PRESS
NASHVILLE SCENE | AUG 30, 2024
While the sun set over a packed parking lot at the Ezell Road home of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Tequila Johnson rallied the crowd at Shift Nashville’s formal kickoff event.
THE TENNESSEAN | AUG 28, 2024
The passage of the Nov. 5 transit referendum allows us the real opportunity to speak into the next several decades of Nashville’s infrastructure, so it’s our responsibility to organize to make sure these investments improve traffic, lower living expenses, protect our environment, and reclaim our time to spend with friends and family.
THE TENNESSEAN | MAY 17, 2024
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and key city leaders opposed the new Tennessee Titans stadium. Now, they’re moving the East Bank vision forward to make ‘Nashville for Nashvillians.
WKRN NEWS 2 | APR 22, 2024
It’s a promise of a house, with money left over. For many Americans, however, that dream is far from reality. Home prices are higher than ever, and if you think renting could be the solution, think again.
WKRN NEWS 2 | APR 19, 2024
With rent skyrocketing in Nashville, more people are turning to affordable housing, but there can be a lot of red tape involved, and the options aren’t always conveniently located.
NONPROFIT QUARTERLY | APR 17, 2024
We’re in the middle of a historic and long-overdue uprising of worker power in the United States. Working people who’ve been told their whole lives to be grateful for a job—any job—are finally, understandably, fed up. As billionaire profits increase while wages remain stagnant and inflation looms, record numbers of Americans have quit their jobs.
THE TENNESSEAN | MARCH 9, 2024
It’s time to build a Nashville where we have the freedom to get where we need to go. It’s time to build a Nashville where we can prosper together.
WKRN NEWS 2 | OCT 9, 2023
Nashville residents have been feeling the effects of a competitive housing market. Between the surge of home prices and rising rent, it has left many with few options.
THE TENNESSEAN | SEP 22, 2023
A three-judge panel ruled against a new state law that would have changed the number of Metro Council votes needed to approve the $100 million renovation deal for Bristol Motor Speedway at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
THE TENNESSEAN | JUN 30, 2020
Every Metro Nashville Public Schools employee will now make at least $15 an hour, thanks to the fiscal year 2021 budget adopted by the Board of Education on Tuesday.
NASHVILLE POST | JUN 29, 2020
Metro Councilmember Zulfat Suara just finished her first city budget process since being elected last year. We spoke with her about reforming Metro Police.
WPLN NEWS | JUN 16, 2020
Council members, residents and community groups all have their ideas for how the city should spend its COVID-19 relief funds.
FOX 17 | JUN 9, 2020
Digging Out is the FOX 17 News focus on our financial recovery as we continue to deal with the Coronavirus Pandemic. The city of Nashville has a big pot of Cares Act money.
NASHVILLE GOV | JUN 6, 2020
Metro Council budget conversations.
THE TENNESSEAN | MAY 19, 2020
Metro Nashville Councilman Sean Parker joined a new group calling for moratoriums on evictions and utility shutoffs until the unemployment rate falls to its pre-pandemic level.
News Channel 5| MAY 5, 2020
Skanska suspended operations at 5th and Broadway for three days following concern from employees after at least two workers tested positive for COVID-19.
Axios| MAR 20, 2020
Affordable housing advocates are calling on Congress to do more to protect the fragile housing options for low-income workers who are at heightened risk of losing their homes as the COVID-19 public health crisis drags on.
BLOOMBERG CITYLAB| MAR 7, 2020
In the wake of a severe tornado, local housing activists fear that a wave of speculators could prey on North Nashville’s vulnerable homeowners.
NEWS CHANNEL 5| MAR 17, 2020
After the deadly tornadoes that touched down and destroyed homes all throughout Nashville, North Nashville in particular has seen a rise in attempts to gentrify the area.
NEWS CHANNEL 5| MAR 17, 2020
After the deadly tornadoes that touched down and destroyed homes all throughout Nashville, North Nashville in particular has seen a rise in attempts to gentrify the area.
NEWS CHANNEL 5| MAR 17, 2020
After the deadly tornadoes that touched down and destroyed homes all throughout Nashville, North Nashville in particular has seen a rise in attempts to gentrify the area.
THE TENNESSEAN| FEB 29, 2020
When Nashville SC chief executive Ian Ayre was informed club ownership and Mayor John Cooper had reached a soccer stadium deal on Feb. 13, his cell phone began to buzz.
NEWS CHANNEL 5| FEB 10, 2020
Since graduating college at Tennessee State University, Nashville-native Odessa Kelly has been making a difference in predominately African American communities.
THE TENNESSEAN| FEB 6, 2020
Nashville SC awaits stadium update from Mayor John Cooper as collective bargaining deadline looms
NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL| FEB 5, 2020
Nashville Soccer Holdings has made its case for why a key coalition hasn’t been included in the city’s ongoing soccer stadium negotiations, after being publicly challenged to do so.
