Does Tennessee Have the Worst Quality of Life? Plus, YASNI Winners and Early Voting Starts Today

Think you're brave. Adventure Science Center wants to put you to the test. Way late Playdate Camp Fear at Adventure Science Center is a 21 and up night out where you'll face your phobias and maybe discover a few new ones. Hold hissing cockroaches. Take on 300,000 volts at the Vandigraph generator, catch live comedy, and see a planetarium show scored by a string quartet. Plus, there'll be food trucks and a full bar to help calm your nerves. Way late play date. Camp Fear. August 7th at Adventure Science Center. Tickets at AdventureSci.org. Today on CityCast Nashville, it's time for our Friday News Roundup. Executive producer Whitney Pastorick and contributor Nicole Williams joined me to talk about early voting. Marsha Blackburn's latest campaign ad, Mayor Freddie O'Connell entering the chat, is Tennessee really the worst state to live in, and the Nashville scene's annual You're So Nashville if issue is out now. Plus, in this week's hell and all, we are debating permanent daylight saving time.

It's Friday, July 17th. I'm Maurice Cecil Anderson, and this is what Nashville's talking about. What's up, Nashville? What's up? You know what's up? It is annual listener survey time. What does that mean? It means folks at home that we are asking you yet again to fill out a survey that you can easily do right this second at citycast.fm slash survey. Whitney, how long does this survey take? This survey takes about seven minutes. It's our annual listener data survey. And if you filled this out last year, we still need you to take it again. This is our chance to learn more about you and what you want from Citicast so that we can serve you and this city better. Nicole, did you take the survey last year? I did not. I figured I come on here enough that you're getting plenty of my opinion. That's true. Well, feel free to take it this year. Again, that link, Citicast.fm slash survey. And, Marie, if people take the survey, what could they win? Folks, you could win a $250 visa gift card and CityCast Nashville swag. Ooh, swag. And I know that's what people are wanting more than ever these days. Now more than ever. So again, go to citycast.fm slash survey. Go ahead and do it. And here's the fun part. If you do it right now, the more of you who do it right now, the less times we have to ask you to fill out this survey. So do it right now. Hey, Marie, there's another thing people need to do starting today. Voting starts today! Beow-Boo-Boo-Boo-Boo-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-W-B-W-B-W-B-Cue. You can vote at any one of our 15 early voting locations now through August 1st in the state and federal midterm primary election. You'll also be voting in the general election for municipal candidates, where the Democratic nominees are already the winners because no Republicans qualified for the primary back in May. If you need more info about what's on the ballot or who's running, please head to our website at nashville.citycast.fm, where Whitney has written up an election guide article and we did a great podcast with the Tennessee Lookouts, Holly McCall. Yes, and I want to shout out the Lookouts Election Guide on their site too because it's really well done and I really like the layout. Anyway, early voting is awesome. Everyone should vote early. Why wait? And if it's convenient for you, you can try out one of the three new, all new, brand new, early voting locations. Those are at the Election Commission Office, the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, or the Scarrett Bennett Center. Davidson County Elections Administrator John Richardson told WPLN that these new locations are designed to address voting deserts, which is amazing. Wow. Let's do food deserts next. Yeah. Meanwhile, everybody is talking about Marsha Blackburn, but probably not in the way she wants us to. News Channel 5 has really been on the Blackburn beat this week. First, they announced that they are canceling their gubernatorial debate since Marcia declined to participate, causing John Rose then to also drop out. His campaign says he won't debate if Marcia's not there.

