🗳️ Metro Council votes on two controversial bills

🧑‍💼 Metro Council’s Votes on Two Contested Bills

On Tuesday, Metro Council gave final approval on two contested bills: Guardrails on the surveillance platform Fusus, and transferring historic zoning enforcement to the Metro Planning Commission. [Nashville Banner]

• Judges are currently considering a challenge arguing the state should be able to cut our Metro Council in half. [Nashville Banner]

🎖️ Veterans Protest Federal Cuts

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins spoke recently in Nashville about federal cuts to the department as veterans protested outside. The department has laid off 40-50 Middle Tennesseans so far, though Collins says the layoffs won’t affect patient care or disability benefits. [Nashville Scene]

• Related: Reclaiming American Legion Post 82 for veterans [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

🍽️ Our Newest Restaurant Roundup

The first quarter of the year brought another flood of incredible new restaurants and bars to Nashville. On the City Cast Nashville podcast, we’re chatting about our favorites, and discussing what it’s like to open a new restaurant with Alebrije chef Edgar Victoria. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

🌉 Berry Hill Bridge Fenced Off From Unhoused

A bridge in Berry Hill is being fenced off to prevent unhoused people from using it for shelter. This could become the norm if a bill requiring homeless encampments to be cleared within 30 days passes. [WKRN]

• Related: How The Contributor works [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

Lula C. Naff served as general manager of Ryman Auditorium from 1920 to 1955, the first woman to do so. Before she could even vote, Naff helped shape the Ryman into what it is today, and thus is integral to Music City’s history. Here’s her story.

Lula C. Naff’s Beginnings

Lula Clay was born in 1875 and raised in Johnson City, TN. She married Charles Naff at 17, but when he died a few years later, she found herself widowed with an infant daughter. She attended business school to try to find a living for her and her daughter, and worked as a stenographer and secretary for talent agency Delong Rice Lyceum Bureau. After the agency relocated to Nashville, she worked with the Ryman to book talent.

Becoming Ryman’s General Manager

The Delong Rice Lyceum Bureau dissolved in 1913, and Naff found herself without work once again. She convinced the Ryman board of directors to allow her to rent the venue for her own events. At the time, the Ryman, which opened in 1892 as a tabernacle, hosted primarily religious concerts and revivals. Naff saw its potential to be much more than that. She sought out the best talent she could find, even, as rumor has it, taking out a second mortgage on her house to pay for world-renowned Irish tenor John McCormack’s $3,000 guarantee.

When the Ryman’s charter was reorganized in 1920 as the “Auditorium Improvement Company,” the board knew exactly who to hire as its general manager: Lula C. Naff.

Her Legacy at the Ryman

During her 35 years as the Ryman’s general manager, Naff — who went by L.C. Naff to avoid gender discrimination — booked top talents like Bob Hope, Harry Houdini, Katharine Hepburn, Ethel Barrymore, and Will Rogers. She also brought the Grand Ole Opry radio show to the Ryman in 1943. After Nashville’s Board of Censors tried to ban the play “Tobacco Road” and threatened to jail its lead actor for indecency, Lula sued them. The judge ruled in her favor and the play was successful, though it was banned in other cities.