WHAT ARE NASHVILLE'S STRENGTHS & SHORTCOMINGS?

[nashvylle]

On 8/27/2019 at 6:04 PM, bnacincy said:

As I have been harping on for years now, Nashville needs a Museum/Theater district on Upper Broadway where the car dealerships are.

Why would a city calling itself "Music City" not have a state of the art, interactive, world class, must see facility called the Museum of Music?

Transform all of Broadway into a global destination and not the just lower part of it!

The National Museum of African American Music going in 5th and Broadway is huge. Obviously we have CMHOF not far from Broadway either, plus Johnny Cash Museum and George Jones. Museums take a lot of $$, and a Museum of Music would be nice, but need someone to fund it.

The two museums along Bicentennial Mall are going to be awesome and make that park feel like DC. 

[archilove]

Tennessee, Texas, the Carolinas and Florida are gaining population from high-tax states like New York and California. Raise taxes too much and people will have one less reason to come here.

Regarding Nashville's pluses: We are exceptionally green, i.e., lots of trees and unusually large yards, especially in older neighborhoods, and have a signature decorative look in the omnipresent stone walls throughout the county. I had a friend from up north who said he moved here because he had heard it was a place with spacious, shady yards.

We have a limited supply of older buildings and are tearing down  what we have. Towns with older buildings have charm and character.  There are plenty of parking lots. Let people develop those.

[Armacing]

On ‎9‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 1:16 PM, archilove said:

 I had a friend from up north who said he moved here because he had heard it was a place with spacious, shady yards.

That's an interesting bit of information.  Where would you say this friend falls on the income spectrum, and what part of town did they end up buying a house in?

[Rockatansky]

On 9/1/2019 at 1:16 PM, archilove said:

We are exceptionally green, i.e., lots of trees and unusually large yards, especially in older neighborhoods

Personally, I see this as a negative. Green is good, but the low density required for those large yards is part of the reason we're so sprawled. $.02.

[Armacing]

1 hour ago, Rockatansky said:

Personally, I see this as a negative. Green is good, but the low density required for those large yards is part of the reason we're so sprawled. $.02.

And yet, the guy in the other poster's example sees this as a positive.  I think with every new corporate relocation there will be people who want to live in the dense urban part of the city and people who want spacious suburban yards.  Nashville offers both, and that is one of its strengths.

[archilove]

5 hours ago, Armacing said:

That's an interesting bit of information.  Where would you say this friend falls on the income spectrum, and what part of town did they end up buying a house in?

 

5 hours ago, Armacing said:

That's an interesting bit of information.  Where would you say this friend falls on the income spectrum, and what part of town did they end up buying a house in?

This was many years ago. He was from Cleveland , Ohio, inherited millions from his dad, and bought in Franklin. His niece once came to town from Pittsburg and said "there's such a thing as too many trees." But there was no such thing as "too many trees" for "Dutch."

Edited September 3, 2019 by archilove

[East Side Urbanite]

A shortcoming: Nashville could stand to have a stronger coffee/cafe culture.

Just one list (for whatever it's worth) but we are nowhere to be found.

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-coffee-lovers/23739/

[BnaBreaker]

3 hours ago, East Side Urbanite said:

A shortcoming: Nashville could stand to have a stronger coffee/cafe culture.

Just one list (for whatever it's worth) but we are nowhere to be found.

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-coffee-lovers/23739/

Well, to be fair we are there, but 49th place isn't exactly something to brag about. haha

[Mr_Bond]

4 hours ago, East Side Urbanite said:

A shortcoming: Nashville could stand to have a stronger coffee/cafe culture.

Just one list (for whatever it's worth) but we are nowhere to be found.

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-coffee-lovers/23739/

It doesn't help that the average price of cappuccino in Music City is higher than in NYC.  High rents cause locally owned coffee shops to have a hard time surviving, leading to a predominance of chain coffee shops and donut shops.  For the coffee shops that survive, high rents cause high drink prices.

Overall, I think that the rapid growth in Nashville over the past six years has attracted big money fast, leading to rapidly escalating real estate prices and a scramble for big bucks fast.  Since so much property has changed hands so quickly, all the new owners have to generate cash flow to fund their new projects, causing them to focus on any new, growing store or restaurant with big money behind it.  This has squeezed out the local shops in favor of chains (big or small) with bigger checkbooks.  If the city had a slower growth rate, property owners would be able to cash flow their mortgages without driving out the local shop owners.

In a few years, after the growth has slowed, I hope we'll see a resurgence of local retail establishments.

