Do we need more parties?
🌊 Tourism on the rocks around nation · Importing employees and property tax rates · New state budget · Cui bono Super Bowl · Criminals at large · Film Rundown · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Panama City Beach joins a growing list of American tourist destinations pushing back against unruly crowds. “Panama City Beach can no longer be a Spring Break town. That time is over,” the PCB Police Department wrote on Facebook, citing gun shots, fights, and noise as the root of the problem. To deal with it all, PCB instituted a number of rules limiting beach hours, banning alcohol on the sand, and enforcing noise ordinances.
In March of last year, Miami Beach took similar measures, running an ad campaign announcing that the city was “breaking up with spring break” by ramping up parking costs, enforcing curfews, increasing police presence, and setting up DUI checkpoints. MB is repeating the protocol this year.
Give thanks to the Lord that Nashville, honky tonks and all, is not located on the coast this blessed Good Friday.
Onward, Davis.
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🎤 Mayor Media Roundtable Quick View This morning, Mayor O’Connell outsourced the Chief Program Officer, who will oversee the Choose How You Move transit plan, by announcing he appointed Sabrina Sussman from Washington, D.C. Sussman is expected to take charge of implementing Nashville’s transportation improvement program around June once she’s officially settled in Music City. The transplant previously served in the U.S. Department of Transportation as the Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg and Senior Advisor to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. According to O’Connell, Sussman “has a deep understanding of transportation funding”—something that might be useful given the grant funding changes made by the Trump Administration, which have become an obstacle for O’Connell’s overall transit vision.
The mayor also danced around the fact that a property tax increase is on the horizon. Though it is a reappraisal year, Tennessee’s Certified Tax Rate law prevents Metro from automatically taking in more property tax revenue after a reappraisal. When asked point blank if he would propose a tax increase, O’Connell served up some word salad: “From the equalization process, the rate will come up from that. But the rate will come down from its current spot.” So, in other words, your property taxes will be going up.
💸 Governor’s Budget Passes In Flow Motion Around 20 state legislators have been subpoenaed in the corruption case for former House Speaker Glen Casada and his ex-chief of staff, Cade Cothren. Given that the trial is set to begin next Tuesday, it’s no wonder the General Assembly has been moving at warp speed to wrap up this year’s regular session.
On Monday, the House adopted something called Flow Motion that fast-tracked the legislative process, bypassing extended committee reviews and enabling the expedited passage of bills. As a result, the House and Senate have whizzed through committee and floor meetings, passing and slashing a number of bills including the final approval of Governor Lee’s $59.8 billion budget.
The budget will include $1.5 billion towards the Tennessee Department of Transportation for road infrastructure projects, $597 million toward disaster relief, and $78 million to help rural hospitals, alongside funds allocated for school vouchers and immigration enforcement.
That said, House Minority Leader Karen Camper (D-Memphis) didn’t take too kindly to the hurried process, and let the body know it during the final budget discussion on Wednesday. “The other side has the ability to get the votes to have theirs heard,” she said, directing her comment toward the GOP supermajority’s ability to present late-filed amendments. “Each one of ours that has merit to be debated and to be talked about on this floor never gets an opportunity to be heard or debated or discussed simply because you have the numbers…that's unfair.”
Some amendments presented by Democrats certainly had merit, like freshman Representative Gabby Salinas’ (D-Memphis) proposal to move some money around to fund the Memphis Crime Lab to deal with backlogged evidence. More often, they were indignant, like Representative Jason Powell’s (D-Nashville) amendment that “takes all the money that was designated for vouchers and redistributes that money to Tennesseans who make less than the median income.”
The House and Senate did accept five changes to the proposed budget: Amendments 2, 3, 4, 12, and 16. You can take a look at the full bill here.
📍 Immigration Authority Takes Shape Gov. Bill Lee has installed 28‑year Homeland Security veteran Ryan Hubbard as Tennessee’s first Chief Immigration Enforcement Officer, tasking him to build a new state division that will track fugitives with final deportation orders and broker 287(g) deals so local police can act as ICE deputies.
🏟️ Cui Bono ex Super Bowl? Hosting a Super Bowl may sound like a $500 million windfall, but a sports economist warns Nashville would mostly see spending shifted—not created. Economist Dennis Coates told the Business Journal that big events trigger “substitution behavior”: tourists who might visit another week come during the game, while locals stay home to avoid crowds, leaving net job, income, and tax gains flat. Las Vegas still shelled out $60 million to land the 2024 game, and any short‑term hotel price spikes come with external costs like heavier policing. Coates argues the main payoff is reputational, yet that halo fades fast once the NFL moves on.
DEVELOPMENT
- Nevada chefs open two Nashville restaurants this spring, plans for another (NBJ)
- Work starts on Green Hills project (Post)
- Rutledge Hill hotel to open July 1 (Post)
✹ CRIMINALS AT LARGE IN TENNESSEE
Tennessee sits just behind California for the worst concentration of violent offenders still at large. In 2024, the Volunteer State logged the nation’s highest violent‑crime rate—628 incidents per 100k residents—yet cleared only 39 % of those cases. That left roughly 27,300 violent crimes unsolved, or 211 fugitives per square mile when population is factored in, earning Tennessee the No. 2 spot on Spartacus Law Firm’s new “criminals at large” index.
💥 The Commotion in Midtown A pre‑dawn DEA raid outside Midtown’s Fairfield Inn ended with 36‑year‑old felon Deshawn Patrick Jones fatally shot and agents seizing 110 lbs. of cocaine and more than $250 K in cash from stuffed duffel bags. Two alleged couriers—Larry Stoker and Calvin Trahan, both previously convicted on federal drug charges—were arrested on conspiracy counts that carry a 10‑year minimum if convicted. Prosecutors say the Houston‑to‑Nashville pipeline was months in the making; Metro police are reviewing the shooting while the DEA presses the narcotics case.
✹ WEEKLY FILM RUNDOWN: April 18-24
The latest releases and special screenings hitting Music City this week. For a complete list of upcoming titles, check out the 2025 Film Guide.
Sinners (Dir. Ryan Coogler) The Black Panther director takes a Marvel break for this high-budget period possession film featuring Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld that finds a small Southern town stalked by unrepentant–seemingly vampiric–evil. Now playing in theaters.
Pride & Prejudice: 20th Anniversary (Dir. Joe Wright) The British Romantic Austen classic with Keira Knighly as Elizabeth Bennett gets a restored release that will make you feel older than you actually are. Now playing in theaters.
The Day the Music Stopped (Dir. Partick Sheehan) A local doc about Chris Cobb, the self-styled messiah of the “Battle of Nashville’s Soul,” who raised a shitton of the money to “save” the EXIT/IN and never answered our questions about his tax exempt status. Part of The Belcourt’s Music City Mondays. Introduction from director Patrick Sheehan. Post-screening discussion with cast and crew, including Chris Cobb, Alanna Royale, Jeff Syracuse, Patrick Sheehan, Demetria Kalodimos and Stephen Thompson.
The Elephant Man (Dir. David Lynch) The only film missing from the Belcourt’s tribute to the icon gets its due with a new restoration supervised by the late Lynch himself. Now playing at The Belcourt.
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🎻 Bluebird at the Symphony with Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, Cary Barlowe & the Nashville Symphony @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $46+, Info
🪕 Songs From The Road Band @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, Info
🎸 Bird and Byron @ The Underdog, 7p, $10, Info
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Jerod Hollyfield (Crowd Corner), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).