Nashville’s Real GDP Growth Ranks 2nd Highest in the US

From the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Dec. 21, 2023- Recently, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce released data on GDP growth in the Middle Tennessee Economy. This blog post explores these findings in greater detail.

The bureau of economic analysis (BEA) released figures for GDP at the metro and county level December 7th for 2022. GDP or gross domestic product is the value of the output of the goods and services produced by an economy. It’s an important indicator into how the economy is performing and is especially relevant given the rise in interest rates in recent months.

The chart above shows how the economy has performed in the last few years. GDP shrunk in 2020 due the economic shutdown brought by the pandemic and has quickly recovered.

Nashville’s economy was not as impacted by the pandemic-induced recession as much as the nation. A major strength of Nashville’s economy is its diversity which means that the impacts of national recessions are softened in the Nashville region. Recessions are shallower in Nashville and the local economy recovers relatively quickly. The evidence for this ability to absorb recessions is in the next chart.

Real GDP Growth 2021 - 2022
GDP Change from 2021 to 2022 adjusted for inflation
Top 50 Metros with at least 1M in population

How does Nashville’s GDP growth rank?

Looking at gross GDP, Nashville ranks 6th highest growth rate from 2021 – 2022. However, when we adjust for inflation, Nashville ranks 2nd highest in the country with metros with at least 1M in population. (Read more)

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The Transition Committee to present briefs to Mayor O’Connell on how Nashville Moves, Works, and Grows

Mayor's Office press release, November 15, 2023 - Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s three transition committees have completed their work examining how Nashville moves, works, and grows.

On Tuesday, November 21, the sub-committees will share their policy briefs with the mayor, department heads and the public at an open event at the Downtown Public Library Auditorium.

Both media and the public are invited to the presentation which will present a series of guiding principles for short-term, medium, and long-term policies that will build on Mayor O’Connell’s vision for Nashville.

“I am so grateful for the work of the Transition Committee, and I look forward to using their findings as guiding principles in the months ahead,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell said. “Their work helps us identify short-term fixes and long-term initiatives that will make Nashville easier to move around, more customer-service minded, and a better place to call home.”

What: Presentation of policy briefs from The Transition Committee
When: Tuesday, November 21, 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Where: Downtown Public Library, Auditorium (615 Church Street)

Alex Jahangir, Christy Pruitt-Haynes, and David Esquivel have chaired the three transition sub-committees which are made up of Nashvillians representative of the city’s diversity.

After the presentation of their policy briefs, Mayor O’Connell will collaborate in the weeks and months ahead with department heads to bring the recommendations to reality.

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Why Nashville recovered better from the pandemic than any other U.S. destination

 Why Nashville recovered better from the pandemic than any other U.S. destination

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Nashville earns a "D" grade for Fiscal Health

 

The above is from Truth in accounting.  TIA examined the financial health of the 75 most populous cities and ranked them from A to F.  In a numerical ranking, Nashville ranked number 63. Only 12 of the 75 most populous cities ranked lower than Nashville for financial health. To read the full report, follow this link. 

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National Geographic names Nashville a top place to visit in June

by Rod Williams, June 5 2022- I am a proud Nashvillian and feel pride when Nashville is recognized and honored. I must admit, however, that I wish so many people had not discovered Nashville. I liked it better maybe ten or fifteen years ago. Still, it is a great place to live. There are other places, I would like to visit, maybe visit for six months, but there is no other place I would rather call home.  I love this town. 

I love country music and the music scene. I don't do it as much now as in the past, but I have followed the music scene for decades and have been blown away by the discovery of new artists or cover bands that have mastered the classics while giving the songs their own interpretation. There is always a good concert and undiscovered talent playing small bars and writer's nights where you can hear the songwriters sing their songs before they are hits by someone else.  While lots of locals, express hatred of lower Broadway, I love it.  I like the crowds, the energy, the music, the neon, and the bridesmaid's parties and I don't mind the party buses and pedal taverns, nor the scooters.  I like seeing people have fun. I may be an old man, but I am still young at heart.

I love that we are the State capital and one is close to where the big decisions in our state are made. Despite being dominated by a liberal power structure and becoming increasingly woke, there is a vibrant conservative political scene with seminars, breakfast groups, First Tuesday, Bastiat Society, Jack Johnson's Barbeque, Mark Green's Fish Fry, Beacon Center events, various fundraisers, workshops, seminars, rallies, and demonstrations.  I thrive on politics and ideas. Here my desire for intellectual stimulation and my desire to be part of making a difference is met.  I am currently not doing much of that due to a health condition keeping me mostly at home, but I look forward to soon rejoining the world.  I would be bored in a town without the political environment of Nashville. 

I like the art scene and the art crawls and the galleries and museums. I like our beautiful parks and greenways and lakes. I like the big band dances in the park, I like the neighborhood celebrations, the Celebration of Cultures festival, the Centennial Park Craft Festival, the Southern Festival of Books and more.  I love food and Nashville has about any kind of food you would want and plenty of it, and award-winning chefs. I like the craft breweries and coffee shops. I like the colleges and universities where you can hear a concert, or watch a play, or just walk through a beautiful campus and feel smarter by osmosis. 