THE TENNESSEAN| FEB 4, 2020
This guest column concerns the conflict between Nashville Mayor John Cooper and Nashville SC co-owner and investor John Ingram over moving ahead with the construction of the MLS Soccer Stadium.
NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL| FEB 3, 2020
In the fiery debate over Nashville’s Major League Soccer stadium, there appears to be at least one area where Mayor John Cooper and Nashville SC lead owner John Ingram agree.
THE TENNESSEAN| FEB 2, 2020
Stand Up Nashville is calling on Mayor John Cooper and Nashville SC to answer key questions relating to the 10-acre development at the center of a Major League Soccer stadium deal impasse.
NASHVILLE SCENE| JAN 29, 2020
Ask any longtime activist in Nashville how they feel about the city’s growth, and you’re bound to get a complicated answer. Odessa Kelly, who was recently named executive director of the coalition Stand Up Nashville…
NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL| JAN 16, 2020
As business issues face increasing scrutiny at Metro Council, a pro-business political action committee hires an executive director to spearhead new lobbying efforts.
NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL| JAN 6, 2020
An influential community group that’s played a role in several debates impacting Nashville businesses has its first executive director.
THE AMERICAN PROSPECT | FEB 15, 2019
Like their New York counterparts, organizers in other potential sites of Amazon expansion want a more democratic process that produces more equitable growth.
TENNESSEAN | FEB 13, 2019
Nashville is at a tipping point, and the future of this city depends on what we do now. Amazon will affect rents, transportation and cost of living.
PRIDE PUBLISHING | DEC 28, 2018
Amazon is coming to Nashville. One group wants to make sure that along with $230 million in investment and 5,000 jobs, that it also brings prosperity to all of Nashville.
AXIOS | DEC 22, 2018
Amazon is caught in a surprise grassroots battle with local critics who are furious that it’s been promised billions of taxpayer dollars to put jobs in New York, Arlington and Nashville, the winners of its search for a second headquarters.
TENNESSEAN | DEC 20, 2018
Activists from a union-aligned advocacy group delivered a message Thursday to a Metro board that will vote next year on city incentives that Mayor David Briley has pledged for Amazon’s planned downtown Nashville hub: Don’t try to dodge or dilute new rules aimed at better transparency that the Metro Council just passed in January.
FAST COMPANY | DEC 18, 2018
Organizers in northern Virginia, Nashville, and New York plan to protest the expansion of Amazon at meetings this week–and call for a community input process that has been noticeably lacking.
PRIDE PUBLISHING | DEC 13, 2018
International Human Rights Day occurs every year to commemorate the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, some seventy years ago, on Dec 10, 1948. In Tennessee, the Human Rights Day celebration has become a time to reflect and look to the future.
TENNESSEAN | NOV 21, 2018
The money being paid to attract the trillion-dollar company could go to schools, public employee raises, health insurance and housing for the homeless.
TENNESSEAN | OCT 25, 2018
When private hospital giant HCA won more than $70 million in taxpayer incentives from state and Nashville officials in 2014, it committed to building a gleaming office tower in the North Gulch neighborhood and creating more than 1,000 new jobs there.
MARKETPLACE | OCT 23, 2018
Pro sports stadiums often trigger debates about whether local governments should help cover their costs. And while a proposed soccer stadium did set off such a discussion in Nashville, Tennessee, another factor played a large role. The team agreed to a list of citizen demands and signed a “community benefits agreement,” which helped the stadium plan win city council approval.
NASHVILLE SCENE | OCT, 2018
If you attended the second annual Women’s March in Nashville this year, then you’ve seen activist and community organizer Odessa Kelly’s power. She told the crowd of Nashvillians gathered on that January day, “For every crane that’s going in the air, you should ask, ‘Is this building a pathway out of poverty, or trapping somebody into debt?’ ”
THE ARCHITECT’S NEWSPAPER | SEP 25, 2018
Across construction sites in Nashville, Tennessee, basic safety precautions are not being met, causing too many fatalities to occur in the labor industry. A study released last year found that basic safety precautions on job sites in the Music City were being overlooked due to a top-down culture of fear and abuse.
NASHVILLE POST | SEP 20, 2018
Across construction sites in Nashville, Tennessee, basic safety precautions are not being met, causing too many fatalities to occur in the labor industry. A study released last year found that basic safety precautions on job sites in the Music City were being overlooked due to a top-down culture of fear and abuse.
VPM | SEP 11, 2018
Residents can often feel powerless when wealthy developers propose big projects in their neighborhood. But over the last two decades, citizen-led groups in a number of cities are turning to Community Benefits Agreements to influence publicly-funded developments.
