Nashville Bits and Pieces

[smeagolsfree]

13 hours ago, Nashvillain said:

I've ridden them downtown a couple times--shouldn't be any dumber than riding a bike downtown. Except that time I rode it on a cobblestone stretch. That was dumb

I dont ride my bike downtown anymore either unless its on a greenway, but even then, I no longer have a bike rack that fits my car.

7 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

Never thought I'd see the day Kingsport grew faster than Hendersonville. And the possibility of Chattanooga passing Knoxville in the next 10 years. 

They may be growing by annexing, not sure as that has been the way they have been growing in the past. They have been building some newer apartments downtown and rehabbing older buildings into residential, but when I was there last, I did not see a lot of new subdivisions u/c.

[deletethisaccount]

16 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

Not going to get on one.  I would rather walk because I want and need the exercise. If I want an alternative, I will bring my bike or rent one, but in downtown traffic you really have to be totally stupid to get on one. 

I live and work in SoBro, and ride them around ~10 times a week. Only ride as if I were a car, sitting in traffic, waiting on lights, never doing anything a car wouldn't do. I only ride Uber's JUMP product, check the battery levels, and check the tightness of the handlebars before actually opening the app to activate. The Segway ES4 models in sport mode are kickass hardware (when in good condition).

#1 - JUMP - Clean, well kept scooters, great core hardware, fantastic, fast, seamless app UI experience. Check for battery and decently tight handlebars and you are a scooter god among men.
#2 - SPIN - Nearly as clean and well kept, Segway ES4's, great core hardware, app experience is ok, but have had some bugs. Would recommend if JUMPs are not available
#3 - BIRD - The original Xiaomi models were great back in the day, their ES4's are not as well kept, usually pretty beat up. Wouldn't recommend usually if first two are available
#4 - LIME - Garbage. Totally gross, unkept, trash. Don't use it.
#5 - BOLT - WTF. Whoever thought the comically tall handlebars (I'm 6' 1') and horrible forced standing position had anything to do with increased safety needs their head checked. Don't ride.

That said even though I'm riding 100% safely and by the book, the beer bikes sure get a kick out of seeing a single scooter waiting at a stoplight. 

Edited May 24, 2019 by nativenashville

[jmtunafish]

10 hours ago, downtownresident said:

12 of the top 15 fastest growing are in the Nashville/Murfreesboro/Franklin MSA. Just incredible. 

Actually, 11.  Clarksville is not part of the Nashville MSA or even CSA.  Still, 13 out of the 15 largest gaining cities in Tennessee are in Middle Tennessee.  The other two are in SE TN (Chattanooga and Cleveland).

Edited May 24, 2019 by jmtunafish

[downtownresident]

4 hours ago, nativenashville said:

I live and work in SoBro, and ride them around ~10 times a week. Only ride as if I were a car, sitting in traffic, waiting on lights, never doing anything a car wouldn't do. I only ride Uber's JUMP product, check the battery levels, and check the tightness of the handlebars before actually opening the app to activate. The Segway ES4 models in sport mode are kickass hardware (when in good condition).

#1 - JUMP - Clean, well kept scooters, great core hardware, fantastic, fast, seamless app UI experience. Check for battery and decently tight handlebars and you are a scooter god among men.
#2 - SPIN - Nearly as clean and well kept, Segway ES4's, great core hardware, app experience is ok, but have had some bugs. Would recommend if JUMPs are not available
#3 - BIRD - The original Xiaomi models were great back in the day, their ES4's are not as well kept, usually pretty beat up. Wouldn't recommend usually if first two are available
#4 - LIME - Garbage. Totally gross, unkept, trash. Don't use it.
#5 - BOLT - WTF. Whoever thought the comically tall handlebars (I'm 6' 1') and horrible forced standing position had anything to do with increased safety needs their head checked. Don't ride.

That said even though I'm riding 100% safely and by the book, the beer bikes sure get a kick out of seeing a single scooter waiting at a stoplight. 

I’ll only ride JUMP or Lyft scooters. Will have to give SPIN a chance. 

