Hour 3 of NMN, AOC...+ Broadway Bars w/ Barrett Hobbs

What does one trip to Israel do? One trip changes people's faith, their identity, their perspective. One trip changes the response when people chant from the river to the sea. One trip changes how people see right and wrong. One trip changes the idea of home. One trip changes everything. And one donation is all it takes. Do you know what's interesting, Joan? With all of this, all of this negativity on the WNBA, do you remember, I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but do you remember a couple, was it about a year ago, I had that guy on to talk about getting the WNBA here in Nashville? Do you remember that? Yeah, I do. And I was, and I was, yeah, I gave him a couple of segments. I forget who it was. But I was like, okay, well, I can see, you know, why people would want the WNBA. I have no interest in wanting the WNBA in Nashville based on their treatment of Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark. Yeah, but you can bet that Freddie is out there probably. laying down his life trying to get the WNBA. Oh, they would love to get the... Oh, they would love to get the... Oh, I was going to. I was going to. I'm not just... They would love the WNBA. So, you know, I could do a silly Daily Dan poll. Do you want the WNBA here? That would be a 100% no. No. So I'm not even... I'm not going to insult your intelligence. By the way, speaking of YouTube, watch us on YouTube. If you would, you could watch us any time of the day, any time of the night. Our show ends at, what, nine? Yes, our show ends at nine, and then you can watch it any time after that on delay at your leisure. You can also download the segments as well, if you want to podcast it, whatever. We're all over the place if you want to find the radio show. You know, you got a really nice comment here on the supertext line. I did. You did. And by the way, the supertext line is 615-737-99-86. Let me throw this in. 1384 said, good morning, Joan. Good morning, everyone. Well, Dan, you're doing a great job as usual. Thank you. Isn't that nice? Well, that's nice. Yeah. Guy was dog piling on me on the YouTube chat. Sam was telling me. Yeah. So that's why I wanted to make sure you knew that people love you. Oh, and doggone it. Yeah, people like me. So guys said something about me being stuck in Nashville. Yeah, he tried to equate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's career to yours and that house. She's on a national platform, which, by the way, Dan Mandis does national shows, all right? But as soon as I pointed out the logical fallacy and the fact that she was a hand-chosen vessel of stupidity, and comparing that to someone who's actually worked for what he has is both an insult and completely irrelevant to the argument in hand. And then everyone in the chat decided to dog pile on top of my comments. And so that's mob mentality, folks. There you go.

I'm in a struggle and the struggle is real. And so I'm trying to have kids at some point. In other words, she's trying to relate to those females who have kids and are saying, listen, I plan on doing it eventually. Now, I'm not saying that it's right or wrong that there are people in this country who would not vote for a female that does not have any kids. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but there are people that would say that because they can't relate to... raising a family they can relate to having to deal with a child going to school and all that kind of stuff well and it's also not just the relating aspect but it's proof that you've got you've got skin in the game right you have a reason that you want whatever your policies and plans are to succeed because you're raising it it's going to be coming up behind you and eventually being the what does one trip to israel do one trip changes people's faith their identity their perspective One trip changes the response when people chant from the river to the sea. One trip changes how people see right and wrong. One trip changes the idea of home. One trip changes everything. And one donation is all it takes. The U.S. Soccer Podcast. These players are battered and exhausted, but you don't hurt like this if you don't care about this team, about this country, about this game. I think you can feel the intensity, the goals, the energy that, wow, look at us. Here in the U.S., I have got some news for you. There's so much more to come. My name is Megan Klingberg, and we're just getting started. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henkel. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. of the household. So it's an investment in the future as well. And it's part societal investment. So when people see happy families and kids about, you kind of all feel on the same page that we're going to make it a better place for them. And why would she then, and to your point, Sam and Joan, why would she do this publicly? Exactly. Why would she? Because I don't know exactly what she was doing. I didn't dwell on the video because I didn't want to see it. But. I mean, I think she was like giving herself a shot or something. She shot herself on the belly with something. And then she talked about, you know, what gets shot first? And. hormone cycle probably there's so like it's so creepy that she needs to share this my it's oversharing and nobody wants to see it honey like just put it away and it's not normal so if you're if you're a couple and you're struggling to conceive and the doctor's got recommendations for hormone injections or something and you feel like sharing that your social media as your journey that's all you know in my book find well and good That's normal. But a single woman who's got no real plans or prospects making a whole big hullabaloo about it, that's weird. Well, she's been with the same dude for a long time. I think they're engaged. Do you remember the guy? Joan, were you working on the show when there was a video of she and the dude and he was wearing socks with Birkenstocks? Yeah, yeah. Were you on the show at that point?

