How do you plan to effectively address and improve the aging infrastructure in Davidson County?
Our infrastructure has to be first priority. When Nashville pays taxes, they are expecting their city leadership to put those funds to needs, not wants. Nashville needs to ensure we have clean water, Nashville needs to ensure our roads are paved, Nashville needs to ensure we have enough trees to keep our city cool, and our citizens breathing. In my first 100 days I will be going underground to assess our infrastructure and over 100 towns in the county to assess our needs across metro.
Would you commit to supporting a dedicated funding referendum during your first term as Mayor of Metro Nashville-Davidson County?
Yes, even without the referendum, my team is already looking at how to fund our transportation system.
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?
One of the positions I am ready to hire on day one is a director of housing preservation. This position will ensure the longevity of our housing stock and ensure Nashvillians are not being displaced. They will help our council in assessing our housing stock and putting certain areas on an endangered list. This will ensure those communities have the resources they need to know their rights and ensure they will not be displaced. This ensures the business community does not have to worry about their staff being displaced and the business community can reach out to our director of housing preservation if their employees are having a hard time finding housing or staying in housing. We will come to the rescue! In addition, we will be creating a strategic plan for the Barnes Fund to diversify grant winners and ensure we are growing the fund appropriately and rolling out housing in a manner that works for the city.
How do you propose to effectively reverse the rising juvenile crime trend in Davidson County?
Our community needs hands-on measures for crime. The data does not lie, when it comes to curbing youth violence, we have to provide resources that speak to the needs of those causing harm. My administration will work with MNPD to begin rolling out street workers who are picked by the community (PAID) and who will deliver services in the community and identify at-risk youth and provide support. In high crime areas, we will help to organize businesses and community members to start taking control of their communities back from crime.
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?
I will be meeting with over 100 metro schools during my time in office, so I know what first hand issues each school faces. So far, what we have learned is that many of the students and parents do not have outside support. We will bring our community nonprofits to the table to begin to implement a parent community support plan to ensure the success of students in the bottom schools. I will also run an ‚”Adopt a School” initiative out of my office to start pumping reading volunteers into the schools and help fully fund teacher requests for their classrooms.
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?
We need to bring back Nashville Community Education. It was a great resource for community members to tap into new skills and expand their knowledge and career choices. We have other amazing opportunities for Nashvillians to expand their knowledge and we must do a better job at getting that information out. Through the jails, schools, hospitals, churches, libraries, and many other places community members can think of.
How will you strategically support the growth, development, and sustainability of small, medium, and large businesses?
I am a big time business supporter, as I have had my own business for years. I believe how we treat our long time business owners is a big indicator to new businesses where they are going. I want to ensure our longtime businesses feel supported first and foremost and then ensure Nashville has an abundant resource of housing for employees to live and work here. We can help businesses invest in Social Impact Bonds, which help to fund housing and then give investments back to those businesses. Working closely with our business community ensures our city functions!
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?
I think the growth has an upside and a downside. We have to be realistic about if we can fit 2 million people in Davidson county in the next decade, plus house them, feed them, ensure their kids have schools that are not overpopulated, hospitals, emergency staff, environment, water, roads, etc. I want metro planning to ensure they are considering all of those things alongside the growth and the growth needs to be tied to if we have enough hospitals or fire trucks or schools, including grocery stores. We cannot lure people here and then not have any services to care for them. We will start losing more people than we gained. Then that will open up another host of issues.
