Nashville Bits and Pieces

[Bark At The Sun]

3 hours ago, TheRaglander said:

Now we’re doomed 

Glad someone else saw that.   I was walking across 2nd/Demonbreun and couldnt get my phone camera ready in time.   Same group of people.

[smeagolsfree]

An idiot driving one of those things pulled out in front of me and cut off a bunch of people riding in the turn lane a couple a weeks back, and yes I had a few choice words for him. This is the same mentality that rides the scooters, that of a caveman.

[TheRaglander]

This means that soon there will be dozens of companies renting various off-road devices.   You’ll see.  Just like Vegas and Pigeon Forge. 

[titanhog]

1 hour ago, TheRaglander said:

This means that soon there will be dozens of companies renting various off-road devices.   You’ll see.  Just like Vegas and Pigeon Forge. 

Yeah...I was really hoping we wouldn't become a Branson, Pigeon Forge, Panama City Beach, etc kind of tourist place...but...too late.

[donNdonelson2]

I sent a question and the photo to the mayor’s office. Will share the response, when and if it comes.

[LA_TN]

Repost from 6/1

[titanhog]

Some thoughts I've had on the scooter situation...

1. City should have a scooter committee that includes 2-3 members from the city and then a member from each scooter company involved in Nashville so they can work together to come up with ways to keep scooters in Nashville.

2. Each company has to pay a "tax" of $X per scooter in Nashville that goes directly towards hiring "scooter officers" who are tasked with enforcing scooter rules and ticketing users.  

3. Each company must devise a 1-2 minute introduction video that pops up on your phone app the first time you use a scooter in Nashville.  To use the scooter, you have to watch the full video and take a 5 question "test" at the end to insure that you know the rules / laws of usage in Nashville...and lets the user know their ability to use this product will go away if they break the rules.  They only have to watch the video and take the test their very first time using in Nashville.

4. The "tax" on each company also goes towards installing scooter corrals around Nashville.  In certain segments of the city, you MUST return / pickup scooters in the corrals.  If you don't return to the corral, you are atomically dinged with a point.  Once you've reached a certain amount of points, you can no longer use scooters for a period of time.  Corrals will only be in the high-usage areas of town.

5. If you receive a ticket from a scooter officer, you are automatically dinged with X number of points...and you have to pay the ticket.  Also...the scooter company has to pay more "taxes" after X number of tickets are given out.

[Jamie Hall]

10 hours ago, titanhog said:

Some thoughts I've had on the scooter situation...

1. City should have a scooter committee that includes 2-3 members from the city and then a member from each scooter company involved in Nashville so they can work together to come up with ways to keep scooters in Nashville.

2. Each company has to pay a "tax" of $X per scooter in Nashville that goes directly towards hiring "scooter officers" who are tasked with enforcing scooter rules and ticketing users.  

3. Each company must devise a 1-2 minute introduction video that pops up on your phone app the first time you use a scooter in Nashville.  To use the scooter, you have to watch the full video and take a 5 question "test" at the end to insure that you know the rules / laws of usage in Nashville...and lets the user know their ability to use this product will go away if they break the rules.  They only have to watch the video and take the test their very first time using in Nashville.

4. The "tax" on each company also goes towards installing scooter corrals around Nashville.  In certain segments of the city, you MUST return / pickup scooters in the corrals.  If you don't return to the corral, you are atomically dinged with a point.  Once you've reached a certain amount of points, you can no longer use scooters for a period of time.  Corrals will only be in the high-usage areas of town.

5. If you receive a ticket from a scooter officer, you are automatically dinged with X number of points...and you have to pay the ticket.  Also...the scooter company has to pay more "taxes" after X number of tickets are given out.

Congratulations, you've just devised a better solution than the Briley administration has ever proposed!

Again -- and I know I've vented on this in the past -- but the presumably educated and intelligent men and women in Metro government should have been able to come up with these solutions without the absurd level of bumbling, stumbling and hand-wringing that they've displayed the past several months.

[PillowTalk4]

15 hours ago, titanhog said:

Yeah...I was really hoping we wouldn't become a Branson, Pigeon Forge, Panama City Beach, etc kind of tourist place...but...too late.

You took the thought right out of my head.  Nashville is first and foremost a metropolitan urban city.  City leaders and businesses shouldn't allow it to become a playground.  Especially the downtown core.  There's just too much everyday traffic in Nashville to have tourist or locals out to have fun, zipping around on the city streets in tiny, 3-wheel fun mobiles.  If you look at the picture of the one next to the tow truck in front of the JJC, notice which lane the 3-wheeler is in.  Also notice how much smaller the vehicle is than the tow truck.  Now just imagine being at intersection and the driver of the 3-wheeler decides they can speed through a traffic light or stop sign.  Traffic coming from the other side of that intersection may not even notice that vehicle.  No way should they be allowed to zip around town anywhere.  Whats to stop them from getting on the interstates?  Some will do it thinking it's a "fun" thing to do....

