The full Council should decide whether to have a public hearing
At the Council meeting on April 4, 2023, CM Angie Henderson moved to hold a public hearing about the proposed $2+ billion dollar football stadium. The motion lost by one vote.
I hear some conversations going on about the 5 listening sessions hosted by the East Bank Stadium Committee last year and whether that was sufficient public engagement. I was the chair of the East Bank Stadium Committee. The listening sessions in 2022 served a different purpose. I think the full Council should hold a public hearing now about the stadium.
My starting point is that a listening session held in the community by a single Council committee is not legally or practically the same thing as a public hearing in the Council Chamber. There’s more formality, more notice, and more attention for a public hearing in the Council Chamber.
Also, at the time of the listening sessions in 2022, we only had a non-binding term sheet. The finance plan for the stadium deal had not been released yet either. The finance plan was presented to the Metro Council only nine days ago, on April 3.
The finance plan does not include the same level of detail as the transit referendum finance plan from several years ago. In particular, the finance plan doesn’t say how much of our tax money will be controlled by the team in the years to come. I asked for that additional detail on April 3. I received those details the next day on April 4. I am posting them here. I do not believe they are publicly available on Metro’s web site.
I’ve been too busy with other critical Metro issues over the last week (like redistricting, Rep. Jones’ reappointment, and the ongoing State attacks on our community oversight board, airport authority, sports authority, and convention center authority) and have not been able to get this additional document posted before now. That means that — even right now — people probably don’t know that the team is projected to be rebated a total of $129 million of rent over 30 years for them to spend on the stadium. And people probably don’t know that the team will have access to as much as another $393 million of our tax revenues to spend on future improvements to the stadium. These amounts are in addition to Metro’s tax money being used to pay the $760 million in revenue bonds.
The listening sessions in 2022 were based on a 30 page non-binding term sheet before the full 250+ pages of final documents and the finance plan were released. Those listening sessions are not a substitute for a public hearing now before the full Council.
Let me also add that I’ll be first to admit that I have not been an effective advocate in the Council regarding the stadium. I was on the losing side of the December 2022 term sheet vote with only 6 others and a few abstentions. I have heard some discussion about whether, as chair of the East Bank Stadium Committee, I could unilaterally call for a public hearing without the Council having to vote on it. To that, I say:
I respect all my colleagues and a reality is that some don’t want to hear anything more from me about the stadium. A few have said it to me directly and I can read a room well enough to know there are more who would prefer for me to just stop. They are entitled to their opinions and I don’t mind them feeling that way because we won’t always agree. But given this, I should not unilaterally set a meeting through the East Bank Stadium Committee for the public to speak. The Council needs to make the decision together.
On top of this, a full-Council public hearing is a more formal and serious event than a committee meeting where we listen to the public. The size of this deal warrants a public hearing.
I’m committed to pursuing my proposed amendments in the hope they’ll be adopted to add a little more protection for Nashville. I will vote against the deal for all of the reasons I’ve discussed before. I hope the Council decides to have a public hearing, but that’s for the full Council to decide.