Council Update from CM Burkley Allen

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Allen, Burkley (Council Member)

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Jul 2, 2026, 2:10:18 PM (10 days ago) Jul 2
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METRO COUNCIL UPDATE
July 2026
EVENTS
 
Nashville will once again celebrate the 4th of July downtown.  Everything is free and open to the public.  Concerts at 5 stages will feature The All-American Rejects, Boyz II Men, Brothers Osborne, Clint Black, Lauren Daigle, NE-YO, Nick Jonas, and Sublime, along with more than 30 local artists, bands, and DJs. The Event site will be open from 11 to 6 on July 3 and 12-10 pm. The Family Fun Zone will be open from 12-5 on July 3 and and 11 to 7 on July 4  at Walk of Fame Park.  Nashville’s biggest fireworks and drone show yet will be synchronized to a live performance by the GRAMMY-winning Nashville Symphony at Ascend Ampitheater starting at 9:30. For safety, coolers are not allowed, but there will be plenty of food trucks, and businesses selling food and drink.  Parking is available at the courthouse, convention center, and 5th and Broad, and there are lots of other non-car transportation options available.  All event details and information can be found at visitmusiccity.com/july4th.
 
Metro is also working with a number of partners to make the event safe and sustainable. 
  •  The Sober Space Hangout in partnership with Cumberland Heights is located on Gay Street Connector near the First Aid Tent.
  • Let Freedom Sing! will be a Safe Bar event, with key bar and security staff trained in bystander intervention and awareness about alcohol’s role in sexual assault. For more information, visit linktr.ee/SafeBarTN.
  • Volunteers with Red Frogs USA will help create a positive presence at music festivals. They will have a tent at the Amazon Family Fun Zone at Walk of Fame Park, on Second Avenue North, at The Green, and at Public Square Park, where they will provide free phone charging and give away cups of water to help keep everyone hydrated and provide sunscreen. Red Frogs volunteers will also rove the event site to ensure patrons are safe and to provide immediate help where needed.
  • The NCVC will continue sustainability practices from previous years, including recycling cardboard, aluminum and plastic; recycling solid grease and grease water; composting; and using energy-saving LED lights in video and lighting, as well as solar powered lights.
    • Upcycling signage for re-use as art supplies through Smart Art + Craft Supplies, including vinyl banner material that SmartArt will produce into durable, reusable tote bags.
    • Care Kitchen Outreach will pick up extra catered food to distribute to local nonprofits.
    • Compost Nashville will collect organic waste material at compost stations at the Amazon Family Fun Zone in Walk of Fame Park, along First Avenue North near Riverfront Park and on First Avenue South near The Green at Riverfront Park.
 
Road closures around the Titan’s Stadium and Lower Broadway have already begun and street parking in many areas is already bagged off. Most downtown streets will be closed to traffic starting July 3 at 5 am, but WeGo will be providing convenient transportation to and from downtown including the WeGo Star train. All bus routes will operate on a Sunday/Holiday schedule and will be operating until 1:15 a.m. Because congestion may require unexpected detours downtown, customers are encouraged to consider boarding at the Elizabeth Duff Transit Center at WeGo Central (4th & Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Boulevard).WeGo.  July 4th train tickets are available for purchase now on TicketsNashville.com. Round-trip tickets cost $15 with a $2 processing fee and cannot be purchased at local train station ticket vending machines. The tickets will remain on sale until 24 hours before the event, or until the train is sold out. Children age four and younger will not need a ticket to board but are required to sit in a parent or guardian’s lap. Weekday WeGo Star tickets and monthly passes will not be accepted for the July 4th train. The return train will leave Riverfront Station one hour after the conclusion of the fireworks show.  information is available on the WeGo website.  https://www.wegotransit.com/celebrate-july-4th-with-wego---2025/
Finally, just a friendly reminder that only officially permitted fireworks are allowed in Davidson County.
 