[MLBrumby]

Case in point. The property on Rosa Parks at Monroe that just sold for nearly $1.6 million; bought for $200k in 2006... nearly 750% increase in 13 years! And there was a recession right in there too.

[bnacincy]

7 hours ago, East Side Urbanite said:

A shortcoming: Nashville could stand to have a stronger coffee/cafe culture.

Just one list (for whatever it's worth) but we are nowhere to be found.

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-coffee-lovers/23739/

Maybe a few Maxwell House Cafe's? I'll say it again and again....Nashville is massively underutilizing its native Coffee brand. In addition to putting a brand new Maxwell House back at 4th and Church, Maxwell House Coffee needs to be in every Nashville Gift Basket the Visitor's Center sells along with Goo Goo Clusters and Loveless Cafe Biscuit Mix-say, a special Nashville edition coffee bag or can that is only sold in Nashville. The Convention and Visitor's Bureau needs to do a promotional deal with Kraft Foods-win a trip to Nashville! Details on back of Coffee Can! See the City where Maxwell House was born.....! 

As I mentioned before it is a global brand and they (The City) are doing nothing with it........

Edited September 25, 2019 by bnacincy
text

[donNdonelson2]

7 hours ago, bnacincy said:

Maybe a few Maxwell House Cafe's? I'll say it again and again....Nashville is massively underutilizing its native Coffee brand. In addition to putting a brand new Maxwell House back at 4th and Church, Maxwell House Coffee needs to be in every Nashville Gift Basket the Visitor's Center sells along with Goo Goo Clusters and Loveless Cafe Biscuit Mix-say, a special Nashville edition coffee bag or can that is only sold in Nashville. The Convention and Visitor's Bureau needs to do a promotional deal with Kraft Foods-win a trip to Nashville! Details on back of Coffee Can! See the City where Maxwell House was born.....! 

As I mentioned before it is a global brand and they (The City) are doing nothing with it........

But Maxwell House Coffee has not been a Nashville brand since 1928!

From Cheekwood’s website:

Another Nashville-based Cheek family business was the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company, creators and brewers of MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE and TEA. The specialty blend was named after and marketed by the best hotel in Nashville, the Maxwell House. The success of the brand launched the local business into nation-wide production and is said to have captured the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt, who exclaimed that it was “good to the last drop!”

Cheek-Neal was created by Joel Cheek, the cousin of Leslie Sr.’s father C.T. Cheek. C.T. had been an early investor, and Leslie Sr. bought stock as well. In 1928, the Postum Company, later renamed General Foods, purchased Cheek-Neal Coffee Company for $45 million. As an investor, Leslie Sr.’s fortune quickly expanded, likely also expanding his plans for Cheekwood.

 

Edited September 25, 2019 by donNdonelson2
Additional information

[smeagolsfree]

I do think the price of retail space is hurting the city.  There are probably a lot of independent shops that have closed or would like to open but cant do  it simply because they cant afford the price of the retail space. This goes for not only coffee shops but all kinds of retail including restaurants, soft goods, specialty shops, etc.

Some would say just let them move somewhere else, but the question is, where to? They will lose their customer base and they tourist that many rely on. 

Again, this is another area that Nashville success is a detriment to its growth. There has to be affordable options for small business as well as residential options. This is just as important to a vibrant city as anything.

 

[bnacincy]

4 hours ago, donNdonelson2 said:

But Maxwell House Coffee has not been a Nashville brand since 1928!

From Cheekwood’s website:

Another Nashville-based Cheek family business was the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company, creators and brewers of MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE and TEA. The specialty blend was named after and marketed by the best hotel in Nashville, the Maxwell House. The success of the brand launched the local business into nation-wide production and is said to have captured the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt, who exclaimed that it was “good to the last drop!”

Cheek-Neal was created by Joel Cheek, the cousin of Leslie Sr.’s father C.T. Cheek. C.T. had been an early investor, and Leslie Sr. bought stock as well. In 1928, the Postum Company, later renamed General Foods, purchased Cheek-Neal Coffee Company for $45 million. As an investor, Leslie Sr.’s fortune quickly expanded, likely also expanding his plans for Cheekwood.

 

True, but what is important for Nashville's purposes is the association-Maxwell House-the Hotel-the Coffee- is a part of Nashville's history, its culture. 

This is what the city should be promoting.

[CenterHill]

5 minutes ago, bnacincy said:

True, but what is important for Nashville's purposes is the association-Maxwell House-the Hotel-the Coffee- is a part of Nashville's history, its culture. 

This is what the city should be promoting.

