.8M for south side apartments
Silverado now owns Woodbine property that previously changed hands in 2022 for $21.9M
WILLIAM WILLIAMS
A South Nashville garden-style apartment complex that sold for $21.9 million in May 2022 has now changed ownership hands for $17.8 million.
According to a Davidson County Register of Deeds document, the new owner of Residences of Woodbine Park is Dallas-based Silverado Interests. The purchase seemingly represents the company’s only Nashville property (though it owns a Chattanooga apartment complex, according to its website).
The seller was Austin-based GVA Property Management. The company seemingly is facing financial challenges,
according to The Real Deal, which could explain its seemingly having taken a loss in the transaction.
The address of Residences of Woodbine Park, which opened in 2018, is 311 Carter St. The complex sits on 3.55 acres near the northeast corner of Nolensville Pike and Thompson Lane in Woodbine and just north of Metro’s Coleman Park.
According to its website, Silverado Interests oversees real estate investments, capitalized at $4.7 billion, in 21 U.S. states. Among the investments are 31 apartment properties.
A Nashville-based development group
led by Nick Alder created an LLC to acquire the former lumberyard site for $1.33 million in 2016 and then redeveloped the site with Residences of Woodbine Park.
At 92 units, the transaction is the equivalent of about $193,500 per apartment. The 2022 deal was the equivalent of $230,043 per unit.
The News sister publication the Nashville Post was unable to determine if brokers were involved in the transaction.
This article was first published by our sister publication the Nashville Post.
Auctioneer champion leads Nashville-area school
HANNAH HERNER
Auctioneer Shane McCarrell says the chanting that his field is known for is only about 10 percent of his job — but he is quite good at it.
The Tennessee native was recently crowned champion of the National Auction Association’s annual conference and show.
Four times per year, he teaches auctioneer hopefuls as the owner of Nashville Auction School. Prospective students come from surrounding states and spend an intensive nine days (85 hours) to earn an auctioneer license.
During the training, prospective
auctioneers learn the basic chant. Slowed down, they’re saying something similar to:
“I’m bid 10, would you give 15? I’m bid 15, would you give 20? Now 20.”
As long as someone is bidding, it’s easy, McCarrell says. The harder part is when nobody filling lulls. That strategy is different for everyone. He’s been known to tell a joke in the middle of the chant. McCarrell insists he is not speaking as fast as people think; it is just in a manner that people are not used to.
“A lot of people think that you need to be able to sing, or you need to be able to have rhythm,” he tells The News. “I don’t have any
rhythm. Never have. And I can’t sing a lick.”
Students also learn contract law, Federal Trade Commission guidelines, commercial codes and other legalities to become a successful auctioneer. For charity events, auctioneers are paid a flat fee or donate their time, but in most other instances, auctioneers get around 10 percent commission on the items sold.
Some of the time, McCarrell says, he’s a counselor. He helps people transition into retirement, mourn a loss, or manage their expectations toward what their items are actually worth. Silver dollars aren’t worth as much as a seller may have hoped, but vinyl record players and records have appreciated some in value. It is part of his job to keep track of those trends, and he uses that knowledge to run online auctions as well as in-person events.
“The public just sees that we talk fast, and that’s super fascinating,” McCarrell says. “People love that. We are working hard to say we’re not just the dancing chickens on a Saturday morning that get up there and talk fast. We’re truly embedded in the community and helping people get as much money as they can because sometimes it’s all they got.”
Auctions aren’t just for the famous four Ds: dead, divorced, in debt and destitute, McCarrell insists. It’s a way to make clear to the buyer and seller how much something is actually worth.
“If you think about any business dealings that you’ve done, either in the real estate world or even in the car business, a lot of the negotiations are done behind closed doors. You never really know what the other party is doing,” he says. “In the auction method, you get to make a decision based on all the
facts that we bring to the table. Everyone is working on the same level playing field.”
The career is a second act for McCarrell, a U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army veteran who had to discharge in 2012 due to a traumatic brain injury. Dabbling in storage auction flipping, he found comfort in the auction environment and became the first in his family to get involved in what’s typically a generational field.
Auctioneering, one of the oldest professions in the world, and Middle Tennessee, is very accustomed to the process because of its use in the tobacco industry, he says.
McCarrell says auctioneering saved his live and gave him purpose again. It’s part of the reason he bought the school after having learned there himself. A father of five daughters, he’s also proud that Nashville Auction School has about 40 percent female students, outpacing the national percentage of less than 10 percent female auctioneers.
The field is changing, in part because younger generations do not accumulate as much as their grandparents did, and do not stay in the same place as long.
“Antiques are still in high demand, but they’re tougher to sell because 30 years ago, they were really expensive, but now, because they’re not in such high demand, they’re not garnering as high of prices as we’d like to see,” McCarrell says.