Trash and recycling pick-up will not be affected by the July 4th  holiday.  Pick-ups will happen Tuesday through Friday as regularly scheduled.  The annual trash schedule can be found on the Nashville Waste Services website at  https://www.nashville.gov/departments/water/waste-and-recycling
Brush pick-up begins
July 1 in Area 8 Green Hills, Hillsboro West End, Belmont Hillsboro, Percy Warner, Devonshire
July 7 in Area 9 Bellevue, West Meade, Hillwood, White Bridge, Cherokee Park, Richland West End, Sylvan Park, Sylvan Heights, Hadley, Fisk Watkins Park
July 17 in Area 10 Whites Bend, Charlotte Park, Cockrill Bend, Nations, TSU, College Heights, Germantown, Buena Vista
July 23 in Area11 Joelton, Whites Creek, Marrowbone, Scottsboro, Bells Bend, Bordeaux, Haynes Heights, Haynes Manor
July 28 in Area 12  Goodlettsville, Dalemere, Bellshire
 
 
Walk Bike Nashville (WBN) and Nashville Department of Transportation (NDOT) are hosting  Open Streets July 11 from 10 to 2.   Open Streets is a program that temporarily closes selected streets to cars to encourage people to reconnect to their communities, get active, support local businesses, and play in the street. Open Streets is designed to stir the imagination to rethink public spaces - understanding that our streets can have a multitude of uses. Participants can enjoy a streetscape activated with artists, music, businesses, and activities of all kinds!  Biking, walking, rollerskating, skateboarding, scooters, hopscotching, dancing, double-dutching on the street is encouraged.    NDOT and WBN will close downtown streets to cars and invite Nashville to walk, bike, and explore.

 
There’s no registration required to participate. Just hop on your bike — or grab a skateboard, roller skates, or a comfy pair of walking shoes — and join WBN for a massive street party for people.  The area includes Church St, 1st Avenu, KVB, and John Lewis Way.  Find more information on the Open Streets website.
 
 
July is Parks and Recreation Month.  Parks and recreation has the power to bring people together, strengthen health and well-being, and build more resilient, connected communities. Each July, Park and Recreation agencies nationwide recognize the month with summer programs, events, contests, commemorations and celebrations. This very special month also recognizes the more than 160,000 full-time park and recreation professionals — along with hundreds of thousands of part-time and seasonal workers and volunteers — who maintain our country’s local, state and community parks. You can learn more here and check out our many activities for the month of July below!
 
I am seven greenways into the Metro Parks Greenway Challenge to walk all 100 miles of Metro’s greenways throughout the year.  Join me and representatives from Metro Parks and Greenways for Nashville at the Stones River Greenway  Percy Priest Dam Trailhead, at 10 a.m., Saturday July 18 for their Celebrate Greenways:Trail and Greenways Safety Event! Join in for a morning focused on safety tips, hiking the greenway, special announcements, the Greenways Challenge Check-in and more! The event trailhead is located at 3734 Bell Road, Hermitage, TN 37214.
 
State and federal primary election season  is fully underway.  The last day to register to vote is July 7.  Early voting begins July 17 and runs through August 1.  The last day to request an absentee ballot is July 27, but delivery can take a couple of weeks so voters should not wait until the last minute.  Anyone who will be out of town on election day or who is over the age of 65 can request an absentee ballot.  Election Day is August 6. Offices on the ballot include governor, house of representatives, senate, state representatives, and state senate.
 
Because of the recent redistricting by the state, congressional districts have changed for many voters in Davidson County. See the map below for the new districts, which are still being contested in court, but are already on the sample ballots currently being prepared ahead of early voting.  New voter registration cards have just been mailed out. Voters can verify precinct locations at  https://www.nashville.gov/departments/elections/find-polling-place .  
Nashville still shares three congressional districts with multiple other counties, but the combinations are very different  from the 2022 redistricting.  District 4 now includes part of Southeast Nashville and multiple counties to the southeast.  District 5, which used to be  Davidson County does not include any of Davidson County and reaches all the way west to include part of Memphis.  District 6 now includes a  “peninsula” reaching in from the east covering parts of   Goodlettsville, Madison, Donelson, Old Hickory, East Nashville, and Hermitage. District 7 is now the western half of the county as well as counties to the north.  The general  election day is in November 5. 
   A valid state issued photo ID, like an up-to-date Driver’s license https://www.tn.gov/safety/driver-services/classd/dlrenew.html  is required to vote.   Student IDs from a local university will not be accepted. 
Several new early voting locations have been added since the May elections, including the Community Foundation in Green Hills and Scarritt Bennett Center on 18th Ave South.  Early voting is open 8 to 4:30 most days and until 7 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  A sample ballot can be found at the DCEC website.  https://www.nashville.gov/sites/default/files/2026-06/Sample_Ballot_August_6_2026_State_Fed_Prim_Cty_Gen_Oak_Hill.pdf?ct=1781625299
 
 
 