PRIDE PUBLISHING | SEP 06, 2018
In a marathon meeting Tuesday night, the Metro Council approved the soccer stadium ordinances, paving the way for the $27 million project. The votes marked the first major win for the Briley administration that thanked the council for their support.
TENNESSEAN | SEP 05, 2018
After all that, the key vote that secured Major League Soccer and a new stadium in Nashville got 31 Metro Council votes of support — just like the key vote in November — and it meant the right side won.
TENNESSEAN | SEP 04 , 2018
Nashville’s Major League Soccer expansion team is getting a home — and the city’s fairgrounds is now in for a major and controversial overhaul.
WSMV | SEP 04, 2018
NASHVILLE POST | SEP 04 , 2018
Some legislators cited community benefits agreement in voting to advance MLS deal. The Metro Council on Tuesday voted to advance several bills required to build a proposed soccer stadium at The Fairgrounds Nashville.
TENNSSEAN | SEP 04 , 2018
Nashville’s Major League Soccer team ownership and a union-aligned group has finalized a community benefits agreement for the city’s proposed soccer stadium at the fairgrounds after intense negotiations that went through Labor Day weekend.
WKRN | SEP 04 , 2018
The developers of the proposed MLS soccer stadium and Stand Up Nashville announced Tuesday they have finalized and signed a community benefits agreement for the Major League Soccer stadium project.
NEWS CHANNEL 5 | SEP 03 , 2018
Metro Nashville Council members signed off on four pieces of legislation that paved the way for a new Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium to be built at the Nashville Fairgrounds.
NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL | AUG 30 , 2018
As Metro Council readies to take its defining votes on a proposed Major League Soccer stadium at The Fairgrounds Nashville next week, one council member is using the stadium debate to advocate for his district.
WKRN | AUG 30 , 2018
The debate surrounding soccer in Nashville rages on. As a final vote looms on several stadium options for Metro Council, a local coalition hopes to see that the community isn’t forgotten.
THE PARIS POST-INTELLIGENCER | AUG 30 , 2018
A Henry County native has been very prominent during hearings and negotiations involving Nashville’s prospects of landing a Major League Soccer team.
THE TENNESSEAN | AUG 27 , 2018
More than 100 Nashvillians debated a proposed $275 million Major League Soccer stadium project for the city’s fairgrounds late into Monday night…
WSMV | AUG 28 , 2018
If a community benefits agreement is hammered out with Nashville’s Major League Soccer ownership, it will be history for Tennessee.
THE TENNESSEAN | AUG 27 , 2018
Nashville’s Major League Soccer team ownership and a group of community stakeholders said they agreed to “the majority of terms” late Monday on a closely watched agreement designed to ensure the city’s proposed MLS stadium produces good-paying jobs, a child care center and affordable housing.
FOX NEWS 17 | AUG 27 , 2018
Stand Up Nashville and owners of Nashville’s Major League Soccer team have reached an agreement on community benefits.
WSMV | AUG 27 , 2018
On Monday night, Metro Council voted 20-9, with four abstentions, to go forward with the rezoning of 10 acres for the MLS stadium.
THE TENNESSEAN | AUG 27 , 2018
Nashville Mayor David Briley delivered his most forceful pitch yet for approval of a $275 million Major League Soccer stadium project at the fairgrounds, declaring, “Now we just have to close the deal.”
NASHVILLE POST | AUG 27 , 2018
Nashville SC owners and advocacy group Stand Up Nashville on Monday announced the two parties had reached an agreement related to the proposed construction of a Major League Soccer stadium at The Fairgrounds Nashville.
TENNESSEE TRIBUNE | AUG 23 , 2018
The City Council voted Tuesday night to demolish the Expo buildings at the Fairgrounds, declare land at the Fairgrounds surplus, and negotiate a ground lease with John Ingram for the stadium the city will build for his Major League Soccer team.
NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL | AUG 22 , 2018
Nashville’s plan for a Major League Soccer stadium at The Fairgrounds Nashville is still alive. But it will need to secure more Metro Council members’ support before it becomes reality.
THE TENNESSEAN | AUG 19 , 2018
A key Metro Council committee voted Monday to recommend disapproval of a pair of ordinances needed to sign off on Nashville’s Major League Soccer stadium project, signaling a potentially tough road ahead for passage in the full council.
THE TENNESSEAN | AUG 8 , 2018
Three-fourths of the Metro Council signed and submitted a letter Tuesday seeking a “strong, inclusive, equitable” community benefits agreement for Nashville’s proposed Major League Soccer stadium at the city’s fairgrounds.
TENNESSEE TRIBUNE | AUG 8 , 2018
Davidson County residents should benefit from the construction of a soccer stadium, according to people speaking Tuesday at City Hall.
