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A ledger, not a lament
District 1 by the numbers
Every metric below was computed or sourced on July 5, 2026, and each carries its source and verification status. Unverified figures don't appear here at all; partial ones wear their flag. State the inequity and the opportunity in the same breath — that's the house style.
The ledger
60%
of the 20 documented major waste, corrections, wastewater, and heavy-industrial burden sites in Davidson County's history sit in the northwest quadrant — including the county's only active landfill, its largest closed one, and every state-run correctional facility ever sited in the county.
source
County-wide documented-facility ledger, counting rules stated · track-b-burden-ledger.md · VERIFIED · 7/5/2026
1.56 vs 10.45
full-service bank branches per 10,000 residents: all of District 1's ZIP codes combined, versus Green Hills's single ZIP — a 6.7× gap (4 branches vs. 23).
source
FDIC branch data, counted 7/5/2026 · track-a-amenity-gap.md · VERIFIED
2 grocers
for 25,578 people — both in Bordeaux, two doors apart. Zero grocers and zero chain pharmacies above the ridge in Whites Creek and Joelton (10,286 people). Most of North Nashville and Bordeaux carry the urban food-desert designation. PARTIAL
source
Store locators 7/5/2026 (VERIFIED) · Metro food-security report Sept 2025 + Nashville Banner 10/15/2025 (designation: PARTIAL — USDA Atlas not directly queried)
0 hospitals
in the district. Nashville General's clinic at 4007 Clarksville Pike offers weekday care; Joelton sits about 11–12 driving miles from the nearest full-service hospital.
source
OSRM routing 7/5/2026; WTVF Feb 2024 · track-a-amenity-gap.md · VERIFIED
The singular hand
18.5%
of Nashville's land is District 1 — 97.39 square miles, the county's largest council district, bigger than the 15 smallest districts combined.
source
Computed from Metro Council Districts GIS layer (EPSG:2274), all 35 districts · track-c-superlatives.md · VERIFIED
40% / 80%
40% of Nashville's Highland Rim Forest — 50,168 of 127,000 acres — is here, and 80% of the district is forest. It absorbs roughly 67 billion gallons of rainfall a year, for free.
source
Alliance QGIS intersection of council-district × NHRF shapefiles, Sept 2025 resolution deck · VERIFIED
21 river miles
of Cumberland River frontage — the most of any district (next closest: 14.3). Along these banks lie some of Tennessee's oldest traces of human life: 12,000+ years of settlement in Bells Bend, the county's richest archaeological landscape. Plus Beaman Park, Nashville's second-largest park, entirely within the district.
source
River frontage: GIS boundary-river computation · VERIFIED. Archaeology: 60+ recorded sites in Bells Bend, 12,000+ years · track-c-superlatives.md · softened phrasing per source guidance
20.7%
of the county's parcel acreage in just 3.8% of its parcels — the county's land bank. Lowest average parcel values in Metro, with construction valuations up 49% in a year: opportunity, priced in.
source
Metro parcel layer + Assessor values; permits open data · track-e-parcels-growth.md · VERIFIED
More measured comparisons
~210–216 / sq mi
population density — the least dense district, mathematically airtight: districts hold equal population (~20,454) and D1 has the most land; every other district is at least ~351 per square mile.
source
Equal district populations / GIS areas · track-c-superlatives.md · VERIFIED
5.52 acres
average parcel size, versus 1.00 acre countywide — five and a half times the county average.
source
Metro parcel layer grouped by district · track-e-parcels-growth.md · VERIFIED
$387,015
average appraised parcel value — the lowest of all 35 districts, 44% of the county mean. The appreciation runway, in one number.
source
Assessor values in Metro parcel layer · track-e-parcels-growth.md · VERIFIED
121 permits
new-construction permits in 2025 — 12th of 35 districts, up 17.5% from 103 in 2024, with valuations up 49% ($23.1M → $34.4M).
source
Metro permits open data (from June 2023) · track-e-parcels-growth.md · VERIFIED
$13.8M
in commercial new-construction cost in the first half of 2026 alone — already more than all of 2025 ($10.9M).
source
Metro permits open data · track-e-parcels-growth.md · VERIFIED
2 + 2
two pharmacies in 37218 (Walgreens and the Kroger counter); zero chain pharmacies in Whites Creek or Joelton — two independents serve Joelton. PARTIAL
source
Locators 7/5/2026 · track-a-amenity-gap.md · PARTIAL
1 vs 0
MDHA's published portfolio includes one community in 37218 (Harper Cove Flats) and zero communities in Green Hills or Bellevue ZIP codes; the portfolio concentrates in 37206, 37203, 37208, and 37210.
source
Full MDHA published portfolio counted 7/5/2026 · track-a-amenity-gap.md · VERIFIED
3 · 0 · 0
TRI-reporting facilities by district ZIP: three in 37218, zero in 37080 and 37189. The honest caveat stays attached: the southeast industrial corridor is real too (37210 has 21) — the northwest's distinct stack is waste, state corrections, and fuel terminals.
source
EPA Envirofacts (cumulative since 1987) · track-b-burden-ledger.md · VERIFIED
7 routes
touch the district (including #22 Bordeaux and #14 Whites Creek) — and Joelton has no fixed-route service at all. PARTIAL
source
WeGo maps; Metro D1 page · track-a-amenity-gap.md · PARTIAL
≈3,200 acres
of Metro parkland — as much as any district, rivaled only by Warner Parks. Beaman Park (2,370 acres) is Nashville's second-largest park, entirely within the district; its State Natural Area is one of only four in the county.
source
GIS + parks records · track-c-superlatives.md · softened phrasing required and used
~350 farms
remain in the whole county, on about 31,500 acres — and the county's best-known cluster of working farms is in Bells Bend.
source
USDA Census of Agriculture · track-c-superlatives.md · softened phrasing required and used
$68,528
average household income in Bordeaux in 2000 — middle-class while the burden sites kept coming. The deficit was never demand; it was investment.
source
Nashville Scene, "Environmental Racism?", 6/24/2004 · VERIFIED
+43%
rise in area food-bank demand (Apr–Jun 2025) when the Monroe St Kroger closed for renovation — a stress test of how thin the grocery anchors are.
source
Nashville Banner 10/15/2025; Fox17/NewsChannel5/WSMV 2025
The bargain
documented constraints, stated plainly: no sewer commitment for Bells Bend (Metro Water); Whites Creek's record 2010 flood crest with Bordeaux at the bottom of the watershed; 560+ landslides mapped after 2010, mostly in the forest's steep slopes; T2 Rural policy limiting density by design; 350+ acres under conservation easement. These are the terms of a deliberate bargain, not bugs to apologize for.
source
Each item sourced · track-e-parcels-growth.md · VERIFIED per item