 
Metro is working with the Cumberland River Compact for a fall Tree Give-Away through the Root Nashville Campaign, neighbors can order up to three large trees for their private property at no cost.  This is a great deal with multiple benefits!  I have two new oaks in my yard from last year that will provide shade, absorb stormwater, house my birds, clean my air, and increase my property value.  Supplies of tree species are limited and are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. This year’s trees include Tulip Poplar, Sycamore, River Birch, Honey Locust, and Shingle Oak for shade trees and Serviceberry and Umbrella Magnolia for smaller trees.  Orders are due by August 31. Trees will be delivered between November and March. Root Nashville has created a tree selection tool where neighbors can select for size, light preferences, and ornamental characteristics.
The tool can be found at: https://rootnashville.org/tree-catalog/
 More information is available at trees.rootnashville.org/order .  In the meantime, trees that were planted last fall need watering twice a week through these hot days of the summer.
 
ISSUES
The Council will consider several controversial topics at our upcoming Council Meeting on July 7.  Proposed legislation to regulate data centers  and to require all new streets to put utilities underground are on public hearing.  The data center regulations would create definitions for different sizes of data centers and establish distance limits from sensitive uses (like daycares and zoos) depending on size.  It also sets noise limits, requires cooling systems to be closed loop, and calls for water and energy consumption and sustainability plans and lighting plans.  Data center “campuses” over 500,000 square feet would be prohibited. 
 
The Metro Budget , which passed in June, is now implemented for FY2027, beginning July 1.    The budget is the same as last year at $3.8 billion, including $1.4 billion school budget that will continue tutoring and counseling programs formerly funded with federal COVID dollars, and it provides $30 million for affordable housing programs.  The budget also includes a 1.25% cut for all departments to account for flat revenues as the economy slows.  There is a 2% across the board cost of living adjustment for all Metro employees, as well as step and merit increases for almost all employees.  The council’s substitute budget added a few enhancements to the mayor’s budget based on public input through the budget process.  Changes include the,  designated funding for CASA, OASIS Center, the Branch, and Tennessee Justice Center.  These changes were made without increasing the bottom line by deleting money from mostly administrative accounts.  The property tax rate is unchanged at $2.814 per $100 of assessed value; since this is not a reappraisal year, most property owners will see no change in their tax bill over last year. The full operating budget can be reviewed at https://www.nashville.gov/departments/finance/management-and-budget/citizens-guide-budget
 
 
With summer comes an onslaught of mosquitoes, which are more than just a nuisance. Mosquitoes pose a serious health risk to our local communities. With many vector-borne diseases present in North America, it is important to limit mosquito populations with a fully integrated approach. The most effective way to reduce mosquito populations is to consistently remove any standing water anywhere in your yard.  This can include birdbaths, empty buckets, toys.  Mosquitoes can reproduce in a surprisingly small amount of water, but denying them that tiny bit can stop the cycle.  Another strategy is to bait them with a "Mosquito Bucket of Doom" It's a quick, easy, cheap, and super-SAFE way to reduce the mosquito population in our yards. This is made from a bucket + water + handful of weeds + BTi dunk, which can be bought at any hardware store. The active ingredient is BTi, a bacteria found in the soil which targets only mosquitoes in their larval stage. Larvicides are far more effective than adulticides (the sprays). BTi will not harm any other creatures including birds, pets, most insects (except black flies and fungus gnats), and pollinators. Here's the link to the DIY Mosquito Bucket of Doom.
 
 
Metro is always looking for interested, qualified citizens to fill the Boards and Commissions that guide how Nashville grows and operates.  Any voter registered in Davidson County is eligible to apply for a position through the Board portal at https://www.nashville.gov/boards .  There are openings coming up on the Contract and Compliance Board, Minority Business Advisory Council, Housing Trust Fund, Health and Eductational Facilities Board, and Mayor’s Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities.
 
That’s the news for July.  I hope everyone has a great holiday.As this country celebrates its 250th year as an independent nation, there is much to be proud of and much to continue improving.  Our experiment in democracy has been a great example for many other countries.  I plan to spend this 250th year looking for every opportunity to build bridges, heal divisions, and work toward common goals of liberty and justice for all.    Please let me know what issues are on your mind.  Sign up for this newsletter at  www.burkley.org. Contact me at 615-383-6604 or burkle...@nashville.gov.
 
Burkley

Burkley Allen
Metro Council At-Large

Council Committees - Budget and Finance - Past Chair
                               Planning, Zoning, and Historic- Past Chair
                               Transportation and Infrastructure - Solid Waste Subcommittee Chair
Barnes Housing Trust Fund Commission
Sustainability Commission
Tax Abatement Study Committee - Chair
Women's Caucus - Past Chair 

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