State of Tennessee versus Nashville, Tennessee

Running a thriving, IT city like Nashville can cause one to feel more powerful than one really is. The Metropolitan Nashville Council, currently 40 members strong, could be feeling humble right now. 

Davidson County has a consolidated metropolitan government, as do Middle Tennessee counties Trousdale (Hartsville) and Moore (Lynchburg). Trousdale and Moore are considerably smaller and are much different from Metro Nashville.

But at the end of the day, Metropolitan Nashville stands no higher than the governments of Metropolitan Hartsville and Metropolitan Lynchburg. The state legislature, known in our state as the General Assembly, has power over all Tennessee municipalities, counties, and metro governments.

Perhaps our council momentarily forgot that last year when it voted down a proposal to pitch Nashville to host the 2024 Republican National Convention. I don't recall the reasons provided for this vote, but it matters not: The council, while not officially partisan, is predominantly Democratic. The idea of hosting the Republican National Convention didn't taste good.

The General Assembly, on the other hand, is officially and predominantly Republican. It is in session annually from January through about April. When the council turned down the Republican National Committee in 2022 and opened the door for Milwaukee to host the 2024 convention, Tennessee Republican legislators fumed. Speculation immediately began about the session that just began and what it might hold in store for Nashville.

And Nashville is now eating crow. "Revenge bills" include reducing the size of the council from 40 to 20, shifting the power to appoint members of the Metro airport and sports authorities to the General Assembly, restricting the use of tax revenue currently used to pay the debt on the downtown Music City Center, and renaming part of Rep John Lewis Way after Donald Trump (Lewis was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia and had a history as part of the civil rights movement in Nashville).

My view: Our council acted in a partisan and irresponsible manner in turning down the Republican Convention opportunity. The current bills likely will pass the General Assembly and be signed into law by Governor Bill Lee. Nashville will pay the price for the council's ill-advised action.

Street names are significant, but I won't lose sleep over President Trump's name replacing Representative Lewis' name on part of a downtown street. We may or may not be better off with 20 council members instead of 40. We won't know the difference if the General Assembly appoints the members of the airport and sports authorities. The most significant bill is the tax restriction one. The council will be compelled to finance the Music City Center with other funds.

Moral of the story: Know where you stand, and stay in your lane.

James A. Rose

Publisher