[fishsticks176]

Chinese investors catching on:

https://amp.scmp.com/property/article/3001588/yield-king-real-estate-investors-ditch-new-york-la-second-tier-us-cities

[jmtunafish]

Here are the top 30 cities in Tennessee for one-year growth rate.  It's almost unreal how many are in Middle Tennessee.  There's also a very obvious urban vs. rural discord, meaning the vast majority of these cities are in metropolitan areas.  The bolded cities are in Middle Tennessee, and the italicized cities are in metropolitan areas. 

city...2018 pop...1-yr growth rate

1. Nolensville...9,012...10.36% (Nashville MSA)
2. Thompson's Station...6,114...8.83% (Nashville MSA)
3. Lebanon...35,050...8.68% (Nashville MSA)
4. Gallatin...40,457...8.31% (Nashville MSA)
5. White House...12,506...7.56% (Nashville MSA)
6. Piperton...1,832...6.76% (Memphis MSA)
7. Rossville...913...6.53% (Memphis MSA)
8. Pleasant View...4,621...4.93% (Nashville MSA)
9. Spring Hill...41,464...4.67% (Nashville MSA)
10. Townsend...443...4.48% (Knoxville MSA)
11. Baxter...1,496...4.12% (Cookeville msa)
12. Murfreesboro...141,344...3.85% (Nashville MSA)
13. Alcoa...10,499...3.65% (Knoxville MSA)
14. Franklin...80,914...3.50% (Nashville MSA)
15. Fairview...8,999...3.0% (Nashville MSA)
16. Mount Juliet...35,725...2.86% (Nashville MSA)
17. Columbia...39,376...2.83% (Nashville MSA)
18. Manchester...10,916...2.72% (Tullahoma-Manchester msa)
19. Woodbury...2,850...2.60% (Nashville MSA)
20. Oakland...8,118...2.58% (Memphis MSA)
21. White Bluff...3,606...2.53% (Nashville MSA)
22. Clarksville...156,794...2.44% (Clarksville MSA)
23. Eagleville...702...2.18% (Nashville MSA)
24. McKenzie...5,480...2.16% (Carroll County)
25. Lewisburg...12,114...2.12% (Lewisburg msa)
26. Cornersville...1,257...2.11% (Lewisburg msa)
27. Dowelltown...395...2.07% (DeKalb County)
28. Gordonsville...1,236...2.06% (Nashville MSA)
29. Cookeville...34,005...2.05% (Cookeville msa)
30. Maynardville...2,394...2.0% (Knoxville MSA)

Edited May 27, 2019 by jmtunafish

[Vrtigo]

I thought this was a nice move by Lyft. There's still a lot of work to be done, but you can't say they are completely ignorant to the problem.

(Spotted on Saturday at 3rd & Demonbreun)

[donNdonelson2]

I yelled at several riders near the Frist today. Some got off the sidewalk, most kept going...so I added obscenity to the exclamation. They will never stop!

[titanhog]

23 minutes ago, donNdonelson2 said:

I yelled at several riders near the Frist today. Some got off the sidewalk, most kept going...so I added obscenity to the exclamation. They will never stop!

I think we should all start carrying around fake snakes and when we see someone riding on a sidewalk, we throw one out in front of them and just see what happens.

 

[BnaBreaker]

I don't think it quite matched the level of scooter-pocalypse, but I remember several years ago when Segways were the latest thing, there suddenly seemed to be all kinds of guided Segway tours all over downtown Chicago... you'd be walking along peacefully minding your own business only to suddenly have this parade of helmeted dummies mindlessly following the leader whizzing past you starring up at tall buildings instead of watching where they're going... it got to the point where I started fantasizing about tossing a big thick stick in their path and cackling fiendishly as they all lost balance and toppled to the ground.  All that to say that I understand your pain, Nashville... at least to some degree. 

Coincidentally, I may understand your pain even more intimately before too long, because Chicago is starting up a scooter share pilot program in a couple weeks... we'll, uh... see how it goes... 

[East Side Urbanite]

On 5/24/2019 at 6:08 AM, markhollin said:

New data from U.S. Census Bureau:

- Nashville (within Davidson County limits) is now the 24th most populated city in the United States at 669,053, passing Portland and Memphis into the Top 25.

-  In metro area, these 5 counties ranked high in percent growth of new housing units: Wilson (7th), Williamson (10th),  Sumner (18th), Rutherford (42nd), and Maury (78th). 

More at The Tennessean here:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2019/05/24/nashville-population-growth-percent-us-census-2018-top-25-rank/1214610001/

Our roughly 670,000 folks live within about 500 square miles (the entirety of Davidson County).