If one wants to complain there is plenty to complain about; much of the new residential architecture is ugly and replaces stately homes, the cost of housing, homelessness, high taxes, pandering to criminals, celebrations of deviance, crime, and poor schools. However, to keep some of that in perspective, among our poor schools are some excellent schools and one can live in the Nashville area yet live in an adjoining county where schools are generally much better.  Poor schools admittedly are a drawback for parents of school-age children. It kind of comes with the territory in a liberal city I think and I am not so sure that our schools are worse than other cities our size. 

The price of housing is not only a Nashville problem but a problem among all developed countries. Part of the problem is government-created, but when you live in a desirable city and lots of people with money want to live there, housing prices go up. Our homeless problem is not nearly as bad as some other cities our size.  I am concerned as we get more "woke," the problem will get worse, but so far we have done better than many places our size in dealing with the problem.

One could focus on these problems and high crime and high taxes, but I still think overall, Nashville is a great place to live. And, it is a great place to visit. Nashville came in at the top of the list in National Geographic's Where to travel in June: five of the best destinations.

Look what company we are in. Here's the list:

1. Nashville, TN
2. Pembrokeshire, Wales
3. Malaysian, Borneo
4. Sweden
5. Cusco, Peru

That is some pretty fine company. Note that we are the only US city to make the cut. The article praises CMA Fest, Bonnaroo, and Musicians' Corner.  

I am proud of this recognition.  However, sometimes I wish we would get less recognition. I met a new neighbor yesterday. In making her acquaintance I asked what brought her to Nashville. She told me she had a job where she could work from home and live anywhere.  A couple years ago, she came to Nashville as a tourist and fell in love with the city. When thinking of where to settle down, she said she visited several other cities and didn't find any place she liked as much as Nashville.  

I have a fear, that as we get more visitors we will find more people who fall in love with the city and move here. I have a concern that at some point so many newcomers will be here, that the city will change and lose its character. I hope it does not become a generic big city without a soul. With growth may come even more taxes, more traffic congestion, higher housing prices, and more crime.  Also, many of the liberal woke moving here may make Nashville more like the place they fled.

Maybe all of this recognition is not a good thing. Still, I cannot help but feel pride. 

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Nashville has the lowest unemployment rate in the US

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nashville, Tennessee, had the lowest unemployment rate—2.7%—of any metropolitan area in the US with over one million people as of February 2018.

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The Tennessean reports on the evils of "gentrification."

Bill Hobbs

By Bill Hobbs - Today's Nashville newspaper has a big story with the following headline: "Black share of population plummets in some Nashville neighborhoods." The story then goes on the detail what it clearly considers the evils of "gentrification," which it defines as white people moving into neighborhoods that used to be mostly black, a trend it warns "upended the social and cultural landscape" of those neighborhoods. Those awful white people, according to the newspaper, brought "tiny fluffy white dogs" and "rode bikes" instead of cars.

The first victim in the story is an African American woman the newspaper tries to portray as having been "pressured" and pushed out of the neighborhood by those white people with their tiny white dogs.

Her story: She bought a house in Edgehill in 1992 for $48,000. She lived in it for a quarter century. Then, her health becoming an issue and construction all around, she sold that house for $640,000 to a developer who tore it down to build a new, larger house. With her equity and $592,000 profit she has been able to help her family and church.

She wasn't a victim, of course. She was a beneficiary. She made a $592,000 profit. How good is that?
If she'd put that $48,000 in some sort of financial investment in 1992 and never added another cent and that investment had earned 10 percent a year over 25 years, compounded daily, it would have grown to $584,559, or about $55,000 less than it did invested in real estate. (And she would still have had to spend other money on a place to live for 25 years.)

She's not a victim. She's a winner. And she didn't have to sell and leave Edgehill - she chose to.
The whole newspaper story is laughable.

There was a time when liberal newspapers like The Tennessean stood against those who wanted to keep neighborhoods segregated by race by keeping people of a certain skin color out of those neighborhoods. Now, though, when the skin colors are reversed, the newspaper portrays the increasing racial diversity of a neighborhood as a bad thing. In it's eyes, gentrification is bad and the white people are the perps and the minorities are the victims.

Gentrification isn't evil. Gentrification isn't racial. Gentrification is when people who own property in a run-down neighborhood either fix it up, or sell it to someone who fixes it up. That's it. If Hispanic and other minority buyers purchase property in a run-down majority-white neighborhood and proceed to renovate the properties, that, too, is gentrification. But instead of casting it as a bad thing, the newspaper would be celebrating it. You don't think so? Consider all the stories the paper has done in recent years about the resurgence of Nashville's Antioch area and how, along the way, it is becoming a much more "diverse" area. The paper doesn't write about how "gentrification" is destroying "the social and cultural landscape" of Antioch. It writes about how "diversity" is reviving Antioch. Well, the neighborhoods in today's articles are becoming more diverse, too. Nobody lives in a neighborhood forever because - it turns out - nobody lives forever. Ask anyone today buying a house if when it came time to sell it in 25 years or so would they be happy if they got a 1,333 percent return on their investment.

This was reposted from a pubic Facebook post by Bill Hobbs. Bill Hobbs is a  fine art photographer and photojournalist  living in Nashville. 

