I’m telling, y’all – this East Bank thing is going to be huge. I know that’s probably implied by…y’know…the whole $2B stadium thing. But, this is going to go far beyond just football. They’ve said restaurants, entertainment, hotels, shopping…that sort of thing. But, I’m not going to be surprised if they start building some real attractions over in that part of town. Hell, maybe they’ll finally put a theme park in Nashville after all these years have passed since Opryland. I digress. What I’m trying to get to here on today’s column is that one such attraction could be a riverwalk. That’s right – a dazzling development along the banks of the Cumberland River to connect folks and just provide an overall fun experience walking along a flowing body of water. Who doesn’t love a flowing body of water?
Sue Carlton of the Tampa Bay Times penned a fantastic piece about the relationship between Nashville and Tampa, and how Nashville’s braintrust was impressed by Tampa’s riverwalk on a recent visit. If you’re like me and completely obsessed with this East Bank Vision Plan and what is going to happen on the east side of the Cumberland River in the coming years, it’s well worth the read. But, in a nutshell, it could provide us with a clue as to just how thoroughly Nashville’s braintrust intends to build out the area. I mean, hell…I wouldn’t have thought “riverwalk,” but shit, I guess they’re leaving no stone unturned. Anything is possible (I would like some water slides from the pedestrian bridge down to the river, thank you).
Now that I sit and think about it, Nashville does seem to have ignored its waterfront potential for awhile now. I can remember being a teenager and spending Friday nights at Riverfront Park because we weren’t old enough to get into bars, but no one was ever down at the river front. We’d just run up and down those hills playing freeze tag. Did we, as a city, actually turn our back on the sweet, sweet Cumberland? That sounds treacherous. I never had anything against the Cumberland – let the record show. But, perhaps we did.
All great cities have a riverwalk! I can’t actually back that up, I just really really wanted to say it. I’ve been to a lot of great cities that don’t have them. But, that’s not the point for today’s commentary. I’ve always wanted to do a real riverwalk. I’ve never been to San Antonio. Detroit supposedly has the best one in the country, but I’ve never been there either. The closest to it I’ve come is Jacksonville, when my wife and I stopped at a shopping mall on our way through town that seemed to actually have been abandoned. We noticed some guys following us after a bit and decided to just bail on the whole thing. So, I’m not going to count that as a riverwalk experience.
I think more about Chattanooga, and how awesomely developed the area around Coolidge Park and the North Shore is. Now, part of that is certainly the vibes, and no matter how hard Nashville tries, there’s no way they can recreate Chattanooga vibes. That ship has sailed, baby. Nashville is way too big now. I acknowledge that. But, in theory, to give people another entertainment option downtown that isn’t just listening to country music in a bar on Broadway? To maybe build community around a network of greenways? Okay, yeah. I’m in. I’m here for it.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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