Soccer in Nashville

[LA_TN]

21 minutes ago, Luvemtall said:

It’s way more then just this MLS deal, Cooper is going to derail so much more. Don’t you think anyone and everyone that are looking to invest in Nashville , is paying close attention to the way that he is . Is there anyway to remove him from office before his term is up? If not , this might become the end of Nashville’s glory days. 

Impeach him! lol

[nashvylle]

It will all get worked out, one way or another. Have faith.

[PaulChinetti]

 

[nashwatcher]

Cooper has to move this forward or he has lost all integrity in my mind

[PaulChinetti]

He’s gonna lose the Council for any initiatives he’s interested in and then I’ll make his job even harder. 

[MLBrumby]

It’s both funny and alarming to read comments from readers at the Tennessean site. Their article yesterday about mls and Nashville sc getting frustrated with cooper. 

[DDIG]

31 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

It’s both funny and alarming to read comments from readers at the Tennessean site. Their article yesterday about mls and Nashville sc getting frustrated with cooper. 

The social media comment section of the Tennessean is the absolute bottom of the barrel. 

[markhollin]

Editorial by NBJ Managing Editor Eric Snyder today:

WHEN NASHVILLE'S WORD ISN'T ITS BOND

Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s tougher stance on how the city doles out corporate incentives is the fulfillment of a campaign promise, one that helped sweep him into office.

I don’t argue with the philosophy at the core of Cooper’s view: Cities boom for a reason, and Nashville’s popularity with companies looking to expand or relocate should give Metro the flexibility to be more selective about the deals it chooses to incentivize — something that would be true even if Nashville wasn’t facing a budget crisis.

What’s problematic, however, is Cooper’s refusal early in his term to honor certain deals struck by his predecessor, Mayor David Briley.

In December, we broke the news that Briley had struck $5.2 million worth of incentive deals for downtown-area expansions from Asurion and SmileDirectClub. In our story, Cooper declined to explicitly state whether he would honor those deals.

The answer to that, based on comments he made this week to the Rotary Club of Nashville, now seems clear. He talked of nixing plans for Metro to spend about $3 million for infrastructure around a company’s new office. Though he never mentioned the company by name, that figure is in line with what our reporting showed Asurion was in line to receive for its new headquarters on Broadway.

“I said no, and they were super mad at me,” said Cooper, who said the earmarked funds had previously been eyed for road projects. “I can’t support a false-flag appropriation from some other bucket of money that was supposed to go to roads and neighborhoods, just because you think your rent is too high.”

Publicly, Asurion and SmileDirectClub have largely held their fire. In a statement this week, Asurion said the company and the project’s developer are paying $6 million for infrastructure work. “Knowing the public would benefit from these improvements and Asurion would continue to create jobs and locate its headquarters in Nashville, Metro Nashville officially committed to reimburse Asurion and its developer for only some of these improvements to the public infrastructure,”Asurion said.

You can add to this pile Cooper’s apparent desire to relitigate plans to build the soccer stadium for Nashville’s new MLS team at the fairgrounds, a deal that three-quarters of Metro Council approved in 2018. (Cooper is well aware of that vote, as he voted against the deal as an at-large councilmember.) This week, Cooper again declined to say when he’ll unveil his own proposal.

Cooper is right to calculate that his voters won’t find a lot of sympathy for a billionaire like Nashville SC owner John Ingram, or for Asurion and SmileDirectClub. Asurion generated $8.5 billion in 2018 revenue, placing it in the No. 1 spot on our most recent list of Greater Nashville’s biggest private companies. SmileDirectClub, which went public last year, reported 2018 revenue of $423.2 million.

The concern for the business community isn’t about these deals individually, but about the signals they send to potential recruits about what kind of partner they can expect Nashville to be. Cooper’s stance on future incentive deals is one thing, as companies understand that new leadership leads to new philosophies. But once a deal has been struck, companies expect that to be honored going forward. Can companies interested in expanding in Nashville — Oracle and Microsoft are two whose interest we’ve reported on recently — be confident that whatever deal they strike today will be honored four years from now?

