NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The question "are you for or against the state fairgrounds?" will be asked to Davidson County voters later this summer.
The group Save My Fairgrounds turned in the thousands of petition signatures to put the issue on the ballot at the Metro Clerk's office Monday afternoon. They needed 15,700 signatures to secure a referendum vote, and said they have more than enough but wouldn't specify just how many they were able to collect.
One of the volunteers who turned in two mail bins full of petitions said he is confident each person who signed their name will turn out to the polls in August.
"This is the community's fairgrounds and now the community will have a say," said Neil Chaffin.
When people vote "for" the fairgrounds they will be specifically voting to make it tougher for Metro Council to pass any kind ordinance that would limit the use of the fairgrounds or any ordinance that would demolish the racetrack. Right now it only takes 21 council votes to make a change, but if this referendum passes it will take 27 which is a two-thirds majority.
But the group Neighbors For Progress want the fairgrounds and the racetrack gone and are not giving up their fight to bring change to this part of South Nashville. The group hired a lawyer to challenge the thousands of signatures and make sure they were collected fairly and legally.
"We've had a lot of bad experiences with this group in past. We've had problems with them basically intimidating people from our side, to be honest there is really no dialogue and we just want to make sure that there was a third party looking over this whole process to make sure it was fair and honest," said Colby Sledge.
Both sides will be campaigning for the remainder of the summer in an attempt to get their supporters to the polls. From here the election commission must verify that each signature is in fact a registered voter who resides in Davidson County.
Mayor Karl Dean's office has said it has serious concerns about obligating the city to a state fair and racetrack that they say is losing money.
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