How do you plan to effectively address and improve the aging infrastructure in Davidson County?
The most important thing for improving is knowing and measuring. We need a full accounting of our utility and right-of-way infrastructure. Mayor Barry had the right approach several years ago in terms of multi-year Public Investment Plans. We know what our horizons are for sidewalks, but we need a comprehensive dashboard of what’s needed, how we’ll prioritize, and what we can accomplish in 4 years for East Bank, stormwater, utility burial, transit, bikeways, paving, and bridges and culverts.
Thinking beyond that, we need to year-over-year demonstrate how unlikely we will be based on raw population growth to hit required thresholds under state law to levy impact fees, and then we need to demonstrate that to our state partners until they offer us this important fiscal stabilization tool.
We will also work on dedicated funding for transit.
Would you commit to supporting a dedicated funding referendum during your first term as Mayor of Metro Nashville-Davidson County?
Yes.
We learned a lot of lessons from the 2018 referendum, including that a future transit plan shouldn’t include a secret billion dollar tunnel under downtown or a light rail plan that is too ambitious for a city with 500 square miles. And that it should have a basis in community-generated ideas for details about routes and stops combined with a regional outlook.
Unlike the previous referendum, however, we’ll also start immediately on WeGo’s existing multi-year work plan designed around nMotion that builds out the framework of a frequent transit network that operates crosstown routes, extended hours, and is more technologically advanced will help improve existing riders’ experiences, and engage new users – all while relieving congestion for drivers, too.
Five years later, we have the right coalition to develop deep collaboration across the city to get this right.
In light of the current housing and infrastructure challenges, what sustainable strategies will you implement to ensure the long-term affordability of Nashville as a place to live, work, and thrive?
First and foremost, I am the only candidate in this race that is fully prepared to deliver the transit system that is the biggest missing ingredient in our overall cost of living and quality of life challenges.
Meanwhile, we are in progress on most of the recommendations in our Affordable Housing Task Force report of 2021, and our housing division at Metro Planning is underway with a unified study that I hope to use as the basis for making that division a standalone Office of Housing.
Overall, Metro must reinvest in our model of development services, streamlining both technology and transparency in our permitting process so we are not the chief obstacle to our own already approved growth.
We will also create an Office of Opportunity to ensure that we reinvigorate our youth opportunity and workforce development programs while providing a home for an already funded long-range economic development plan.
How do you propose to effectively reverse the rising juvenile crime trend in Davidson County?
I want to continue doing the things where Mayor Cooper is on the right track. When I took office, the Napier community had some of the worst violent crime in the city, including tragic impacts on too many young people.
We started with an agreement between our housing authority and police that brought officers out of patrol cars and into the community But then we took an approach to community safety that went beyond policing-adding traffic calming and pedestrian safety measures, improving lighting, and investing directly in nonprofit organizations with a track record in the community to further community improvements and offer opportunities. And it’s working.
The Office of Community Safety is pioneering Group Violence Intervention, which has worked well in other cities, and we should resume the work of the Youth Violence Summit report, in which our young people told us how to keep themselves both safe and thriving.
In addition to meeting the budget requests of Metro Nashville Public Schools, what measures can you take as mayor to enhance the success and achievement of K-12 students?
We increase state funding-which improves our ability to retain and recruit teachers-when we increase enrollment, so I want to be a mayor who celebrates our successes where they exist and demand accountability where it doesn’t. And I want to preserve our newly achieved status of having the best paid teachers in Tennessee.
We should also lower barriers for working families, so I want to work on an approach to guaranteed after care spots in elementary schools and later high school start times, which are the earliest in the country
We just expanded Community Achieves, which brings important resources into schools where the student populations are experiencing challenges. It will be critical to sustain that program after one-time funding runs out.
And we’ll rebuild youth opportunity so we’re not just helping people find summer jobs but creating lifelong opportunities.
In your vision for Nashville’s future, what specific investments and initiatives do you believe are necessary to empower residents with the skills, resources, and equitable opportunities needed for significant upward economic mobility?
I know the Chamber has invested in inclusionary approaches to economic and workforce development, and we’ll want to sustain that research and implement best practices as a city.
Beyond that, I think it’s important to move the POWER Youth Initiative and all workforce development capacity out of the Metro Action Commission and into an Office of Opportunity where they can more effectively evolve. And I want to resume investments in Nashville GRAD to ensure that people looking for career opportunities aren’t held back by costs.
We have invested millions in a Small Business Recovery Fund, and we’II want to ensure this money is used to create long-term runways for small businesses, so we’ll want a way to measure success.
And we’ll develop stronger apprenticeship programs to ensure that anyone who wants to be in the workforce with skills that match expanding needs have the opportunity to do so.
How will you strategically support the growth, development, and sustainability of small, medium, and large businesses?
As a participant in multiple Leadership Study Missions with the Chamber, I know the cities that sustain their growth most effectively are those that prepare for growth with infrastructure and service delivery and focus their investments on livability-transit, safe infrastructure, public art, and community spaces that support commerce. I plan to focus our public investment strategy accordingly.
We know that small and medium businesses employ the largest number of Nashvillians overall, so we need to ensure the cost of doing business is measured as effectively as the cost of living.
We also need our strategies for workforce development to incorporate post-COV/0 thinking. Nashville has done well at attracting people working remotely for businesses not based in Nashville.
We learned a lot about the stresses working families face with regard to childcare, and we need to begin making strategic investments in making it easier for people to stay in Nashville.
From your perspective, do you believe that the continued growth in Davidson County is ultimately beneficial? If so, how do you plan to manage and maximize its positive impacts?
Any day of any week, I’d rather live in-and have the opportunity to lead and govern-a city that is growing rather than one that is declining. I came back to Nashville in large part because we were becoming a more dynamic city. I’m optimistic about our ability to preserve our charm and prevent our southern hospitality from being exploited while we a/so evolve into a city with appeal to both locals and visitors.
Great growth is the kind that is celebrated by residents-because of vibrant culture, economic opportunity… and limited disruption. And this is what the next mayor must deliver if Nashvillians are to continue being optimistic about our future.
We’ll manage and maximize our positive impacts by investing in livability-transit, safe infrastructure, community assets, safety and schools-and regionalism, where the impacts of our growth are a/so felt and can be managed collaboratively.