Portland's 650,000 residents live within about 150 square miles.

So if you took Nashville's most "urbanized 150 square miles (downtown, Midtown, old East Nashville, Old West Nasville), i.e., the most densely populated part of Davidson County, I would estimate we would have about 450,000 people in that 150 square miles. So we have about 200,000 fewer than Portland if you try to do the fairest possible comparison.

Also, Memphis's 650,000 live within 350 square miles.

The City of Memphis is not growing but the MSA is growing slightly.

WW

 

 

 

[nashvylle]

1 hour ago, East Side Urbanite said:

Our roughly 670,000 folks live within about 500 square miles (the entirety of Davidson County).

Portland's 650,000 residents live within about 150 square miles.

So if you took Nashville's most "urbanized 150 square miles (downtown, Midtown, old East Nashville, Old West Nasville), i.e., the most densely populated part of Davidson County, I would estimate we would have about 450,000 people in that 150 square miles. So we have about 200,000 fewer than Portland if you try to do the fairest possible comparison.

Also, Memphis's 650,000 live within 350 square miles.

The City of Memphis is not growing but the MSA is growing slightly.

WW

 

 

 

What I take from the info above is that if you want a house with a yard, Nashville is more suitable for that lifestyle (for now). 

[BnaBreaker]

16 minutes ago, nashvylle said:

What I take from the info above is that if you want a house with a yard, Nashville is more suitable for that lifestyle (for now). 

A house with a large suburban sized yard perhaps.... Portland is full of single family homes with yards.  

[nashvylle]

Just now, BnaBreaker said:

A house with a large suburban sized yard perhaps.... Portland is full of single family homes with yards.  

yes. Which is what a lot of Nashvillians want and love about Nashville. 

Dallas is a city I lived in and there were a lot of houses with yards, but nothing compared to Nashville. 

Whether you look at a large yard as an amenity or an obligation, to each their own, I'm just saying if you are the type of person that wants a big yard, Nashville has them compared to other more dense cities. 

[East Side Urbanite]

2 hours ago, nashvylle said:

yes. Which is what a lot of Nashvillians want and love about Nashville. 

Dallas is a city I lived in and there were a lot of houses with yards, but nothing compared to Nashville. 

Whether you look at a large yard as an amenity or an obligation, to each their own, I'm just saying if you are the type of person that wants a big yard, Nashville has them compared to other more dense cities. 

Correct. And that is why we don't have the density of Portland (my example). Or even, to some extent, Memphis (which has less "dead space" located, say, three miles from its core than Nashville, notwithstanding Arkansas west of the river). That lack of density is changing because we are getting large-scale residential buildings in the urban core. My point is that our "city population" (which is a city/county physical form) is a bit distorted (i.e., inflated) because of its sheer mass of square miles. I would like to know our population (the overall number and the people per square miles) in the 150 to 200 square miles that surround downtown.

WW

[nashvylle]

1 minute ago, East Side Urbanite said:

Correct. And that is why we don't have the density of Portland (my example). Or even, to some extent, Memphis (which has less "dead space" located, say, three miles from its core than Nashville, notwithstanding Arkansas west of the river). That lack of density is changing because we are getting large-scale residential buildings in the urban core. My point is that our "city population" (which is a city/county physical form) is a bit distorted (i.e., inflated) because of its sheer mass of square miles. I would like to know our population (the overall number and the people per square miles) in the 150 to 200 square miles that surround downtown.

WW

Agreed.

Same analysis could be made for NYC and Los Angeles, on a density per square mile.  

[East Side Urbanite]

8 minutes ago, nashvylle said:

Agreed.

Same analysis could be made for NYC and Los Angeles, on a density per square mile.  

correct. Agree.

[MLBrumby]

Yes. And the corollary of that. The low density of the northern 80-100 square miles of Davidson County (along I-24) really brings down the average density for the whole county. 

[East Side Urbanite]

1 hour ago, MLBrumby said:

Yes. And the corollary of that. The low density of the northern 80-100 square miles of Davidson County (along I-24) really brings down the average density for the whole county. 

No question. We actually have some very solid density in some parts of the city.

The better (though far from perfect) metric for comparing populations is MSA pop figures. Still, you have to consider many factors doing that, also.