[MLBrumby]

Don't know if you have BBT branches in Nashville, but you do have SunTrust and a tower with its name. So the new merged company has revealed its name... sorry I just suppressed a laugh... Truist! Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with the merged water companies... Moland Springs.

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2019/06/12/bb-t-suntrust-reveal-new-name-for-merging-bank.html

[markhollin]

Nashville is one of three finalists for Quantum Health (currently in Columbus, OH) is looking at for relocation.  It could bring as many as 1,150 jobs. They are also looking at a Columbus suburb (Dublin) and Ft. Worth, TX.  No word on if they are looking for downtown or something like Williamson County.

More behind the NBJ paywall here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2019/06/13/nashville-a-finalist-for-health-care-hq-nearly-1.html?iana=hpmvp_nsh_news_headline

[Bos2Nash]

17 hours ago, titanhog said:

Some thoughts I've had on the scooter situation...

1. City should have a scooter committee that includes 2-3 members from the city and then a member from each scooter company involved in Nashville so they can work together to come up with ways to keep scooters in Nashville.

2. Each company has to pay a "tax" of $X per scooter in Nashville that goes directly towards hiring "scooter officers" who are tasked with enforcing scooter rules and ticketing users.  

3. Each company must devise a 1-2 minute introduction video that pops up on your phone app the first time you use a scooter in Nashville.  To use the scooter, you have to watch the full video and take a 5 question "test" at the end to insure that you know the rules / laws of usage in Nashville...and lets the user know their ability to use this product will go away if they break the rules.  They only have to watch the video and take the test their very first time using in Nashville.

4. The "tax" on each company also goes towards installing scooter corrals around Nashville.  In certain segments of the city, you MUST return / pickup scooters in the corrals.  If you don't return to the corral, you are atomically dinged with a point.  Once you've reached a certain amount of points, you can no longer use scooters for a period of time.  Corrals will only be in the high-usage areas of town.

5. If you receive a ticket from a scooter officer, you are automatically dinged with X number of points...and you have to pay the ticket.  Also...the scooter company has to pay more "taxes" after X number of tickets are given out.

These all sound great with the exception of returning them to specific corrals. The biggest advantage to the scooters is the fact they are a dockless system and dont have dedicated areas of return, that is literally half of the companies business model. We would have to be installing corrals on just about every city block, otherwise they will be further undermined and will truly be an unsuccessful innovation.

Everything else I agree 100% with, especially the enforcement portion. I use the scooters several times a week now and HATE the people that cannot obey the simple rules of the road. 

[PaulChinetti]

I like all the ideas except corrals but if that's what we need to do to keep them. They would have to be plentiful especially downtown. 

The areas where the corrals fall apart is if a person or group is riding home. I think that's when it's fine to park the scooter(s) on the sidewalk out of the way.

[markhollin]

Mayor Briley confirms Oracle's interest in Nashville, says talks are quiet for now. 

"They've gone quiet," Briley told the Nashville Business Journal on Wednesday. The mayor suggested company officials may have become skittish after media reported that the Bay Area-based tech giant was scouting Music City for a potential expansion, citing companies' preference to keep such deals under wraps until they are finalized.

Briley did not declare the deal dead. In fact, multiple sources familiar with the search confirmed Oracle representatives were in Nashville in early May to tour the city and look at potential office space.

In March, the Nashville Business Journal reported that Oracle, one of the nation's leading software and IT companies, was on thehunt for at least 500,000 square feet of office space, with the potential to grow to as much as twice that size. One source familiar with the search said Oracle's hub could involve 1,000 jobs, and potentially more in future phases of expansion.

Briley's comments are the first time a city official has confirmed Oracle's interest in Nashville.
 

More behind the NBJ paywall here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2019/06/13/briley-confirms-oracles-interest-in-nashville-says.html?ana=twt

[titanhog]

28 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

These all sound great with the exception of returning them to specific corrals. The biggest advantage to the scooters is the fact they are a dockless system and dont have dedicated areas of return, that is literally half of the companies business model. We would have to be installing corrals on just about every city block, otherwise they will be further undermined and will truly be an unsuccessful innovation.

Everything else I agree 100% with, especially the enforcement portion. I use the scooters several times a week now and HATE the people that cannot obey the simple rules of the road. 

But that's one of the main problems, at least in the downtown area.  Just leaving them anywhere and everywhere in such a heavily pedestrian area is causing issues.  But yes, you would have to have "corrals" in many places for it to work...but it could be done.  Either this or there needs to be some type of "middle-ground" that no one has thought of yet.  Just leaving them anywhere in downtown is a problem.

