[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6189961,"mediaKeyId","5053372-8903dc5662ab11f4f9b0f11cee7ff930","parentId",5053372,"title","Mayor's innovation team narrows Bloomberg Sustainable Cities project to energy‑bill affordability and hires planned","audioSeconds",819,"startMs",3525000,"endMs",4344000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5053372-8903dc5662ab11f4f9b0f11cee7ff930&start=3525&end=4344","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5053372-8903dc5662ab11f4f9b0f11cee7ff930/thumbnail_3525000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6189961/Tennessee/Mayors-innovation-team-narrows-Bloomberg-Sustainable-Cities-project-to-energybill-affordability-and-hires-planned","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6189961-49a362b3f35bff03f6702e3ff984f28f/orig.mp4?Expires=1771155276&Signature=UZFt01eCL7jblqNyoU8dJzTUmNFgxjPOdThX1QILeEDXkzRWuDUx81b4zaEE5XYca2RTohU~sayWecZ3UXYdpXGoLivdyuBlgYTGFWTwH8oeBiX5bgg7WN756rpKmVl7uwRnanieWsruIEIznPg9mRMVWIviX14umgJ7gbhZRVZggrzuzCCOEXpAtjxIdeQb8jPdPEKmfPB2s-GuMY1qj5pKq1GYkowng9HhVBDPDs9qsVtBjpzGAOjgqJZySWhDEx0S1t3ZmEZehQMRYCHyfnXE5taDDxp71y2J80gukS5Cj~KirLgLaaNSPk9v4MEVC1pNydEdVMkfgHOh4wS9RQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","City of Nashville, TN","date","2025-06-23T17:46:37Z","article","Robert James, director of the Nashville Innovation Team in the mayor's office, briefed the Sustainability Advisory Committee on progress implementing the city's Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities grant work and on staffing and project priorities.

James said the team is using human‑centered design and a phased \"path to public innovation\" (aim, design, prototype, activate, sustain) to develop local solutions that reduce energy burden and increase economic opportunity. \"Our draft aim focuses on reducing energy burden and increasing economic opportunity,\" James said. The team's draft problem frame is energy‑bill affordability; James said that problem frame will guide upcoming qualitative and quantitative research and community prototyping.

James said the innovation team is hiring two additional permanent staff — a civic designer for community research and prototyping and a data analytics manager to build dashboards and a data strategy — and that contract design support (Emily Ayanna Cohen) has assisted while positions are filled. He said the grant fully funds the three positions for three years and the team also receives support from a national subject‑matter expert network.

James described several near‑term pilots and grant efforts. The mayor's office partnered with NES and TVA on \"Installation for Impact,\" a grant‑funded pilot that directs matched funds to install measures at older adult homes; the initial grant was roughly $75,000, matched by utility partners. The office helped design a greenhouse gas reduction/municipal investment fund opportunity aimed at market‑building for resilient, affordable housing and assisted a Prize for Cities application to support NES's Home Uplift program to address administrative bottlenecks.

James said the team has been building a partnership table with local community‑based organizations — including Recycle Reinvest, the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and Stand Up Nashville — to inform and socialize work and to recruit subject‑matter experts and stakeholders for research. He asked committee members to complete a forthcoming survey to identify subject‑matter expertise and suggested the committee could help connect the team to local stakeholders for interviews and prototyping.