Immigration is a federal issue, not a state one, and governors don't control it, is the way she says her name. It's like she's never said her own name before. Anyway, but Marie, this whole debate kerfuffle isn't the only thing that News Channel 5 is on about this week, correct? That's right. News Channel 5 also released an exclusive report that Blackburn's Senate office was the target of a confidential ethics investigation last year, focusing on allegations involving the use of taxpayer dollars for her political campaigns. Blackburn's office responded by saying the matter was, quote, resolved. but they did not say how it was resolved. According to this report, which came from who else, but Phil Williams, Nashville's nosiest bitch, staffers in Blackburn's Senate office were interviewed as part of the investigation. Those people were asked about the relationship between staff members working on taxpayer time and Ward Baker, who's Marcia's longtime campaign strategist. Investigators wanted to know if Senate staffers had been pressured to engage in political activities while on taxpayer time or using taxpayer. resources because under Senate rules, staff members may volunteer to work on their boss's political campaign, but they cannot be coerced into doing so, nor can it be done using government resources. And apparently some transportation and per diem stuff was reported on days where staff members had traveled with Marcia to campaign events. What campaign events? Where are they happening? In California, where all her money is coming from? Like, talk about don't California my Tennessee. Wait, isn't there a recent one in Atlanta? Uh-huh. She's got one coming up in Atlanta. Atlanta, which is, again, not in Tennessee. Atlanta is in Georgia, y'all. I mean, at least it touches Tennessee, but what are we doing? To me, this all begs the question. Are these Senate staffers actually just campaigning all the time? Yeah. Like, what is the function of her Senate office? I don't think that it is to do senatorial things. for the people who she represents here in Tennessee. I think that it's all just a PR campaign all the time. But that's also what I will say. I feel this way about every politician who is running for reelection. There is never a clear delineation between their official duties and their election. activities. Right. Even some, you know, stuff that we're seeing from Freddie's camp recently is like, yeah, it can technically qualify as part of his official duties, but it's also kind of PR for his reelection campaign. And the need for constant fundraising is what causes a lot of this, especially at the state and federal levels. And we should be like the British. But all right, let's move on. Let's talk about the other big campaign that kicked off this week. Mayor Freddie O'Connell. That's right. He officially launched his run for a second term. His big kickoff was on Monday when he really got the ball rolling with a campaign ad that clearly threw shade at Marcia's racist fortune cookie situation. It's pretty good, folks. If you haven't seen it, he is also.

sitting in Elliston Place Soda Shop, eating fries when he's handed a fortune cookie that says, Fear divides, Nashville unites, and his smirk to the camera is pretty awesome. Like, he nailed his mark on that one. But that doesn't mean it's smooth sailing ahead for Mayor Freddie. In the Nashville Banner's story about the campaign kickoff, they wrote, quote, the mayor has at times angered some of his more progressive one-time allies, including over police surveillance and homeless encampments. Other constituents remain angry about a 2025 tax increase. Nicole, what are you hearing out there? Freddie's going to get reelected. I mean, there's no viable alternative. He's an incumbent. People... are like sick of our mayor changing every four years. And like generally speaking, people like Freddie, you have to get into sort of. niche politics to find people who are so upset with Freddie that they wouldn't vote for him again, particularly looking at the other options available to them. But those are other options right now. Could more other options show up? It's a huge uphill battle for anyone to get the money. People generally don't like donating to non-incumbents, particularly if you are like... in the government in crowd and you want to have the favor of the mayor's office. There's no one who wants their name to show up on a flyer. Exactly.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Oh, sing it, Marie. I wrote it so that you would sing it. Okay. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Bung, bing and dong. Sorry, that didn't sound so good. Okay. The Yazni issue of the Nashville scene hit newsstands yesterday. Yazni stands for You Are So Nashville If and you are truly so Nashville if you look forward to this issue as much as we do. Whitney, what was the big winner this year? You are so Nashville if? NES blocked you. Love it. That came from Trent Hanner, who had quite a few bangers on the list this year. I also liked his You Are So Nashville if you and your roommate are in different congressional districts. Redistricting was a big theme throughout the list. So was the Ice Storm, The Boring Company, Waymo, and of course, a Marsha Blackburn. Marie Nicole, what were your faves? I really liked You're So Nashville if your bus stop benches require bike locks. From Tony Gonzalez. Also, Leslie Hales, you're so Nashville if the Mance for Judge graphic design really confused you. First of all, so confusing. Second of all, guess who won the race? Yeah, she won. Congratulations, Judge Mance. Well, this one about killed me. You're so Nashville if you thought the boring company was that family your wife met in Brentwood. Jason Mardson. And then also, you're so Nashville, if you secretly wonder how Ed the Zebra is doing. That's from Haley Johnson. Oh, Ed. Miss that guy. I do think about Ed quite often. Yeah. I'm going to say one last one because this was probably my favorite. You're so Nashville if you're still trying to find a place to store your dangerous, highly flammable gas containers since your last idea of storing them in the Nashville library garage didn't turn out so well. Thank you. Dan McNamara. Please don't blow up our library again. You are so Nashville if you spent the week talking about how CNBC ranked Tennessee as the worst state to live in. Yay. We're number one. The state politicians are always talking about how Tennessee leads the nation. We lead the nation in being sucky. Mm-hmm. The C-NBC report said, Tennessee was the ninth. best state for businesses, down one notch from eighth last year, but that we were last in quality of life ranking based on our crime rates, air quality, and health care. The report also considered access to child care, inclusivity, and state laws, and reproductive rights. But hey.

