Almost Friday, Nashville! It’s September 17th. New in Nashville’s neighborhoods: the lowest restaurant health score I’ve reported since launching nash.news (and three more scores in the 50s and 60s on the same day!), a veterinarian under review, and a “dangerous” rogue pedicab driver, and replacing a greenway boardwalk.
⚡ Top stories
☀️ Weather
Heat advisory through Saturday. High: 100 with a heat index as high as 110, Low: 75.
🚓 Where home break-ins are increasing in Nashville
Every week, I review Metro Police crime data looking for trends. This one caught my attention. While residential burglaries are down 5% countywide compared to last year, that’s not the case in every neighborhood, according to new police data.
The Hermitage precinct added the most cases — going from 91 at this point last year to 113 this year, a 24% increase.
In terms of percentage increases, cases increased the most in the Central Precinct at nearly 35%. The precinct had 23 cases as of mid-September last year. This year, the number has risen to 31.
Cases also increased in the following precincts: South (+3.8%), Madison (+3.1%), and Midtown Hills (+8.7%)
You can use this mapping tool to find out where crimes are happening in your neighborhood.
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🏠 What’s new in Nashville’s neighborhoods
Antioch
51 restaurant score: This is the lowest restaurant score I’ve reported since launching nash.news. It comes from La Costa Mexican Seafood at 5332 Cane Ridge Road. Among the 28 alleged violations noted by the inspector: roaches, multiple handwashing issues, cutting lettuce and chicken on the same cutting board, buildup on an oyster shucker, and more. You can read the full inspection here.
Downtown (and nearby)
61 restaurant score: This health inspection is for Only Chicken at 2127 Belcourt Avenue. A few quotes from the report: “observed employee handle raw chicken and proceed to prepare carrots and zucchini without removing their gloves and washing their hands first” + “observed a pot of yellow rice cooling on the floor of the kitchen” + “observed employee re-enter the kitchen after taking out the trash, and they did not remove their gloves or wash their hands before returning to work.” You can read the inspection here.
“This guy is very dangerous”: NDOT is coordinating with Metro Police to stop a “rogue pedicab” driver from continuing to operate after he was arrested with cocaine over the weekend and then found driving a pedicab the next day. “Some of our enforcement staff had pictures of him with beer, you know, just a case of beer on his pedicab, and he was probably selling the beer, and he was probably selling the cocaine. We don’t have proof that he was doing that, but it was a lot of cocaine,” NDOT Transportation Licensing Director Richard Rooker said this week. NDOT hopes to get an injunction to ban the driver from downtown. The injunction idea sounds similar to a recent ban of alleged scammers who target drunk tourists.
Transforming Bridgestone Arena: A Tennessean reporter shared updated renderings of renovations planned for Bridgestone Arena and the ice rink at Centennial Sportsplex. For Bridgestone Arena, “the goal is to have the majority of the renovation complete and ready to welcome fans by Opening Night of the Predators’ 2029–30 season,” the arena said.
Sylvan Park
Replacing boardwalk: Metro Parks plans to start work in October on replacing the wooden boardwalk at the Richland Creek Greenway with concrete decking that it hopes will last 50 years. The department estimates work will take 11 weeks. It’s a pilot project that’s expected to roll out to other wooden boardwalks.
East Nashville
Veterinarian under review: Several state agencies are reviewing complaints about Caudle Veterinary Clinic at 3607 Gallatin Pike, WKRN reported, after a woman’s dog died. You can read her allegations here. One of my dogs goes here, so I’ll be watching this closely!
New developments on Meridian Street: First up, more vertical growth along Dickerson Pike. A proposed (up to) five-story building at 100 Meridian Street with a daycare center, up to 300 housing units, and a restaurant or retail received rezoning approval from the Metro Council this week. You can see the plans here. And at 1600 Meridian Street, plans for 23 townhomes and four homes are moving forward after developers submitted a building permit application. Here’s a link to those plans.
59 restaurant score: The health inspector’s report for Cilantro Mexican Grill at 972 Main Street mentions an employee touching ice used for customers’ drinks with their bare hands and fresh mice dropping on top of the dish machine. Click here to read the inspector’s full report.
North Nashville
More Lime scooters: Metro’s Transportation Licensing Commission gave Lime permission to bring a fleet of 50 scooters to TSU’s campus. Students with a TSU email address will be eligible for a 35% discount. If scooters are taken into other areas like Downtown Nashville, Lime said it plans to make sure an equivalent number ends up back at TSU.
New coffee roastery: Office space at 2109 Buchanan Street will be turned into “a commercial coffee roastery and to-go beverage counter,” according to a new building permit. I haven’t found the name of the new coffee shop.
South Nashville
55 restaurant score: When a health inspector visited Deir Cafe at 105 Haywood Lane, they noted food temperature concerns and multiple handwashing issues, including an employee putting on gloves to begin preparing food without washing their hands after being outside. Here’s a link to the full inspection.
📰 A few final headlines…
Fallout from medication errors: Ascension Saint Thomas is no longer at immediate risk of losing Medicare and Tenncare (Medicaid) funding after four patients were given the wrong medication, which left several of them paralyzed. The hospital said federal regulators “validated the corrective measures implemented.” The hospital had till Friday to come up with an acceptable safety plan, WTVF reported last week, after the feds rejected several earlier safety plans.
Belmont to host live tribute to Dolly: “CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton” will air live from Belmont University on October 21 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. It’ll include “performances, archival footage and personal stories that trace her extraordinary journey to becoming one of the most beloved entertainers and philanthropists in American history,” the CMA said. You can watch the special live on WKRN/ABC or the next day on Hulu. And here’s a ticket interest form.
Poll results: I asked nash.news readers yesterday whether they support allowing pedicabs beyond Downtown Nashville. 80% of respondents said no.
🧠 Today’s quiz: Word scramble
Test your memory of yesterday’s newsletter. Use each clue to unscramble the following words.
OKWCHEEDO - Botanical garden facing a nuisance lawsuit
SCIBADEP - Newly allowed countywide by Metro
TALNAGLI - The pike where Fat Mo’s got its 62
RTITFH - What Uptown Cheapskate sells
RYLIABR - Where the 1975 book finally came home
🍔 MAP: click here for restaurant inspections across Nashville
Correction, feedback, question? Just reply to this email or email me directly at ryan@nash.news. Talk to you tomorrow! —Ryan