Nashville Mayor John Cooper's exit interview: 'My term is unmatched' in feats, challenges

Metro Nashville Davidson County’s Ninth Mayor John Cooper won election in 2019 by a margin of nearly 70%.

He previously served as an At-Large Metro Council member where he was a frequent critic of policies under former mayors Megan Barry (2015-2018) and David Briley (2018-2019).

Cooper campaigned with a 50-page booklet outlining multiple problems and solutions that he planned to implement in his term with an emphasis on stabilizing Metro’s finances, deliver on economic development deals more favorable to taxpayers, and focus on neighborhoods and teachers.

But during his term, which ends in a few weeks, he also faced massive and some unprecedented challenges: A global pandemic, a tornado and derecho wind, the bombing of Second Avenue in downtown, and the massacre at The Covenant School.

The hostility from the GOP-dominated Tennessee General Assembly toward municipal policies grew after the council voted in 2022 to a reject a bid for the city to host the 2024 Republican National Convention. In 2023, lawmakers voted to cut the Council in half and reduce the mayor’s authority over appointments to important boards on sports, Nashville International Airport and the Music City Convention Center. The city and state are in litigation over many of these and other conflicts.

Earlier this year, Cooper chose not to seek re-election, opening the field to 12 candidates in the Aug. 3 general election. District 19 Council Member Freddie O’Connell and former state official and businesswoman Alice Rolli won enough votes to face each other in the Sept. 14 runoff.

On Aug. 31, Cooper sat with me for a wide-ranging hour- and 13-minute conversation.

We talked about issues including city finances and basic services including public safety and education, the crises his administration faced, the future East Bank development and other projects he hopes his successor will carry out. He touted the city’s AA-plus bond rating; increased investments in teacher pay, public safety, and housing; and how his policies favored neighbors over tourists and put more money in taxpayers’ pockets.

“I think my term is unmatched both in the challenges, but then also in the accomplishments,” Cooper said.

The mayor lamented a sense of societal negativity he attributed to Fox News multiple times in the interview that he said created a false image of Nashville being like a “California city” in decline.

Cooper also reflected on the state legislature’s hostility toward Nashville. “The culture war is really a disguise of a sort of a money discussion,” he said.

He was eager to defend his legacy and explain why the investments Nashville made under his watch matter for the future.

“I do think that we are on a path of being the most successful city in the United States, and we need to be able to continue that path,” he said.

He wants his success to carry out the vision he has laid for Nashville, but about his preferred candidate, he said this:

“Well, I have tried to avoid (choosing) once I wasn't going to run. Then I think it's the public's choice – and my ability to work well with my successor, whoever my successor is, there's a lot of kind of complicated government handoffs,” he said.

Below find excerpts of the conversations. Link to all the videos from the interview with Mayor John Cooper.

Does he regret running for mayor?

David Plazas: When you reflect upon running for mayor, are you glad that you ran for mayor?

Mayor John Cooper: It's an incredible on honor. You do worry every day when you're a mayor that you need to deserve it.

Four years ago, I almost did not run for mayor … and then after a few months, I realized that the city wasn't going to get better and had particular challenges that I felt I needed to volunteer as kind of a citizen.

And I'm going back to private life as a citizen, not as a career politician who had a particular vision. And I wrote a book about 50 pages of stuff that I wanted to do as mayor. I think we've really accomplished everything in that book.

Now, 2019 does seem just like a long time ago before COVID and the city had abundant financial problems. And it was clear in that era that we had already begun to run out of money. We weren't balancing the budget. We were running undernourished departments here. We were expecting above median results from a school system that we had under median funding too. You just had to fix a lot of these different service mechanisms that were in Metro.

So, with my financial background, I used to go around saying, “You know, I may not be the right mayor every time, but I'm the right mayor for Nashville in 2019.”

Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.

How stadium deals changed under his watch

Plazas: The stewards of GEODIS Park soccer stadium, much like with the new Titan Stadium became responsible for overruns, unlike before, which this was a criticism of the city back with the Sounds stadium and so forth. How you were able to bridge that conversation?

Cooper: The construction difference between the East Bank and in both cases, the city was protected from cost overruns on the stadium. And in both cases, the teams have accepted that responsibility, which I think is good to know from the taxpayer. Now, there are differences between the two deals. And in one case, in the soccer stadium, land has gone to the team to help promote that. That's in soccer and the East Bank (Titans stadium), the land is coming back to the city.

And that's a very important thing to have that a hundred acres come back from underneath those leases to the city.

And then that walks through every kind of aspect of this deal. But in this, the phase one, the hundred acres back, this is like a billion-dollar opportunity coming back to Nashville that we then can create a major cultural center. Hopefully, TPAC (Tennessee Performing Arts Center) will be located there. A parks vision. Again, that is one of the various deals on this, but it's important, I think as we did with soccer, but particularly with the East Bank, is to limit the liability of our citizens in these kind of projects and actually make money off of it and have these projects carry themselves.