[PaulChinetti]

A corral every block or 2 blocks would still be just as effective I would think. A corral the size of one parking spot could hold like 10-20 scooters. If they made them so their kickstands didn't suck it could hold more.

Build them along with new bike lanes and it would take a lot of people's complaints away. 

[markhollin]

The scooter and bike rental companies should pay a tax that will subsidize the bike lanes that are not yet constructed on downtown streets, as well as major corridor streets that lead to areas frequented by the users (8 South, 12 South, 21st Ave. South, Broadway, Charlotte, Main Street, 5 Points area, etc. ).

[dxfret]

I recall that the various scooter companies initially offered payment to Metro Govt.  for each scooter on the streets, however Mayor Briley’s administration rejected it.  As a result today these companies are making cash contributions to the local organization Walk-Bike Nashville.  

Edited June 13, 2019 by dxfret

[e-dub]

3 hours ago, markhollin said:

The scooter and bike rental companies should pay a tax that will subsidize the bike lanes that are not yet constructed on downtown streets, as well as major corridor streets that lead to areas frequented by the users (8 South, 12 South, 21st Ave. South, Broadway, Charlotte, Main Street, 5 Points area, etc. ).

I don't think it's possible for me to agree more with this statement. A fleshed out bike infrastructure in the city would make both bicycles and electric scooters worlds safer and even more practical.

[TheRaglander]

5 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

A corral every block or 2 blocks would still be just as effective I would think. A corral the size of one parking spot could hold like 10-20 scooters. If they made them so their kickstands didn't suck it could hold more.

Build them along with new bike lanes and it would take a lot of people's complaints away. 

The corrals are great places to have them setup in the morning.   But, when people are done with them... they’re left all over.   

The bike lanes in Chicago and Atlanta seem very useful.   That would be ideal.  

[glamdring269]

Downtown is going to look closer to a scene from Mad Max well before we have sufficient bike lanes to deal with the demand for bikes, scooters, etc.

[Ingram]

16 hours ago, markhollin said:

Mayor Briley confirms Oracle's interest in Nashville, says talks are quiet for now. 

"They've gone quiet," Briley told the Nashville Business Journal on Wednesday. The mayor suggested company officials may have become skittish after media reported that the Bay Area-based tech giant was scouting Music City for a potential expansion, citing companies' preference to keep such deals under wraps until they are finalized.

Briley did not declare the deal dead. In fact, multiple sources familiar with the search confirmed Oracle representatives were in Nashville in early May to tour the city and look at potential office space.

In March, the Nashville Business Journal reported that Oracle, one of the nation's leading software and IT companies, was on thehunt for at least 500,000 square feet of office space, with the potential to grow to as much as twice that size. One source familiar with the search said Oracle's hub could involve 1,000 jobs, and potentially more in future phases of expansion.

Briley's comments are the first time a city official has confirmed Oracle's interest in Nashville.
 

More behind the NBJ paywall here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2019/06/13/briley-confirms-oracles-interest-in-nashville-says.html?ana=twt

 

It will be interesting to see if someone jabber jawed Nashville out of landing Oracle. When a company says keep quiet, they mean keep quiet. Total unprofessionalism and incompetence just because at least one person could not control their happiness emotion. The mayor's office and/or Chamber of Commerce needs to find out the person(s) responsible for leaking to the press and take action.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Ingram

[markhollin]

NBJ has an in-depth feature on the Opportunity Zones in Nashville that have been created as part of a federal plan to give tax-free development of rundown areas across the nation.

Now countless exuberant investors swarming those designated areas and hustling to strike deals this calendar year so they can reap the maximum tax benefits. Opportunity Zones instantly enhanced land values, giving those property owners the chance to attract higher-caliber buyers — and causing some developers to totally rewrite their plans.

By creating Opportunity Zones, the government is dangling unprecedented tax breaks in front of investors to funnel capital into historically low-income census tracts. A number of Nashville’s zones circle downtown, the epicenter of a surging economy that has laid bare inequality and made Nashville a more expensive place to live. The tax benefits are one more reason Nashville’s burst of development may not slow down anytime soon. 

More behind the NBJ paywall here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2019/06/13/game-of-zones-new-tax-breaks-will-spark-nashvilles.html?iana=hpmvp_nsh_news_headline

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2019/06/13/opportunity-zones-q-a-great-expectations.html?ana=twt

[Andy20]

9 is exciting to see with River North and PSC Metals site. Interesting the area just across the river from 5 is not included. I bet that hurts the Ewing development.

[smeagolsfree]

10 minutes ago, Andy20 said:

9 is exciting to see with River North and PSC Metals site. Interesting the area just across the river from 5 is not included. I bet that hurts the Ewing development.

It was never run down as all it was, was a undeveloped wooded area and that may be what it will remain..... oh sorry, they have taken down a lot of trees in hopes of kick starting something.