Photo: El Pueblito Supermercado via Facebook



Lord knows it’s easier to overregulate non-rich people than it is to fix our city’s many problems, but the fact that Nashville is on the verge of banning rope lights for certain businesses is some kind of bullshit.

Chris St. Clair at WPLN has the story:

[Metro Councilmember Tanaka] Vercher’s bill would affect mostly small businesses along major thoroughfares like Murfreesboro Pike and Nolensville Road, where storefronts are often lit day and night by the colorful lights. Vercher told WPLN this summer that her primary motivation for the bill is safety — she worries that egregious rope light displays on busy streets could cause accidents. But the message that the lights send to passerby is also a concern for Vercher. “We’re trying to minimize that ‘Vegas appeal’ within such close proximity to neighborhoods," she said.

I am wracking my brain trying to understand what “Vegas appeal” is supposed to mean here. Vegas is well-known for fancy neon lights. These are just rope lights. Also, the picture of El Pueblito Supermercado in Antioch that accompanies St. Clair’s story looks bright and friendly and safe. Is "cheery and safe" part of “Vegas appeal”?

Vercher hasn’t shown that the lighting has caused accidents, just decided that they could. Well, shoot, I could be distracted by all the good smells from the restaurants along Nolensville Road and get in an accident. Maybe the council should require all restaurants on major roads to stop cooking during high-traffic times, too.

Vercher’s proposal wouldn’t affect businesses on Lower Broad, because rich people in this town get to do whatever they want. But God forbid non-rich entrepreneurs who can’t afford to do business downtown also want lights.

I can’t wait until Rich Nashville finally has its way and everyone who makes less than $100,000 a year is crammed into $1,000-a-month closets in neighborhoods built on important historical sites near businesses they aren’t allowed to see at night, along roads where there are no sidewalks because we never got around to it. That’s going to be super depressing

Rich people, if we promise to trudge along the shoulders of our roads looking blue and jealous of you right now, will you let us keep the literal bright spots in our neighborhoods?