Ep. 22: Jon Michael: From Public Servant in the Foxhole of Short-Term Rental Regulations to Private Sector Entrepreneur, He’s Always Pro-Nashville
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
Release Date: 12/19/2023
Ep. 50: Meet Charles Robert Bone: “One of the most recognizable figures in Nashville’s legal, political and development circles."
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
Every city has a family who shapes it. New York City had the Rockefellers. St. Louis had the Bushes. Boston had the Kennedys. Nashville has the Bone family. They are attorneys by trade but political powerhouses and real estate tycoons in practice. In this episode of Climbing the Charts, Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller sit down with Charles Robert Bone. The Nashville Post called the attorney turned developer “one of the most recognizable figures in Nashville’s legal, political and development circles.” His resume defends that descriptor. Before joining Southwest Value Partners as...
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Ep. 49: Nashville Unhoused: Understanding Homelessness in Nashville
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
In March, the mayor’s office announced the closing of one of the city’s oldest and lagest homeless encampments — Old Tent City. The 40-year-old site sits just outside downtown, on Anthes Drive. 120+ people have called this area underneath I-24 home. The city says these individuals will be placed in transitional housing. Metro plans to provide the unhoused with access to the wrap around services so they can succeed and find stability. In this episode of Climbing the Charts, Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller sit down with April Calvin, the Director of Nashville’s Office of Homeless...
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Ep. 48: Spirit of Bipartisanship: Nuclear Energy in Tennessee
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
Nuclear energy is part of Tennessee’s past and present. Oak Ridge played an important role in the Manhattan Project during WW2, and today, 48% of our state’s energy comes from nuclear energy. In this episode of the Spirit of Bipartisanship, hosts Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller sit down with Republican Rep. Clark Boyd, who chairs the business and utilities subcommittee where nuclear energy is a conversation, and Democratic Rep. Sam McKenzie, a retired Oak Ridge physicist, to learn about the push to build a first of its kind nuclear reactor right here in Tennessee.
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Ep. 47: The Spirit of Bipartisanship: Medicaid Expansion and Tennessee
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
Tennessee is 1 of 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid. It is estimated that more than 150,000 Tennesseans would qualify for coverage if the state opted to expand the program. In this episode of the Spirit of Bipartisanship, hosts Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller sit down with Republican Reps. Brock Martin and Pat Marsh and Democratic Rep. Jesse Chism to hear the arguments against and for expansion.
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Ep. 46: The Spirit of Bipartisanship: Unpacking the Partisanship in Tennessee’s House of Representatives
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
American politics are polarizing, but in no place are they more polarizing than in the Tennessee State House. Two years ago, the Republican-ruled supermajority expelled two Democratic lawmakers after they led spectators in a chant “Gun control now!” and “No action, no peace!” The controversy was ignited by the Covenant School Shooting and Republican lawmakers’ failure to enact gun reform. Since then, the divide has only deepened. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree it's about more than expulsions. In this episode of the Spirit of Bipartisanship, hosts Angie Lawless...
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Ep. 45: The Spirit of Bipartisanship: Discharging Mental Health Patients in Tennessee
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
Tennessee Republican State House Rep. Jody Barrett is proposing legislation that would change the discharge process of individuals who are involuntarily committed to mental health facilities in Tennessee. Under Barrett's bill, the CEO of an inpatient treatment facility would be required to notify the court when an individual is eligible for discharge. The court would hold a hearing and decide whether to release or return a patient. Currently, the courts are not notified. Barrett says the legislation will provide much needed oversight and transparency in the discharge process. Those...
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Ep. 44: The Spirit of Bipartisanship: Free School Lunches in Tennessee
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
17% of children in Tennessee face food insecurity. TN Democratic State House Rep. John Ray Clemmons proposed legislation to provide free school meals — breakfast and lunch — to all TN children regardless if they meet federal SNAP benefit requirements. This isn’t the first time Clemmons has introduced this legislation. He’s brought this bill forward every year since 2018. It has yet to prevail. In this episode of the Spirit of Bipartisanship, Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller sit down with Republicans Rep. Ron Travis and Rep. Todd Warner and Clemmons to discuss the legislation.
