🍎 Mayor O’Connell proposes grocery tax cut

👀 State of Metro Highlights Affordability

At Wednesday’s State of Metro speech, Mayor Freddie O'Connell proposed a half-cent grocery tax cut and highlighted new affordable housing and small-business support, among other initiatives, to emphasize his commitment to improving Nashville’s affordability. Mayor O’Connell also criticized state and federal interference for the “harm” they have caused. He thanked several ice storm heroes, as well as Second Harvest of Middle TN for feeding Nashville “when the federal government wouldn’t.” [Nashville Banner]

• A broad community coalition is opposing the mayor’s plan to increase funding for policing. A letter sent on Saturday to Mayor O’Connell says that “unhoused neighbors deserve housing, not handcuffs.” [Nashville Scene]
• How Second Harvest serves our neighbors despite funding cuts [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

💸 TN Last in the Nation in Per-Student Spending

Tennessee now ranks last in the nation for per-pupil public school spending. The state spent $12,147 per student for the 2024-25 academic year, a 9.8% decrease from the previous year and well below the national average of $17,840. The state also ranks 40th for teacher salary pay, but ranks higher than neighboring states, and at $61,222, those salaries saw a 4.5% increase from last year.

• On Tuesday, the Metro Nashville Public Schools board denied four charter school applications, all of which are publicly funded and privately run. The applicants have 30 days to appeal. [Nashville Banner]

🛣️ When Will Gallatin Pike Be Safer?

Major safety upgrades are coming to the Main Street/Gallatin Pike corridor over the next several years, beginning with repaving and restriping from S 5th Street to Briley Parkway. [WSMV]

• Those improvements are far from what was promised during the project’s 2023-2024 planning and community engagement sessions. Previous NDOT plans had construction of an all-access corridor — including bike and bus lanes — from S 5th to Eastland Avenue scheduled to be completed this year. At Tuesday night’s community meeting, according to multiple attendees including Councilmember Sean Parker, NDOT officials said that construction now will not begin until the fourth quarter of 2030.
• The original 2024 plan for the Main/Gallatin improvements can still be seen here. [Nashville.gov]
• Vision Zero Advisory Committee chair Charlie Weingartner has also followed up on our conversation from Tuesday’s podcast, stating that $8 million in surplus dollars from the Vision Zero budget have been moved “elsewhere,” and some projects with completed engineering will now go unfunded. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]
• NDOT was unable to provide comment on the above by press time, but we will have their response on our Friday News Roundup podcast tomorrow.

😍 May the May Be With You

Starting tomorrow, it’s gonna be May! The City Cast Nashville podcast squad teamed up to bring you this month’s guide to everything you can eat, hear, and do in Music City, from Tennessee Renaissance Festival turkey legs to a boot-scootin’ boogie. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]