Dear ,

Happy New Year! I hope you all got a chance to relax over the holidays and spend some time with friends and loved ones. Here’s the first batch of updates for what will probably be a busy 2025 for Nashville—and please remind your friends and neighbors that they can sign up for these updates at claycapp.com.

The East Bank Authority

After a lengthy legislative process, the East Bank Authority, a body designed to manage the decades-long development of the East Bank, which we discussed throughout last year, is getting up and running. (But never fear, the process isn’t done yet—they don’t have any assets, staff, or money, so we still have to craft agreements and legislation for all of that!) But a big encouraging step in the right direction came with the appointments to that authority made last month by Mayor O’Connell.

As you know, one of my top priorities has been to make the east side voice heard in everything related to the East Bank. That means the perspective of east side residents should be represented on the East Bank Authority—because, while it is a big deal for the whole region, it impacts us day-to-day. So please join me in thanking Mayor O’Connell for appointing two phenomenal District 6 women: Mona Hodge, architect, project manager, and builder of affordable housing; and Kaitlin Dastugue, expert on human-centered design and longtime advocate for neighborhoods.

Joining the council’s appointment of Scott Tift, labor lawyer and stalwart defender of Nashville, there will be three brilliant District 6 voices on the authority. Alongside the council’s other appointee, Nate Carter, one of the city’s foremost organizers and voices for working people, we’ve got this authority off to about as good a start as we could have hoped.

The council’s East Bank Committee is continuing its own work and I will continue to stay vigilant and active. The next East Bank Committee meeting is on 1/22 at 4:00pm in the Council Chamber (1 Public Square).

Upcoming Public Hearings

There are two District 6 items with public hearings before the council coming up:

• Back before the holidays, I held a public meeting about a proposed mixed-use development at 751 South 5th Street, which is near the Cayce community. Thank you to everyone who came to that meeting, or who reached out to me separately. After hearing positive feedback from the neighborhood, including that the proposal will support the long-term goals of the Cayce redevelopment, I became supportive of it, and it will be considered by the council at the 1/21 meeting.

• As you may have seen, there is a new tenant in Bay 6 at The Wash (McKennie and Gallatin). It’s called Fly Pelican Fly, and they have begun the process for getting a beer permit (the previous tenant sold alcohol too). The council will consider the matter at the 2/4 meeting.

Council meetings are held at 6:30pm in the Council Chamber at 1 Public Square. Everyone is welcome to speak at these public hearings, but I understand that it’s not always easy or possible to attend a meeting, so reaching out to me directly with feedback counts too!

School Voucher Proposal is Back

The proposal to defund public education through a taxpayer-funded subsidy for the private or parochial school education of only certain students is back before our state legislature. I have filed a resolution for the council meeting on 1/21 opposing this defunding of our schools; I hope others can learn from Nashville’s experience here, where the state-imposed voucher has taken support away from our students without improving educational outcomes at all.

Nashville can stand with the many other counties and school boards across the state speaking out against this proposal. You can too: contact your state representatives to let them know we should be increasing our support for public education, not decreasing it!

As always, please reach out to me directly at [email protected] or 615-864-0008. You can also use Hub Nashville for an array of city services and other Metro requests. 

Hope to see you soon. Yours in service, Clay