Product knowledge matters, he says, but the starting price is less of an issue. Let the human propensity for competition take over.
“What I like to say is, ‘it doesn’t matter where we start, it just matters where we end,’ right?” he says. “So I like to say ‘start low,’ because if I can get you interested, I can get you bidding, I can get you excited, it’s more likely that you’re going to continue.”
Shane McCarrell PHOTO: NICOLE BISSEY PHOTOGRAPHY
Chocolate Sour Cream Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Glaze
BY EDIBLE NASHVILLE
Grated zucchini makes this cake super moist, and of course is abundant this time of year. This recipe is excerpted from The
INGREDIENTS
3 cups grated zucchini (about 2 smallish ones)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all - purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter a 9- by 9-inch cake pan.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Combine the sugar, butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla in another large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the ingredients on medium-high for 2 minutes, until well blended. Alternately add the dry mixture and the sour cream to the egg mixture, blending after each
1/2 cup vegetable oil or light olive oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 ¼ semisweet chocolate chips
ACROSS
1 Sluglike “Star Wars” bad guy
6 Man, on the Isle of Man
11 Number cr uncher, for short
14 Gar licky sauce
15 Cer tain bib wearer
16 Played the first card
17 Television pro
19 “... ___ lack thereof ”
20 Passionately discuss minutiae, with “out”
21 Bares one’s soul
23 Expose the vulnerabilities of, in a way
26 Each
28 Benjamin Franklin, by religious philosophy
29 Grandchild of Adam and Eve
30 Copy
32 The first two digits of every Brooklyn ZIP code
33 Cable channel with its own awards show
34 Goes (for)
35 Like T.S.A. lines on holiday weekends
37 Over look, as a flaw
39 Eat plenty of
42 V ideo streaming giant
43 Fly high
44 N.Y.S.E. debut
45 Shaving cut
47 Downright
49 Full of oneself
68 Afflictions that rhyme with the body par ts they’re found in
69 Isn’t settled DOWN
1 Vaccine, informally
2 Word with France or Force
3 What it would be a mistake to write twice?
4 Valuable Scrabble tiles
5 Right hand, so to speak
6 Actor in “12 Years a Slave” and “12 Monkeys”
36 Boat propeller
38 ___ face
39 Duck delicacy
40 Great wor k
41 Something that’s not going to happen
43 Bill Clinton’s is displayed at the Smithsonian, for short
45 Caught
46 T ime when glaciers form
48 Gym session devoted to squats, dead lifts, etc.
49 It’s a ball
51 Powers (down)
57 Tanker, e.g.
60 Before, poetically
61 “Mushnik & ___” (“Little Shop of Horrors” song)
62 Extra-cr usty piece of bread
63 Bad thing to make of oneself
on low speed. Add the zucchini and mix gently. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes (for 9-inch pan, or 40 minutes for 9x13-inch pan), until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool.
4. For glaze, heat cream in a small saucepan, add chips. Remove from heat and let stand 1 minute, whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cake
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50 Aftereffects from working out
52 C.F.O. or C.I.O
53 Currency of Colombia
54 Strong squeeze
56 Rave (about)
58 Where shots are taken
59 Song from “The Little Mermaid” that’s a phonetic hint to interpreting the answers to the starred clues
64 Part of a whichcame-first debate
65 Pageant accessory
66 Straightens things out, say
67 Discussion star ter?
7 ___ Cr uces, N.M.
8 Ocean creatures with three hear ts
9 Label for a box during a household purge
10 Messed up
11 *Not moving fast enough
12 Read over
13 Gets used to new surroundings
18 *Increases sharply 22 Highlighter colors, usually
23 Traps, with “in” 24 Before: Prefix 25 *Rip off
Meditation mantras 31 *Like 10%-fat beef
34 Wood used to age brandy
55 Textbook section
ANSWER TO PUZZLE
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Harvest Baker by Ken Haedrich with photography by Johnny Autry.
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SERVICE & MAINTENANCE
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Harpeth Conservancy’s Dinner IN the Creek
BY CARRINGTON FOX
PHOTOS BY DANIEL MEIGS
As Harpeth Conservancy celebrates 25 years of science-based conservation for the rivers of Tennessee, the non-profit rather adorably sited its annual fundraiser in a creek. Not on a creek or by a creek. Not along or beside a creek. Rather, Dinner IN the Creek promised a toes-in-the-water affair smack in the middle of a babbling stream.
Winding through the 600 wooded acres of Bell’s Reserve in Kingston Springs, Spring Hollow Creek made a poetic setting for an al fresco dinner party featuring 72 guests, live music from Brother and The Hayes, a silent auction, and paella-and-steak dinner by BAMFoods Catering, all among sculptural paper flowers and twinkling lights swagged above a Tennessee waterway.
