Nashville Mayor John Cooper is scheduled to discuss the future of Second Avenue, nearly one year after it and several businesses got bombed on Christmas Day.

Cooper is scheduled to join members of his Second Avenue Task Force at 10 a.m. Wednesday, December 8, at The Wildhorse Saloon at 120 Second Avenue in Nashville.

This, according to an emailed press release.

“Metro Nashville and Davidson County residents can view this event on Metro Nashville Network (MNN) by tuning in to Comcast channel 3 or AT&T Uverse channel 99,” the press release said.

MNN will stream live coverage at stream.nashville.gov, on the MNN Roku channel and on Mayor John Cooper’s Facebook profile.”

The press release provided no details about what, specifically, Cooper plans to say.

In September, members of the Special Bombing Review Commission discussed rumors that the man accused of setting off a bomb on Second Avenue North on Christmas morning last year originally might have targeted Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel.

That man, Anthony Quinn Warner, died in an explosion that authorities accused him of setting off last year on Second Avenue around 6:30 a.m. on December 25. The explosion also damaged at least 41 businesses and collapsed one building.

Commission members discussed a rumor that Quinn parked his RV in front of the Hermitage Hotel in the city’s downtown district before hotel staff members asked him to leave.

Metro Police Lieutenant Steve Lewis told commission members that, in his opinion, Warner likely did park in front of the hotel that morning.

The Christmas morning explosion in downtown Nashville caused extensive damage and knocked out phone and internet communications throughout Middle Tennessee.

In the hours after the explosion, a video was posted on Twitter from what was apparently a recording of the bombing from a nearby security camera. Audio of a loudspeaker warning people to clear the area and “evacuate now” can be heard echoing in the street moments before the blast.

A large segment of Second Avenue was still closed off to the public as of last week.

– – –

Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Nashville Car Bombing” by Metro Nashville Police Department.