Benton McDonough is the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife and the Executive Director of the Metro Beer Board. But to many, he’s known as Nashville’s Night Mayor.
He took the reins as Nashville’s Night Mayor in 2022. He describes the Office of Nightlife as serving as a liaison between businesses, Nashville residents, tourists, and Metro government to address issues of quality of life and public safety.
McDonough said there was a lot of overlap with the work of the Beer Board because his office was already working with restaurants, bars and other places in entertainment areas that operate at night. Officially, the Metro Beer Board regulates the sale, storage and transportation of beer malt beverages that contain eight percent or less alcohol. In short, anyone selling beer has to get a permit through the Beer Board, which also is responsible for compliance of permit holders with regulations such as no alcohol sales to underage customers.
Unlike other cities that have hired a night mayor with a background in the hospitality industry, Nashville chose a person with regulatory background. McDonough believes the relationships within and outside of Metro he had already established benefited his new position.
“When you bring in someone from the hospitality side, they don’t have the government experience to be able to know who their connections are within Metro government,” he said, adding that the concept of an Office of Nightlife started in Europe — in Amsterdam to be precise.
McDonough started by doing research and working with the NITECAP Alliance and the Responsible Hospitality Industry (RHI) before launching his own local listening tour in January 2023 to understand the needs of residents and business owners in Nashville’s entertainment district Downtown.
Meanwhile, his office has expanded to three staff members. Next to McDonough, there is now an assistant director and a community outreach coordinator, which have allowed their operations to expand to other areas of the city such as The Gulch, Midtown and East Nashville. One change, he said, that Nashville has seen of late are the openings of more music venues in residential areas, which is creating different entertainment zones across the city and the issues those bring for residents and businesses.
What are the most common issues you are asked to deal with?
When I first started, noise issues coming from rooftops and bars were overwhelmingly the top issue. One of the first things that we did was [addressing communications issues between first responders]. Police, Fire, and EMS (Emergency Medical Services) had trouble communicating because it was so loud down on Broadway. They couldn’t hear each other on the radios.
So we passed an ordinance that required any bars or restaurants that had their speakers within 10 feet of an open door or window to turn them away from the door or window. That brought the sound down enough where the officers could communicate.
Lighting was also big when I first came on. There were some issues with darker areas in the entertainment district that posed a problem because they allowed for more illegal activity. One of those areas was under the pedestrian bridge on 2nd Avenue. So, we spoke to NDOT (Nashville Department of Transportation), and they extended the lighting underneath the bridge. That helped significantly.
What are some of the most uncommon issues that you did not expect?
There was the issue with people bringing snakes down to Broadway and charging people to pet the snakes. That is something that’s been addressed through the vendor ordinance that was passed, and I know Councilman [Jacob] Kupin has done a lot to address that and also the hot dog vendors that are so common down there.
With some of the measures you have implemented, like the lighting issues, have you seen those impact crime rates?
Actually, it’s interesting since this job was created and MNPD started to move from an overtime-focused organization in the entertainment district to where they now have a dedicated force [Downtown], the crime rate has actually gone down significantly in the entertainment district.
Nashville is very different from a lot of other cities. I went to a conference in Dallas back in April, and a lot of the cities there talked about the fact that there is this silo effect in their governments, departments are not very good at communicating with each other, and they don’t have a dedicated police force for their entertainment district. What I found is that we actually have a very good working relationship across many different departments in Metro. And then when MNPD moved to a dedicated force in the entertainment district, that really cut down significantly on the crime rate.
Who are your main partners within and outside of Metro government?
I’m afraid I’m going to leave someone out, but as far as government goes, obviously I work closely with the Mayor’s Office, MNPS, Fire, EMS, and Fire Marshal’s Office. The Sheriff’s Department is an interesting [partner] because they have the Mobile Booking Unit that they utilize.
One of the first projects that I worked on was to try to bring the Mobile Booking Unit permanently to [set up] closeby the Entertainment District because that cuts down on the number of hours that a police officer is taken off the street because they’re going through booking. Typically, it can take three hours to go through night court and booking, but if they go through the Mobile Booking Unit, it takes them about 45 minutes. So, they’re able to turn around and get right back onto the street.
Then we work closely with NDOT, the Health Department, DEC (Department of Emergency Communications), hubNashville, and several different councilmembers. We work with them on different issues affecting their districts. We are starting to reach out to the [Office of Homeless Services] I’ve had some discussions with Judge Lynda Jones, who oversees the Homelessness Court, [and also] met with the DA’s office, and the Parks Department.