Silent auction items included a dinner party for six catered by BAMFoods, portrait sitting with Kevin Wimpy, paper flowers by Raskull Creations, and a glamping experience at Bell’s Reserve, which fronts on a mile-and-a-half of Harpeth River and offers hiking and biking trails, fishing and an off-road SUV course. Bell’s Reserve set
up a luxury camper for guests to explore before bidding.
Among the evening’s many thoughtful details, cocktail hour included blackberrysage concoctions with choice of tequila or vodka, along with locally produced Maypop Sparkling Water and beer from Little Harpeth Brewing. Get it? Because local waterways are at the heart of Harpeth Conservancy’s work.
For a quarter-of-a-century, Harpeth Conservancy—previously known as Harpeth River Watershed Association—has pursued its mission to restore and protect healthy water and ecosystems for rivers in Tennessee by employing scientific expertise and collaborative relationships to develop, promote, and support broad community stewardship and action. With that essential goal in mind, founder and president Dorie Bolze toasted the rustically elegant outdoor evening with The Conservancy’s mantra: “We are the river. United we are the solution.”
This article was first published by our sister publication NFocus.
Five free and cheap family things to do in Middle Tennessee
BY AMANDA HAGGARD
This week, we keep you outdoors on your journey to find fun things to do with earlier in the day on Sept. 7. The Royal Family Community Farmers Market also
Brewery. That event is free, but there’s no way you’re not going home with a bag full of goodies for later.
As part of our series on free cheap things to do with the family, here is our weekly roundup of places to spend time together over the next week:
GREEN HILLS PARK FESTIVAL
The annual Green Hills Park Festival, which is in it’s eighth year, is slated for Sept. 7 from 5-9 p.m. The event will include booths from local shops, family-fun activities like learning to juggle and face painting as well as plenty of food trucks, beer and wine vendors, screenings of college football games, and a family movie to cap the evening off.
THE CHILDREN’S ENTREPRENEUR MARKET
The Children’s Entrepreneur Market will be set up in two spots in Middle Tennessee on Sept. 7: Streets of Indian Lake in Hendersonville from 9 a.m. to noon and Green Hills Park from 4:30-7:30 p.m. The program teaches young folks about
and handle money. Kids learn how to engage with folks and develop skills for small businesses.
ROYAL FAMILY COMMUNITY FARMERS MARKET
Through October, the Royal Family Community Farmers Market will be set up on the first Saturday of each month. The community is invited to check out live music, local vendors, handmade goods and more.
CHEESE FESTIVAL
Greys Fine Cheeses is hosting its first Cheese Festival on Sept. 8 at Southern Grist Brewery. The afternoon will include artisan and farmstead cheesemakers, award-winning cheeses and cured meats from the United States and abroad. This one may be for your older kids, but there’ll be plenty of snacks for the whole family.
THE NASHVILLE FAIR
The Nashville Fair is coming to town for 10 days beginning on Sept. 6. The event at The Fairgrounds Nashville includes rides,
Green Hills Park Festival PHOTO: FRIENDS OF GREEN HILLS PARK
Opera on the Mountain
BY JANET KURTZ
PHOTOS SUBMITTED
On an evening in late June, all of nature seemed to be in harmony. At the Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory supporters of the Nashville Opera gathered on the beautiful evening for Opera on the Mountain. The annual event takes audiences out of the familiar confines of the theater and offers a more broad sensory experience.
As guests arrive with their favorite picnic dinners for an evening of opera, the sun was already low in the sky and birds were settling in for the evening. Friends and families gathered around picnic baskets, opened bottles of wine and settled in for what promised to be a beautiful evening of song. Just before the performance, John Hoomes, CEO and artistic director at the Nashville Opera took the stage and speaking to the sold out crowd, thanked the audience for their continued support. The Nashville Opera not only celebrates the art of music and song with rich and vibrant performances throughout the year, the organization also takes opera on the road to communities and
schools throughout the state to expand the experience to a broader audience.
As each professional took the stage the night became filled with the stunning and soulful sounds of voice. Soprano Dee Donasco began the evening with “Je veux vivre” from Romeo et Juliet. Dee was followed by Mezzo-Soprano Sarah Antell and her rendition of the always popular “Habanera” from Carmen. The Nashville Opera often blends Broadway and popular songs at Opera on the Mountain and this evening was no different. In addition to Steven McCoy performing “Not While I’m Around” from Sweeny Todd, Sarah also performed “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl. All were accompanied by Stephen Carey on piano. The evening was made complete by the finale as the crowd joined in to sing “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” from The Sound of Music.
This article was first published by our sister publication NFocus.
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