James said design research will ramp up over the summer with interviews and community outreach and that the team will return with early findings and prototypes for further input. He asked the committee for assistance publicizing pilot opportunities and for help identifying potential grant partners and local subject‑matter experts.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","06/23/25 Sustainability Advisory Committee","oneSentenceSummary","Robert James, director of the Nashville Innovation Team, told the Sustainability Advisory Committee the team's Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities work will focus on reducing energy burden and energy‑bill affordability and that hiring and research will accelerate this summer.","taxTitle","Sustainability Advisory Committee Meetings, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee","taxId",79646,"location","Tennessee","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6189966,"Parks and Recreation begins update to Plan to Play; deferred maintenance estimated at $215 million",340,2250000,2590000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5053372-8903dc5662ab11f4f9b0f11cee7ff930&start=2250&end=2590","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5053372-8903dc5662ab11f4f9b0f11cee7ff930/thumbnail_2250000.jpg","/articles/6189966/Tennessee/Parks-and-Recreation-begins-update-to-Plan-to-Play-deferred-maintenance-estimated-at-215-million","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6189966-ecf253cb59162039863eaba7877e78b0/orig.mp4?Expires=1771155276&Signature=YMYwg5mo2IGTxtKOz-hv-btpqDM3pWG65lXv0kJnd9ulTpGMA8jRLYwKEovq--0Oi4jC6wXbB6GMZsITrrHuj7HnxKRTSIqg0mHFDAC7W1LsP7WKiMGxb1h-bGf2e4yfyMENCRsRGqvzxcYk9bI~apeU8JsF6UrhJ7surd7GIZ6rLUOB61hOsV5qrPrGPSORuBq7m2YZq-ixCxZYBwzdu3YTAZtEgT6hcHQ9e28wJfGf8rPCT~ajXKWefurG4cpIPAoUq2uMCbcDr8ZMRcvGJhXjwO9gaRqHMC2iKQ8qvo6E7Vt7i2ETY7lKnXgWRlzjyjhddDQEDmu4D7fVAPR0hg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Tim Naech, representing Metro Parks and Recreation, told the Sustainability Advisory Committee that the department has begun a 2025 update to Plan to Play, the countywide parks and greenways master plan first completed in 2017.

The update will not replace the 2017 plan but will build on its recommendations, Neach said, focusing on what was missed in 2017 and how the city should prioritize parks investments moving forward. \"We're looking at all of the recommendations from 2017, and looking at them as kind of benchmarks or measures for how we're doing,\" Neach said.

Parks staff held an initial round of public meetings in early June across four compass quadrants and an additional central meeting, and opened an online survey with an interactive map that remains open through July. Neach said the department had received more than 1,200 survey responses at the time of the presentation. The process will include demand and needs analysis, stakeholder interviews and a condition assessment of Metro facilities; the condition assessment will continue into 2026.

Neach said one of the plan's prominent findings is a substantial deferred maintenance backlog. \"Already, the current estimate of deferred maintenance in the park system is $215,000,000,\" he said. He added that the county's level of service measured as acres of park land per capita has declined since 2017 because population growth has outpaced land acquisition.

The draft update will be organized around land, facilities, greenways, programs, operations and funding. During public engagement the department will weigh priorities between protecting existing assets and system expansion, Neach said, and will present preliminary recommendations to the public this fall. The department expects to complete the update in the first quarter of 2026.

Neach said the update will include a more robust greenways component and new design guidance for playground shade; he noted Fort Negley as an upcoming depaving and restoration project that will convert several acres to lawns and grassland as part of a master‑plan implementation.

Neach told the committee parks staff will continue to coordinate with the planning department and private developers to secure greenway easements and other privately owned public spaces as the city densifies.

He asked the committee to help spread information about the survey and public meetings and to share feedback during the forthcoming public engagement rounds.","Metro Parks and Recreation said it is updating the countywide Plan to Play master plan (originally completed in 2017), has opened public engagement with more than 1,200 initial survey responses, and identified an estimated $215,000,000 in deferred maintenance across the park system.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6189971,"Metro General Services unveils dashboards showing Nashville emissions decline, rising solar and building energy savings",207,611000,818000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5053372-8903dc5662ab11f4f9b0f11cee7ff930&start=611&end=818","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5053372-8903dc5662ab11f4f9b0f11cee7ff930/thumbnail_611000.jpg","/articles/6189971/Tennessee/Metro-General-Services-unveils-dashboards-showing-Nashville-emissions-decline-rising-solar-and-building-energy-savings","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6189971-0ba04fefd4eb651790a733900ae03d38/orig.mp4?Expires=1771155276&Signature=d6WvakgQ-cydsc4y0Q5etZJzz5DR-SwkHQGiUrR9H8xPUKMisFvb6OMTv~yl6wXLg8OTztnYMS7E93XxA4r0KcECd5FypZeHSOuBBp-jDMa8dj8YnnTWPpzNxuGYndjN71YSQ0YIzoPQTqyrl0Pf~y3-OCgWZ1RfSeT9zxh0ddzlCUpq64SxGXoyGQSZeg6cLMG9wVfowjw-FYLxcW807dXZeFoZCuQY6lo-4KXf3LGZg02STXb9VYriAjqcla8pBOewka8nWz56GbFPVyCJ6qD4rFarrN8Ab5MB4VVc6-0STUpdTTpfkRCzIKFz0-zRk3GxIsriZDzlS8WAR6rOGQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Metro General Services presented three public dashboards at a Sustainability Advisory Committee meeting that the agency said make its greenhouse gas accounting, solar generation and high‑performance building data publicly accessible and easier to track.