I don't think so, but I remember that. Even me and Ken and Johnny knew that that is a fashion faux pa to wear socks with Birkenstocks. Yeah. That is a fashion for paw, right? Oh, it's a major. Major fashion. If you leave the house. If you leave the house in it. And it's like, okay, so just... I think we said something about is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez so busy that she can't tell her boyfriend not to wear socks with Birkenstocks because you're not supposed to. She probably likes it. Do you think she's got a socks with Birkenstock's fetish, do you, Joan? Well, I think she probably doesn't want to see his feet. Oh, maybe that's what it is. Cover those toes. Yeah. You know what, as the woman, and clearly she's got to be the driver in that relationship, if you know what I mean, she should just buy him, you know, a pair of sneakers and socks and be done with it. That's what she probably should do. But wearing burke, and so just ends up, I can guarantee you if you've got the supertext line open, people are saying, what is wrong with wearing socks with Birkenstocks? If you have to ask, you need to stop. Anyway. You know that, you know, John Rich, we've been talking, Joan, about the plight of the Nashville bars, you know, down on Broadway and these businesses. Oh, yeah. And how the Freddie O'Connell. you know, came in, they had their property values were reassessed. Property values went through the roof and therefore the taxes, the property taxes went through the roof as well. There is now a movement among these bar owners and the restaurant owners in downtown Nashville and Broadway and so forth. They had a weekend meeting apparently with Cameron Sexton, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Jack Johnson, the Senate Majority Leader here in Tennessee. And I think maybe Governor Lee was there. And in my opinion, future Governor Marsha Blackburn is all for this conversation as well. But they're all getting together and saying, you have got to help us. And John Rich, of course, you know, we all love John Rich around here. He's going to be on with Murphy's show coming up at 435, as a matter of fact. But I've got the guy that is leading that coalition coming up at 735. And so he's going to tell us exactly what happened in the meeting. But even more than that, he's going to give us, guys name is Amy Coney Barrett Hobbs. He's been on the show before. He's going to tell us about how desperate these bar owners are. And the increase, some of the increases in these property taxes, you know, the last time we talked about this, they were all in mass trying to get their property taxes reassessed by the city, I guess. And I'm going to find out how many of those property owners were able to, you know, get their property taxes reassessed so that they wouldn't, you know, all of a sudden have to come up with another $500,000?

Because, you know, and one of the things that John Rich said is we've got the, is the, Sam help me, we've got the Super Bowl, is it in 2027 or 2028? 2030. 2030. So, you know, John Rich was saying, we've got the Super Bowl coming up in a few years. What's going to happen if Broadway, you've got a bunch of empty storefronts? But, Dan, they'll all be replaced by businesses that share the values of the Metro City Council. See, that's the question. One of the questions that I'm going to ask Amy Coney Barrett Hobbs, because remember, one of the things that I said when all of this was going down was, is it possible that Metro City Council and old Freddie there? They don't like country music. They don't like the classic country bars because, you know, by and large, maybe there's this perception that country music is not only liberal, but also, you know, Christian. And maybe that's part of it. I don't know. But I'm going to ask Amy Coney Barrett Hobbs about these things because these bar owners, they're getting desperate. And one of the things that John Rich said was that at this meeting, when they're meeting with Jack Johnson and Cameron Sexton, guys were crying. property owners and bar owners, they were crying because they were about to lose their business. I mean, imagine, imagine investing your life savings in a bar or in a downtown Broadway restaurant. And then here comes old, you know, Freddie O'Connell and his, you know, his administration. And suddenly, you know, your property values are reassessed. They go way up. And now you're stuck with having to come up with another, you know, four or five hundred thousand dollars that you've got to pay in property taxes. And you're going to lose your investment. It's awful. And so Freddie O'Connell and people have his ilk are like, well, you could just sell. You could just sell your property. Well, they don't want to sell the property because this is their life's work. And so it's really sad for people who have invested, you know, their life savings into these bars and these restaurants and they're going to have to be forced to sell it. And then the question is, who's going to buy it? Also some sad news. Can I just say this? So when I was a kid, I was a huge Los Angeles Dodgers fan, huge Los Angeles Dodgers fan. And so I would go. on the occasional Sunday. And it would be, I don't know if they still do this at Dodgers Stadium, but the Dodgers would be in the corridor, corridors of Dodgers Stadium, the concourse, I guess, whatever. And the players would be there signing baseballs. Oh, wow, that's pretty cool. It was amazing. And so I remember in my head, I remember Tommy John. No, he's not dead.

