Nashville Bits and Pieces

[satalac]

The map of Nashville and Murfreesboro has updated on my phone.

[Salbato]

I'm using the Android Google Maps app.

[UTgrad09]

Last Preds homegame today.  Also could be Trotz's last home game as well. 

 

When you go to sleep tonight think of all the little Hawks fans who will be pumping money into our economy via hotels, booze, bail money, and court fees.

 

Glad we beat those a-holes 7-5. Exciting game. Hopefully most of the Hawks fans are arrested.

[jmtunafish]

No kidding!  I was downtown last night for something else and couldn't believe a) how lively and energetic downtown Nashville has become, and b) how many obnoxious Blackhawks fans there were.  Don't get me wrong, if I lived in Chicago I'd probably take every opportunity to leave town, too, but geez they were everywhere.

[smeagolsfree]

It was crazy when I was down there around 2 pm too. Blocks an blocks of people everywhere.

[BnaBreaker]

No kidding!  I was downtown last night for something else and couldn't believe a) how lively and energetic downtown Nashville has become, and b) how many obnoxious Blackhawks fans there were.  Don't get me wrong, if I lived in Chicago I'd probably take every opportunity to leave town, too, but geez they were everywhere.

 

Yes, it's hell up here...please...don't come!!  (kidding!)

 

All jokes aside though, the more hardcore Hawks fans (which I assume you'd have to be to travel to their road games) do generally tend to be douche bags, in my experience.  lol

Edited April 13, 2014 by BnaBreaker

[arkitekte]

Yes, it's hell up here...please...don't come!!  (kidding!)

 

All jokes aside though, the more hardcore Hawks fans (which I assume you'd have to be to travel to their road games) do generally tend to be douche bags, in my experience.  lol

 

Most are actually transplants or bandwagon fans. Generally fans that actually travel are fairly respectful, at least I know I am. The "Keep The Red Out" was the biggest embarrassment that I've experienced as a fan. That's generally the outcome when you have on ownership group that doesn't rely on their actual franchise to make them their money. Until that changes, Bridgestone will continue to be United and Scottrade South. The game a few weeks ago against the Blues was pretty bad too. 

[UTgrad09]

Part of that has to do with team success. It wasn't that bad a few years ago. No matter what team you are talking about, fan interest tends to wane when the team performance is poor. The casual fans aren't going to spend big bucks to watch a poor product. When the Hawks were terrible in the early 2000s, it would have been no problem for opposing fans to grab up large chunks of seats in their barn.

 

 

The other thing we have going for (or against, depending on perspective) is that we are a popular weekend vacation spot for hockey fans. Word has gotten out to quite a few fanbases that Nashville is a great town for an away game (primarily because of the entertainment district). There are a few really well located arenas in the NHL, but I can't think of any that have the type of bar district we have literally right outside the front door.

[timmay143]

Part of that has to do with team success. It wasn't that bad a few years ago. No matter what team you are talking about, fan interest tends to wane when the team performance is poor. The casual fans aren't going to spend big bucks to watch a poor product. When the Hawks were terrible in the early 2000s, it would have been no problem for opposing fans to grab up large chunks of seats in their barn.

Was going to say the same. Teams travel better when they are doing well.

[arkitekte]

 

The other thing we have going for (or against, depending on perspective) is that we are a popular weekend vacation spot for hockey fans. Word has gotten out to quite a few fanbases that Nashville is a great town for an away game (primarily because of the entertainment district). There are a few really well located arenas in the NHL, but I can't think of any that have the type of bar district we have literally right outside the front door.

 

There are a couple, but they're all in cities much larger than Nashville. My brother lived in LA for a few years and I was able to catch a few Kings games out there, LA live is right next door and that has to be the worst bar scene/ entertainment scene I've experienced (not trying to knock it, even though it sounds that way).

 

The same goes with the NBA. I think that Nashville and Memphis both have solid atmospheres when it comes to the pregame/postgame drinks without having to walk more than 2 minutes. I clown Beale for being fake and I clown Broadway for being a little overboard with the "cowboy" scene, but they work, they draw a crazy amount of tourists, and they're good for the city. There are other options for the residents of both downtowns if they don't want to get caught up in the tourist crowd. 

Edited April 13, 2014 by arkitekte

[grilled_cheese]

Yep, I remember very well when Chicago's only offense hope Martin effin Havlat.  Hawks fans didn't show their faces down here back then.  Same with St Louis.

 

Last night just hammered the point home that they need to close Broadway to foot traffic only.  There will be a SXSW type incident if they don't.

 

Nashville and Memphis are "lucky" to have their arenas smack dab in the middle of downtown/bar district.  There are so many instances where other franchises arenas are in the middle of a parking lot.  No fun.

[nashvylle]

The Preds really ran into some bad luck this year, Rinne was out 52 games... Despite all of that, if they end up holding onto their lead against minnesota, the Preds would potentially miss out of the playoffs by 1 point...

 

I have no problem at all with Chicago and other teams fans coming to Nashville, as the Predators are competitive and the fans are into it. All those teams fans are coming to Nashville and seeing what a great city we have. 

 

When I lived in Dallas, there were always tons and tons of opposing team's fans at cowboys games... in their old stadium and their new one. 