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Nashville receives an A- grade on list of best metros for millennials

by Andrew Woo, Data Scientist, Apartment List - In our recent survey of 24,000 renters, 64 percent of renters expressed plans to settle down in a new city. Millennials, aged 18 to 34, move more frequently than older adults, relocating to metros that offer better jobs, more affordable housing and livelier social scenes. In order to identify the best metros for millennials, Apartment List created an index to grade 75 top U.S. metros on jobs, affordability and livability.

Overall, Nashville received an A- grade on our list of best metros for millennials. Here are some highlights you might be interested in: 

• Nashville ranks #33 out of 75 for its job market, with a millennial unemployment rate of 5.2%
• Nashville ranks #35 out of 75 for affordability. The median monthly rent is $1124 and 64% of the population can afford the median home
• Nashville ranks #23 out of 75 for livability, with its highest scores for safety and low crime rates

The full report can be previewed here.

While many metros offer one or two elements important to millennials, few can provide millennials the trifecta of good jobs, reasonable housing costs and high livability ratings.  While large coastal metros, from San Francisco to New York City, offer strong job markets and plenty of entertainment options, affordability concerns make them a poor choice for many millennials.

Inland metros, including Pittsburgh, Provo, and Madison, are some of the best options for millennials, offering millennials more than just affordable housing options. These metros also provide strong job markets and the vibrant social scenes millennials are looking for.

Preview the full report here.

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Nashville ranks 7th in list of Best Performing Cities in America

The Milkin Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan economic think tank that "works to improve lives around the world by advancing innovative economic and policy solutions that create jobs, widen access to capital, and enhance health,"  has just published their annual Best Performing Cities list and Nashville ranks number seven, up from 18 in 2015 on the Big Cities list which ranks the largest 200 cities in America.

Below is what they said of Nashville:

Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN, ranks seventh in this year’s index, having shot up 11 places to enter the Top 10. Employment in the metro rose 10 percent faster than the national average from 2010 to 2015, and this explosive growth earned the region eighth place on the five-year job growth measure. The metro also earned eighth place in one- year high-tech GDP growth, but this was off a small base since high tech represents a much smaller share of the regional economy than it does in the national economy. However, despite not having the high-wage high-tech industries that have driven growth in the majority of the Top 25 best-performing cities, the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin metro has experienced significant wage growth in recent years as the local labor market tightened, ranking 27th on the one-year measure and ninth on the five-year metric. Transportation equipment manufacturing, which includes auto manufacturing, has been a major contributor to the metro economy, with 900 jobs added in 2015.

The 10,000 jobs added since 2010 have more than made up for jobs lost during the recession. Despite cooling national demand, the region’s major manufacturers have announced multimillion-dollar investments in their local facilities, including $160 million pledged by Nissan to build a supplier park adjacent to its factory in Smyrna 39 and GM’s investing of more than $900 million in its plant in Spring Hill. With recent announcements of 650 new hires to staff a third shift to start in January 2017, GM clearly expects demand for its Cadillac XT5 and GMC Acadia lines to remain high. 40 Strong demand for office space and housing fueled by the growth of white-collar jobs and in-migration has stimulated growth in the construction sector. Employment for specialty trade contractors and in the construction of buildings combined rose by 3,750 in 2015.

Knoxville, Tennessee ranked 80th on the list, Chattanooga 101, and Memphis 149. All of Tennessee's large cities improved their ranking from 2015. If you read the report you can see the components that went in to the rankings. To view the report, follow this link.

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Nashville is the number 1 of "The 25 Best US Cities To Spend a Weekend."

Thrillist Travel listed The 25 Best US Cities to Spend a Weekend and (drum roll, please),  Nashville came in at number one!

1. Nashville, TN

Must-eat/drink: Hot chicken/a Goo Goo Cluster (or three) and a Bushwhacker at Edley's

Don't leave without: Going to church, and we mean the Mother Church

Weekend highlights: Nashville is rapidly becoming as synonymous with food as it is music -- hello hot chicken and BBQ! -- attracting as many celebrity chefs as musicians and plenty of opportunities for delicious collaborations. (Planning a trip in the fall? Check out Music City Food + Wine Festival, founding members include Kings of Leon and chef Jonathan Waxman.) Take a guided tour of all the foodie hotspots with Walk Eat Nashville, hop on a Nashville Brew Bus to explore the local craft breweries, or treat your party to whiskey tastings at nearby distilleries like Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery and Corsair Distillery.

Having a great time in Nashville doesn’t mean you have to deplete your savings. There are more than 150 venues in town and many of them offer live music every night for FREE. And the honky tonks on Lower Broad play all day long, too -- just don’t forget cash for the tip jars. You can even catch a show while buying records at Grimey’s New & Preloved Music or attend a live-to-acetate recording at Jack White’s Third Man Records.