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Ep. 43: Inside the Tennessee Legislature with Longtime Nashville Lobbyist, Brian Bivens
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
Tennessee’s legislature isn’t just partisan—it’s often polarizing. Inside the House chambers, Democrats and Republicans disparage one another, at times—outside, they rarely engage. Has the proverbial political aisle been stretched too far to reach across? It wasn’t always this way. There was once camaraderie and compromise. Few understand this culture shift better than Brian Bivens. The East Tennessee native has spent the last 25 years lobbying elected officials. But Bivens bent ears long before he was in the business of bending ears. His father, Steve Bivens, served in the...
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Ep. 42: America the Polarized: How Personalities and Primaries Have Shaped U.S. Politics
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
David French is a dissenter. The attorney turned conservative political commentator abandoned the Republican party in 2016. His reason? Donald Trump. The evangelical Christian was disgusted by the controversial candidate, his lack of character and authoritarian beliefs. Since then, his critiques of the MAGA movement have only grown — so too has his voice. In 2019, French became the Senior Editor of the Dispatch, an online conservative news outlet. Four years later, he left. In 2023, French joined the New York Times as an op-ed columnist. Last August, he penned one of his most read...
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Ep. 41: He Steered the City Through COVID, Now, He’s Reimagining Nashville
Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller
When Nashville identified its first case of coronavirus in March 2020, the city was between Public Health Department directors and as unprepared as the rest of the world for what was to come. Dr. Alex Jahangir, a trauma surgeon acting at that time as chair of the Metro Nashville Board of Health, unexpectedly found himself head of the city's COVID-19 Task Force and responsible for leading it through uncharted waters. Now, he’s reimagining a new Nashville. Jahangir is the co-chair of Imagine Nashville, a citywide study that explores the needs of Nashville’s residents and imagines goals...
info_outlineOn this new episode of Climbing the Charts, we sat down with Jon Michael, who after 15 years of toting the metro zoning code under his arm in various roles as a lawyer with Metro, joined the local Nashville law firm of Thompson Burton PLLC to create his own land use practice.
If you have ever listened to a conversation about development, attended a Metro Planning Commission meeting, or have even just heard someone at the office water fountain spouting acronyms like AR2a, RS80, R20, R6, OR20, or MUL, you may have guessed that you are in the presence of Nashville’s zoning code. After the acronyms are rattled off, someone then usually utters a name: Jon Michael.
Legal entrepreneurs are a different class of entrepreneurs, as most view attorneys as risk-averse, or at least extremely calculating, by nature. But, Jon Michael is cut from a bit of a different cloth. The son of a preacher who grew up in Dickson, TN, Jon shares his entrepreneurial story with us – and it is a great story filled with trials and tribulations. The best careers are often non-linear, and Jon’s is no exception. In addition to being a gifted raconteur, Jon is a true student of about everything and brings an insatiable curiosity to life.
Every city in America has struggled with how to regulate the “sharing economy,” which in Music City includes a thriving short-term rental market (think Airbnb and VRBO). As the Metro Zoning Administrator from 2018 to 2021, Jon was at the center of the efforts to balance commerce/tourism and community and neighborhood quality of life concerns. Most observers think Nashville has struck a good balance, especially compared to some cities (think: NYC). Jon shares his thoughts on this topic, but also offers his vision for how Nashville can continue to grow smartly. With rumors of a massive overall to the Metro Code in the not too distant future, it’s almost a given as well that Jon will play a significant role in that process for only a handful of attorneys have such deep knowledge and expertise in the area.
We promise you will learn some very interesting things in this inviting conversation, as well as learn more about Jon’s path from public servant to private entrepreneur, political connector, dad, husband, and humorist. Jon's new role is something he views as neither pro-development nor pro-neighborhood, but “pro-Nashville.”