Crime is down, at least in Nashville. The Tennessean reports that our trend of lower crime from 2025 is continuing, which mirrors a national trend. At a recent press conference, Mayor O'Connell credited Chief John Drake and MNPD Patrol officers and especially focused on the Partners in Care program, which helps de-escalate potentially violent situations, but did not help the unhoused neighbors who were arrested in South Englewood, but we don't need to get back into all of that. Anyway, Nashville has seen a double-digit reduction in almost all crime categories. Nicole, we're doing all of this without mass surveillance, except for that drone pilot thing that's still running up in your neighborhood. What does that tell you? Well, it tells me that we don't need to be thanking the police for making us safer. Thank you, John Drake. No, no thank you. Like, you didn't do that. What did you do? That's all I have to say about that. Well, we need to turn those quality of life numbers around quick because the state of Tennessee is trying to lure Paramount here as they're currently being sued by California and 11 other states over their proposed merger with Warner Brothers Discovery. Sure. We're like, come do a monopoly here. We love monopolies. Come do a monopoly here. We can put the Paramount Studios right next to Oracle because I'm sure that David Ellison wants to be right next to his father, Larry Ellison, in their takeover. of Nashville. We can get a water tower, put a water tower right there on the East Bank or in River North. That's fine. Put it next to the secret shake shack. Put some animaniacs up in there, strap some body cameras on them. Animaniacs, body cameras. But Marie, you thought it might be good for the film and TV industry if Paramount moved here. Well, as an actor who moved to Nashville and all of a sudden doesn't have any work. Yes, what would a major studio do for Tennessee? I would hope maybe give us some jobs. I mean, we've already got Starbucks. Why not throw in some Paramount? I just feel like every time these companies move here, they say they're going to bring all these jobs and then they don't bring the jobs. So, like, what's the point? That's so true. I just think it's funny that they're like, hey, Paramount. Oh, you're mad at California? You know the most logical place for you to move? We got a lot of people mad at California here. Except, you know who's not mad at California? Marsha Blackburn, because she's taking all that California money for her campaign. I wonder what that memo would look like, though, with Paramount telling their California residents that they have to move to Tennessee if the studio does make it. Oh, they can start a support group with the Starbucks workers for sure. That's right. Nicole, hit it. Dunna, done a good news. A judge has temporarily blocked Tennessee from reporting undocumented families with critically ill children to ICE if they're enrolled in the state's Children's Special Services Program. Under the program, low-income children with serious health conditions are provided specialty medical care. And to put it bluntly, folks, this program saves lives. So this ruling came after three doctors sued the state. And for now, the families will still be able to get the specialized medical care. for their kids while the case moves forward. So that's some really good news. The definition of good news, yes, hooray. Bad news.

Or I guess good news, if you're a hater, Joyland closed last weekend, both locations, east and west. But in happier restaurant news, Nashville's beloved 123-year-old Centennial Park is about to get its very first full-service restaurant. The team behind the grilled cheesery is opening Croquet Cafe. I see what they did there. I really want to call it Croquet Cafe, but I won't in late August. And instead of building a brand new restaurant from scratch, Metro and Centennial Park Conservancy transformed the 1963 Croquet Clubhouse into this restaurant. Their menu is inspired by a southern picnic. So think paninis. I love to think paninis. Smoothies, baked goods, soft serve ice cream. Plenty of grab and go options, all meant to be shared. Even cooler news about this new spot I wish you could see Nicole's face is that it will operate. Smoothies at a picnic? What are we? What? Paninis? It will operate like a non-profit and all proceeds from the restaurant will go directly back to the park. You put two straws in, Nicole, and you sit there on a blanket and you share a smoothie. You lady in the trampet? Yeah. Okay. I're having very different southern picnics than I am. But that's cool. Well, my favorite quote on Reddit, transforming the croquet clubhouse to a restaurant that benefits the park is so Leslie Knope-esque. I think it's great. Other really, really great news this week is that Silo in East Nashville that had been vandalized on private property weeks ago with the name of a white supremacist hate group has finally been painted over with Pac-Man artwork by the artist WLP. If you go to Ray DiPietro's Instagram page, he took a great photo of it, super cute, Pac-Man chasing ghosts, you know, ghosts, little men who wear sheets. Anyone else get it? Wait a minute. I'm the only one who gets it. But, um, shh. All right, what's going on this weekend? Attention Brandy Carlyle fans. Tonight, our beloved lipstick lounge is hosting Brandioki, where you'll have a chance to perform your favorite Brandy Carlisle song. And the winner chosen by crowd applause will take home a pair of tickets to her upcoming show at Bridgestone Arena. That starts tonight at 8 p.m. There's a $5 cover. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, if you can't sing the story, don't sing the story. Yeah, if you can't sing it, don't sing it. I think that's great, Whitney. You can try, but you shouldn't. Also tonight, will Nashville set a Guinness World Record? Well, we're going to try. 100 local songwriters are going to be gathering tonight at Brooklyn Bowl to create the biggest writers round ever. Dubbed the Nashville 100, this event will feature 100 original songs performed by, wait for it. 100 local artists spanning 10 songwriter rounds in a single evening. This event kicks off tonight at 5 o'clock. The Nashville 100 will mark the very first attempt at a record of this kind. So good luck to them. That's cool. Also tonight.

