Getting Our House in Order

I’ve been mixing my metaphors lately: houses, gambling, cleaning, stores, trains. “We’re off track.” “We need to clean house.” One day last week, I was thinking perhaps I should make an effort to dial down the use of metaphors in my remarks about Metro when a constituent said to me that it appeared to him that Metro had misplaced priorities and was putting a lot of energy into branding and marketing and less into fundamentals of governance.

“Indeed,” I said. “Recent mayors have put a lot of energy into highlighting programs & proclamations, but it would behoove the city if they would spend less time touting the admirable variety of merchandise in the display windows and more time paying attention to all the essential products being stolen out of the back of the store!” (A store metaphor, right off the top of my head–apparently, I’m a metaphor addict.)

My blog post about my budget vote was too loooong. I could already feel people falling asleep as I was typing it. One of the central points I was trying to make was that Metro needs to address several key, structural and policy issues before asking individual taxpayers to contribute more in property tax. I briefly listed several areas that need attention, and lest you think I did not expound upon them sufficiently in my other post, I decided to flesh them out a bit more here.

  1. Address the revenue capture in the tourism development zone (TDZ). Structured to provide dedicated tax revenue for operations and debt service on the new convention center, this zone is too large, extending well past downtown. It’s so large that the Convention Center Authority (CCA) is running a $100 million revenue surplus and using that surplus to fund parking garages in private development, like the recent $38 million contributed to the 5th & Broadway project. As negotiated by Metro, the CCA directed $10 million to the general fund this year. They may be able to provide more, but we also need to consider whether the boundaries of the TDZ need to be redrawn via legislation at the State. Learn more about the TDZ here: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/07/01/nashville-music-city-center-tennessee-tourism-lower-broadway-tax-revenue/737803002/
  2. Advance a referendum ASAP within the next two years for a fundamentals-first transportation plan with dedicated funding for sidewalks, greenways, bikeways & a truly excellent bus system. This will open up at least $48 million in the annual operational budget. Mayor Barry’s gamble in 2017, when she didn’t adjust the tax rate (historically always a mayor-lead effort) so she could tout the “lowest tax rate ever” for the benefit of marketing her high-cost, low-return, debt-laden transit plan (which failed via referendum 2 to 1) is coming due. We cannot wait five years to advance a better more modest plan that will make a positive difference for more people.
  3. Be pro-active and intentional about implementing business improvement districts (BID) in our suburban centers to supplement funding for the specific operational and capital needs of those areas. In a sprawled city/county consolidated government like Nashville, BIDs allow these established business hubs, many with legacy chambers of commerce, to enhance infrastructure and services on their own, tailored terms. This is an important financial and community building tool that Nashville is so far only using in three areas. Learn more about BIDs here: https://www.pps.org/article/bid-2
  4. Elevate ethics in procurement. Nashville has had several messy, major procurements this term first for the potential redevelopment of the park land that was home to the former Greer Stadium and most recently for the purchase and management of our on-street parking system, a plan most on Council oppose. In response to the Collier Engineering scandal, Mayor Briley hired a 100K position in the Mayor’s Office to address ethics in procurement. Fine, but at the same time, we should probably stop doing business with the corrupt contractors that sparked this work, no? Why is our city still doing business with a firm that we have verifiable proof stole money from taxpayers? Tolerance of grifters only begets more grifters.
  5. Reform tax increment financing (TIF). TIF can be an important tool when used as intended to catalyze development in depressed and blighted areas, but TIF was still being doled out for prime downtown real estate projects in 2017. Nashville’s real estate market is burning hot, and fires don’t need gasoline poured on them. (Metaphor alert) This needs to stop, and I appreciate Councilman Cooper and Councilman Mendes’ work to address this. Learn more about TIF in Nashville here: https://www.nashville.gov/document/ID/2ee32fe9-1022-4eff-8462-1ae457b923fc/Final-Report-May-7-2019
  6. Address incentives and abatements for preferred developers and corporations. For per-job type incentives, we’re still paying half a million to Dell every year in our budget, apparently because no one in the Mayor’s Office or on the Council thought to put a reasonable time limit on that incentive when it passed in 1999. This year, I amended the Amazon per-job incentive bill, which I didn’t vote for, to cap them after 7 years. I opposed $15 million in infrastructure incentives for the Nashville Yards development, the $20 million un-itemized bucket in our capital spending plan for the River North development, and the 10-acre give away for a private, mixed-use development that was part of the soccer deal. Private development should pay for itself, full stop. Hopefully abatements are an incentive of the past, but the Omni Hotel is still abated to the tune of around $2 million per year, and the Bridgestone Americas downtown tower is receiving a 100 percent property tax abatement for 20 years, just to name a few. These decisions have accrued to the detriment of our general fund, basic services, and schools.

