We can create a Nashville for everyone if we manage development better | Opinion
As an international development professional and sustainability expert, I have spent my career looking at problems from a systems perspective.
The issues that Nashville is facing are interconnected. Our city, across multiple mayoral administrations, has pursued growth and development, at unsustainable levels.
Uncontrolled growth and development yields issues when infrastructure, services, housing, and transportation options don’t grow apace. This results in lacking infrastructure, unreliable basic services, a transportation system that does not meet our needs, and people, who have lived here for generations, being priced out of their city and homes.
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Nashville must stop losing ground to other cities
As I canvass around the district, I hear the frustrations of business owners looking to hire workers but finding it difficult because there are no affordable housing options nearby. Without income-aligned housing, we are driving out our creative people, our musicians and artists, our front-line workers, our teachers, and the people who built the very city where they can no longer afford to live.
Tied to affordable housing is a transportation system that serves our city as it grows. A city that provides a multitude of options for residents to be mobile will also provide a higher quality of life. But Nashville is very car centric. Our transit system can and should be first class.
We should be focusing on projects that will increase ridership as an option taken rather than a necessity. We should be investing in more frequent buses, longer operating hours, cross-town routes, and decentralized mobility hubs. We need dedicated funding for mobility infrastructure to create local-level matching funds, which will allow us to compete for FTA grants.
Right now, we’re losing this fight to other cities.
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The city must be safe for our families
I believe that a Nashville that is livable and affordable is still here, we just need to pay attention to the details of managing development. In neighborhoods where there are zoning restrictions, developers must be held to those standards. This becomes especially important when we have infill happening in many areas of the district, most notably Green Hills.
Irresponsible development has led to localized flooding because developers are often not leaving enough pervious surface for stormwater infiltration. Large projects like the East Bank development must be planned with sustainability in mind. We need to ensure that income-aligned housing, transportation options, green spaces, sidewalks, stormwater control measures, solid and resilient infrastructure, and opportunities for small businesses are built into these projects. In short, we need to prioritize our city’s needs, not the needs of our partners.
And lastly, none of this matters if our city isn’t a safe place for our families. Whether we’re talking about kids riding bikes, traffic calming measures on community streets, or safe neighborhoods and schools, we must prioritize safety. Our police are hamstrung with failing infrastructure, vehicle repair delays, and limited resources. Our firefighters have similar fleet and resource concerns. We must protect the people who protect us.
Nashville is a vibrant city with so much to offer. We can make sure that we steer the city in a direction that serves all Nashvillians, first responders, artists and musicians, businesspeople, teachers, hospitality industry and healthcare workers, and everyone in between, and we can do it together.
Sandy Ewing is a candidate for Metro Council District 34. She resides in Arlington Green in Bellevue.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville can be a place for everyone if we manage development better
