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VOL. 132 | NO. 163 | Thursday, August 17, 2017
Last Word
Bill Dries
Last Word: Monuments Pace Quickens, Campaigning on Opioids and High Heels
By Bill Dries
The financial services company that is a crucial tenant for the Bakery project between the Medical District and Downtown is Orion, which would move to the space in and around the old Wonder Break bakery building on Monroe from its Bartlett HQ.
The pace quickens here on the Confederate monuments controversy with some indication that those favoring the rapid removal of the Forrest and Davis statues are aware that the momentum will likely wane over time – say the time until the Tennessee Historical Commission has to act on a city appeal or the time before the Tennessee Legislature is back in session -- or will be at least more difficult to sustain than it has been in this week after Charlottesville. Mayor Jim Strickland, on Wednesday, said those pushing for the city to take unilateral action want him to do what they won’t for reasons that he won’t.
There has been a call by City Council member Bill Morrison for a special legislative session in Nashville to repeal the state law, which is why the city is appealing to the historical commission. Meanwhile, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said Wednesday there will be no special session of the Mississippi Legislature to consider taking the rebel symbol off that state’s flag.
It seems I’ve been violating some style guide directives in the Confederate monuments stories. Our associate editor, Kate Simone, informs me that it is Health Sciences Park even though the school on three sides is the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Faux Pas Corrige!
Preview night Wednesday in Laurelwood for Novel – the new, smaller bookstore in what was Booksellers at Laurelwood and before that Davis-Kidd. It feels very familiar and it doesn’t feel smaller. And there is more space for book signings.
What the coming move-in of Bluff City Coffee & Bakery at Cooper and Young means for the district.
Another move-in – by several media ventures -- at Crosstown Concourse ahead of Saturday’s formal opening.
Our Nashville correspondent Sam Stockard in his “View From The Hill” column sees opioid addiction becoming a campaign issue in rural and urban Tennessee – often two very different parts of the same state. A Congressional candidate in another part of the state – the rural part – says Tennessee is “ground zero” for the issue which in many ways is about treatment and whether longer sentences for addicts is treatment or a deterrent to treatment.
Memphis Rotary leaves the University Club for Clayborn Temple starting next month.
Hydration patrols, date night and lessons in walking in high heels one year into Shelby Farms Park’s Heart of the Park expansion.