I would remember Tommy John. I would beg my dad to take me to Dodger Stadium on these autograph Sundays so that I could get autographs of my favorite players. And Tommy John was one of my favorite players when I was a kid. And so not only did I get Tommy John's autograph, but... I also got to talk to him for a few minutes as just a little kid. And it is a memory that sticks out that he took the time, as he's got a big long line of people, he took the time to spend a couple of minutes talking to a really nerdy, you know. I don't know how old I was, but a really nerdy little kid getting his autographed. Were you like 10 or so? I don't know how old I was. I was really young. And was his signature different after surgery? Yeah, so was it named after him that surgery? The Tommy John surgery, yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I've told the story, by the way, about that baseball. By the way, just real quick. Tommy John basically has now put out a message. I read his book, by the way. It's a great book. And forget what it's called. I just saw this. So I'm reacting to this instantly. But he's now 83 years old, Tommy John. And he has posted that he is saying goodbye because he is battling some health issues in Florida. So very sad, Tommy John. So I had this baseball. And I had Davey Lopes, Tommy John, Dusty Baker, Ron Say. And I think Steve Garvey had all signed this baseball. So in my 20s, right, I'm totally now disconnected with baseball, but I go out on a date with a girl. who says to me, hey, I love baseball, so why don't we go to the park and we can play catch? I don't have a baseball, right? I got a glove, but I don't have a baseball. So numskull here decides that I'm going to go and get my autograph-laden baseball with all of these great Los Angeles Dodgers, and that's what we're going to play baseball with. Joan, what do you think happened to that ball? Lost. We are at the, I don't remember what you call it, but it's like this space thing in Los Angeles. It's not the arboretum, but it's something. But it's up in the hills. Okay. So we're playing catch, right? Because she was gorgeous. I mean, it was like, yeah, sure, I'll do this. You know, the things you do when you're in your early 20s for, anyway. Also, if there's a ledge, I'll jump off of it. So she throws this ball. And it's a bad throw. I miss it. And not only does it go in the bushes, but it goes down a foothill and all the way, and I lost it. I lost my baseball with all of those great L.A. Dodgers on it. And beyond that, she wouldn't go out with me a second time. And I said to her, I said, really? So not only did you lose my baseball with that suck-ass throw, but you won't go out with me a second time. Really?

