NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Overnight code enforcement could soon come to downtown Nashville.
Council Member Joy Styles has pushed to unite the Nashville Mayor’s Office of Nightlife, which monitors Music City’s booming nightlife scene, with Metro Codes to create a 24/7 response time.
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The Mayor’s Office of Nightlife helps ensure communication between the community and the government, but they don’t handle Codes issues like loud noises. The Metro Department of Codes closes at 4 p.m. on weekdays, leaving overnight requests for attention unanswered until the following day.
“It’s not acceptable to just tell people, ‘Oh, sorry, we can’t handle it, but thanks for reporting it,'” District 32 Council Member Joy Styles said.
A new proposal from Styles pushes for a partnership between Metro Codes and the office to create a day-and-night response operation.
“These two new positions would really allow Nashville — since we are a larger city — allow us to operate on a 24/7 basis,” director of the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife, Benton McDonough, explained.
“This is just about holding people accountable and making sure that everyone has a good quality of life,” Styles added.
If passed, the partnership between Metro Codes and the Office of Nightlife would start downtown first before possibly expanding into other parts of the city. The idea would allow Metro Codes to respond to hubNashville requests or 311 calls in real-time.
“Sometimes it’s a business beside them that has a bright light shining in through their windows — speakers that are placed outside the building,” McDonough said, describing the need for the partnership.
Styles told News 2 the possible expansion into other parts of the city could look like cracking down on illegal businesses operating out of garages or bright house lights.
“You have a lot of cars that are parking on the lawns at night after Codes could come through and give someone a citation or they are blocking the sidewalk, parked in a driveway,” Styles added.
McDonough said they would start small.
“[That will] allow the inspectors to get comfortable with working in the evening, and then, as time goes on, we will start to expand to other parts of the city,” McDonough said.
Styles told News 2 that this idea will be presented to other Metro Councilmembers for its first hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
“It doesn’t matter where your ZIP code is,” Styles said. “When you’re home, you want to be able to have peace and quiet and relax.”
