BOOM
Don’t forget North Nashville The district received a flurry of support after the tornado. Will the long-promised revitalization finally follow? BY MEGAN SELING
t seemed as though North Nashville had the world’s attention in the weeks following the March 3 tornado. Large plots of the area were destroyed. Homes and businesses were flattened, trees were torn from the ground and scattered across roads like piles of sticks. The power remained out for several nights of below-freezing weather as Nashville Electric Service struggled to make repairs on many streets blocked by debris. So when grassroots organization Gideon’s Army put out the call for volunteers and dona-
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DANIEL MEIGS
tions, hundreds of helpers flocked to the area to bring food, clothing, tents, sleeping bags, generators, tarps and rope. Others showed up with power tools, rakes and shovels, offering to help remove branches and debris from homes and yards. Community organizing group Hands on Nashville got so many volunteer signups they were turning folks away some days, and, at one point, Gideon’s Army received so many donations they were forced to pause intake so their team could catch up on sorting and distribution. (Gideon’s Army
has since used many of those remaining donations to found the pop-up shop Gids City, a by-appointment shopping experience that gives residents in the 37208 ZIP code the opportunity to shop for at no cost for new clothes, shoes and accessories.) The historic, predominantly Black neighborhood and Nashville’s unifying efforts to begin to clean up its estimated $30 million to $50 million in damages were featured in The New York Times and on ABC News. But that incredible display of goodwill was only a small bandage —both for the storm damage and for the decades that Nashville has neglected the people of North Nashville. In the 1960s, the government designed Interstate 40 to cut directly through the neighborhood. After a long legal battle, the highway was approved and built, severing much of North Nashville from downtown and splitting its main artery, Jefferson Street.
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