While you definitely should hit Ascend Amphitheater, a 6,800-capacity outdoor venue on the riverfront, if you want to take in a larger act, there’s no better sound in town than one coming from Ryman Auditorium. As for sports, depending on the season you're visiting, you've got the Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators, and the new 10,000-seat First Tennessee Park to enjoy a Nashville Sounds game. (Watch from the outfield on the patio of The Band Box with a frozen whiskey and Coke in hand. Just a suggestion.) -- Kendall Mitchell Gemmill, Thrillist Nashville contributor

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Nashville is Destination of the Year says Travel and Leisure

Travel and Leisure, by Caroline Hallemann, December 30, 2015 - With 15.8 percent of the votes, Nashville, Tennessee, is the newly crowned winner of Travel + Leisure's readers' poll for Destination of the Year, beating out international hot spots like Adelaide, Australia, and Korea, as well as fellow domestic darlings New Orleans and Detroit, in addition to Cuba, our editors' pick for the award. In fact, Nashville received almost double the votes of the number two destination, Charleston, with Cuba coming in third with 6.5% of the votes. Other readers' choice stand-outs included Greece, Iceland, Istanbul, and Paris. (link)

My Comment: I love Nashville and am pleased to see this city get the recognition it deserves.  Unfortunately, many residents will never experience the city the way a visitor does.  Treat yourself and "visit" Nashville.  Get a guidebook and visit the sites.  Stroll down Riverfront Park and take in the view, walk across the river's pedestrian bridge, spend an evening visiting the honky tonks of lower Broadway, eat at one of the many restaurants that are getting rave reviews, visit the Parthenon and really look at it and take the tour inside, go to the zoo, visit Andrew Jackson's The Hermitage, take in  a show at the Ryman, visit The Country Music Hall of Fame, look at the architecture of the city and go inside and take a tour and really see the State Capitol, The Hermitage Hotel, the Downtown Presbyterian Church. Union Station, Christ Church Cathedral, and more.   This is a great city. Get to know it.

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Nashville is in the top ten of happiest metropolitan areas.

I love list and am pleased to see Nashville at number one on so many list or at least in the top ten. This list of happiest metro areas was published in Science Daily in July 2014, based on data from 2010, so it is five years old now. Traffic is a little worse than it was five years ago and that was before the Music City Center, the new downtown baseball park and a lot of downtown growth. I wonder how we would compare now?  I assume we would still be in the top ten.

One thing I notice about this list is that they are all southern cities except for number ten, that is if you consider Washington DC a southern city.  Are there other factors these cities have in common? What is the occupations of people in these cities?  What is the poverty rate? Do they have great parks? To they have good places to eat, and good night life, professional sports teams, and good museums, and good schools?  Do they have mass transit? Washington D. C. has a subway system, but not a great system. I don't think the others do, bit I don't know.  Washington D.C also has terrible traffic and this is a list of the metropolitan area, so it includes those people who commute and sit in traffic two hours a day. Maybe bad traffic does not make people unhappy. Washington has great extremes of wealth and poverty, so apparently that does not create a lot of unhappy people. Washington D. C itself has terrible schools but since this is the Metro area, maybe the suburban communities have good schools. I don't know. I wish this report went further and examined the factors that make a happy metropolitan area.

I am surprised to see Atlanta, Georgia on this list.  Atlanta is always held up as an example of what we do not want Nashville to become, yet Atlanta ranks higher in happiness than Nashville. I notice that not a single California city is on the list. I know California has its problems with excessive taxation and drought, but I always thought San Fransisco would be a "happy" city. Austin Texas is not on the list. Portland Oregon is not on the list. New Orleans Louisiana is not on the list. Lots of places that seem in someway desirable places to live are not on the list. Almost everyone likes visiting the beach, yet only one of the ten is located on a beach.

What is the number one unhappiest metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million? New York City. I guess with all New York City has to offer, it still does not produce happy people.

Top 10 happiest metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million (as of 2010):

1. Richmond-Petersburg, VA
2. Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA
3. Washington, DC
4. Raleigh-Durham, NC
5. Atlanta, GA
6. Houston, TX
7. Jacksonville, FL
8. Nashville, TN
9. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL
10. Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, NJ

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Iconic Nashville Buildings Pay Little For City Services. Only $155 of $2600 tax on glitzy 1-BR condo goes to pay city services.

By Ben Hall. May 4, 2015, News Channel 5, NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Many of Nashville's most prominent buildings are essentially off the property tax rolls, a NewsChannel 5 investigation discovered.

Millions of dollars generated by those buildings in property taxes do not go toward city services and schools. Instead, their property taxes help pay for more development.
It's because of Nashville's use of tax incentives called tax-increment financing, also known as TIF.

That revelation came as a surprise to Diane Jarrell, who has watched Nashville grow from the balcony of her condo. She's a retired teacher who loves living downtown.

"Everybody's like you live in the ritzy part of town," Jarrell said.

She's reminded of the cost every time she pays property taxes. Her last bill was more than $2,600 for her one-bedroom condo.

"I know it's a high price, but it's the lifestyle I wanted," Jarrell said.

She doesn't complain about the taxes because her itemized bill shows much of it going to schools and public safety.

But she was shocked when we told her almost all of her property taxes actually go to the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA).

Last year, only $115 of her property taxes went to city services.

My Comment:  The next time you pay your  property taxes on your modest home in Madison or Woodbine or Antioch, to make the process even more painful, stop and realize you are subsidizing the city services enjoyed by some of Nashville's weathyist who live in the glitzy new high rises downtown.

