LOCAL & STATE GOVERNMENT INFLUENCE IN GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT

[nashvylle]

@MLBrumby @smeagolsfree

Is/are there any chance/rumors that the river north developers will just acquire the land from the concrete company to seal the deal for oracle? 

[smeagolsfree]

I think all things are probablyin play. I would not put anything off the table.

That company will not want to be in that area once all of this new construction starts and they realize the land is worth far more for development than its current usage. 

[MLBrumby]

I have not heard. But I guess there is a chance. The incentives game is truly competitive and Nashville has a handful of peers with which it needs to be neck-and-neck.  They'll win some and lose some... and in the end, they'll do well if they go for the big fish. Having said that, they need to communicate what/how the incentives work and make them available to all businesses, large and small... and new to town or longtime businesses.  Incentives need to be explained so that even a moron (as many of the ones who oppose them seem to be) can understand. AND (this may now be the most important thing), a good mayor/city hall/economic recruiter will be able to explain that a new company downtown doesn't necessarily mean your neighborhood doesn't get a stop sign. If that's the perception (or reality) then incentives will be perceived as a net negative. 

[LA_TN]

I guess I can post this: a top Fortune 50 company sent representatives to Nashville and was scheduled to tour the Century Farms development in Antioch for potential office space, up to 15 stories. However, after meeting with representatives from the mayor, the tour was canceled. That was around December, from what I know

[downtownresident]

12 minutes ago, LA_TN said:

I guess I can post this: a top Fortune 50 company sent representatives to Nashville and was scheduled to tour the Century Farms development in Antioch for potential office space, up to 15 stories. However, after meeting with representatives from the mayor, the tour was canceled. That was around December, from what I know

I guess Antioch isn’t a neighborhood either. 
 

Also, whomever he has meeting with these people needs to be fired/reassigned ASAP. 

Edited February 18, 2020 by downtownresident

[markhollin]

City blocks release of e-mails involving Mayor Cooper's business talks:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/24/nashville-blocks-emails-mayor-coopers-development-talks/4827549002/

[nashvylle]

8 minutes ago, markhollin said:

City blocks release of e-mails involving Mayor Cooper's business talks:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/24/nashville-blocks-emails-mayor-coopers-development-talks/4827549002/

I can understand why metro would want to withhold emails while negotiations are still ongoing, but if it’s labeled “ongoing” as a way to surpass the 44 day rule (and therefore delete the emails) then that tactic should be called out. 

[DDIG]

Good tweet thread. The report released today makes the case Nashville's problem is not spending, its anemic revenue due to a broken property tax rate:

 

 

[smeagolsfree]

Something we have been saying on here for a while now. It does not take a study to see what a blind man can see. I will bet without looking that Nashville has the lowest tax rate of all of the cities studied.

[MLBrumby]

The pressure on Mr. Cooper has begun... and he's the 'lucky' mayor to have to face it head-on.  I think that's what his 'city in default' statement was all about... priming the pump. The head-scratcher is that he burned a lot of political K (among the power brokers) in his very abrasive attempts to consolidate his suburban supporters.  But he'll soon find out that when it comes to tax hikes, they will not be appeased. Will be fun to watch. 

Edited February 29, 2020 by MLBrumby

[DDIG]

4 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

Something we have been saying on here for a while now. It does not take a study to see what a blind man can see. I will bet without looking that Nashville has the lowest tax rate of all of the cities studied.

Lowest tax rate of the peer cities by a considerable margin. Also by far the lowest percentage capturing property value increases, several of the peers are capturing taxes at a rate well above what the property value increases.

property tax is 53% of Nashville’s revenue.

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by DDIG

[smeagolsfree]

If there is a major economic turndown and tourism dollars drop, then taxes will be the only option.

[markhollin]

Nashville's government revenue not keeping pace with peer cities:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/28/nashville-revenue-not-keeping-pace-peer-cities-study-shows/4898735002/

[Mr_Bond]

The idea that a land tax should be the only source of government revenue is called Georgism.  From Wikipedia:

"Economists since Adam Smith and David Ricardo have observed that a public levy on land value does not cause economic inefficiency, unlike other taxes.^[8][9] A land value tax also has progressive tax effects.^[10][11] Advocates of land value taxes argue that they would reduce economic inequality, increase economic efficiency, remove incentives to underutilize urban land and reduce property speculation.^[12] The philosophical basis of Georgism dates back to several early thinkers such as John Locke,^[13] Baruch Spinoza^[14] and Thomas Paine,^[15] but the concept of gaining public revenues mainly from land and natural resource privileges was widely popularized by Henry George and his first book Progress and Poverty (1879).

