A clean, safe, active and attractive Nashville downtown matters to all residents | Opinion

Former Mayor Bill Purcell (1999-2007) often said: “Downtown is the neighborhood that we all share.”

What Mayor Purcell understood is that great cities have great downtowns, energetic environments where people gather in large numbers to live, work and play.

The former mayor’s idea that downtown is a neighborhood is often lost in the (false) debate that has emerged in the last decade of “downtown” vs. “neighborhoods.” That somehow an investment downtown would be better spent in a neighborhood.

Today, downtown is a 2 square-mile neighborhood with 17,000 residents and nearly 80,000 workers.Downtown is a dynamic economic engine for our city: it is the largest tax base per acre in Davidson County, contributing 18% of sales taxes and 12% of property taxes on 0.4% of the acreage. By any measure, it has emerged as one of the nation’s great downtowns – a neighborhood that we all share.

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Here’s what we know about where downtown is heading

The mayoral candidates vying for Nashville’s top job have articulated plans for safety, affordable housing, transit and equitable growth – all worthy priorities. As the head of the organization responsible for nurturing opportunity downtown, I encourage the field of candidates to consider downtown stewardship as a priority for the next administration.

Nashville’s 10th Mayor will be sworn into office in September and may serve our community through 2031. Within that tenure several things are certain:

We’ll quickly go from being a downtown with a river on the eastern boundary to a downtown with a river running through it as 338 acres of the East Bank are developed.

Downtown’s residential population will more than double to over 34,000 long before an 11th Mayor is sworn in.The number of hotel rooms downtown will increase by 44% within the next five years.Four major multiuse projects currently planned or under construction will bring three times the retail space and ten times the residential footprint that the transformational Fifth + Broadway development brought.

As massive new investment is being made downtown, we have challenges, some of them threatening, and our success is not guaranteed: businesses and residents cite noise, congestion, and affordability as significant concerns. Nashville-wide solutions should include a fully staffed police department, smart traffic signals and expanding property tax relief for affordable housing.

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We must avoid the fates of downtown in cities like L.A. and Chicago

Downtown Nashville is not immune from broader market forces. Cautionary tales that affect office real estate, retail and hospitality are abundant: in Los Angeles, a major office development was returned to the lender; in Chicago, the long-popular Michigan Avenue now suffers from a 29% retail vacancy rate (for context, downtown Nashville’s retail vacancy rate has hovered around 3% for 5+ years, and 69% of these businesses are locally owned); in San Francisco, two large hotels turned over the keys to its lenders.

The trajectory of downtown is fragile and requires stewardship and collaboration. The Nashville Downtown Partnership is focused on a center city that is clean, safe, active, and attractive: we’ve done this work for 28 years with a proven track record. But no one person or entity is responsible for ensuring success. As downtown grows, our city will most effectively execute on those priorities working together.

For these reasons alone, Nashville needs a mayor that prioritizes safety, infrastructure, mobility, and the tireless pursuit of a well-balanced “live, work, play” concept for all neighborhoods. Our mayor must understand that downtown is important to all of us: a clean, safe, active and attractive downtown supports our airport, fills the potholes on our streets, funds our children’s education and our first responders.

Nashville’s next mayor must understand that downtown – whose services are funded in large part by many property and business owners taxing themselves to raise the tide and lift all boats – is not a drain on Metro’s general fund but is a major benefactor.

The Nashville Downtown Partnership – alongside our many existing, capable partners – stands ready for visionary collaboration with the next administration. An administration that believes downtown is good for all of us.

Tom Turner is president and CEO of the Nashville Downtown Partnership.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville downtown: Ensure it's clean, safe, active and attractive