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Do you think of downtown Nashville as "blighted?" Well, the Council says it is and downtown will need special help at least through 2040.

Is downtown Nashville blighted?  Of course it is not.That is an absurd question.  It is booming and expensive, yet the Council has declared it to be so and has said downtown Nashville is "detrimental to the safety, health, morals and welfare of the people of Nashville." In order to cure this blight, the council extended the downtown development district through the year 2040.

By declaring Nashville "blighted" the city can encourage downtown development by making Tax Increment Financing available when developers want to build downtown. When these new developments pay taxes, the tax does not go to finance schools and pay for police and fire protection and roads and parks and libraries or subsidize Farmers market or pay for all other services provided by the city; it goes instead to the Metro Development and Housing Agency to finance more downtown development. Now, the State is questioning if Nashville is using this development tool for the purpose it was intended.

To learn more about this issue, follow this link and read about it and watch the News Channel 5 news report.

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Fact Sheet - Highlights of the Metro Nashville Fiscal Year 2016 Budget

From Nashville.Gov, NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Mayor Karl Dean today unveiled Metro's Fiscal Year 2016 proposed operating budget and highlights of the capital spending plan.

"As with past budgets, we have funded our priorities of education, public safety and quality of life," Mayor Dean said. "In this budget, we stay true to the principles that have kept Nashville moving forward by saving where we could, investing in our priorities, keeping taxes low and maintaining our reserves."

Finance Director Rich Riebeling presented the budget proposal to members of the Metro Council today, following Mayor Dean's State of Metro address.

Operating Budget

• Recommended budget of $1.968 billion, representing a 4 percent increase over FY 2015. Budget is $76.6 million larger than FY 2015.
• No proposed increase in property taxes. Nashville's property tax rate is lower than in 2007, when Mayor Dean took office. It is the lowest combined city-county rate of the four big cities in Tennessee.
• Projected revenue growth of $75.2 million, largely driven by $35.6 million in additional local sales tax revenue. Sales tax revenue has grown 36 percent - nearly $100 million -- since the FY 2009 budget, propelled by a growing population and an increase in visitors.
• Debt service, as a percentage of the budget, is slightly lower than when Mayor Dean came into office at 10.5 percent versus 10.94 percent in 2007.
• Metro Schools will continue to receive the largest portion of the budget at 41 percent, and public safety will get the second largest portion at 21 percent.
• Metro Schools will receive $810 million for operations, which is $36 million more than the current fiscal year, allowing them to make the improvements that were recommended by Schools Director Jesse Register and approved by the school board.
  • With this increase, schools' operating budget will have grown by $219 million since Mayor Dean took office, a 37 percent increase. Since FY 2009, the schools budget has grown 30.5 percent.
• Investments in the budget proposal also include improvements for Metro employees and direct services to citizens:
  • Employee compensation, $24 million: All employees would receive 2.5 percent cost-of-living raises. The budget also would fund increment pay, provide appropriate funding for those who aren't eligible for increments and offer a solution to the salary compression issue that affects some public safety employees.
  • Metro Transit Authority, $3.64 million: MTA would fund a full year of bus rapid transit (BRT) lite operations on Charlotte Pike and begin BRT lite operations on Nolensville Pike. BRT lite is also available on Gallatin Pike and Murfreesboro Pike.
  • Nashville Public Library, $1.4 million: Regional branches would open on Fridays for the first time in more than 10 years, with branches at Bellevue, Southeast and Madison starting Friday hours on Sept. 1 and branches at Bordeaux, Hermitage, Edmondson Pike and Green Hills starting Friday hours on Jan. 1. Funds would also create a joint electronic card catalog for the city library system and libraries at Metro Schools as part of the Limitless Libraries program.
  • Metro Parks, $1.4 million: With added park and open space, the department has seen an increase in maintenance, mowing and custodial needs.
  • Metro Public Works, $1.26 million: A new convenience center for residential waste and recycling would open in southern Davidson County. Additionally, funds would cover operating costs for a new downtown recycling program, which would add 175 recycling receptacles downtown. Recycling infrastructure in public spaces makes it easier for tourists, business people and anyone in the downtown area to make the right choice for the environment and the community.
  • Metro Public Health, $319,800: Dental services at Lentz Public Health Center would expand. Metro Animal Care and Control would increase its staff and fund a community spay-and-neutering project.
• Creation of the Office of Family Safety to coordinate domestic violence services and manage the Jean Crowe Advocacy Center. The new office would institutionalize work that is already taking place in Metro and would require a budget enhancement of $205,600. Current expenditures are at $535,900, and the new office estimates a $741,500 operating budget.
• With this budget, the largest single investment in affordable housing during Mayor Dean's term will take place with a $6 million investment in the Barnes Fund for Affordable Housing and $4 million for the Metro Development and Housing Agency to advance affordable housing initiatives.
  • Barnes Fund: $1 million in operating funds, including revenue from AirBnB tax collections, and $5 million from the sale of the Nashville Convention Center.
• Most departmental operating budgets are status quo and received no reductions.
• Reductions in the budget include:
  • Metro's operating budget will see $15.2 million in budget savings, from reductions in costs regarding health benefits, injury on duty and pension costs and from departmental savings. More than $75 million has been saved through budget reductions and organizational efficiencies since FY 2009.
  • As in FY 2015, there is no operating subsidy budgeted for the Farmers' Market, Municipal Auditorium and State Fair.