Finally, these recent actions by Cooper have alienated companies that should be advocates for Nashville. As two of Nashville’s biggest and most recent expansion announcements, it would be nice to have an Asurion or SmileDirectClub in the city’s corner saying, “You know, even if incentives aren’t on the table for you, Nashville is a great place to do business, and the local leaders are great to work with.”

Cooper surely understands that type of advocacy seems unlikely — revoking a deal tends to make people “super mad.”

[DDIG]

14 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Editorial by NBJ Managing Editor Eric Snyder today:

WHEN NASHVILLE'S WORD ISN'T ITS BOND

Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s tougher stance on how the city doles out corporate incentives is the fulfillment of a campaign promise, one that helped sweep him into office.

I don’t argue with the philosophy at the core of Cooper’s view: Cities boom for a reason, and Nashville’s popularity with companies looking to expand or relocate should give Metro the flexibility to be more selective about the deals it chooses to incentivize — something that would be true even if Nashville wasn’t facing a budget crisis.

What’s problematic, however, is Cooper’s refusal early in his term to honor certain deals struck by his predecessor, Mayor David Briley.

In December, we broke the news that Briley had struck $5.2 million worth of incentive deals for downtown-area expansions from Asurion and SmileDirectClub. In our story, Cooper declined to explicitly state whether he would honor those deals.

The answer to that, based on comments he made this week to the Rotary Club of Nashville, now seems clear. He talked of nixing plans for Metro to spend about $3 million for infrastructure around a company’s new office. Though he never mentioned the company by name, that figure is in line with what our reporting showed Asurion was in line to receive for its new headquarters on Broadway.

“I said no, and they were super mad at me,” said Cooper, who said the earmarked funds had previously been eyed for road projects. “I can’t support a false-flag appropriation from some other bucket of money that was supposed to go to roads and neighborhoods, just because you think your rent is too high.”

Publicly, Asurion and SmileDirectClub have largely held their fire. In a statement this week, Asurion said the company and the project’s developer are paying $6 million for infrastructure work. “Knowing the public would benefit from these improvements and Asurion would continue to create jobs and locate its headquarters in Nashville, Metro Nashville officially committed to reimburse Asurion and its developer for only some of these improvements to the public infrastructure,”Asurion said.

You can add to this pile Cooper’s apparent desire to relitigate plans to build the soccer stadium for Nashville’s new MLS team at the fairgrounds, a deal that three-quarters of Metro Council approved in 2018. (Cooper is well aware of that vote, as he voted against the deal as an at-large councilmember.) This week, Cooper again declined to say when he’ll unveil his own proposal.

Cooper is right to calculate that his voters won’t find a lot of sympathy for a billionaire like Nashville SC owner John Ingram, or for Asurion and SmileDirectClub. Asurion generated $8.5 billion in 2018 revenue, placing it in the No. 1 spot on our most recent list of Greater Nashville’s biggest private companies. SmileDirectClub, which went public last year, reported 2018 revenue of $423.2 million.

The concern for the business community isn’t about these deals individually, but about the signals they send to potential recruits about what kind of partner they can expect Nashville to be. Cooper’s stance on future incentive deals is one thing, as companies understand that new leadership leads to new philosophies. But once a deal has been struck, companies expect that to be honored going forward. Can companies interested in expanding in Nashville — Oracle and Microsoft are two whose interest we’ve reported on recently — be confident that whatever deal they strike today will be honored four years from now?

Finally, these recent actions by Cooper have alienated companies that should be advocates for Nashville. As two of Nashville’s biggest and most recent expansion announcements, it would be nice to have an Asurion or SmileDirectClub in the city’s corner saying, “You know, even if incentives aren’t on the table for you, Nashville is a great place to do business, and the local leaders are great to work with.”

