In Defense of Tourism and Tourists
🕶️ Tourism revenue rises · The Great Rezoning · New candidates in D7 · DEI shapeshifts · Week in streaming · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone. Today, we defend the tourist from his haters, look at the Great Metro Rezone pushed by the council, observe the growing D7 field, present our weekly streaming recommendations, and much more! First time reading? Sign up here.
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For the fourth straight year, Tennessee tourism broke its previous spending record. In 2024, 147 million visitors spent $31.7 billion in the state which yielded $3.3 billion in state and local tax revenue. According to the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, this revenue saved each Tennessee household an average of $1,170 annually.
Tourism, love it or hate it, is a tremendous source of tax revenue. If you are a loyal reader, you know we think about the interplay between tourism and residents a lot. A recent column in Reason magazine presented a defense of the tourist trap that I thought relevant, especially for those hoping to build a wall around Broadway to keep the tourists contained.
A tourist trap is a finely machined business designed specifically to churn whatever’s on sale for cheap and at scale. If I’m a visitor to a city, notes writer Christian Britschgi, I should hit the touristy spots and eschew the pursuit of off-the-beaten-path attractions. Paris, for a tourist, is primarily about viewing the Mona Lisa, which wasn’t painted in Paris but resides in the Louvre, as the city has effectively concentrated visitor attention.
If I go to Paris and skip out on the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre (despite the waits), I’m doing it wrong. For me, Paris exists to host large, grand, tourist productions. Attempting to wring an “experience” out of these cities on a limited timeframe in their absence is akin to ordering a cheeseburger at a Mexican restaurant—unless you know the line cook in the kitchen will hook you up.
According to one report, Nashville has the second most walkable tourist district in the country. That’s great news for us residents. They have a limited range. You may not like it, but the cleaner, more streamlined, and less distinct downtown Nashville gets, the less likely the tourists will be to wander, as in Vegas, the artifice of the operation is so overwhelming as to offer no vision of what the city could be like Off Broadway. Maybe that’s a good thing.
The positive tradeoff is the additional tax revenue, which would, ideally, be used well. DAVIS HUNT
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🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.
🗺️ The Great Metro Rezone Tonight, there will be a special called joint meeting held by the Planning & Zoning and Transportation & Infrastructure Committees. Organized by Planning Chair Jennifer Gamble and Transportation Chair Sean Parker, Metro's Planning Department staff will review its Housing and Infrastructure Study Recommendations.
An attached memo by Metro Planning Executive Director Lucy Kempf outlines the suggested legislation being drafted by the department. Changes include several updates to the building code aimed at helping affordability by relaxing barriers for building upward, creating density, and allowing certain improvements in existing and future developments.
The need to maintain the character of an area is also addressed with a recommendation to create two new zoning districts “to enable gentle density to transition from corridors to neighborhoods through middle housing.” Metro also hopes to take advantage of several new changes passed by the state. This includes the potential creation of an Attainable Bonus Program that would incentivize affordable rental units in Nashville.
The Metro Council has already presented a bill to reduce certain safety standards affecting buildings up to six stories high. The legislation will be on third reading next week and trims the stairway exit requirement from two to one.
The joint meeting will be held at 5 p.m. in the Historic Metro Courthouse tonight and can be viewed online.
🗳️ The Field For D-7 Grows This morning, state Representative Lee Reeves (R-Franklin) announced his plans to run for Congressman Mark Green’s seat. “[President Donald Trump] is our nation’s quarterback, calling the plays to Make America Great Again, and I’m running to be on his team in Congress,” he posted on X. “I’ll fight alongside him to secure our borders, protect our values, and deliver for the people of TN’s 7th District.”
Reeves was quickly endorsed by the founder and CEO of Rotunda Public Affairs, Chris Burger. Though Burger has been floated as a potential candidate, his endorsement effectively knocks him off the ever-growing list.
Yesterday, state Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson) also made his plan to run for Green’s seat official. “I’m the first legislator in Tennessee history to earn a perfect conservative voting record, and I promise to take that same Tennessee toughness to Washington to stand with President Trump and fight the liberal elites trying to destroy our way of life,” he announced.
Since this special election does not conflict with the regular general election calendar, state representatives don’t risk forfeiting their chance to run for reelection next year in the TN General Assembly. This morning, the Banner also reported that the Secretary of State’s Office may have to push off the special general election until December to comply with certain notification requirements.
🌈 Hiding DEI In Local Government Metro has dropped diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as a result of new state laws. The restrictions on DEI employment and policy practices went into effect in May and have implications for state, county, municipal, and metro governments, departments, and agencies, as well as public institutions of higher education in Tennessee.
According to a recent report by the Scene, Nashville has since eliminated its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and has replaced it with a new Office of Impact. A spokesperson from the mayor’s office, Julie Smith, also told the publication that they “are, and intend to remain, fully compliant.”
DEVELOPMENT
- M.L.Rose Craft Beer & Burgers to open 8th location in Murfreesboro (NBJ)
- Status unclear related to 201 Broadway project (Post)
- East Nashville building housing Asian cuisine restaurant listed for sale (Post)
✹ THIS WEEK IN STREAMING (July 8th)
Drop (Peacock) Meghann Fahy from The White Lotus stars as a single mom newly back on the market who receives a cryptic text: kill your date or a masked killer will murder your toddler son. A smart, lean, and impeccably crafted thriller with plenty to say about corrupt big city politics.
The Sandman (Netflix) Thanks to New York magazine’s winter hit job on Neil Gaiman, the second season of his classic comic about a formerly imprisoned cosmic being undoing the wrongs his absence caused will be its last. That’s a pity because it’s the best fantasy show to grace the streamers in years.
Mr. Majestyk (Prime) Charles Bronson is a Vietnam vet turned Colorado watermelon farmer just trying to get his harvest in on time. But when a hitman and a good ole boy team up to give him hell, he reverts back to his soldier days. A lesser-known mid-70s vigilante outing that does for melons what Point Blank did for revenge.
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
🪕 Mighty Poplar @ Ryman Auditorium, 7p, $76, Info
🎸 Rocco and His Bones @ DRKMTTR, 8p, $14.23, Info
+ psychedelic garage rock
🎸 Ketch Secor @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info
🎸 Josh Hedley Happy Hour @ Dee's Lounge, 3:30p, Free, Info
🎸 Honky Tonk Tuesday @ Eastside Bowl, 8p, $10, Info
+ two-step lessons @ 7p, The Cowpokes @ 8p
📰 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).