Nashville Official Proposes Returning $50M For Stadium To Department Of Children’s Services

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The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –

Metro Nashville Council Member Bob Mendes proposed a resolution asking the city’s council to decline $50 million of the promised $500 million from Tennessee for a new covered Tennessee Titans stadium and instead have that funding diverted to Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services.

Mendes posted the resolution and said that he asked Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s office to support the proposal at the council’s Dec. 20 meeting, when the council is expected to vote on a non-binding term sheet related to the $2.1 billion stadium proposal that would include $1.26 billion of public funds for construction as well as more than $2 billion of future tax funding for upgrades and other unannounced expenses.

The mayor’s office has declined to release the projected spending of the tax fund, projected to bring in $2.9 billion over 34 years to pay off $760 million in revenue bonds as well as the unannounced future expenses.

Mendes’ proposal came after a scathing audit of DCS was made public, followed by a state hearing on the audit Wednesday morning.

The audit looked at how DCS handled 200,000 allegations of abuse sent to the department between February 2021 and June 2022.

The report showed that the department failed to respond in a timely manner to allegations in 4% of cases as well as not investigating 34 cases of sexual abuse or harassment in residential facilities.

At its recent state budget hearing, DCS had asked for $156 million in additional funding next fiscal year.

“If it’s true that the stadium revenue bonds are free to Nashville’s ‘general taxpayers,’ and the Mayor’s Office projects this revenue to be $2.9 billion over 30 yrs, then we should help the State provide adequate facilities for children in their care,” Mendes wrote on the proposal.

The proposed resolution included details on DCS’ previous issues as well as claims about financing of the stadium.

“Couldn’t get tickets to your favorite show this year?” Council Member Zach Young wrote about Mendes’ proposal. “No worries, the 12/20 Metro Council meeting will feature some political theatre courtesy of my colleague. PS: he knows the state won’t take the money but let’s waste time on this to throw red meat to the base.”

When asked by Nashville resident Whitney Pastorek about his tone and if Young was OK with foster kids sleeping on the floor, Young responded “Of course not and you know that. I would think more people would be upset at my colleague’s attempt to turn foster children into characters in a piece of political theatre.”

About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.

3 thoughts on “Nashville Official Proposes Returning $50M For Stadium To Department Of Children’s Services

  • December 15, 2022 at 6:31 pm
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    Are you kidding me? Do you think for one second that the feckless liberal mayor of Nashville will give $50m to help the children of Nashville to have a fighting chance? Please don’t hold your breathe.

    Reply
  • December 15, 2022 at 8:53 pm
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    Tennessee taxpayers should never have ever been forced to pay for a Tennessee Titan’s Stadium in the first place . I hate professional sports in light of their ” Wokeness ” and disrespect for our country and flag , however , with all the money in professional sports the sports teams themselves should be made pay for their own d**med stadium .

    Reply
  • December 15, 2022 at 11:26 pm
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    DCS got a bunch of bad people who NEED weeded out. Removing children from family NEEDS to be LAST resort.

    Reply

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