Baseball that's probably now valued around a few thousand dollars. It would be. It would be because it was, it was most, Bill Russell, the shortstop was on that baseball as well. That's who everyone remembers. So where did it go? Like, where did it go? It went, it went down into the foothills. In the bushes, beyond the bushes was the foothills and went down the hill. And I wasn't going to go down the hill because I'd probably fall and hurt myself because, you know, I'm me. And that would track with me going out on a date my early 20s. Anyway, whatever. You know, the plight of business owners in downtown and lower Broadway, it is pretty dire because of the massive increase in property taxes. Imagine a downtown Broadway without local bars and without honky talks. Now, these are the... places that do make Nashville great. And we've been talking about this for a long time. Now, Amy Coney Barrett Hobbs is joining us. Now, Amy Coney Barrett, you are a fourth generation, Nashvilleian. You own a couple of honky tonks and your founding member of the Broadway Entertainment Division. So let's talk about this coalition, if you will, of bar owners that have been talking to people like Cameron Sexton and... and also jack johnson and the governor apparently yeah well dan thanks for having me on yeah i was fortunate to uh be a part of the broadway entertainment association we formed it a few years ago um just to try to get the owners all together so when we have something that's a positive we can shine a light on it and if we have an issue it kind of gave us one voice instead of all of us trying to have multiple conversations. When we formed it, we had no idea that this type of a tsunami issue would be what's really going to test our future. Well, let's talk about that. So one of the figures that I saw was that property taxes on businesses had gone up. around 45% because of these reappraisals, put that in real numbers for me. So in other words, some of these, you know, owners, their property taxes went up hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yeah, and I think that figure is an accurate figure, but it's more of an average of the downtown area. When you really hone in on the tourist area, more of the average is 250%. So to kind of give your listeners an idea of what that means, I'll give you one specific business that's not even on Broadway. It's on third. about a half a block or a block off of Broadway. And two years ago, their building was valued at $9.9 million. When Vivian Wilhoed, our current tax assessor, valued at this time, it moved from $9.9 million to $57 million, and nothing happened to the building. They didn't add on. They didn't paint it. It's the same building, same address, same owner.

So taking that down to a business number without getting too far into the weeds, that took their property tax was already annually $130,000 a year for a simple, reasonable-sized live music venue. They were paying $130k a year. Now they owe $650,000 a year. And what the average person doesn't probably get, because the perception is, oh, man, these guys and girls down there, they're just rolling in the money. What we are is a tax collector building with neon on it. So this business is now going to have to spend $650,000 a year, which is over $50,000 a month just for the property taxes. Then we have a downtown central business district tax. that gets added on top of that and a business development fund that funds tourism and cleans our streets and picks our trash up because the city doesn't provide those services anymore we have to pay an extra fund to have our sidewalks cleaned. So it doesn't just end with the 50,000. And then on top of that, they take 25% of every drink goes into liquor by the drink tax. So if a drink is $10, the first $2.50 goes back to the state and the city. So it's just one tax after another. And I just, I don't think the average person realizes where we're at. Well, I will tell you, Amy Coney Barrett, people that listen to this show do know because we've been talking about it. This is horrendous. How do they go from 9 million to 50 million? Is it your assertion that these property values are being sort of artificially inflated so that they can collect more taxes? Yes and no. Certainly, I think our city, if you look back over the last decade. Our budget has doubled. You know, we went from around, I mean, I'm sorry, tripled. We went somewhere around a billion, $1.2 billion as a city. Now we're exceeding $3 billion. So at some point, you've got to realize your household has a spending problem. And we don't have a revenue problem. If you look at the tax collections, two things can be true. The formula that Vivian and the tax assessor's office used can be legally accurate, but at the same time, it can be screwed up and antiquated and not correct. And so to answer your question, basically what they do is they cut and paste. They take a building like the Four Seasons Hotel that is 20 or 30 stories tall, and they say, okay, buy square foot. This building is worth this. So let's just say, they say that's $1,000 a square foot and the hotel is 300,000 square feet. They take that same math and they go next door to a honky tonk and they use the same formula. You know, the multiplier is the same. There's no differing formula.

for a different business model. So, you know, no honky talk or restaurant or bar or normal retail store down there can build a 30-story building to spread revenue out from ground one to the 30th story. It just doesn't. That business model doesn't work. So. You know, the comptroller was brought in to look at her evaluations and, you know, found that they were accurate. But it doesn't mean it's right. It just means her calculator was accurate, not necessarily the system. Yeah, and it sounds like they're sort of by the booking it, if you will, and not taking the entire situation into context. By the way, Amy Coney Barrett Hobbs is joining us, founding member of the Broadway Entertainment Association. A bunch of bar owners and business owners got together, and it's all of one voice. So let me ask you this, Amy Coney Barrett, because... You know, you guys, to do this, you're either going to have to eliminate jobs, raise prices, trying to figure out a way to survive. I know that there are a lot of business owners that were going through the appeals process, which you're allowed to do. Has the city been sort of acquiescing on the appeals process? Is anybody winning these appeals? How long is it taking? How's that going? Well, kind of hit me with two questions there. So the first on eliminating jobs and raising prices, we already get drilled in the media for having high prices. But I think that's, you know, I've shown there's reasons why we have to charge that. for real estate rent and cost of goods and entertainment and so on and so forth. So the quick answer to your first question is we can't raise our prices or cut staff. This is a street killer. This is bankruptcy for probably 40 to 50% of what most people recognize as Broadway. So we can't. move the chairs around on the Titanic, you know, and keep it afloat. We're done if this stays where it is. All right. So, Amy Coney Barrett, talk about the appeals process. How long is that taking and are business owners actually winning the appeals process? The short answer is no one has most haven't even been able to appeal yet because there was not adequate preparation, even though we've told everybody for two years.