The dashboards — a greenhouse gas emissions inventory updated to 2022 calendar‑year data, a solar generation tracker and a high‑performance building dashboard — are intended to increase transparency and to help Metro measure progress toward emissions and energy‑performance goals, Jennifer Westerholm, Office of Sustainability, Department of General Services, said. \"These new inventories are based on 2022 calendar year data ... they're really the most accurate and comprehensive to date,\" Westerholm said.

The greenhouse gas inventory presents both a countywide (community) view and a municipal‑operations view. Westerholm said community‑level emissions in 2022 were about 10% lower than in 2014 and municipal operations emissions were about 25% lower over the same baseline period. Per‑capita emissions were 15% lower in 2022 than in 2014, she said, and overall energy consumption rose 5% while population rose about 6% between 2014 and 2022, a divergence the office describes as a decoupling of growth from emissions.

Westerholm emphasized transportation remains the largest share of city emissions and said the inventory shows transportation at nearly 53% of total emissions for 2022, noting part of that increase reflects an improved method for accounting for airport emissions. She also identified municipal solid waste as a growing source: tonnage and associated emissions rose about 55% from 2014 to 2022.

On municipal operations, Metro facilities account for about 4% of total community emissions, Westerholm said, but are important to track because the city has the most agency over those assets. She said building energy remains the largest component of municipal emissions (about 46% of the municipal total), and that Metro facilities used roughly 7.5% less energy and produced about 33% fewer emissions than in 2014. Westerholm also highlighted Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) energy reductions: \"MNPS emissions per employee ... have decreased 48% since 2014,\" she said.

The solar dashboard consolidates generation monitoring across Metro properties back to 2010, updated monthly, and lets users toggle by project type (ground, rooftop), whether a project is behind‑the‑meter for a facility, and by individual facility. Aaron (General Services data staff) was identified as the staff member who updates the solar data. Westerholm said Metro subscribes to 510 panels of a community solar program that NES installed in 2017 but the dashboard tracks Metro properties' solar only. She highlighted Metro Water Services as an example of an agency that has deployed significant solar because of available land and high electricity demand.

The high‑performance building dashboard presents operational energy and water savings for General Services‑managed LEED facilities compared with non‑LEED peers. Westerholm said lead (LEED) buildings managed by General Services saved nearly 240,000,000 kBTU of energy and 25,000,000 gallons of water across the 2019–2024 reporting period, and that those energy and water savings correspond to roughly $7,500,000 in avoided utility expenditures.

Westerholm told the committee the greenhouse gas dashboard was launched on Earth Day (April 22) and that the solar and high‑performance building dashboards would be published and made available next week; she also said the greenhouse gas inventory is statutorily required to be presented to Metro Council by June 30 each year. Committee members and staff discussed next steps for public access and for integrating the solar tracker with a planned Renewable Portfolio Standard tracker that would model Metro’s electricity use and off‑site renewables.

The department requested user feedback and said the dashboards will be posted on nashville.gov when live. Westerholm and other General Services staff said they welcome questions and will send links to the committee once the remaining dashboards are published.","Metro General Services presented three public dashboards — greenhouse gas inventory, solar generation and high‑performance building — showing community emissions down 10% since 2014, municipal operations emissions down 25%, and measurable energy and water savings in LEED facilities, officials said at a Sustainability Advisory Committee meeting.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Mayor's innovation team narrows Bloomberg Sustainable Cities project to energy‑bill affordability and hires planned

Parks and Recreation begins update to Plan to Play; deferred maintenance estimated at $215 million

Metro General Services unveils dashboards showing Nashville emissions decline, rising solar and building energy savings