EVENTS
Election Day is November 5. In addition to the presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump , there are races for US Senate, Congress, and State Senate and Representative. The Senate race is between Marsha Blackburn and Gloria Johnson. Nashville is now split into three congressional districts. District 5, which is the southeast third of the county is contested between Maryam Albofazli and Andy Ogles. District 6, the northeast portion of the county, is between Lore Bergman and John Rose. District 7, the western part of the county is between Megan Barry and Mark Green. Check out the map below to see where the districts are
Additional state races can be found on the sample ballot https://www.nashville.gov/sites/default/files/2024-09/Sample_Ballot_November_5_2024_Elections.pdf?ct=1726085007 Early voting runs from October 16 through 31. The last day to request an absentee ballot is October 29. Find everything you need to know at the Election Commission website https://www.nashville.gov/departments/elections/services/find-2024-election-information
Election Signs can be a useful indication of support for a candidate or issue when they are deployed in compliance with the local regulations. In Davidson County, signs should be place only on private property with the permission of the property owner. Signs on public right of way are in violation and may be removed by NDOT or Metro Codes. Signs should be removed by 10 days after the election. The metal parts can be recycled at any of Metro’s four convenience centers at 939A Anderson Ln, 943A Doctor Richard G. Adams Dr, 3254 Ezell Pk, 1019 Omohundro Pl. The plastic parts can be cleaned and taken to Turnip Green Creative Use at 1413 3rd Ave South.
Nashville’s Transit referendum is also on the ballot. A proposed half cent increase in the local sales tax would fund better Service, Signalization, Safety, and Sidewalks. Specifically bus service would be improved with higher frequency, longer hours, more crosstown buses, and twelve new transit centers to link multiple routes together. This will make it possible to get to more places in Nashville any time of day or night without having to go downtown. It will also speed up the construction of sidewalks that connect to transit. For those who may never ride the bus, it will improve the operation of over 600 traffic signals and improve safety at Nashville’s 35 most dangerous intersections. The referendum will allow Davidson County voters to approve a dedicated source of funding through a half cent increase in the local sales tax. Because of Nashville’s tourist base and large commuter population, more than half of this revenue will be paid by tourists and commuters, who are using our infrastructure and should help pay for it. Nashville is one of only 4 major cities that don’t have dedicated funding for transit. This has been a disadvantage when applying for federal transportation funds. Now Nashville will be competitive in our grant applications, enabling us to leverage our local funding and access money that we’ve paid into. As a council member, I have already voted to put this on the ballot. After studying the proposal, I am fully supportive, and I encourage everyone to vote FOR better transportation options for everyone. Learn more about this on the Transit website. Request a sign here .
WeGo semi-annual route and schedule changes are scheduled to start Sunday, Oct 6. The only route adjustments is on 71 Trinity – eastbound routing change; buses traveling eastbound on Clarksville Highway turn right on Cliff Drive, continue left on Cliff Drive, and turn right on Buena Vista Pike to directly serve the Kelly Smith Towers (effective June 2). There are schedule adjustments for 3 West End, 6 Lebanon Pike, 14 Whites Creek, 18 Airport, 42 St. Cecilia/Cumberland, 52 Nolensville Pike, 84 Murfreesboro, 86 Smyrna/La Vergne, 93 Star West End Shuttle . Customers can access information, including schedules, at WeGoTransit.com .
The Nashville Public Education Foundation is accepting applications for its 2025 Teacherpreneur program. Teacherpreneur is a unique cohort experience designed to harness your creativity and provide professional learning to build out your innovative ideas. Through five interactive and highly engaging sessions, Teacherpreneurs will deepen their understanding of root causes of inequities in our schools, build strategies for getting buy-in and support when creating change, develop their solutions using design thinking principles, and create implementation plans for their ideas. This application is open to any Nashville public school teachers and other certificated non-administrative staff (librarians, counselors, etc.). Cohort work sessions are in January and February. The program culminates in a pitch event in early March. Applicants with questions about the program or the application process can visit nashvillepef.org/Teacherpreneur or email Colleen Gilligan at Colleen.Gilligan@nashvillepef.org. Applications are due November 10, 2024.
