Nashville

A 68-year-old man who ran his car through a group of protesters in Nashville not only won't be charged, but is being treated by local law enforcement as though he were the victim of a crime. And to make matters worse, a state legislator wants to codify legal immunity for drivers who strike protesters.

A Twitter campaign launched by Bike Walk Nashville is giving people a taste of what it's like to walk the sidewalks of the Music City -- and it's not pretty.

Nashville's bid to build its first high-capacity transit line is dead, the Tennessean is reporting today. It's a victory for the Koch brothers-funded local chapter of Americans for Prosperity and a defeat for the city's near-term hopes of transitioning to less congested, more sustainable streets.

Transit advocates around the country were transfixed by a story in Tennessee this April, when the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity made a bid to pre-emptively kill Nashville bus rapid transit. It was an especially brazen attempt by Charles and David Koch's political network to strong-arm local transportation policy makers. But it was far from the only time the Kochs and their surrogates have taken aim at transit.

Stacy Dorris became an advocate for safer streets after a failed attempt to walk to the park by her home in Nashville, not far from Vanderbilt University.

Annie Weinstock is the regional director for the U.S. and Africa at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

On Tuesday, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean announced that he might do away with dedicated transit lanes on two stretches of the Amp, the proposed seven-mile bus rapid transit line that could set an important precedent for the car-centric city. Dean is the main political backer of the project, so the fact that he's buckling says something about the mounting pressure to water down or kill the Amp. And that pressure isn't going to let up any time soon, because Dean and other supporters of effective transit in Nashville are up against opponents with very deep pockets.

Jeff and I had a great time this week, getting all outraged at the short-sighted move by the Tennessee Senate to ban dedicated lanes for transit, and high and mighty about cities that devote too much space to surface parking at the expense of just about everything else. And then we treat ourselves to a fun conversation about the origin of the American playground -- and whether the entire city should be the playground.

UPDATE: Though none of the coverage we saw mentioned it, the final law includes an amendment to ban all dedicated transit lanes -- not just in the center -- "on any state highway or state highway right-of-way unless the project to do so is approved by the legislative body of the metropolitan government and by the commissioner of transportation."