NASHVILLE SCENE | AUG 1 , 2018
Negotiations about a community benefits agreement continue as crucial Metro Council votes approach
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN | AUG 1 , 2018
While the debate over a potential Major League Soccer stadium in Austin rages on, it’s worth remembering that the Texas capital is not alone.
FOX 17 | AUG 2 , 2018
The Metro Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously passed both the recommended re-zoning and the community plan amendment for the fairgrounds to make way for a Major League Soccer stadium.
THE TENNESSEAN | JUL 30 , 2018
Nashville’s Major League Soccer owners would be obligated to pay the city at least $200,000 annually over 30 years to lease land at the fairgrounds for a private mixed-use development next to a new stadium under a deal proposed by Mayor David Briley.
NASHVILLE POST | JUL 2 , 2018
The Metro Government is currently seeking bids from potential construction managers for the Major League Soccer stadium proposed to be built at the Fairgrounds Nashville.
CITYLAB | MAY 29 , 2018
“If they won’t tell you what it is, it can’t be good,” Eugene Puryear, an author, organizer, and member of the Movement for Black Lives D.C., told a crowd.
FOX 17 | MAY 2 , 2018
Union workers have gathered in downtown Nashville to protest safety concerns with a company they say is contracted out by Metro.
WSMV | APR 3 , 2018
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis, Metro Council voted to rename a major section of a downtown street after the Civil Rights leader.
FOX 17 | MAR 23 , 2018
Nashville neighbors met Thursday night to talk about the plan for the Major League Soccer stadium at the Nashville Fairgrounds.
THE TENNESSEAN | FEB 26 , 2018
A group of Nashville nonprofit, labor and religious organizations launched an advocacy campaign Monday aimed at lessening the city’s affordable housing shortage.
NEWS CHANNEL 5 | Jan 18 , 2018
Co-Chair of Stand Up Nashville Odessa Kelly, and President of the Central Labor Council of Nashville Vonda McDaniels OpenLine to discuss the recently passed Do Better Bill that calls for more transparency when offering incentives to businesses coming to Nashville.
NONPROFIT QUARTERLY | Jan 5 , 2018
This week, the 35-member Metro Council of Nashville, Tennessee, passed a resolution by voice vote that requires firms seeking economic development incentives to “disclose details like how many county residents they’ll hire, the wages they’ll pay and whether they’ve had any safety violations in the past,” before the Council votes up or down on the request.
TENNESSEE TRIBUNE | Jan 4 , 2018
Citizen activists are doing better with bills they’ve put in front of the city council. Wearing t-shirts and carrying signs, members of the People’s Alliance for Transit, Housing, and Employment (PATHE) and Stand Up Nashville crammed the City Council chambers two weeks ago.
NEXT CITY | Jan 3 , 2018
A new ordinance, called the “Do Better” bill by supporters, will require that companies hoping to receive incentives from the city of Nashville disclose details like how many county residents they’ll hire, the wages they’ll pay and whether they’ve had any safety violations in the past.
WSMV | Jan 3 , 2018
Take a five-minute stroll through downtown Nashville and you know the city is developing at rapid rate. More than 200 cranes are scattered throughout Davidson County, according to the Nashville Business Journal.
THE TENNESSEAN | Jan 3 , 2018
The Metro Council on Tuesday approved Mayor Megan Barry’s proposal to give Philips, a Netherlands-based health technology giant, $2.9 million in city incentives as part of the company’s recent move to downtown Nashville that’s expected to bring 815 jobs.
NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL | DEC 19 , 2017
A Metro Council proposal that would require more information from companies that receive Metro incentives has apparently run afoul of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
THE TENNESSEAN | DEC 19 , 2017
The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce is working to derail a bill that would require companies to be more transparent when seeking local economic development subsidies.
THE TENNESSEAN | DEC 16 , 2017
Almost two years ago, I met with a parent of two of the kids who attend the after school program at Napier Community Center.
THE TENNESSEAN | DEC 16 , 2017
A group of Nashville council members and labor organizers are pushing for more accountability and transparency as Metro government awards business subsidies.
NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL | DEC 6 , 2017
Amid the city’s epic building boom and in an economy with a basement-level unemployment rate, a majority of Metro Council members want to require more information from companies before they’ll vote to approve new incentives.
FOX 17 | DEC 5 , 2017
Members of the Nashville Metro Council are calling for more transparency when it comes to incentives the city gives to corporations to move here.
THE TENNESSEAN | JAN 10 , 2016
Nashville’s popularity and real estate boom are leaving low- and moderate-income renters behind.
NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL | OCT 26 , 2016
A group of unions and advocacy groups have come together in an effort to expand the reach of Nashville’s newfound economic boom.
THE TENNESSEAN | OCT 25 , 2016
Construction cranes dominate Nashville’s skyline, developers have discovered riches in previously ignored neighborhoods, and the city tops all sorts of lists that rank the nation’s hottest places to live.