ISSUES
Hurricane Helene: How to Help
The recent impacts of Hurricane Helene have left us all heartbroken as many parts of East Tennessee, western North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, and South Carolina have been completely devastated, including the loss of over 115 lives. UT’s County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) has compiled a variety of links below that are accepting either monetary or item donations. If you have any questions about donations, please contact the organizations below.
How You Can Help Currently - monetary donations are the best way to help as they can be deployed quickly and flexibly to meet changing needs. Per TEMA, impacted counties do not have the capability to receive material donations or additional volunteers at this time. Do not self-deploy; it hinders disaster relief operations in impacted counties. Stay up to date: TEMA Hurricane Helene webpage FEMA Hurricane Helene webpage
Donations - Money Northeast Tennessee:
Click here to donate to the United Way of East Tennessee Highlands Disaster Relief Fund.
Western North Carolina: Click here to donate to the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County Disaster Relief Fund.
Southeastern United States: United Way Worldwide has established a fund to direct resources to local United Ways addressing critical needs across affected states. Click here to donate.
Donations - Items
Currently, monetary donations are the best way to help as they can be deployed quickly and flexibly to meet changing needs. Please see below for the most up-to-date list of donation centers. Before bringing supplies, please contact the county to determine what the communities needs are:
CARTER COUNTY - (423) 542-1801 Elizabethton Parks and Rec 300 West Mill Street 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
UNICOI COUNTY - (423) 743-9391 Donation Drop -Off Center: Evergreen Free Will Baptist Church 910 Hoback Street Erwin, TN 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Donation Pick up sites: Southside Freewill Baptist Church 1313 Chestoa Pike Erwin, TN Temple Hill Elementary School 797 Old Hwy Road Erwin, TN Flag Pond School 917 Old Asheville Highway Flag Pond, TN 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
WASHINGTON COUNTY - (423) 753-1850 Crossroads Baptist Church 1300 Suncrest Dr. Johnson City, TN 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (seven days a week)
Volunteering - TEMA urges civilians not to self-deploy to disaster areas, as road conditions remain dangerous and unplanned arrivals can hinder organized relief efforts. The American Red Cross is recruiting volunteers to support temporary shelters in Northeast Tennessee. Training is required. Click here for more information. Please check the United Way volunteer webpage as volunteer opportunities become available. Also check the Hurricane Helene page on the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) webpage for opportunities. There is also information on helping those impacted by Hurrican Milton as well.
The Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) has announced a new Tactical Urbanism program that supports and facilitates community-led installation of temporary transportation projects in neighborhoods. Also known as “planning by-doing” or “pop-up urbanism,” tactical urbanism has been present in Nashville for over the past decade. A prominent example is the Civic Design Center’s ‘PARK(ing) Day Nashville’ project, where street parking spaces are repurposed once-a-year into small parks and places for art and public gathering. A more local example is using haybales, plastic planters, and paint to set up a temporary traffic circle to see how neighbors and drivers respond. Potential applicants should first review the contents of the Tactical Urbanism Guide to become acquainted with design guidance for the program. Community organizations and neighborhood groups can then submit a project to be considered for funding by sending a Tactical Urbanism Permit Application to tactical.urbanism@nashville.gov. Applicants who would like to be considered for project funding should select “Yes” on the question “Apply for Tactical Urbanism Program Funding?” Project applications will be reviewed and funded on a quarterly schedule. Applications can be submitted on a rolling basis but must be submitted by the quarterly submission deadline to be considered in each quarterly review. Projects not funded in a particular quarter are eligible for reconsideration in subsequent quarters. Four projects will be selected in the first funding cycle of the program and decisions will be announced by mid-September. The next quarterly submission deadline is targeted for mid-to-late November 2024. For more information on Tactical Urbanism, visit Nashville’s Tactical Urbanism Program webpage.
Any citizen can help fix problems affecting a Metro Nashville property, right-of-way, or street by reporting to HUB Nashville. This on-line reporting tool can be used for codes violations, potholes, street light outages, and many other nuisances and system issues. To report a non-emergency issue, visit hub.nashville.gov or call 311.
Members of the public are always welcome to attend council meetings, and there is an opportunity for public comment at the beginning of each committee meeting and the council meeting. Since there are limited time slots available, speakers are encouraged to sign up ahead of time.