Cooper surely understands that type of advocacy seems unlikely — revoking a deal tends to make people “super mad.”

Nailed it.

[titanhog]

IMO...I wish the city would give a longterm lease to SMI for the race track...then SMI and Ingram get together and hammer out a plan for the track, stadium and mixed use buildings and make it all fit appropriately and split the cost of infrastructure.

[PillowTalk4]

And, if you don't believe that people (i.e. business decision makers) aren't paying attention to what is happening in Nashville, think twice about it.  A friend that works with a company that I can't name, but is based in California, told me that his company is considering Nashville as a possible site for an office in which they will relocate employees and add new employees.  He said it would be between 300 and 500 employees to start.  They won't be proposing a new building necessarily, though it's not out of the question.  But they will be looking at prime office space that they can grow into preferably in or near the cities core in which they have the marque rights (In other words they want their name on the building).  Nothing has been proposed yet.  And, no meetings have taken place.  However, they are exploring quietly and earnestly options to expand.  He told me Nashville is at the top of the list of cities they are targeting.  But, he also said that recently concerns about Nashville's new mayor are popping up in the conversations.  He said that they are watching how he (the mayor) handles current deals on the table.  Other cities they are considering include Atlanta, Charlotte, and the DC metropolitan area.  

[Armacing]

16 hours ago, SumnerCountian said:

but don't kill the goose that is laying the golden eggs.

… with the word "golden eggs" being translated as "nearly bankrupt metro budget".

38 minutes ago, PillowTalk4 said:

 Other cities they are considering include Atlanta, Charlotte, and the DC metropolitan area.  

Ha!  We have nothing to worry about there.  All of those locations have a state income tax.  If your buddy said they were  considering Austin or Orlando, then we would have something to worry about.

[DDIG]

12 minutes ago, Armacing said:

… with the word "golden eggs" being translated as "nearly bankrupt metro budget".

Nashville has budget problems*, but we aren't close to nearly bankrupt.

 

* budget problems that are easily solvable with a modest property tax increase that would entail roughly a $32 a month increase paid through escrow for most homeowners.

Edited January 31, 2020 by DDIG

[Bos2Nash]

1 hour ago, titanhog said:

IMO...I wish the city would give a longterm lease to SMI for the race track...then SMI and Ingram get together and hammer out a plan for the track, stadium and mixed use buildings and make it all fit appropriately and split the cost of infrastructure.

100%!! Both SMI and Ingram have enough money to collaborate on a real solution. I understand the argument of honoring the deal that was struck, but the deal that was struck is clearly not going to work, in that there was nothing in there about what happens for infrastructure costs go though the roof. If someone can point to language that talks to that I’ll get off the soapbox, but until then I will harp on that the developers should find a way cover the overages. 

29 minutes ago, DDIG said:

Nashville has budget problems*, but we aren't close to nearly bankrupt.

 

* budget problems that are easily solvable with a modest property tax increase that would entail roughly a $32 a month increase paid through escrow for most homeowners.

While we aren’t bankrupt, we need to stop kicking the can down the road. The boom Nashville is experiencing is obviously a byproduct of spending money on downtown (Bridgestone), but just like the market sees an adjustment, the public sector spending needs to have an ebb and flow to allow for recovery and spending.

We rely on politicians to help work those ebb and flows into our cities economy while continuing on a productive path. I agree that a property tax increase is going to be necessary, but we should be able to use that money for Barnes Fund, Teachers Pay and infrastructure improvements in established areas (Not all infrastructure money can be dedicated to shiney new buildings). The council did approve $50 million for infrastructure, but they didn’t approve a blank check because everything costs more than expected. The previous administration clearly couldn’t price things accurately enough or couldn’t monitor costs well enough

[DMilner]

Ingram laying all the cards on the table. Not a good look for Cooper at all. 
 

http://www.mendesfornashville.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Letter-to-Mayor-1.31.20.pdf

[DDIG]

1 minute ago, DMilner said:

Ingram laying all the cards on the table. Not a good look for Cooper at all. 
 

http://www.mendesfornashville.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Letter-to-Mayor-1.31.20.pdf

Lol if that is not good enough of a deal for Cooper nothing on earth is and nothing will ever get done in this administration. 