Capital Spending Plan

The proposed $520 million capital spending plan would be Mayor Dean's seventh and would continue the city's focus on its priorities of education and public safety, improving infrastructure and maintaining a high quality of life. This amount includes $44 million in self-funded items, which generate revenue to cover their costs, and a previously announced $149 million public safety investment to relocate the Criminal Justice Center.

Education

The plan includes $131 million for Metro Schools.

• These investments would build on the $389 million in capital spending for Metro Schools since Mayor Dean took office.
• Capital dollars would be used for the following:
  • Renovating Overton High School and Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School.
  • Building a new elementary school in Cane Ridge.
  • Planning funds to begin the process of moving Hillwood High School to Bellevue.
  • Planning funds for the future of Hillsboro High School and Nashville School of the Arts.

Public Safety

The largest portion of capital dollars would cover a previously announced, $149 million public safety investment to relocate the Criminal Justice Center. This plan would consolidate Davidson County Sheriff's Office operations and relocate Metro Nashville Police Department headquarters to Jefferson Street.
The plan also would build a new Family Justice Center on Murfreesboro Road.

Quality of Life

• Public Works, $73 million, including $25 million for sidewalks, the single largest infusion of dollars for sidewalks in any of Mayor Dean's capital spending plans. Approval of the plan would bring Mayor Dean's capital spending on sidewalks over the past eight years to $82 million, more than any other administration has spent on sidewalk construction in Metro history.
• Parks, $50 million, including funds for new community centers, open space, greenways and public infrastructure at the Nashville Zoo.

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Mayor Presents Vision of "City of Opportunity"

Final State of Metro Address Says Education, Safety, Jobs Will Always Be Nashville's Top Priorities

Press Release, NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Mayor Karl Dean today described his vision of Nashville as a "city on a hill" and a "city of opportunity" in his eighth and final State of Metro address, saying Nashville should be "a city where every child can get a high-quality education; feel safe, morning, noon and night; find a good job, and live a successful life, no matter where he came from or what she looks like."

Mayor Dean gave the speech in Nashville Public Library's Grand Reading Room, the same location as his first State of Metro address in 2008, to emphasize that "education and learning must always come first."

"Education is what our city has to focus on first and foremost if we want to keep growing and getting better," Mayor Dean said. "Education is the key that will open the door of opportunity for our children, and it's the key for Nashville."

Throughout his eight years in office and his two campaigns, Mayor Dean has made the case that education, public safety and economic development are the "three pitches" the city has to hit consistently. In today's speech, he said that will always be true.

"These three priorities are really one priority, woven tightly together in a fabric of civic fortune, and it never changes, no matter who the mayor is," he said.

Mayor Dean, who thanked the Metro Council, Gov. Bill Haslam and former Mayor and former Gov. Phil Bredesen for working with him on key initiatives, also laid out the principles he's governed by since 2007. Those principles include making strategic investments, based on the city's priorities, to inspire private investment; spending capital dollars "broadly but wisely" in neighborhoods throughout Nashville; boldly embracing new ideas and tackling tough issues; and leaving the city in better shape financially than when he took office.

Speaking almost five years to the day after the devastating 2010 flood, he said public-private partnerships, collaborations and what he called "the spirit of Nashville: neighbors helping neighbors - and helping strangers" have been critical to the city's success.

"I appreciate the citizens of Nashville for giving me this opportunity to serve and lead. The state of our city is very good, and we've accomplished a lot together over these past eight years. But we can't afford to take our eye off the ball and stop hitting those three pitches. This is Nashville's time, and we have to lean into it and give it everything we have so we can live the future we see: a city on a hill, a city of opportunity," he said.

During the address, Mayor Dean announced his proposed operating budget would include the following:

• Operating funds for Metro Schools to make all the improvements the district's leadership has identified.
• Funds for employee compensation so that all Metro employees would receive a 2.5 percent cost-of-living raise, while the city also would provide increment pay for eligible employees; appropriate increases for those not eligible for increment pay; and funds for public safety employees who face salary compression issues.

The capital spending plan would include significant investments in education, public safety and public infrastructure. Among the proposed expenditures are:

• $131 million for Metro Schools, including funds to renovate Overton High School and Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School; build a new elementary school in Cane Ridge; planning funds to begin the process of moving Hillwood High School to Bellevue, and planning funds for the future of Hillsboro High School and Nashville School of the Arts.
• $149 million to relocate the Criminal Justice Center, plus additional funds to build a new Family Justice Center, which would provide critical services to crime victims and their families in times of need.
• $25 million for sidewalks. Approval of the plan would bring Mayor Dean's capital spending on sidewalks over the past eight years to $82 million, more than any other administration has spent on sidewalk construction in Metro history.
• $2 million to help Nashville State Community College build two new satellite campuses in Donelson and Madison.

Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling will give a full budget presentation to Metro Council members following the State of Metro presentation in the David Scobey Council Chamber in the Historic Metro Courthouse.

