Listen Tucked away on a leafy side street in East Nashville, Lockeland Elementary Design Center is ranked the fourth-best in the district. But in recent years, the student body at Lockeland has gone from half African-American to nearly all white. It’s a shift so stark that a group of parents say the school must do […]
The Promise: Public Housing Residents Brace For Change, But Are The Bureaucrats Listening?
Listen The last radio story in this series reveals the scope of The Promise, WPLN’s special podcast series. Reporter and producer Meribah Knight spent over a year reporting on life in the James Cayce Homes, Nashville’s largest public housing complex.
The Promise: Inside East Nashville Public Housing, The Longing To ‘Get Some Gone’
Listen There is a saying in Nashville’s James Cayce Homes: “Get some gone.” Three simple words that describe the urge, the mission, to move out and start anew, far away from the city’s largest public housing project. Some do leave. But it’s not easy, especially with the city’s rising cost of rent. “I mean, half […]
The Promise: A Tale Of Two Neighbors Pt. 2
Listen After Big Man, a resident of Nashville’s largest public housing complex, the Cayce Homes, meets his wealthy white neighbors up the hill, a friendship blooms. It’s the last thing he expected to happen. For months this house, an imposing white modern structure, had nagged at him. It’s very presence threatened his sense of place […]
An East Nashville Neighborhood At Odds Over Bike Lanes, But The Division Goes Deeper
Listen An East Nashville neighborhood is at odds over bike lanes. A group of residents and local bike commuters have been pushing to install the lanes in Cleveland Park. But another group of vocal longtime residents strongly opposes the project. And the issue signifies a much deeper rift in the community.
Influential Nashville Nonprofit Asks For Extension On Repaying Loan For Its New School
Listen Nashville’s housing authority has granted the Martha O’Bryan Center a nearly three-year extension to fundraise for the nonprofit’s new school in East Nashville’s James Cayce public housing complex. And despite the request, housing officials say they’re not worried about the future of the project.
The First Aging Buildings Come Tumbling Down In The James Cayce Homes
Listen The James Cayce public housing complex is coming down. On South 8th Street in East Nashville, the shovel of a giant trackhoe is eating through the roof and walls of a brick, two story apartment building. Lenekra Head looks on from her balcony. “It’s astonishing how it’s there and then it disappears,” she says. […]
Look Out, The Median Price Of A Nashville Home Is Nipping At $300,000
Listen The median price for a single family home just keeps climbing in the Nashville area — coming in a hair shy of $300,000 last month. Meanwhile, the overall closings, the numbers of homes sold in the region, has ticked down some — by 4.5 percent compared to this time last year. But make no […]
The Big, Bold Year Ahead For Nashville’s Public Housing
Listen 2018 is going to be a big year for public housing. Nashville will be renovating, or planning renovations, for four public housing developments — The James Cayce homes in East Nashville, the Edgehill Homes in South Nashville and the JC Napier and Sudekum apartments, just south of downtown. All together they’re home to about […]
Housing Voucher Waitlist Opens, But Places To Use Them In Nashville Are Few
The Metro Development and Housing Agency is opening the waiting list for Section 8 housing vouchers this week. It’s the first time the city’s housing authority has accepted new applicants since the summer of 2015. But in a market as hot as Nashville’s, government vouchers are hardly a fast pass to affordable housing.
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