that we recognized the problem was coming, they didn't add more appeals people in time. And so most of the folks haven't even had a chance for their hearing yet, but the folks that have, very few, none of them are winning, or they might knock off, you know, a little bit. But when you're going up on somebody from 130,000 to 650, Even if they knock 30% off of that, it's an egregious amount of money. And no business in our industry can price themselves to cover that. To give you an example. What does one trip to Israel do? One trip changes people's faith, their identity, their perspective. One trip changes the response when people chant from the river to the sea. One trip changes how people see right and wrong. One trip changes the idea of home. One trip changes everything. And one donation is all it takes.

Mike Drop, hosted by former Navy SEAL, Mike Ridland. What is your take? Was it what you expected? Oh, it was the best thing ever. It was something I always wanted to do. If you show me a clear goal, I'm like, okay, I can do that. Master Chief. He's like, you realize there's about 1% chance that you're making it through. 1%. That's all I need Master Chief. My platoon went home early, and I just went up to my chief, and I was like, I'm not going home. Turns out I'm staying. That's when we go to war. Yeah, I was like, okay, I could get used to this. Mike Drop, follow and listen on your favorite platform. In fact, example, I appealed, my appeal, I won't hear my appeal or get a chance to until next year's taxes are due. So that tells you how screwed up the system is. And all along, we're acquiring interest and penalties. So then once you do get your appeal, if you don't win at 100%, A, you lose, and then B, they say, well, now you owe all these interests and penalties on top of it. So it's a terrible situation. Mayor Freddie O'Connell, you know, I remember at the time, Mayor Freddie O'Connell, his basic reply was, well, too bad. He didn't really seem much interested in helping the property assessor said she just ran the numbers and they are what they are. Is Metro Council, have they been involved in any of this? No, they're starting to hear, you know, we're starting to hear from a few of them now because of, you know, right now on Broadway, there's six of the music venues for sale. Some of them are out publicly, some are private. Most of them have been for sale for two years. You know, in my history of being down there, there's never really one for sale, or you'll get one that'll flip, you know, but it doesn't go on the market. These are openly on the market. So I think people at the beginning of this thought we were, you know, the skies falling or crying wolf. And they're starting to see that, you know, the city and the state's budget is directly tied to the success of Broadway. It's way far more reaching than what people realize. So, Amy Coney Barrett, what's going to happen if, you know, bar owners have to sell? Who is it that would be buying up these properties? Nobody, nobody at these rates, or you might would find some publicly traded companies, you know, like a McDonald's or something or Walgreens, that might want to use the street as a billboard, but not actually a profit center. And the problem is most people probably don't realize how bad that would be. Number one, people don't come to Nashville to see a McDonald's or a Walgreens on Broadway. That's not what they're here for. So your tourism's going to take a hit. Secondly, most people don't realize that the liquor by the drink tax... The state collects about $230 million a year, and 75% of that money goes to the school systems. The state pushes it back down to the local, and then the local gets a portion of it wherever the drink was generated. So if you're in Wilson County listening today, let's say, or any other county in the state of Tennessee,

