Jeremiah Wooten

At the Jan. 22, 2024, East Bank Committee meeting, Chief Development Officer Bob Mendes laid out a set of development milestones. Just for fun, here are some countdown widgets to track how much time is left to meet each milestone. Within 2 years, start 300 residential units and 1 other building: Within 6 years, start a total of 700 residential units: Within 10 years, start a total of 1,250 residential units: ~~ Disclaimer: While I am an employee of Metro Nashville Public Schools, and therefore Metro Nashville Government, the views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer or the city.

Just months after Nashville adopted a vision zero plan, TDOT and NDOT are choosing to replace the Broadway Viaduct bridge with a seven-lane superhighway instead of providing safe convenient multimodal connections on this already high-utilized route. While this plan does call for some “slightly less than 10’ sidewalks”, the design should also incorporate dedicated and concrete protected bike lanes for use by cyclists and scooters, and other design elements to ensure safety for all road users. As you can see on Page 33 of the Nashville State of Downtown Mobility Report, this stretch of roadway is the most traveled by scooters every day: (View the full report here: https://www.nashville.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/Nashville_State_of_Downtown_Mobility_Report_FINAL_October2022.pdf?ct=1667405651 ). While the sidewalks will make a slight improvement for pedestrians, the vast majority of the 300 daily scooter trips will likely opt to ride on the sidewalk instead of on the 7-lane roadway d...

I'm planning to share a similar version of this during Metro Council's pre-budget public comment period tonight, if I'm able to get off the waitlist. I'm a middle school math teacher and the son of an accounting professor and an auditor, so budget season is actually a really fun time for me. I spend hours each month keeping track of where my money is coming from and going, and I love digging into data and seeing how the numbers for my city add up — or don't. As we enter this year's budget season, one idea that's been popping around in the news is that the Titans need a new stadium. But as a resident of Nashville and recent property owner in Nashville, I don't want to buy the Titans a new stadium. I think they can buy their own stadium. Before digging into the financial implications of this, I do need to take a moment and say that the Titans really don't need a new stadium. The Titans had one of the best seasons I can remember this year, so the stadiu...

There's been a lot of information swirling about license plate readers the last few weeks. Almost two weeks since Metro Council voted to approve license plate readers on third reading, there's some poetic justice found in the revelation that the new Tennessee license plates are invisible to LPRs at night. But whether they work or not, legislation was passed allowing them to be installed in public right-of-ways throughout Nashville. It was not surprising to see how the vote went but certainly disappointing. In a last minute campaign over the weekend proceeding the vote, Mayor John Cooper's administration was reportedly working the phones calling council members and whipping their support. Metro police chief John Drake and strangely the brand new NDOT director Diana Alarcon also threw their hats into the ring, releasing a statement urging council members to vote for LPRs. In that letter , Chief Drake made a claim that was pretty clearly false. Regardless of Chief Drake's...