The Chatter Class Online: Piping down the barkers

Councilman Mike Jameson has filed legislation attempting to tone down downtown starting at 9 p.m. each night. File

Downtowns are supposed to be about vibrancy, liveliness, the quirkiness of competing modern-day barkers trying to lure people into the bars and restaurants.

But in Nashville’s downtown, there are some newly minted residents who seem to still want to hear crickets of their former suburban neighborhoods. Councilman Mike Jameson has filed an ordinance to make downtown quieter starting at 9 p.m. each night if the legislation passes.

Interesting considering that downtown’s nightlife is one of its top selling points.

In terms of urban living, Nashvillians are fairly new to the lifestyle and they act as if they’ve never been in a big city where it can be very noisy until the wee hours. Cars honk their horns. Bars turn their speakers to the street. Panhandlers beg for money. Drunk revelers fall down, yell and fight.

It’s all part of the urban fabric, the cacophony of noises. It’s the “play” part of downtown’s 24-hour neighborhood, live-work-play pitch. Trying to silence the place is like moving to New York City and telling it to slow down.

In downtown Nashville, song after song seeps out of the doors on Broadway. Bars in other parts of downtown turns a speaker to the street with some recorded music. After all, this is Music City and downtown advocates have for years kept the area out of the noise ordinance realm specifically for that reason.

Jameson’s legislation, introduced at the urging of a handful of residents, has officials in the business of selling Music City scratching their heads. The new residents moved to the supposed nuisance and, at some point, you would think that common sense would apply. It’s similar to people buying a house near the racetrack at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds and then complaining about the racing.

But that doesn’t absolve Broadway’s bars from their actions or mean that they should crank it up more. They, too, could show some common sense by not amping up the volume too much and working with the new residents on a compromise so that an ordinance won’t be needed.

The Nashville Downtown Partnership, which wasn’t consulted ahead of time, also could play a role in working out a compromise. It probably could have worked out something without legislation.