Jeremiah Wooten

The new Route 70 will connect from Charlotte Pike Walmart, end of line for Route 50, over to the Coley Davis Park and Ride, end of line for Route 3B, then continue to the new James Lawson High School. The route will operate on an hourly frequency from approximately 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. So, a new transit line is coming to Nashville. This can only be good news, right? Umm. Well. Yes, it is good news, but I also have some more complicated thoughts to unpack about it. (Route map from WeGo. You can view more details about the route  here ) This route will provide service to the new James Lawson High School, which is a big deal. While yellow school buses provide access to school for zoned students, having access to a WeGo route allows students from out of zone to attend the school and could provide a way home for students who are staying after for sports, clubs, or other extracurricular activities. But there are many other high schools in Nashville that don't have access to transit...

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...

The MNPS Board voted tonight to end their universal mask mandate on March 11, signing onto director Adrienne Battle's recommendation. Fran Bush voted no. Sharon Gentry was absent. I'll add an embed of the video once it's posted on YouTube. Of course, Fran Bush's "no" vote wasn't because she wanted the mask mandate to remain in effect; rather, she wanted it to be removed effective immediately. As usual, student board members Abenezer Haile and Angelie Quimbo had some of the more articulate comments of the evening. They gave some clear reasoning, provided evidence albeit anecdotal, and, most importantly, kept their comments relatively brief. But what stuck out to me most was the director recommendation part. I tried long and hard to think of a time that this board has voted against any of Battle's recommendations, and I can't think of one. Now, I haven't been watching school board meetings closely for all that long — really just the better part o...

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...