Sign up for Latino Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling stories for and with the Latino community in Tennessee. 

How COVID changed things — and him

Plazas: Shortly after the 2020 tornado, the governor announced that COVID was in Tennessee. Would you talk about how that changed you as a person and as a leader?

Cooper: A hundred press conferences in a year and each press conference important. I think my time being here has been unprecedented in both the challenges and the achievements.

I called the public health department going: “So, there's this thing in China. Are we prepared for this?” And I had a binder and asked. “We're completely prepared for it,” (they said). “And are you sure?” (I responded).

And nobody was prepared for COVID.

Aren't we so grateful to Nashville being a healthcare center and with incredible nurses and staffing? And each of our hospital systems stepped up to the plate to do it. But there is no normal governance in that time. And you did not know what your revenues were going to be next year.

How long is it going to last? Is the economy completely shut down?

I think we are always given credit in Nashville for managing through the disease better than other cities, that our economic recovery was faster, quicker.

We ended up saving several thousand lives statistically by having protocols and masks. I think people like the NFL paid a lot of attention to what we were doing here because we were having a moderate and effective response that allowed the economy to come back.

And then we boomed ever since. I mean, everybody is back much better than pre-2019 levels. And, you know, some cities are not frankly, but 2019 now seems – we've survived the whole year to year and a half. That was COVID. And then here, once there was a vaccine widely accepted and available to people, then I think that allowed you to completely get back to normal.

It was inconceivable that school wouldn't reopen in August. But then that goal fell away. Right? So June and July, then you had the presidential race begin to kick in in July. We had taken bold moves with the property tax correction in order to fix or just keep services level in the city.

Sign up for Black Tennessee Voices newsletter:Read compelling columns by Black writers from across Tennessee. 

That time he was in Tucker Carlson's crosshairs

Plazas: In September of 2020 former (At-Large) Metro Council member Steve Glover had just been on Fox News with Tucker Carlson accusing you of hiding COVID stats, and the host called for your “impeachment.” How could you as the mayor and the city fight back?

Cooper: Tucker Carlson ran a whole show on my “impeachment” based on a story that Fox News withdrew. And as a sign of the nationalization of local politics, imposing what people thought was a national story on the local environment where the facts on the ground were not at all true locally, but did it matter? No. We are in the business of being mad at each other and having a highly partisan response to circumstance in the end.

It's just another challenge for leadership. You can't be deterred. It's not fun, but you're not going to let a city be deterred from its path towards greatness. I do think that we are on a path of being the most successful city in the United States, and we need to be able to continue that path.

Yeah, 2020, was a challenge. Unfortunately, the Covenant event was fairly too similar for me personally. Chief Drake is a great chief, but when you see his name come up on your cell phone, you're concerned. He called me on the way to The Covenant School in real time as he was trying to get there to respond to it.

Public safety's not negotiable. This is really where this comes from, you have to invest in your department. I've sworn in 477 new police officers. There's another recruiting class that has not been sworn in yet, so that that'll take us over, I think, 500 new officers.

The emergency call response – 1 in 5 calls before I was mayor, was not responded to in the first time that people called. Well, you can't do that.  You have to add this kind of 600 new public safety positions that's well-trained. Our fire department is fully staffed for the first time since 2002 – the investment in vehicles and equipment, the ninth precinct, and then it has to be bigger than just the direct investment.

Look at the juvenile justice center investment – the campus. I'm grateful for (Juvenile Court) Judge (Sheila) Callaway's leadership.

Addressing 'Nashville is on fire' narrative

Plazas: Crime is going down, but there's this narrative politically that crime is up, that Nashville's on fire, essentially. What is your role in addressing the issues with statistics like that?

Cooper: The national instinct for negativity in this moment is very great. I think there's an agenda happening. And don't be part of that echo chamber because our response and story here is quite different than other cities. We are not California. Part of that is, you know, we are getting to a fully staffed police department for the first time ever. We have, by far the most officers. They're well-trained and well led.

They're getting the equipment that they need. LPRs (license plate readers), frankly, are part of that too. To the extent that we’re in a gun-crime epidemic, which is what we have, you need tools to be able to respond to gun crime. And LPRs, I think is part of that response with a well-led police department that has the support of the community.

Oversight and transparency, of course, is very important too. But the national narrative of is often very partisan. I think it is kind of a Fox News perspective.

If you look at Nashville, however, you are having a city that is investing in public safety that has the largest response to homelessness ever, and a plan that is being effective. And we are re-sheltering people 35 a month.

Proud of his record on education

Plazas: Today, Nashville teachers are the best paid in the state. You're also dealing with some challenges such as the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act that you've been critical of.