September and October are bird migration months. In 2021 Nashville signed an Urban Bird Treaty, and last year the Metro Council issued a bird safe resolution (RS2022-1471) to encourage building and homeowners to minimize unnecessary lighting, which will reduce bird strikes against windows. Nighttime light pollution often leads to collisions with buildings, confuses birds’ internal clocks, and interferes with their ability to undertake long-distance migrations. Birds are an important part of our ecosystem, pollinating our flowers and crops, eating insects, and providing free music. The local Audubon Society chapter is encouraging businesses and homeowners to sign the LIGHTS OUT NASHVILLE pledge to turn all all unnecessary exterior lights during these crucial months . Homeowners can sign the pledge and see how you can help protect migrating song birds at www.birdsafenashville.org.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. One out of eight women will be affected by breast cancer in their lifetime. Early detection can mean the difference between an effective cure and a much worse outcome. Yearly mammograms are recommended for all women over the age of 40.
Council members have been receiving lots of emails about the streetlight replacement project. Most are concerns about excessive brightness. There are differences between the output levels of fixtures on residential streets versus corridors and highways. Fixtures actually differ not just between the type of area, but also depending on the individual application (corner vs straightaway, presence of turn lane vs not, etc.). All fixture decisions are analyzed by NDOT who provides the direction to NES (and then to the contractor) regarding what fixture needs to be installed in which location. In most instances, preference has tended more towards providing increased pedestrian and driver safety (i.e. greater brightness) but where appropriate, purely residential areas are kept to a minimum level of output. Residents can use the following links depending on the nature of the request: • Regarding fixtures that have already been installed: hubNashville – Street Lighting • To obtain additional information related to the streetlight conversion project itself: NashvilleStreetlights.com
The Centers for Disease Control recommends everyone six months old and older get a flu vaccine, preferably before the end of October. Flu shots are available at most doctors’ offices and at CVS and Walgreens. Walk-ins are available, but scheduling an appointment may save time. Many businesses have programs for their employees. Flu, RSV, and COVID-19 vaccines can be taken at the same time. Vaccination is still seen as the best way to avoid serious complications from disease.
Metro has close to 80 Boards and Commissions that provide citizen input and oversight to many departments through their volunteer members. Members are nominated by the mayor or vide-mayor and confirmed by the Metro Council. There are openings on the Procurement Standards Board, the Community Review Board, Metro Development and Housing Authority (MDHA), Solid Waste Regional Board, and Transportation Licensing Commission. Registered Nashville voters can indicate interest on the board’s website .
Fall brings a special set of challenges to Metro’s storm water system. Keeping leaves and debris out of the street can go a long way to keeping the system functioning well. In the older parts of Nashville, the storm sewer and sanitary sewer were built in the early 1900’s as a combined system. Leaves that get into the system make their way to the sewage treatment plant and add a lot of unnecessary load to what has to be treated and disposed of. In other parts of the city everything in the storm drain goes straight to the river including leaves, sticks and trash. Please remember not to blow your leaves into the street. Metro will pick them up if they are bagged in compostable bags, which can be bought at most hardware stores. Report clogged drains at hub.nashville.gov. Metro Water also has a street sweeping program. The Street Sweeping Schedule is published monthly on Metro’s Open Data website . Click on the “View Data” button, and then filter by your district. You should be able to find your street and when it will be swept. Moving cars off the street on sweeping day will help Metro Water Services get debris and leaves off the street before they end up in the storm sewer system and clog it up.
Football and soccer fans can ride WeGo bus free to home games on weekends. For Titans games, the 4, 14, 23,and 56 routes from Shelby, Whites Creek, Dickerson, and Gallatin Pikes go right to the stadium. Most other routes end at WeGo Central at 4th and Charlotte, and fans can walk or take the shuttle from there. For Soccer, the 56 Nolensville route and the 77 Thompson/Wedgewood routes go right by Geodis Park. There are also park and rides for $2 from Murfreesboro and Antioch Get details at WeGo/Titans and WeGo/NSC .
I hope everyone’s fall is off to a great start. Please let me hear from you about your ideas and concerns. Reach out to burkley.allen@nashville.gov or 615-383-6604. Sign up for my newsletter at www.burkley.org
Burkley Allen
Metro Council At-Large