Photo: Eric EnglandBattle lines are being drawn in Midtown ahead of this weekend’s Cinco de Mayo festivities, with one condo owner allegedly organizing residents to call in noise complaints in an effort to take legal action against nearby bars, according to a leaked email obtained by the Scene.

Alleged Oglesby Email by Jon Gugala on Scribd

“Cinco de Mayo celebrations will be held at all the bars this Friday,” an email, allegedly written by resident Vicki Oglesby, reads. “It is the perfect time to gather evidence/place noise complaint calls to Metro police.”

Ms. Oglesby is the wife of Bob Oglesby, the Commissioner of General Services for the state, a position appointed by Tennessee governor Bill Haslam. The Scene reached out to both Bob and Vicki Oglesby for verification and comment through the former’s office and the latter’s included email, but did not receive a response at press time.

Since late 2016, Midtown bars, including Soulshine Pizza Factory, Winners and Rebar, have received citations from MNPD over noise disturbances. Owners of the bars, some of whom have run businesses in the neighborhood for 15 years, say that condo owners should have known what they were getting into before they bought. The condo owners have remained silent, choosing to bring legal action and police enforcement to the area.

Ms. Oglesby's purpose, she allegedly writes, is to lodge noise complaints as fuel for an injunction similar to that filed against Soulshine in the fall, the result of which was a full stop of all music on New Year’s Day and beginning construction on enclosing its upper deck patio.

“[Cinco de Mayo is] one of our busiest weekends, and I feel like a real target,” says Rhonda Russell, the owner of Rebar. Russell says she’s met with representatives from nearby condo building The Adelicia (whose remaining units start at $900,000; resales range from $379,000 to $2.99 million) and its homeowners association in an effort to reach an agreement. Despite the meeting, the complaints and citations have continued.

The Adelicia representative who Russell mentioned declined to comment or confirm the meeting when contacted by the Scene, and the building’s spokesperson did not return a request for comment at press time.

Russell says neighborhood bars are losing anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 a month, and Soulshine owner Chris Sartin says his business is down 60 percent since January.

“People want to hear music,” Russell says. “They don’t want to just sit there and hear themselves chatter.”

While it may seem ironic that people living in the middle of Music City are complaining about live music, the Midtown condo owners’ tactics seem to be working, and bar owners are left questioning what will happen next.

“Eventually, big money will come in here — even bigger than what’s here now — and they will buy up these properties from everybody,” Sartin says. “They’ll turn it into what they want to turn it into: more condos.”