The Quintessentials 1/22/24

Author

Quin Evans Segall
January 22, 2024

I hope everyone made it through last week’s snowstorm without experiencing too much trouble. Hopefully, your neck of the woods is well on its way to thawing out. As we thaw, it is a good time to check sump pumps and make sure they’re working before this week’s rain. I’ve lived through a flooded basement due to a sump pump clog and wouldn’t want anyone else to wake up to that fate.

As you may know, last week’s council meeting was canceled and rescheduled for tomorrow. Committee meetings will be held today and tomorrow. Agendas and schedules can be found here.

If you would allow, I would like to take a short moment of personal privilege. Tomorrow is my youngest child’s birthday. If you see her tomorrow (and you may because her amazing Dad has promised to bring her by Council for a good night hug!), please wish her a happy birthday. Tomorrow officially ends a decade straight of having babies and toddlers in our house, which if I’m being honest, I am more sad about than I expected to be!

Thanks for your continued engagement. As always, please reach out to me should you need anything, want to see anything in the newsletter, or otherwise have any comments or questions! 

What to Watch

Here are the matters before Council that are at the top of my “watch list.” If there is anything on your watch list that you want to share with me, please reach out.

  • Subdivision regulation changes. As mentioned in my previous newsletters, the Planning Department has been working on updates to cluster subdivision regulations. I have some concerns about the proposed ordinance’s requirements regarding “useable open space.” I submitted an amendment to incentivize making useable open space publicly accessible. Even with this amendment, I do not believe this ordinance is perfect, but I am inclined to live with it as good enough for now barring further convincing evidence to the contrary.

  • Housing Updates. I continue to work with Metro Departments, community groups, and state-level stakeholders to bring a pro-housing, pro-neighborhood set of ordinances to Council. In addition to meeting with those groups and stakeholders, I have been working on scheduling community meetings and creating a website detailing the ordinances. Watch my social for more information on the website’s launch, and follow the website to make sure you know when and where community meetings will be scheduled.

  • FUSUS Contract. Council is currently examining a MNPD contract, possibly with an amendment, that allows for coordination with residents to access their private security cameras. This type of data sharing is not necessarily new, and residents have always been free to determine for themselves whether they want to share security footage with MNPD. I do, however, want to make sure we have sufficient consumer protection policies regarding participant consent and data use policies regarding what and how data is accessed and stored.

East Bank Updates

Last week’s East Bank Committee meeting has been rescheduled to tonight, January 22, 2024. Based on the agenda, I am expecting to hear more updates on negotiations and timing.

Due to continuing icy conditions on neighborhood roads, trash and recycling are delayed one day this week.

  • If your normal pick up day is a Monday, it will be Tuesday, 1/23.

  • If your normal pick up day is a Tuesday, it will be Wednesday, 1/24.

  • If your normal pick up day is a Wednesday, it will be Thursday, 1/25.

  • If your normal pick up day is a Thursday, it will be Friday, 1/26.

  • If your normal pick up day is a Friday, it will be Saturday, 1/27.

Public calendar notices can be found here.

Bruch pick up is also running off schedule. You can find the brush pickup schedule here.

For fastest repair and attention, please submit all maintenance requests into Hub Nashville.

NES is working to replace old streetlights with new ones. Until that process is complete, please report streetlight outages here.

Something to Leave You With

I am just finishing Demon Copperhead, and I am currently eagerly awaiting notice of several books’ availability on my Library’s Libby app!

Sunset today is after 5:00 p.m., and the ice is on its way out. It’s hard to believe, but we’re only 12 weeks away from our average last frost date. If you plan to start any annuals indoors, now is the time to start planning your garden and ordering seeds. I love browsing the Baker Creek seed catalog and dreaming of cosmos and tomatoes. Roundstone Native Seed has some of the best native pollinator seeds, sourced as near to locally as you can get. Bates Nursery offers an excellent newsletter to keep you abreast of local gardening news.