O'Connell Sheepishly Admits Trump Hasn’t Frozen Metro Funds
💸 Freddie recants comments on federal funding drop · Vigilante justice · Transit suit moving up · Vouchers takeoff · Film rundown · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Expecting a little rain tonight and into tomorrow makes for a warm, slightly muggy weekend ahead of us. Enjoy it!
Onward, Davis.
As Mayor O’Connell rolled out this year’s budget, we heard how President Trump “ghosted” Nashville by cutting federal grants, we heard that those opposing the property tax increase “are the same people celebrating the chaos of federal cuts which, make no mistake, are not about efficiency,” and we heard about how the mayor’s office is keeping a close eye on Washington during this time of federal funding uncertainty. But the truth is, O’Connell’s $3.8 billion budget for FY-2026 does not actually compensate for any Trump cuts.
“As far as more recent cuts, we're not compensating for those yet,” said O’Connell during this morning’s media roundtable. The mayor clarified that his budget proposal is “not related to recent things,” but makes up for the “loss of pandemic-era funding”—which was already scheduled to sunset in 2026.
When O’Connell was asked about the messaging coming from his administration, including implications that federal cuts could result in a property tax increase, the mayor said that anyone assuming that his budget proposal was influenced by DOGE cuts simply got their signals crossed.
I'm not sure I would say that's how we were intending to go about it. I think we knew this was a reappraisal cycle. We knew we had to do three important things: We knew there was a pay study out there that we were going to have to respond to, we knew that there was a Unified Housing Strategy that we would very likely want to respond to in the budget, and we knew that we were going to want to be in a position to get Metro schools going. We didn't know everything that was going to be coming down the pike in terms of DOGE when we sent out the initial budget memo in January, but that's also why we have tried to be responsible with the approach finance took to the fund balance policy.
Metro Director of Finance Jenneen Reed also set the record straight on this misunderstanding last week. During a Budget and Finance Committee meeting, Reed explained that “most departments have reported no loss in federal funds, and many grant contracts have already been renewed for FY-26” before confirming that the budget does not replace any cuts. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK
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⚖️ Vigilante Justice? The Tennessee Star revealed in a report that tucked away in the Metro Immigration Interactions portal is a record of one councilmember’s attempt to don a cape to save the city from Thanatos (or whatever villain you prefer).
“On Thursday, May 8, 2025, the MNPD was alerted that CM Sepulveda had been following a vehicle that she suspected contained immigration officials and that the van was currently parked in the South Precinct parking lot,” reads the record of the encounter.
A US Customs agent “noticed he was being followed by an unknown female (CM Sepulveda),” so he drove to the lot to wait. Sepulveda proceeded to ask MNPD if they could remove the Customs agent from the public parking lot. MNPD said no (public lot).
In another instance of local lawmaker interference, state representative Aftyn Behn, most famous for her effort to legalize pot during this year’s General Assembly, was pulled over after prowling behind a caravan of federal agents, delaying “at least 4 ICE vehicles for 20 minutes.”
Both incidents call into question what is and is not interference with federal law enforcement, which is the question at the center of Congressional Rep. Andy Ogle’s probe into whether or not Mayor O’Connell himself is guilty of interfering. Up North in New Jersey, the Justice Department is bringing charges against Congressional representative LaMonica McIver for storming an ICE facility. DAVIS HUNT
🚍 Transit Suit Moving Up The Food Chain? The Committee to Stop an Unfair Tax filed yet another appeal, this time with the Tennessee Supreme Court. Emily Evans, a former council member and the Committee’s Chair, hopes the court will review how Mayor O’Connell’s Choose How You Move plan adheres to the state’s IMPROVE Act and whether the ballot language and information campaign connected to the referendum were misleading.
After the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld most of Mayor O'Connell's $3.1 billion Choose How You Move transit plan (excluding affordable housing development funding) in April, both Evans and Metro were satisfied with the outcome. At the time, Evans indicated that the Committee to Stop an Unfair Tax planned to seek clarity from the Supreme Court on whether the campaign’s promise of affordable housing may have misled Nashvillians and skewed the outcome of November’s vote.
When we spoke to Evans regarding the Supreme Court appeal, she questioned the influence of O’Connell’s transit campaign on construction unions and whether CHYM would have prevailed without the promise of affordable housing. “Would there have been the political support necessary to get people out and door knock, get people to appear at forums, and have endorsements that people counted on?” posed Evans. “We don't know the answer to that. I suspect it's ‘no,’ but I think it's a question of public interest as to whether or not you can change up a plan that maybe, in dollar terms, is not particularly big—at least as envisioned—but in political terms, it was very, very large.”
🎓 Big Application Numbers For School Choice Governor Lee announced the successful launch of his state-wide Education Freedom Scholarship program in a press release yesterday. Within a few hours, over 33,000 applications were submitted for the 20,000 scholarships available in more than 200 participating schools for the 2025-2026 school year.
“This remarkable response demonstrates what we have known all along: Tennessee parents want choices when it comes to their child’s education,” said the governor. “I’m grateful to the General Assembly for their partnership in delivering universal school choice to families across our state, and I thank the Department of Education for their dedication to a smooth implementation.”
DEVELOPMENT-ish
- 🍔 The Best Burgers in Nashville (Eater)
- Chef Sean Brock hands over reins at Audrey (NBJ)
- Major permit issued for Midtown tower project (Post)
- Melrose commercial property listed for sale (Post)
- Bordeaux area eyed for apartment building (Post)
✹ WEEKLY FILM RUNDOWN: May 15-21
The latest releases and special screenings hitting Music City this week. For a complete list of upcoming titles, check out the 2025 Film Guide.
Hurry Up Tomorrow (Dir. Trey Edward Shults) We’d feel more confident about this thriller featuring The Weeknd as an insomniac popstar pulled into a stranger’s existential odyssey if it weren’t helmed by uneven indie director Shults (Waves). Reviews are somehow worse than for the artist's unfairly maligned HBO series The Idol a few years back. With Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan. Now playing in theaters.
Final Destination: Bloodlines (Dirs. Adam B. Stein and Zach Lipovsky) This gorno horror franchise has never been our bag, but for those who enjoy watching innocents die horrific deaths in overly elaborate scenarios that expand on the “man vs. fate” theme in less competent ways than you did in 9th grade English, it's the weekend’s top draw. Now playing in theaters.
Friendship (Dir. Andrew DeYoung) Tim Robinson of Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave plays a suburban dad whose bond with the local neighborhood weirdo (Paul Rudd) after an errant package delivery sends both into a spiral in the summer’s first truly edgy indie comedy. Now playing at The Belcourt.
Wednesdays with Wes As indie fans await the debut of Wes Anderson’s The Phonecian Scheme in June, the Belcourt offers a weekly celebration of the American Eccentric beginning with The Royal Tenenbaums and continuing with The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
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
🎸 Kimborough-Caldwell Band @ Dee's Lounge, 7p, $10, Info
🎸 Thom Chapman "Dopamine" single release show w/ Airpark @ The Basement, 9p, $12.85, Info
🎸 Evan Honer @ Brooklyn Bowl, 8p, $40+, Info
🪕 Route 3 @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, Info
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).