Outside Metro, we work closely with the Sexual Assault Center. We’ve actually worked closely with them regarding the Safe Bar Initiative program that we have in place with the bars down on Broadway. Work closely with the NCVC (Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp), the Downtown Partnership, and the Red Frogs. Do you know about them?
No.
They’re actually a group out of Australia. Their whole purpose is to intervene in situations and environments where people consume a lot of alcohol. What they’ll do a lot of times is set up their main hub in the entertainment district, and then they offer cups of water, a place to charge your cell phone, sunscreen, etc., and they work with individuals to get them reconnected with their friends. They were at CMA Fest and 4th of July. We’re trying to get them more involved in the entertainment district on a regular basis.
Of course we work with the bar owners, with the CMA, the Greater Nashville Hospitality Association, the Tennessee Hospitality Tourism Association, the Broadway merchants group, NITECAP, and RHI — the two nightlife organizations I was telling you about. We’ve also started outreach with local colleges and universities to try and help with messaging for young college students who may be coming down to the entertainment district but also working on messaging as far as the need for Narcan [the brand name for Naloxone, a medicine that rapidly reverses opioid overdose] and things of that nature. We work with Gibson Gives, the group that provides a lot of Narcan to us to distribute, Room In The Inn, Bridgestone, the Predators, the Titans, the Symphony, the Ryman and The Frist Museum. And that’s probably not an exhaustive list.
Nashville, like so many other big cities, is in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic. How has this epidemic affected the Downtown entertainment district and what are some encouraging/discouraging trends that you have observed?
Unfortunately, we’re not immune from the overdose epidemic and some of the stories that I’ve heard from families who’ve been touched by this epidemic are really just gut wrenching. And I’ll say that historically we’ve seen that people think there’s a certain type of person, or that’s the perception that a drug addict or someone who overdoses is a certain personality or stereotype. What we’re seeing now is that no family is immune.
There are a lot of resources and a lot of people out there in the city who really care about this issue. I got involved in it because I had a discussion with Councilmember [Erin] Evans, and she asked me if I knew Trevor Henderson (a substance use response consultant) and [Police] Sgt. Mike Hotz because they were actually working with Gibson Gives (which supports a program called Training and Empowering Musicians to Prevent Overdose – TEMPO) to be able to distribute Narcan. They were having issues getting into the bars and distributing Narcan there. So, I used my contacts and my connections through the Beer Board. That’s where that overlap comes in we talked about.
I think the negative in all of this is that there are people still overdosing, but I think the positive is that you see more and more people wanting to come online and wanting to make a difference and wanting to do their part.
I know homelessness is an issue you deeply care about. What does homelessness look like in Downtown Nashville?
Our office cares a lot about homelessness. It is something that we hear a lot of concern about from business owners and residents when they come Downtown. I think something that is interesting is that after COVID we saw an increase — at least that’s the perception — of aggressive behavior from people coming to enjoy their life establishments. And from speaking to people that are Downtown and working in the area, there is a perceived behavioral shift as well with individuals in the homeless community. It just seems like it’s different than what it was before COVID. It used to be that you probably would see the same people on a regular basis. And it seems like there’s a shift towards different people that you see on the street.
Homelessness is obviously a complex issue to try and deal with. All of the literature that I’ve read points to affordable housing and Housing First, and that being the biggest aids to addressing homelessness. I know that’s been a big part of Mayor O’Connell’s push as well, and he’s been instrumental in supporting that along with the Metro Council.
I think a lot of times people want the silver bullet for solving issues with homelessness and if you’re looking for that you’re never going to find it because I think there’s a unique issue that comes with every single person who is in that category. Just from speaking with Judge [Lynda] Jones, you could have one person who has three different legal matters, for instance, that they’re having to deal with. And so, I think one of our jobs as the Office of Nightlife is really trying to provide these resources to all individuals and really put a focus on the fact that people need to talk about [homelessness] and access to good mental health. As a society we need to look more at making mental health a priority and making it more accessible to people, less as a negative or taboo subject.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
We work with the Sexual Assault Center on the Safe Bar Initiative that teaches bystander intervention. They train bar staff, for instance, to intervene in situations where a person’s safety may be at risk. We have Fentanyl test strips that we provide, as well as GHB coasters [made of a material that tests for a common date rape drug and distributed to local bars], so that if a person feels like their drink has been tampered with, they can test it before they consume the drink. The Safe Bar Initiative really just trains staff and other members of the public about how to be cognizant of everything going on around them and not to leave drinks unattended, that sort of thing.
And then we continue to do our work with Narcan and get that distributed to as many bars and universities as we possibly can. So, I think that those three things are making the entertainment district in Nashville much safer.