 

 

 

 

[UTgrad09]

From the 2010 Census numbers. Relevant to the current discussion.

[titanhog]

15 minutes ago, UTgrad09 said:

From the 2010 Census numbers. Relevant to the current discussion.

Yes...this.  Just because Nashville is considered to be all of Davidson County...you can not fairly judge our density by square mileage due to the fact that so much of the county is covered with terrain that is low-density terrain, at best.   UT's map gives a much clearer picture of Nashville's density.

[East Side Urbanite]

1 hour ago, UTgrad09 said:

From the 2010 Census numbers. Relevant to the current discussion.

I just re-looked (had been a while) . Great job, Kevin.

As to T-Hog's point that you cannot fairly judge our density by square mileage due to the fact that so much of Davidson County is covered with low-density terrain ... excellent point. But as Kevin noted, other cities have low-density areas too due to physical terrain limitations (Cincy and Pittsburgh come to mind) so we have to consider that Nashville's "city" population is not the only for which the pop number is distorted. Still, we have some very respectable density in some areas of our city and continue to see improvement. It's exciting to see unfold.

My fundamental point is simple: On the list The Tennessean ran, Nashville has about a 670,000 "city" population to Atlanta's 485,000 "city" population.  I assume we all know which is the larger city.

And back to Pittsburgh ... both the Burgh and NVille have about 2 million MSA pops, but the core of Pittsburgh, as Ron says, "plays so much bigger" than the core of Nashville because it has so many more tall (50 feet tall and taller) commercial buildings and so much more "vertical density." Of course, many of those Pittsburgh buildings are empty or under-utilized.

 

 

 

 

 

[PaulChinetti]

1 hour ago, UTgrad09 said:

From the 2010 Census numbers. Relevant to the current discussion.

Oooo, I wonder how much the inner core has changed in the past 10 years with all the infill and other high rises and such.

[titanhog]

1 hour ago, East Side Urbanite said:

I just re-looked (had been a while) . Great job, Kevin.

As to T-Hog's point that you cannot fairly judge our density by square mileage due to the fact that so much of Davidson County is covered with low-density terrain ... excellent point. But as Kevin noted, other cities have low-density areas too due to physical terrain limitations (Cincy and Pittsburgh come to mind) so we have to consider that Nashville's "city" population is not the only for which the pop number is distorted. Still, we have some very respectable density in some areas of our city and continue to see improvement. It's exciting to see unfold.

My fundamental point is simple: On the list The Tennessean ran, Nashville has about a 670,000 "city" population to Atlanta's 485,000 "city" population.  I assume we all know which is the larger city.

And back to Pittsburgh ... both the Burgh and NVille have about 2 million MSA pops, but the core of Pittsburgh, as Ron says, "plays so much bigger" than the core of Nashville because it has so many more tall (50 feet tall and taller) commercial buildings and so much more "vertical density." Of course, many of those Pittsburgh buildings are empty or under-utilized.

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with all you've said.  Each city is so different, for varying reasons.  Take LA and NYC.  NYC is highly dense...while LA is so spread out that it's difficult to drive and get out of its "grip."   Chicago is also very dense in comparison to LA.   Indy is so flat that when I drive through it, it feels like country, country, county and then BOOM...city.  Same goes for Omaha, NE.   

[UTgrad09]

2 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

Oooo, I wonder how much the inner core has changed in the past 10 years with all the infill and other high rises and such.

Well, the county has added 66k since that was done. 

I think the areas that are building large apartment blocks are the ones where you will see a noticeable difference in density. Downtown (SoBro, Gulch, et al) is obvious. I think Midtown will see a pretty big boost. Areas like Germantown, where they are replacing industrial with residential, and Melrose/Berry Hill, where there's a new cluster of apartments. I think parts of East Nashville will see a decent increase, but not everywhere. 

Areas seeing lots of gentrification, especially tear-downs will actually see a decrease in density -- even if some are replacing SFHs with duplexes. Wealthier smaller families are replacing poorer, larger families, and while the actual building density may stay the same, or even increase, the actual population (and density) can fall. Especially if there are a lot of short term rentals.

 

So, in short, areas with big apartment blocks or towers will likely see a big increase, and areas that are gentrifying with lots of single family homes will probably stay the same or decrease.