Kraft owns the brand.    Nashville could not use or promote it (for coffee) without a license from Kraft.     That's not to say that the city, or a private company, could not pitch a franchise or partnership proposal to Kraft to market their product locally.     Despite its local origins, I think it's fair to say the brand itself does not carry much of a "barista" image for most coffee house patrons.      

[jmtunafish]

1 hour ago, bnacincy said:

True, but what is important for Nashville's purposes is the association-Maxwell House-the Hotel-the Coffee- is a part of Nashville's history, its culture. 

This is what the city should be promoting.

JFG did the same thing in Knoxville.  Granted, at the time JFG had its main plant in downtown Knoxville's Old City, so it made sense to open a JFG Coffee Shop on the ground floor in a building JFG already owned.  But I love the idea of Maxwell House coffee shops in Nashville.  We already have a Maxwell House Hotel, so it's not like it's supposed to be a big secret that the coffee is a Nashville original.  If I were Kraft Foods, I'd jump all over this.  I could see Maxwell House Coffee Shops in many of the tourist areas as well as at the airport.  Not only could these shops showcase the universal appeal of Maxwell House Coffee, but some of Kraft Foods' other coffee brands and even some of its other foods and snacks (Toblerone and Côte d'Or come to mind).

Edited September 25, 2019 by jmtunafish

[markhollin]

Nashville's boom is great -- but not equitable, business leaders say at annual Chamber meeting:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2019/09/26/nashville-boom-great-but-its-not-equitable-business-leaders-say/2444878001/

[Nashvillain]

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

Nashville's boom is great -- but not equitable, business leaders say at annual Chamber meeting:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2019/09/26/nashville-boom-great-but-its-not-equitable-business-leaders-say/2444878001/

Check out this report prepared by the Metro Human Relations Commission, "Understanding Nashville's Housing Crisis"

https://www.housing101.us

[SumnerCountian]

All of the new buildings being constructed are too short. A real shortcoming.

[erdichia]

On 9/25/2019 at 12:45 AM, bnacincy said:

Maybe a few Maxwell House Cafe's? I'll say it again and again....Nashville is massively underutilizing its native Coffee brand. In addition to putting a brand new Maxwell House back at 4th and Church, Maxwell House Coffee needs to be in every Nashville Gift Basket the Visitor's Center sells along with Goo Goo Clusters and Loveless Cafe Biscuit Mix-say, a special Nashville edition coffee bag or can that is only sold in Nashville. The Convention and Visitor's Bureau needs to do a promotional deal with Kraft Foods-win a trip to Nashville! Details on back of Coffee Can! See the City where Maxwell House was born.....! 

As I mentioned before it is a global brand and they (The City) are doing nothing with it........

I’ve always thought this would be a great idea. Kind of like Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans.

[OnePointEast]

15 hours ago, SumnerCountian said:

All of the new buildings being constructed are too short. A real shortcoming.

Broadwest, Four Seaons, 5th+Broadway, Nashville Yards, Embassy Suites, and 805 Lea aren't short. They're not tall but they sure aren't short.

[East Side Urbanite]

From Wallet Hub. Not terrible — but we typically show up higher in such rankings.

 

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-run-cities/22869/#detailed

[smeagolsfree]

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-run-cities/22869/#detailed

See if that link works better.

My gripe about the list and I emailed it to William is this and that is they should have broken the list down by city size. Smaller cities can have a distint advantage over large cities as they do not have to offer the same services or even need to ofer the same services as largers cities. Our peer cities of Charlotte and Austin faired a little better as Charlotte was just a few below us and Austin was maybe 20 spots away.

Nashville neds to get a handle on the budget and soon. As we all know it will be all Cooper can do to get the curent years budget balanced. 

[The ATX]

That's Wallet Hub.  I'm surprised that their lists get posted  as often as they do.  They are constantly churning out BS lists to drive traffic to their website full of credit monitoring/credit card/ general financial services spam.  

[Titans10]

So I went to the Titans-Falcons game in Atlanta yesterday and for the first time ever I had a pleasant travel experience in that city, mostly thanks to my decision to use MARTA to and from the stadium.   Free parking at the station, 5 dollar round trip ticket, no waiting in traffic. Nashville really dropped the ball not getting rolling a real transit plan.  I went from the stadium to my house in Chattanooga in two hours in both directions.  Also side note, that stadium is beautiful and completely crushes Nissan, the whole tailgate and game day experience was far superior.  Now if we could only get highspeed rail to Atlanta so I wouldn’t even have to drive my car(I can dream right)