"Georgist ideas were popular and influential during the late 19th and early 20th century.^[16] Political parties, institutions and communities were founded based on Georgist principles during that time. Early devotees of Henry George's economic philosophy were often termed Single Taxers for their political goal of raising public revenue mainly from a land value tax, although Georgists endorsed multiple forms of rent capture (e.g. seigniorage) as legitimate.^[17] The term Georgism was invented later and some prefer the term geoism to distinguish their beliefs from those of Henry George.^[18][19]"

BTW, the city of Fairhope, Alabama, was founded as a Georgist "single-tax" colony in 1894.  Again from Wikipedia, "The Fairhope Single-Tax Corporation still operates, with 1,800 leaseholds covering more than 4,000 acres (16 km²) in and around the current city of Fairhope. Despite the ideals of the corporation, the town has transitioned from utopian experiment to artists' and intellectuals' colony to boutique resort and affluent suburb of Mobile.^[7]"

[markhollin]

'Pause is not an option:' Business leaders debate Nashville's growth and future.

"[After Mayor Bill Boner's appearance on "The Phil Donahue Show,"] it was decided we’re going to be a very proactive, welcoming, pro-business city, and that’s really been the trend for the last 30 years. There’s no pulling an emergency brake on all this growth," said Tom Hooper, managing director of brokerage firm JLL's Nashville office.

Hooper continued: "[Mayor John Cooper] got a lot of votes, a lot of votes, and he has tapped into something where people are very unsettled about the growth that’s happening right now. But I think pause is not an option. We’ve got to keep moving forward."

More behind the NBJ paywall here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/03/10/pause-is-not-an-option-business-leaders-debate.html?iana=hpmvp_nsh_news_headline

[Bos2Nash]

Could someone with Nashville post paywall access post about the state shutting down impact fees on developers?? Just by looking at the headline it seems like a boneheaded move similar to inclusionary zoning ban

[smeagolsfree]

Mayor Cooper calling for major tax increase.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/31/nashville-mayor-john-cooper-first-state-metro-address-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/5093603002/?utm_source=tennessean-News Alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news_alerts&utm_term=news_alert

[MLBrumby]

Surprised (it's happening this soon)!  Not surprised (it's happening).  Just wonder what the SOF folks who backed him are thinking now. I'd guess they're vehemently against any tax increase. 

[downtownresident]

His hands are tied by the crisis and recession. I bet he comes out the other side with a new respect for what Downtown and the tourism industry brings to the table. 
 

Also announced that the MCC has agreed to kick in an additional $35 Million. 

[downtownresident]

1 hour ago, MLBrumby said:

Surprised (it's happening this soon)!  Not surprised (it's happening).  Just wonder what the SOF folks who backed him are thinking now. I'd guess they're vehemently against any tax increase. 

The comments on the livestream I watched were angry angry angry. My personal favorite was, “tax the tourists more!” What tourists are here to tax?

[DDIG]

2 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

Mayor Cooper calling for major tax increase.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/31/nashville-mayor-john-cooper-first-state-metro-address-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/5093603002/?utm_source=tennessean-News Alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news_alerts&utm_term=news_alert

 

Its a shame that this tax increase should have been in place to better the city and its services, now it will have to be used for years simply to recover from total disaster. 

[PaulChinetti]

"Perhaps the best way to avoid raising taxes is to insist that every position in Tennessee government earns minimum wage"

On the Tennessean article.

[smeagolsfree]

The state is going to be in trouble too as their revenue stream relies on sales tax collections. So they are going to have to be creative as well.  They cant do an income tax now because the state constitution forbids that.

I look for massive cuts to state spending, hiring, closing of facilities, schools, and capital improvements. They will also cut TennCare when it is needed the most when folks are out of work. 

Just waiting on that shoe to drop.

[PruneTracy]

1 hour ago, smeagolsfree said:

The state is going to be in trouble too as their revenue stream relies on sales tax collections. So they are going to have to be creative as well.  They cant do an income tax now because the state constitution forbids that.

The state has an $875 million rainy day fund as well that may cover portions of the decrease.

[MLBrumby]

3 hours ago, downtownresident said:

The comments on the livestream I watched were angry angry angry. My personal favorite was, “tax the tourists more!” What tourists are here to tax?

 Yep... I feel as though there's a reckoning coming for lots of those people. I was actually a bit sympathetic to them when they first tried to keep pavilions for what they do (it is their livelihood to many). But when the deal resulted in new pavilions and they still fought the stadium, I lost all sympathy for them.