Metro Government needs to get our house in order, and I’m determined to help clean things up. If we address the issues listed above, we’ll be back on the right track. (I know, I know, cleaning house AND train tracks, but I told you at the start I was having a metaphor problem, so it was bound to show up in the conclusion.)

P.S. Please note that these blogs are far from research papers. Is there more to be said, more facts to be shared? Sure. But there’s only so much time in the day to serve my constituents, complete two major policy efforts (trees! sidewalks!), and campaign to continue to representing District 34. If you like what you read here, there’s also a contribution page on this website, and I’d be grateful for your support to continue serving on the city council. Next financial deadline is June 30th. Thanks very much!

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  • Written by angie henderson

Nashville Needs a Comprehensive & Actionable Transportation Plan (Yesterday).

In every other major city in which I have lived, I have been a daily transit rider. In San Francisco, I rode the bus (or the cable car!) to and from work 5 days a week. In New York, I rode the subway everywhere. In Philadelphia, I rode the train from the suburbs to downtown. When I was a child and lived on West End for a few years, I rode the bus with my mom and dad to 1975 Bus stopthe downtown library on Saturdays to attend the Tom Tichenor puppet shows and check out our weekly books. I remember those outings so fondly and vividly, and not just the library part, but also the awesome taking-the-bus part. I wish I could ride the bus more often in Nashville, but with infrequent service, too few crosstown routes, and no sidewalk to get me safely to the closest bus line (at the intersection of Highways 100 and 70), it doesn’t make sense for me. I drive my mini-van almost everywhere I go, and as the infamous bumper sticker reminds us: you’re not in traffic, you are traffic. The best solution to Nashville’s traffic problem is a truly multi-modal transit system.

Here is where I stand on transit:

Without a comprehensive, actionable, multi-modal transportation plan, including sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and greenways, Nashville’s economy and quality of life will be significantly diminished by our growing traffic problem. Addressing this issue will have to be done both locally and regionally. Building more highway lanes and widening major streets doesn’t solve the problem, rather it induces demand and makes the problem worse. It is encouraging to see that TDOT and Metro Public Works are increasingly focused on the multi-modal picture of transportation rather than exclusively on road building.

The Regional Transit Authority in partnership with the Metropolitan Planning Organization provides the frame work for regional transportation planning and funding. 54% of the people in the Nashville/Clarksville MSA are working in a county different than the one in which they live, so we must address regional transit by expanding coach-style buses and rail services. Partnering with surrounding counties to encourage mixed-use, transit-oriented development (to include housing) along the Music City Star rail line, for example, and doing the same in certain corridors in Nashville will keep communities connected and more cars off the road.

A strategic plan for MTA is long overdue, but I am optimistic about the new leadership of Stephen Bland and the nMotion planning process that is finally underway, which will build on the land-use planning work of NashvilleNEXT, as land-use planning and transit success are inextricably linked. I hope that all riders as well as non-riders (or would-be riders) and local employers and property owners will be actively engaged in the nMotion process. Take the next nMotion “trade offs” survey here.

MTA ridership is climbing consistently with 24% of current riders having started using the system in the last year. That’s good news, and we need to support and enhance that trend with the real-time transit app, better marketing and improved access and connectivity. Currently, MTA ridership is made up of 68% dependent riders and 32% choice riders. To address traffic issues, we must focus on increasing the choice rider percentage.

Transit is an important service for seniors and young people, but only 3% of MTA riders are over 65 and only 6% are under age 18. In a city of our size with our demographics, those percentages should be much higher, and this speaks to the fact that seniors and young people cannot not safely reach transit stops because of lacking sidewalk and crosswalk infrastructure.

With the current bus system still operating far below capacity, we must make more sidewalk connections to transit, and we must dignify the transit rider with clean shelters and safe crossings—people should not have to stand and wait in ditches inches from speeding cars and dash across 5 lanes of traffic to be able to ride the bus.

Near term initiatives/partnerships could include:

1) increasing and marketing transit service for special events (Predators games, 4th of July Fireworks, etc);

2) increasing park-and-ride options within suburban areas by partnering with local churches and shopping areas for parking; and

3) expanding the MNPS/MTA partnership to include free rides for middle schoolers in addition to high schoolers.

 

These are just a few of the small gains/improvements that should be considered as part of the larger county-wide and regional puzzle. In the end, the funding is the biggest piece and will be the most difficult part of the conversation, but I think Council can look to the successes of peer cities like Salt Lake City to see how they have communicated that increasing transit funding is crucial to maintaining and enhancing a city’s economy, health, affordability, and quality of life.

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  • Written by angie henderson