Metro Council members are gearing up for a close look at the Nashville Downtown Partnership’s newly shared budget after the nonprofit told council offices it plans to replace its embattled security contractor. The timing is no accident. The move lands after months of scrutiny over off-duty troopers patrolling downtown, a parking-garage fire that revealed fuel canisters stored on-site, and a running fight over how a 15 million state public-safety grant should be used. Council members and advocates say the freshly delivered packet raises old but urgent questions about oversight, transparency, and the flow of public grant dollars.
As first reported by the Nashville Banner, the partnership sent its annual budget to Metro Council members on April 15 and said it will end its contract with Solaren in favor of Civicity, a new division of Block by Block. Tom Turner, the partnership’s president and CEO, told the Banner, "I think it's good for us. We go to a more structured environment of a service provider with a larger footprint more depth of management staff." According to the Banner, the budget packet also lays out plans for outreach work, additional lighting, and studies focused on pedestrian safety.
Block by Block recently rolled out Civicity as a human-centered public-safety unit that pairs visible community-response officers with training, technology, and data tools, according to Lane Report. The launch announcement listed the Nashville Downtown Partnership among its first clients, signaling that the district is shifting toward a model built around uniformed, trained responders and information systems instead of leaning on off-duty law enforcement. The partnership says the new vendor will offer a larger footprint and deeper management capacity for downtown services.
The vendor switch follows a stretch of investigative reporting about Solaren and the private security details tied to its downtown work. WSMV Investigates documented hundreds of arrests of people experiencing homelessness involving off-duty troopers working for the firm, with critics labeling the operation a "shadow police" force. Those reports helped trigger public hearings and council amendments that tightened scrutiny of private security contractors in the CBID.
In a memo reviewed by the Banner, the district reported nearly 100,000 interactions between CBID-affiliated officers and the public in the fourth quarter of 2025 and roughly 300 detainments or referrals to law enforcement over that same period, figures that some councilmembers say warrant closer oversight. The Banner also reported that Tennessee Highway Patrol officers working for the partnership made 11 arrests of people experiencing homelessness in 2024, with some felony camping charges later dismissed. Those numbers have fueled calls for clearer reporting requirements and council review before the district taps additional grant funds.
Concerns over safety practices and contractor oversight intensified after video from the downtown library parking garage showed large fuel containers stored in the area where the fire is believed to have started, footage first reported by WSMV. The partnership confirmed that subcontractor Block by Block stored fuel there for its maintenance vehicles, and city officials later clarified that the garage is owned by NDOT. The revelation deepened worries about contractor practices and emergency readiness inside public facilities.
What Council Will Decide
Council members now have to decide whether the district’s budget and its pivot to a new vendor give Metro enough control over services paid for with public grants and assessments. Community groups and several councilmembers had already pushed back on surveillance-heavy proposals tied to the 15 million dollar state grant earlier this year, leading the council to defer an MOU that would spell out how the money is used two separate times. As discussed in coverage by Nashville Scene, members say they want clearer terms on cameras, contracts and transparency before approving major transfers of equipment or funds.
Next Steps
The Metro Council is expected to take up the packet at an upcoming meeting and could push for amendments that require yearly council sign-off or more detailed reporting from the district. Stakeholders on all sides say the coming debate will turn on how to balance downtown safety and hospitality with firm accountability for how public and quasi-public dollars are spent.