An annual State of Metro address by Nashville's mayor has been mandated by the city's charter since Metro Government was established in 1963.

Twelve-time Grammy-nominated artist Dierks Bentley was the special musical guest at the hour-long event. Bentley's critically acclaimed and No. 1 selling album, Riser, has already produced three No. 1 hits: "I Hold On," "Drunk on a Plane" and "Say You Do." His six previous studio albums have sold more than five million copies and notched 13 chart-topping singles. Bentley will be kicking off his headlining summer tour on June 5. For more information visit www.dierks.com.

Lagnajita Mukhopadhyay, Nashville's first Youth Poet Laureate, read her poem "The City That Never Stops Giving," which celebrates the bustling Nashville that converges at 6th Avenue and Broadway, capturing the unique elements that make us feel both alive and at home in our city. Mukhopadhyay is a junior at Hume-Fogg Magnet High School. Born in India and raised in Nashville, the young poet, singer, and songwriter is heavily influenced by her vibrant roots and her Western upbringing. She has won competitions in writing, visual art, and film. She plays guitar, fiddle, piano, ukulele and mandolin.

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Is gentrification threatening Nashville's soul. I don't think so.

In an article which appeared on the Op-ed page of the New York Times, the author says gentrification is threatening Nashville's soul. I don't know that I agree with this. I think the high rises and the honky tonks can co-exist. There are still lots of dive bars with character and the mass influx of tourist create an audience for Nashville's musicians. There are still many good meat-and-threes where you can get real food at a reasonable price. New music venues are springing up which add to Nashville's status as "music city." We have protections in place to protect the character of lower Broad.  Studio A was threatened but it was saved.

I don't see the replacement of small homes with large homes as necessarily a bad thing. At the same time that that is happening, many older home are being restored to their former glory.  Increased property values may cause some modest income people locating to Nashville to move to Antioch, Mt. Juliet or Lavern rather than close in to downtown, but more affluent people moving to Nashville may live close in to Nashville rather than Brentwood or Franklin. Having higher property values means more tax revenue without raising taxes.

A lot of the new development that is taking place downtown, such as the SoBro area, is replacing ugly concrete block one-story buildings, over grown lots and parking lots. I am not one for preserving parking lots. While I wish there was less urban sprawl, since I don't commute, it doesn't really effect me. The infill development in Nashville is combating additional urban sprawl.  Increased density along our major corridors will make mass transit more likely and affordable.

As we move forward I hope we can maintain the character of our city. I don't want us to become "another Atlanta" but I think so far we have grown in a responsible way.  Having been in Nashville and closely observed Nashville growth for a long time and being one who participates in the things our city has to offer, I don't think "the good ole days" were better. This may be the golden era of our city. I am just pleased that we are important enough to merit a lengthy op-ed piece in the New York Times. Read the piece at this link: High Rises vs. Honky Tonks.

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The Nashville Area ETF listed as #1 in year-to-date returns as of October 31st, 2014 out of 804 ETFs & mutual funds

Nashville is not only the "it" city for food and music and best choice for corporate relocation and most people employed in the arts and about every list that comes out, but "Nashville Area ETF" is the number one exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the nation. Nashville is the nation's first city-based exchange traded fund.

The following is from an email from Nashville ETF:

LIPPER DATA IDENTIFIES NASHVILLE AREA ETF (NYSE: NASH) AS THE TOP PERFORMING SMALL-CAP ETF OR MUTUAL FUND

NASHVILLE, Tenn.— In data published by the Wall Street Journal on November 4, 2014, Lipper, a global leader in supplying mutual fund information and fund ratings, fund analytical tools and fund commentary, identified the Nashville Area ETF (NYSE: NASH), the nation's first city-based exchange traded fund, as the #1 fund in year-to-date return on investment out of 804 ETFs & mutual funds the company identifies as small-cap core.

Using performance data as of 10/31, Lipper’s top ten small-cap core list shows:

• The Nashville Area ETF had realized a 12.78% NAV return year-to-date, while the next highest fund had returned 9.88% year-to-date, 2.80 points behind NASH
• Of the funds listed in the top ten, the Nashville Area ETF had also realized the best one-year NAV return at 20.37% out of 784 funds

This is a direct reflection of the excellent Nashville companies which drive and are supported by our strong economy," said William S. Decker, of LocalShares, Inc., the company behind the Nashville Area ETF.

"Certain U.S. regions provide strong economic opportunity for the companies based there, which is why corporate relocation to these markets has historically continued to climb. Nashville is one such economy benefiting from the markedly low taxes of the state of Tennessee and other attributes. We are pleased with the performance of the fund, which we believe exhibits both the vitality of this specific economy and the fact that geographic eco-systems like Nashville can add competitive value to companies based there."

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Nashville ranks in top 5 as most generous city. Memphis, 2nd most generoous.

I take great pride in Nashville and in Tennessee and am always pleased to see this city or state rank high in a list that shows just what a great city or state it is in which we live.   In a list published by the The Chronicles of Philanthropy, Nashville ranked as the 5th most generous city in America out of the 50 largest cities.  Memphis ranked even higher, coming in as the 2nd most generous city and one of only two cities where the cumulative giving of the residents exceeds 5% of the income. To see the complete list and more details about each city follow this link.

