Our mission, values and vision
Why we formed SONN
Save Our Nashville Neighborhoods, Inc. (SONNinc or SONN) was born out of the urgency following NEST 2024, as many of us have witnessed our neighborhoods change rapidly, with longtime residents and working families being pushed out by record-setting residential growth. Now, select Metro Council members are working to accelerate that trend by pushing zoning changes forward, without first ensuring our streets, schools, or utilities can keep up and without genuinely listening to those who live here. Yes, they’re hosting "community workshops"—but too often, these are just presentations dressed up as participation. Residents are briefed but not heard. Questions are limited. Decisions are already shaped. And yet, it’s later touted as meaningful engagement. That’s not listening. That’s marketing. Live examples include blanket rezoning efforts now proposed in Districts 16 and 20.
Our Mission
SONN began as a movement born out of urgency as zoning policies advanced rapidly with little regard for the people and places they affected. What started as a defensive effort has grown into a forward-looking mission. Today, we are committed to Strengthening Our Nashville Neighborhoods—championing solutions that support measured, community-centered preservation and growth while protecting the heart and soul of the places people call home.
We’re not opposed to change—we’re opposed to losing what makes Nashville unique. Housing supply alone has yet to solve the problems its advocates claim, and Nashville has a long history of doing things its own way. SONN is a preservation movement that challenges dreamers and policymakers to control growth and prioritize solutions that protect community identity and uniqueness first—and solve for growth next, not the other way around.
Our values
Nashville is a large and diverse city, and every neighborhood—whether modest or historic, urban or suburban—has a heart and soul shaped by its residents. These cultures and connections are not just byproducts of a place; they are its greatest assets. We also recognize that neighborhoods thrive when we preserve their natural features—the trees, green spaces, and streets that make daily life healthier and more connected.
These are not abstract ideals—they are lived realities worth protecting. Corporate ownership can invest money, but cannot replace the meaning, care, and continuity that only truly vested neighbors provide. SONN stands for those neighbors—and for a Nashville that grows with intention: respecting history, honoring cultures, and preserving them, not erasing them.
Our vision for planning
Nashville doesn’t need blanket zoning and pattern-book development—rubber-stamped formulas borrowed from cities that now regret their path. Homogenized planning is the enemy of living places. We can do better. Nashville deserves better.
The path forward is clear: talented planners and architects, when given time, trust, and meaningful community engagement, can conduct place-led planning, creating solutions that are tailored, attuned, and rooted in the communities they serve. That kind of work produces real solutions—plans that respect place, reflect people, and preserve what matters most.