Local Activism

Democracy Denied

BY AMANDA HAGGARD | PHOTOS BY ALVINE

In a press conference on May 16, activists, organizers and other community members gathered to share concerns about recent state and local legislation.

“Over the past few months, the will of the people has been undermined to create a city more amenable to business interests, wealthy residents and tourists,” the group calling themselves the Nashville People’s Budget Coalition wrote in a release. “The people of Nashville are tired.”

On April 25, the majority of the Metro Council voted to approve the largest public stadium subsidy in U.S. history. Two recent polls found that over 50 percent of Nashville residents oppose the stadium deal, and only about 25 percent are in favor of the deal. During a five hour public hearing, 70 percent of the roughly 140 commenters spoke in opposition to the deal.

“Despite this, the majority of the Metro Council decided to back billionaires and deny democracy. This stadium deal will come at the cost of rapid gentrification, redevelopment, and displacement; increased policing and surveillance; and negative environmental effects that will disproportionately impact Black, Brown, Indigenous, low-income and unhoused Nashvillians,” the group says.

If our city’s administration and Metro Council were accountable to the people of this city, they would have truly negotiated a deal in the best interest of the people of Nashville. We demand that the Mayor and Council create an East Bank & stadium plan that prioritizes the will and needs of residents of our city who will be affected most. We demand that the Metro Council initiate an EPA Environmental Impact Study and an investigation of environmental justice outcomes alongside the EPA’s newly-created Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. To give residents a say in development near the stadium, we propose a referendum on the general obligation bonds for East Bank infrastructure.

The Tennessee General Assembly passed multiple bills during this session to actively curtail Nashvillians. When the size of the Metro Council was threatened, Metro Legal and the people of Nashville came together to fight this punitive restriction of municipal power. The state has also gutted the Community Oversight Board for which 134,135 Nashvillians voted.

The group is demanding that the Metro Council prioritize the people who call this city home.

“We urge our Council to enact a Guaranteed Basic Income pilot program to counteract the effects of increasing costs across the city. We insist that they push for increased community input in the budgeting process. We demand that democracy be defended in Nashville. We are inviting our fellow Nashvillians to join us in expressing our concern about democracy in our city,” the group wrote.