[nashvylle]

Wow, NashvilleSC offered $19MM for infrastructure PLUS releasing metro of potential $35MM in stadium debt service ($54MM total) and Cooper rejected. It's clearly the stadium location and the fairgrounds in my opinion... For $19MM just buy the TA trucking site next to Nissan Stadium (14 acres) and never deal with fairgrounds at all plus use Titans parking. 

[titanhog]

Cooper has obviously gone 100% "Save The Fairgrounds" on us.

[PaulChinetti]

13 minutes ago, nashvylle said:

Wow, NashvilleSC offered $19MM for infrastructure PLUS releasing metro of potential $35MM in stadium debt service ($54MM total) and Cooper rejected. It's clearly the stadium location and the fairgrounds in my opinion... For $19MM just buy the TA trucking site next to Nissan Stadium (14 acres) and never deal with fairgrounds at all plus use Titans parking. 

Pure insanity. No a single big time developer will trust Nashville to follow through on its word. Why would they go through all the committee's, planning commissions,  public talks, and Council votes if the Mayor can just say NOPE, won't follow through on a signed deal. 

[titanhog]

16 minutes ago, nashvylle said:

Wow, NashvilleSC offered $19MM for infrastructure PLUS releasing metro of potential $35MM in stadium debt service ($54MM total) and Cooper rejected. It's clearly the stadium location and the fairgrounds in my opinion... For $19MM just buy the TA trucking site next to Nissan Stadium (14 acres) and never deal with fairgrounds at all plus use Titans parking. 

I agree with this.  Go buy some land and do this yourself instead of having the city be a weight around your neck.

[smeagolsfree]

But then you have to have infrastructure work done and that much land is not cheap in Nashville.

[DDIG]

5 minutes ago, titanhog said:

I agree with this.  Go buy some land and do this yourself instead of having the city be a weight around your neck.

Problem is all the additional costs and time that will take at this point. Find the new land. Close on the new land. Figure out the infrastructure necessary to put a stadium there. Go back through planning and the council to get the plan approved. Completely redesign the stadium's mechanics. Probably looking at another year at best before you can move dirt (plus all the sunk costs in design work at Fairgrounds site) vs. this plan where every thing is in place except the asshole in city hall.

Edited January 31, 2020 by DDIG

[e-dub]

16 minutes ago, titanhog said:

Cooper has obviously gone 100% "Save The Fairgrounds" on us.

I've always seen him as such.

[musiczealot]

Am I completely off on this?

 

Isn't the budget situation almost entirely the result of the property tax re-assessment that was supposed to be budget neutral?  And then there was a rebuttal period that property owners could have their property reappraised if they thought the valuation was too high.  But when a massive amount of commercial properties were reappraised for far less, there was no balancing mechanism in place to make sure the re-appraisal was budget neutral.  It ended up collecting far less in revenue at the current property tax rate.

 

Am I missing something?

 

Why doesn't more blame go to the property assessor?

[downtownresident]

3 minutes ago, musiczealot said:

Am I completely off on this?

 

Isn't the budget situation almost entirely the result of the property tax re-assessment that was supposed to be budget neutral?  And then there was a rebuttal period that property owners could have their property reappraised if they thought the valuation was too high.  But when a massive amount of commercial properties were reappraised for far less, there was no balancing mechanism in place to make sure the re-appraisal was budget neutral.  It ended up collecting far less in revenue at the current property tax rate.

 

Am I missing something?

 

Why doesn't more blame go to the property assessor?

Yup. And then we had two mayors refuse to raise the property tax rate for political reasons and instead kicked the can down the road over and over and over again.