An October to Remember

By Veronica Foster, Communications + Advocacy Manager

3 min read October 2022 has been a busy month for the Civic Design Center, so we wanted to recap all of the amazing things we have been up to in case you’ve missed it. From attending Planning Commission meetings and the Salute to Excellence Award Ceremony to hosting multiple events within a week, we are proud of our staff, interns, and committed members who have supported the work.

10/06: Imagine East Bank Vision Adopted by Planning Commission

We are so excited that Metro Planning completed their Imagine East Bank Vision Plan and that we got to host their very first public presentation for the vision back in August. The last couple of months, they heard from the community and updated the vision to include 2 different solutions for adding bike lanes to the boulevard, which did not originally include them. They are going to explore traffic engineering for a two-way cycle track compared to traditional protected bike lanes. Planning is now in the stage of acquiring the right-of-way to be able to own the stretch of land for the boulevard. As of October 17th, 2022, Mayor Cooper and the Tennessee Titans unveiled a $2.1 billion deal for a new domed stadium on the East Bank. Now, Metro Council will review the deal and vote on whether or not it goes through.

Regardless of what happens with the stadium, we want to remind the community that Planning only adopted a vision plan, not a design, so there is a lot more room for the community the engage on what they would like to see come to fruition. If you are interested in learning more about our dreams for the East Bank Vision, check out our blog, East Bank of Tomorrow.

10/08: Nashville Youth Design Team Host Successful Soccer Tournament

Our high school interns, the Nashville Youth Design Team, planned and executed an amazing mini-pitch intervention in Antioch Park! 70 community members came to the park to support the experimental soccer infrastructure that they installed, and 40 young people joined teams with their neighbors to play in a tournament.

While there is a private soccer field in Antioch, this successful intervention shows that public soccer infrastructure would be well-utilized in the neighborhood. Since it’s installation, Cydney Thompson, our intern, saw around 15 kids playing soccer on their own using the goals!

10/19: PechaKucha 42 Returns to Studio615 in Partnership with AIA Middle Tennessee

*Guests watch PechaKucha presentations at Studio615*

After almost 3 years of hosting PechaKucha virtually and just once in our office after the pandemic, we joined forces with AIA’s Middle Tennessee chapter to host PechaKucha 42: Play Your Part at Studio615. It was a blast to see the vibrant audience under the glowing purple lights. Ron Yearwood returned as M.C. for the event and provided lots of laughs.

Presenters included Renata Soto sharing information about her newest organization, Mosaic Changemakers, and Kelly Bonadies sharing her story about engaging with community members and redeveloping historic properties in North Nashville.

10/20: Civic Design Center is a Finalist for Salute to Excellence Award

*Staff attended Salute to Excellence at Belmont University’s new Fisher Auditorium*

Along with Inspiritus and Insights Counseling Centers, the Civic Design Center was a finalist for the Memorial Foundation Leadership Award for working through immense challenges during the pandemic. We attended Salute to Excellence last week to hear the results!

Our leadership story starts when two staff members were displaced by the March 2020 tornado, and yet, we soldiered on working remotely through the pandemic. However, tragedy struck 2nd Avenue with a bomb destroying an entire block of historic buildings on Christmas Day 2020, and our office was completely covered in glass and toxic silica dust.

With Metro Planning and the whole Rebuild 2nd Avenue team, we hosted nearly 10 virtual and hybrid community engagement sessions to envision the restoration and recovery of 2nd Avenue. After the release of the Covid-19 vaccine, our staff were still forced to work remotely due to the dangerous condition of our office following the bomb.

In January of this year, we finally fully came back to the office. We are so proud of our staff for weathering the storm and continuing to work tirelessly to live out our mission.

10/21: Mayor John Cooper Joins Us for the 2nd Annual Presidents’ Council Breakfast

We were lucky to have our amazing group of Presidents’ Council members join us for an intimate conversation with Mayor John Cooper about the future of Nashville at our 2nd Annual Presidents’ Council Breakfast. Presidents’ Council was formed by our past Board Presidents in an effort to engage our highest individual donors in deeper conversations for organizational advisory and community advocacy.

During the breakfast, the Mayor spoke in great detail about his hopes for the East Bank as well as the opportunity of the new Titans stadium. Presidents’ Council members had a chance to engage in conversation about affordable housing, transit-oriented development, connecting back to the riverfront, and much more.

10/24: Woke3 Cuts the Ceremonial Ribbon for the Lighthouse Mural

*Eric Hoke announces that it is time for the official ribbon cutting of the Lighthouse Mural*

We partnered with Woke3 and community leader, Angel Adams, to conduct a series of workshops with students to help visualize the future installation collaging traffic calming materials provided by 3M. The student collage artwork helped inspire a temporary installation that was used to launch the nationwide 3M School Zone Safety Program.

Following this event, Woke3 continued to work on the larger mural that was planned for the large south-facing wall off of Dr DB Todd Jr Blvd.

On October 24th, many key stakeholders attended a formal ribbon-cutting to celebrate the completion of the impressive playground backdrop for students at Robert Churchwell.

Youth Transform Antioch Park with mini-pitch

Education is a lighthouse at Robert Churchwell