Here is the list of the most generous cities in America. I find it interesting that all but one are Southern cities and the one that is not is the home of the Mormon Church.  Other studies have found that religious people give more than non-religious people and conservatives give more than liberals. I suspect that the culture of these cities influences their generosity.

Rank	Metro area	Giving rate, 2012	Change in giving since 2006
1	Salt Lake City	5.4%	+2.7%
2	Memphis	5.1%	+6.7%
3	Birmingham, Ala.	4.8%	+1.7%
4	Atlanta	4.0%	+6.5%
5	Nashville	3.9%	+4.8%
6	Jacksonville, Fla.	3.8%	+8.7%

It is also interesting to see where the least generous people live.  They live in bastions of liberalism. I think few would dispute that San Francisco is one of the most liberal cities in America and yet they are the sixth most stingy cities in America.  Also, there is not much relationship between how wealthy a city is and how much they give. Boston is the sixth wealthiest city in America and fourth least generous city in America of the 50 largest cities. Here is where the least generous people live:

45	San Francisco	2.4%	-5.2%
46	Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y.	2.3%	-10.6%
47	Boston	2.3%	-3.8%
48	San Jose, Calif.	2.2%	-7.8%
49	Providence, R.I.	1.9%	-8.3%
50	Hartford, Conn.	1.9%	-8.9%

In my own case, I support some charities, but maybe not as much as I should. I do however give a considerable amount to political causes. I think that preserving our freedoms, the form of government that made America great, preserving the free enterprise system, and the culture is as important as feeding the homeless or supporting the arts.

Due to my own experience of having the love of my life suffer from Alzheimer's and enduring watching her slip away day by day, one cause I support is the Alzheimer's Foundation.  This coming Saturday I will be walking in the Walk to End Alzheimer's. If you would join me in contributing to this battle to end Alzheimer's I would greatly appreciate it. To contribute at this secure site, follow this link and click "$ Donate."  A contribution of any amount would be greatly appreciated.

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Bloomburg: Let's Go Back to Nashville and See If We Want to Buy It

This is not a financial advice blog and I am certainly not qualified to give financial advice but I did want to pass on some investment news that people who feel invested in Nashville might find interesting.

If you have read my blog with any regularity, you know that I am very bullish on Nashville.  I love this city and would not want to live anywhere else. I love our climate and the location and that we are the state capital and I love country music. I like our parks and festivals and outdoor music offerings and a lot of other things about our city. While I think Mayor Dean may have overextended our financial commitments, I am more concerned about the cumulative effect of all of the projects than thinking any one project was a terrible mistake. Many of my conservative friends think the Music City Center was a mistake.  I don't.  If I were in the Council when it was voted on, I would have supported it. I don't think I would support it for my city if I was a policy maker in Knoxville or Memphis or Louisville or most other cities, but I think Nashville has enough going for it, that it can be a success in our city.

I could not be more pleased that Nashville is either in the top ten or at the top of the list as a great place for corporate relocations, for most people employed in the arts, for a top place for a vacation, for a town with great food and all kinds of other list. I am concerned that as we grow we do not lose the character that makes Nashville unique.

I am not by any means a wealthy man and I have never earned more than a modest income, but I have regularly saved and invested and have an adequate retirement nest egg. I have never done anything risky, letting my financial adviser guide me and my investments have been in a broad based balanced portfolio, becoming more conservative as I have gotten closer to retirement age.

About a year ago or so, a Nashville ETF was established. An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, much like stocks but it is a collection of stocks much like a mutual fund. The Nashville EFT invest in only Nashville-based companies, companies like Pinnacle, Old Cracker Barrel, Correction Corporation of America, HCA and others. Health care related companies make up about a third of the holdings.  I wanted to invest, not that I expected to get rich and I wasn't going to put much money at risk, but I just wanted to own a little piece of Nashville's diversified economy.  I already pay attention to what happens in Nashville and I wanted a reason to pay closer attention. I feel invested in our city, so I wanted to actually invest in our city.  I called my financial adviser and he said the fund looked adequately diversified with investments in solid companies and he thought it was Ok to put a little money in it and I did.

The Nashville ETF was the first of its kind to be based on a location.  When it launched, many dismissed it as a cute gimmick. Well the cute gimmick is doing OK. Here is what Bloomburg recently said about NASH ETF:

The Nashville Area ETF (NASH) was pretty much put into the gimmick category by many analysts and news media when it launched one year ago. Its attempt to turn local pride into profit by holding stocks of companies based in and around Nashville, Tennessee, sounded a bit too cute. The ETF has attracted just $9 million in assets.

So it was a surprise to see that it ran circles around the broader stock market this summer. It has returned 12 percent since Memorial Day, while the S&P 500 Index has returned 6 percent. One good run doesn’t make a gimmicky ETF any less gimmicky. But when you pull the thread to see where the outperformance came from, it reveals that this fund -- the first-ever city ETF -- has some unique things going for it. (read more)

I am very pleased, not that I have enough money invested to make a financial difference to me, but I am pleased to see that Nashville is being recognized as the unique place that it is.  I am pleased that Nashville can do what most cities could not do. 

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