Dear ,

I enjoyed seeing so many of you at Tomato Fest last weekend! Thank you for keeping up the beautiful east side vibes.

Wishing wind in the sails of all of our students, as they get their new school years underway!

Please see below for some District and Metro updates.

Street upgrades all around

The redesigns of Woodland and Main/Gallatin are continuing through the planning process. Just added to this group of projects is a new effort to upgrade safety along Shelby Ave, which I am quite excited to see move forward. Since there are so many big projects happening in the district, NDOT and I will be hosting an open-house style meeting (NDOT is calling it the “District 6 Road-eo”) for everyone to look at plans for all of these projects and give thoughts and feedback. The meeting will be:

September 4th, 3:00pm-6:00pm, drop in any time, at the Shelby Bottoms Nature Center

As always, you don’t have to attend a meeting to see the plans and express your views. Emailing or calling me is just as good, and NDOT will be setting up an online portal too. Stay tuned to my social media for that.

The Gallatin Pike UDO

Since 2013, there has been an Urban Design Overlay (UDO) on the parcels along Gallatin. Yet, unlike other overlays, this UDO does not work alongside the zoning, but is instead a workaround to it. It has almost never been used, but the way it is worded allows developers to build suburban-style drive-thrus along Gallatin in ways they could not under the base zoning. Since those drive-thrus, when built, have bad effects on traffic on Gallatin and the nearby neighborhoods, and get in the way of walkable development along Gallatin, I, along with neighboring CMs Parker and Benedict, have filed legislation to eliminate this UDO.

The public hearing on this legislation will be at the Council Meeting on 9/3 (6:30pm in the Council Chamber at 1 Public Square), and it will also be heard by the Planning Commission on 8/22 (4:00pm at the Howard Office Building). Please reach out to me with thoughts and questions, and you can also write to the Planning Commission at: [email protected]

Transit is on the ballot in November

There are critical state and federal offices on the ballot on November 5, but we will also be voting on one of our most important local issues: transportation. Mayor O’Connell’s plan will make significant improvements to daily life and affordability in Nashville: We don’t have enough sidewalks! We spend too much of our time sitting in traffic. The bus is not frequent enough, and it doesn’t run late at night. It’s not safe to walk or bike in many areas. This plan addresses all of those issues, and more.

Check out the plan document. You can find the District 6-specific improvements here. This interactive map of the county is helpful and honestly just fun. The Metro resources page for the whole plan and related info is here.

I have long believed that we can no longer grow sensibly as a city without tackling transit. This is a big step toward a more affordable, and more livable, Nashville. Please let me know your thoughts and questions. I am working on setting up a community meeting about this proposal, so please stay tuned for that.

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