The taxes that are collected on Broadway from this past weekend are paying for your schools. So if these businesses go down and McDonald's comes in, yeah, the city of Nashville might get some property tax collections, but they don't pay liquor by the drink. Right. So the schools get gutted. You know, here's just a quick number. 57% of the city of Nashville's budget is tied to tourism. 57%. So round that to 60. If tourism takes a big hit, Everybody's upset about property taxes. You know, you think you got bad property taxes now. Take away the sales tax and liquor by the drink tax from the honky talks. And you think the city is going to cut their budget? They're not. They're just going to raise it on every other business in town. Well, and the other thing is Nashville would lose a big part of our identity. And some people don't care about that. I do. And I know that... Amy Coney Barrett Hobbs, you do as well. So you're part of this coalition, bar and restaurant owners. And so you're now looking for help from the state legislature, the governor as well. John Rich is involved. I love John Rich. We love him here on WTN. He's going to be on with Murphy's show, by the way, 435 later today to talk about this as well. There is a meeting the other day. Who was there and what was discussed? You had Jack Johnson, the Senate Majority Leader. You had Cameron Sexton, the House, the Speaker of the Tennessee House. Was the governor there? And ultimately, what's the plan moving forward? No, there was a meeting, and it was with the, you know, probably 80% of the live music venue owners were there. Speaker Sexton actually is the one that set the meeting up for us to come in and really try to figure out where we are. And after that meeting, several of us reached out to Senator Jack Johnson, and he said he's in. And then the speaker reached out to the governor. I've had conversations with the governor's office since. Everybody realizes that we're all in this together. And I have to say from when our first numbers came in, Speaker Sexton has really been the only elected official that has, we've probably met 20 times trying to find a solution. And we're still struggling with that. But the governor's office has been very forthcoming and wanting to help. And Jack Johnson's a great guitar player himself. So the senator certainly understands the importance of keeping the music in our city.

Well, hopefully there will be some progress with this. I know that this is critically important to you, you know, the bar owners and the restaurant owners in Nashville. How did John Rich get involved? Was that sort of just organic? Did you guys ask him for the help? I mean, clearly he is. He's been a member of the Broadway Entertainment Association since its beginning. So he's been with us all along. you know now we've got all hands on deck i mean it's uh we're at a we're at a different spot than we were even six months ago uh we're looking at imminent closures in the next 60 to 90 days if there's not some type of uh negotiated relief that will allow people to go back to their banks or wherever to to get a financial reset um But we're in big trouble, you know. And where we go, a lot of revenue for this state goes. Interestingly, we've got 95 counties, and you take all 94 of those counties out of the 95, and you add them all together. Davidson County pays more in liquor by the drink tax to the state than all 94 counties combined. Wow. It's a staggering number and about 75% of that money is generated in about an eight block area around Broadway. That's crazy. But that's what, you know, again, that's what makes Nashville Nashville. So we got to save our bars, save the restaurants. And Amy Coney Barrett Hobbs very much appreciate you joining us. Amy Coney Barrett, is there a website or if somebody's listening, they've got an idea, they want to help you guys. Is there a way to get in touch with you? Yeah, you know, probably the best ways to go through the Broadway Entertainment Association. We've got, you know, you can just type that in and you'll find, you know, ways to reach out to us. You know, the biggest way anyone could help would be to reach out to their state senators and House of Representatives members and say, don't let the music die on Broadway. Help us. We're not looking for a handout. We just want a fair deal. Yeah, and I know that Marsha Blackburn has also been talking about this, and she is definitely sympathetic to what is going on for you folks as well. So if she's the next governor, I think that she will also pick up the mantle from Governor Lee. Yes, sir. Her office has already reached out as soon as the meeting broke. The news broke about the meeting with Speaker Sexton. They reached out immediately and said, what do we need to do to help? So she's already in our corner. Awesome. Love it. Amy Coney Barrett Hobbs, thank you very much for joining us here on Super Talk, 997. Good luck and keep us updated. Remember that John Rich will be on with Matt Murphy later today at 435. And as Amy Coney Barrett says, all hands on deck. I mean, I think you can probably consider WT and a friend to you folks as well because... We love our bars and restaurants in Nashville. We love the Nashville identity. We love the music as well. And anything that we can do in some small way to help get the word out, we are all hands on deck here as well. What does one trip to Israel do? One trip changes people's faith, their identity, their perspective. One trip changes the response when people chant from the river to the sea. One trip changes how people see right and wrong.

One trip changes the idea of home. One trip changes everything. And one donation is all it takes.