Taking Our First Steps Towards a Plan

By Nia Smith, Community Design Coordinator

6 min read Read about how the Civic Design Center has been engaging with community members who work and live near the Looby Community Center. These are our first steps towards providing some recommendations for the master Looby Community Campus Plan.

Inside the Looby Community Center

Community leaders have identified Looby Community Center as a local treasure in North Nashville. When Councilmember Toombs took office, she prioritized the celebration of the historic center. Just off of Rosa Parks Blvd and 10th Ave, the library, community center, theater, pool, and park, provide a regional community resource that could use some peacekeeping.

This Fall, we engaged 8 key stakeholders over 6 meetings to identify our core steering committee for the Looby Community Campus Plan. Once primary and secondary stakeholders were identified, we scheduled a site visit and walk audit of the Looby Community Center and surrounding area—a tour that was a little over a mile. We invited 18 guests and were honored to be joined by over 11 people, some of whom will form our steering committee. Our goal was to start with people who are in this community everyday and experience the 3 sites that make up the larger Looby campus. We were able to identify obstacles and opportunities, developing much-needed understanding for our site! For our next steps, we plan to meet with the steering committee to discuss our findings during the walk audit.

Walk Audit attendees walking towards the Looby baseball fields

The Walk Audit route starting and ending at the Looby Community Center

Top 5 Concerns from the Walk Audit

Pedestrian Safety

• No school zone defined, no HAWK Beacons, no crossing guards

• 9th Ave and Cass St are not safe to walk along, has higher speeds and very few sidewalks 

• No safe path from schools to Looby

Youth after school program access

• Looby offers afterschool programs but can’t get students to the library

• Afterschool programs with transportation (i.e. Backfield in Motion, Dream Street, etc) are more likely to be used

• Homeless students have to choose between dinner or a social activity after school

Celebrating Looby as a community resource

• Building and grounds are well maintained, but require general maintenance like power-washing

• The mural will be a nice addition to the site

• Looby is a theater, a library, an afterschool program, a park, and so much more

Strengthening neighborhood identity

• People feel the historic fabric is fading, they can tell the new housing from old, and the schools are losing students due to rent and gentrification

• AirBnB’s literally trash the street from their weekend activities without consequences. Students have to see and interact with it every Monday. 

• More art and or interactive play within the trails

 Safety

• The facilities (outdoor bathrooms and outdoor pools) lack adequate security measures and features

• Cars speeding down the street create dangerous conditions, especially around blind curves

• The large parking lots in front and behind John Early Middle School are hot spots for criminal activity, due to low visibility and large space

Walk Audit attendees headed back to Looby Community Center along 9th Ave and Kellow St

During Open Streets on Arthur Ave in North Nashville this year, we set up community engagement boards to ask local neighbors if they use Looby as a resource and how. We got a large number of responses, identifying ways and reasons they can or cannot use Looby as a neighborhood resource. Attendees provided great feedback about what they would want from the space and ways they felt it could improve. This feedback, in combination with the Walk Audit feedback and the Looby library’s programming survey will provide necessary context and a wish list for people who want to use Looby more.

Community members discuss their visions for the Looby Community Campus at Open Streets

Top 3 Concerns from Open Streets

Safety

• Lower car speeds within the campus, especially on Cass St

• Clarksville Pike Bridge to Rosa Parks is a pretty dangerous transition

• Safe drop off zones for students walking

Connections for local parks and campuses 

• Local Universities (Fisk, MeHarry, TSU)

• The Post Office

• Local schools with emphasis on John Early and Hull Jackson

Promoting walking connectivity

• New bus routes for the #9 and #42

• Connections from the Cumberland Greenway

• A greenway for Buena Park

• Walk/Bike Route between Looby, Parks, and schools

Walk Audit attendees returning to Looby Community Center

Now that we’ve gathered the committee and the context, we’re working to make sure we understand the needs and wants of the residents, students, employees, and supporters of Buena Vista and the Looby Community Center. What we’ve heard consistently is that Looby is more than a library and the schools adjacent to the community center strive for excellence. We aim to celebrate, enhance, and expand these beneficial features of Looby to make it a regional attraction in North Nashville.

Here are some opportunities we found during our engagements!

A map depicting Looby’s opportunities found on our first walk audit.

John Early Middle School Museum, the only accredited art museum in a middle school. The students are the docents! There will be a new exhibit with Fisk art students inspired by the designs of Aaron Douglas opening on December 7th.

Sidewalks, currently along 11th and between Hull Jackson Montessori and John Early Middle school. More sidewalks are needed throughout the campus, especially along 9th and on Cass St.

Greenway Connection, the Ted Rhodes greenway is not far from Looby, but there is no entrance near the community center or campus.

Secret staircase, a mysterious staircase along 9th Ave

2022 Big Tree, this award winning tree is near the secret staircase

The playground, a new public playground near Hull Jackson Montessori school

Potter’s Field, a historic cemetery for Nashville’s unclaimed bodies

Do you know of any other opportunities around the Looby Community Campus? Comment them below.

Some of the ideas community members wrote down during Open Streets

New Bus Routes for the 9 and 42, both routes that access Looby Community Center.