Edited April 14, 2014 by nashvylle

[Griz83]

I'm not sure if anyone has posted about this but Google Maps has updated the Nashville image!

 

Told you that we'd probably see an updated aerial this year.  I didn't realize it would be that soon, though!  Looks like it was flown sometime in the fall.

[Salbato]

I found a Google site that shows recent satellite updates I'll try to post the link here.

 

 

http://maps.google.com/gallery/details?id=z4f-ZuCLmiKg.kz3qtKM-Oia4

[smeagolsfree]

Thanks for the link. I also added the link to the above post for you.

 

Going to be exciting times. They are going to have to continually update the image for sure as I am hearing about even more exciting things coming down the road. I  just have to wait till these go public before anything can be said. Some may not go public, but if they do, and a couple should very soon, then we will have a little more to be excited about.

[bwithers1]

Speaking of Google, the Council is working on legislation that is currently going through first reading on Tuesday to make Nashville attractive and competitive for Google Fiber.  The legislation includes creating a definition in the Metro Codes of a "communications hut."  Then the Council will have to select the locations where the "communications huts" will be located and will sign lease agreements with Google to operate those in various parts of the county.

Edited April 14, 2014 by bwithers1

[MLBrumby]

The Kissam college dorms are massive!!  

[bwithers1]

In other random Nashville news, there is a resolution up for reading at Tuesday's council meeting that would place a referendum initiative on the upcoming ballot to amend the Metro charter to reduce the number of council seats from 40 (35 District, 5 At Large) to 27 (24 District, 3 At Large) starting with the 2015 elections.

[smeagolsfree]

The Kissam college dorms are massive!!  

A large project to be sure. Very nice mass of buildings and height. One of my favorites in Nashville.

 

 

In other random Nashville news, there is a resolution up for reading at Tuesday's council meeting that would place a referendum initiative on the upcoming ballot to amend the Metro charter to reduce the number of council seats from 40 (35 District, 5 At Large) to 27 (24 District, 3 At Large) starting with the 2015 elections.

What are your thoughts, Brett. Should we keep it the same or reduce. I don't have a dog to walk in this parade and would be interested in everyones take.

[bwithers1]

A large project to be sure. Very nice mass of buildings and height. One of my favorites in Nashville.

 

 

What are your thoughts, Brett. Should we keep it the same or reduce. I don't have a dog to walk in this parade and would be interested in everyones take.

My personal take is that having more council members (at least District council members) increases the ratio of council members to constituents and so in theory the more council members there are, the more responsive to the public they can be.  Whether or not the council members are responsive to their constituents or the Mayor is a matter of considerable debate in Nashville.  

 

But whereas in Chicago the city council positions are fully paid positions with district office buidings and at least one administrative staff, not counting the Cook County Commissioners and the Parks and Forest Preserve Commissioners, Nashville's council members get paid a few hundred dollars per month plus benefits. I don't think that the cost of the council member salaries and benefits is out of line with the amount of work that they are asked to do on top of their day jobs.  OK, several are retired police officers and such, but still.  I am asked to go to a lot of Planning Commission and Council public hearings and I am exhausted.

 

As it is right now, each district council member represents about 17,000 people.  Reducing the number of district council positions by about a third raises that number quite a bit.  Then factor in how much Davidson County is growing.  In this scenario, each of the 24 district council members could soon end up representing about 25,000 or more people, and with Davidson County growing as it is that number could get up to 30,000 soon.  That's larger than the population of quite a few towns, and even several counties in Tennessee.

[captainwjm]

Good points.  If I remember correctly, Los Angeles has only 5 council members.  Not an optimal situation. 

 

The trade off is a part-time, constituent friendly, relatively low-cost for campaigns large council versus a smaller council which would entail more professional [if not full-time] members, more expensive campaigns [including the probability of non-local issues invading, ie partisan elections], being further removed from constituents. 

 

For me, I'll vote to keep the number as is.  If we could also get rid of term limits, we'd come closer to a professional class in the council.

[chris holman]

Are condos on the comeback?http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2014/04/14/condos-comeback-trail-nashville/7713097/

[nashmoney]

Found this online while looking for apartments downtown. I'm sure some of you have already seen or discussed this before, but this is my first time seeing it.

 

http://www.nashvilledowntown.com/_files/docs/2013_residential_report.pdf

 

It's from July 2013, but has some interesting info in it.

 

I had forgot all about the Federal reserve building being converted to apartments.

 

I think we are moving in the right direction in increasing our downtown residents..it just sucks that residential zoning was not permitted downtown until after the 1990's.

[smeagolsfree]

The Reserve was on the downtown home tour this past weekend. I opted out this year because I figure there will be a lot more next year to tour.

 

On the same note, it looks as if the project at 162 Third Ave North is getting ready to start its conversion to residential. There are plans in the windows of the building.

[Guest]

Not sure of the thread placement (accolades?? Coffee House??) so move if necessary...

This is a great feel-good story right in our town...

http://www.movoto.com/blog/opinions/even-more-proud-of-nashville/

 

 

Here at Movoto we think you should love where you live, and we want to highlight organizations that are making their cities a better place.

Small businesses and nonprofits all over the country are taking action to make their cities great, and Salemtown Board Co.is doing just that in Nashville. Their mission is to build handmade skateboards (super rad ones I must say), and employ, train, and mentor urban youth.