I’m a Nashville Fairgrounds neighbor. Here’s why I support speedway restoration.
(This Op-Ed originality published in the Tennesseean)
The deal between Bristol and Metro will reduce auto racing sounds, create more Fairgrounds parking, and improve neighborhood quality of life while remaining accountable to Metro taxpayers.
Earnest Morgan | Guest Columnist
As a neighbor of The Fairgrounds Nashville who did not start out with strong opinions about the future of the Speedway. Racing isn’t “in my blood,” and I don’t have lifelong memories about the way the racetrack used to be.
So why am I supporting the proposal for Bristol Motor Sports to take over management of the Fairgrounds Speedway?
My position might surprise you, given that I am a former board member of South Nashville Action People, the neighborhood association that includes the Fairgrounds.
What I do have a strong opinion about is that the future of the Fairgrounds needs to be a fact-based community decision, and not driven by a bunch of bullies pressing to go in a certain direction.
People are saying things about the proposed racetrack deal between Bristol and Metro that are just flat out not true, and they don’t have facts to back it up.
We want to reduce sound from the racetrack
I would like to address some of the issues I disagree with, including factual inaccuracies (available for anyone to read in the contract filed with Metro Council), in a recent guest opinion column in The Tennessean written by racetrack opponents John Spragens (president of Citizens Against Racetrack Expansion For Nashville), Shay Sapp (SNAP board president) and Heidi Basgall Favorite (founder of Neighbors Opposed to Track Expansion Nashville).”
And while I may not be personally invested in racing per se, I care deeply about the truth and the facts, and about the future of my neighborhood.
I’ve lived in Wedgewood-Houston for two-and-a-half years, and before that I lived in Edgehill.
Yes, the neighborhood is concerned about sound. Well, guess what? This is not an empty green pasture that we’re trying to figure out what to do with it. The sound is already there.
What we’re talking about right now is an option to reduce the sound. How about that? Reducing the impact that the racetrack has on the neighborhood.
Why this is a positive for the neighborhood
In December 2022, as a SNAP board member for more than a year, I was presented with a letter written by the board president declaring that the entire neighborhood opposes the deal with Bristol. And I thought, “Okay, how do we as an organization oppose something we haven’t even been briefed on?”
I am not an accountant. I’m not a CPA. I’m not a sound engineer. So, I sought out people who do understand those disciplines to help inform my opinion. The only thing that I’m looking at is, is this a positive for the neighborhood? And the answer is yes.
I look at my neighbor who lives two doors down. He’s 72 years old, and he’s never lived more than a hundred yards from where he does today. He goes to the Fairgrounds every weekend. He loves going to watch the local races and any other races that he can afford. He talks about being a kid and just sticking his nose through the fence and watching the races when he could. I wish more people could hear stories like that, because they would get over some of these other issues that people are being so petty about.
Making the track ADA compliant is a plus
The proposed deal for Bristol to manage the racetrack, with all the improvements it entails, will help make Wedgewood-Houston a better urban neighborhood than it is today.
Right now, we have an asset that is not appreciating because of neglect. So, let’s take this racetrack with its historic value and make the necessary improvements to make it accessible for people who have limited disabilities or older residents who want to age in place.
I mean, it’s right down the street. What great exercise it would be to walk down new sidewalks to watch a race with your grandkids at a facility that has been made ADA-compliant for the very first time.
The deal between Bristol and Metro will reduce auto racing sounds, create more Fairgrounds parking, and improve neighborhood quality of life while remaining accountable to Metro taxpayers. And that’s a win for everybody.
Published article can be viewed here.