Nashville SC is back, baby. Major League Soccer returns from the World Cup break. They'll be playing Atlanta United. And if you caught the World Cup bug during this what has truly been an amazing tournament, then going to NSC games should be your new hobby. Also, don't forget the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, during which I'm sure FIFA and VAR will not make any more ludicrous calls to benefit Messi is on Sunday at 2 p.m. I'll be posted up at Gramps. Marie, Nicole, will you be watching? No. Nicole did not catch World Cup fever. She did not. Nope. I will be watching at a friend's house. And I think might have caught the soccer bug. So maybe I'll be going with you, Whitney, to see some soccer this year. I will say NSC games are so fun. Okay. I have not caught the soccer bug, but those games are fun. There you go. And tomorrow, I love this for us. Germantown will be celebrating Christmas in July with holiday themed shopping, Nashville's most walkable neighborhood, which we learned this week and our guide to Germantown. Listen to that episode. But you can go and support local businesses from 11 to 3 o'clock. And celebrate Christmas in July. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Nice callback. This feels very Gilmore Girls to me. Doesn't this feel very Gilmore Girl? It really does. Put on your sweater. Grab a hot cup of coffee and get out there. Finally, just real quick, because this has to do with, you know, free stuff. National Ice Cream Day is this Sunday. And Hattie Jane's Creamery, the Tennessee-born women-led creamery, will celebrate with special giveaways. And the chance. for one lucky guest at each of their five local scoop shops to receive a golden ticket redeemable for free ice cream for a year. I've got the golden ticket. Whoa. You're going to want to get there at 11 a.m. when they open, any one of their five locations. Wow. Their coffee ice cream is so good. I love a coffee ice cream. I do too. Good to know. All right, folks, we've come to that time where we don't give away free ice cream, but if you're a CityCast Nashville neighbor, we do give away bonus content. We are coming up on our weekly segment, hell gnaw, where we say hell gnaw to something. And this week, it is the House just passed a bill declaring permanent daylight savings time. So we'll be getting into that. But Marie, can people listen to it if they're not neighbors? No. No, they can't, Whitney. So you might as well pause this episode right the second and head over to membership.citycast.fm and join today. Y'all, the biggest perk of joining as a neighbor is not only can you listen to Hellnaw, but also you can come to our special events. Just last month, we walked together in the Pride Parade and we have something really special plan for the fall. So again, join us as a neighbor so you can listen to Hellnall right now. All right, that's it. We did it. Office hours today. East Nashville Beer Works. And we had our sandwich last week as the Italian that you gave me half of your sandwich, Whitney, and it was outstanding. So come today and see what the sandwiches, the CityCast Nashville sandwich. It's from two to five. We'll be there. Just leave work. I love a sandwich. Nicole, you got to come out.

Well, lots of fun things this weekend. I hope everybody has a wonderful time. Stay safe and all the things. Go vote. Go vote. And watch soccer. Listen to me. Who's that? Who am I? Yeah, I'll take care of each other. Bye. That's all for today here on CityCast Nashville. Early voting is open now through August 1st for the August 6th state and federal primary election and municipal general. Go vote. And don't forget, you can support this show and get great perks by becoming a CityCast Nashville neighbor at membership.citycast.fm. Our executive producer is Whitney Pasturek. Our creative producer is me, Marie Cicill Anderson. Our CityCast Nashville newsletter editor is Margaret Kingsbury and our theme music is by Prop Jenkins. Post production this week was done by Kyle Neal and roving support from producer Alyssa Castles. Also to mention a special shout out today for our roving producer last week, Matthew Rogers. If you enjoyed the show, why not tell your friends. Rate the show. Leave us a review and subscribe to our Citycast Nashville newsletter. We'll be back Monday morning with more news from around the city. Toodles.