Cooper: Nashville's increase in per-student funding is up over 40% in the last three years. This is the biggest increase by any city ever in their students. So, we are transforming Nashville from being sort of $9,500 a student to over $16,000 a student just while I have been mayor.

We were sort of a middling county in an underfunded state. Where the state of Tennessee is bottom 10, maybe six from the bottom in its per-student funding to where if Nashville were a state on its own, we would be a top 10 state at the bottom of the top 10, but a top 10 state over $16,000. That is such a transformative achievement because we were expecting above median outcomes for our kids with under median investment.

I think (Metro Nashville Public Schools superintendent) Dr. Adrienne Battle is the morale in the school system, the ability to work together in that school system. The school board is working together well with the superintendent. This is just incredible progress in the last few years. But the city had to go first.

Fixing the relationship between the city and state

Plazas: The special session of the Tennessee General Assembly on public safety recently ended. During the 60th anniversary of Metro event at Public Square, you talked about just how you felt befuddled at the state – that reaction toward and toward the city. How did we get here and what are your aspirations for where we go from here?

Cooper: In some things we work very well with the state. I think, at play a little bit is Nashville's success has created a lot of surplus for the state. So, who makes money off of tourism? The state does make money off of tourism. 7% of every dollar spent by every tourist, and then their costs are not as great as ours in this. And this has, I think, led to a moment of financial prosperity in the state.

And so the point of tension is, does our money or the money generated from Nashville come back to Nashville? If so, how much? And then clearly on education, they're willing not to increase our education amount and send it away from the county. But ultimately, you do have to reinvest back in your engine room here of Nashville. And I worry sometimes that kind of the culture war is really a disguise of just sort of a money discussion.

Then the nationalization of politics means that they have to say ugly things about cities and college towns. In a way, Nashville is a great big college town, and every college town in America has some level of friction with their relative states too. So all that is to be expected. But I would be frustrated if it kept there from being progress. Now I'm grateful for the state's contribution on the East Bank. The contribution to the performing arts center, for example, I think is a way of the state understanding the importance of the economy of Nashville to the state.

But in the years ahead, I do think Nashville needs to continue to be assertive about our own path going forward. And what that means is what are the dollars being generated here, and then what are some of those dollars coming back here?

LGBTQ rights in Nashville vs. Tennessee

Plazas: In March, you went to the Love Rising concert and spoke. You have a proclamation in some ways that would've been normal in Nashville, but we are in 2023 in Tennessee, which is trying to ban kids from drag shows and ban gender affirming care. Did you consider this a bold political statement?

Cooper: Well, I didn't think about it because what's right is right. You know, all our people need to be supported and valued, all of us everywhere. And, if you're thinking about it, it's also part of our success formula. I mean, all the tech companies in California would say, oh, we love a blue city. Red state is fine too, but we love a blue city for our employees to feel respected and valued to work there, to recruit there and to stay there. But all people count.

I also named the first street in America for a drag queen (Bianca Page). Part of that is accepting who we are and we are the headquarters of the music industry of a global creative economy center. And we are a great big college town, and each of our colleges and universities are having really their most successful moment in their own histories, and I think that reinforces Nashville's success.

And that is the product of an accepting city that values everybody and wants them to succeed again from pre-K all the way up. And so that part of life is not negotiable of who we're going to value each other.

Reflecting on his faith and mentors

Plazas: You’re a person of faith who attends Christ Church (Episcopal) Cathedral. How does faith play into your own moral compass as a leader?

Cooper: I think it needs to play in your compass, but also as a society. You can't be inconsistent with a generally Judeo-Christian view of right and wrong in running a government and the faith-based nature of our society does lead to inevitably how you govern, to valuing everybody, their rights, their privileges – treating each other with respect. Every church does a lot of good, and not specifically in that in that faith, but in teaching us to lead with their souls and to be confident that do the right thing. Maybe a not a higher being, but somebody's going to notice.

Plazas: Who are the mentors who helped you in your path, and, especially during those dark times?

Cooper: I will say personally somebody who's very important to me, and I'm very proud of, is Brenda Haywood, who's also the deputy mayor, but also a pastor. And a unique personality, positive personality for Nashville. She was … this week 60 years ago, was Dr. King's speech, “I Have a Dream” – it was 60 years ago that Brenda Haywood integrated Stratford High School as one of the four Black girls who crossed the line to integrate. So her own story of heroism and her personality is a great source of strength for me.

Did he have a favorite candidate for mayor?

Plazas: Do you prefer one candidate over another? (Asked prior to the election results)

Cooper: Well, I have tried to avoid (choosing) once I wasn't going to run. Then I think it's the public's choice – and my ability to work well with my successor, whoever my successor is, there's a lot of kind of complicated government handoffs. You've got 55 departments. Each department will tell you it's got a lot of need coming up. In each department, there's a little bit of a strategy for success and we'd love to continue Nashville’s success into the next era.

So, it's a little bit easier if you're not viewed as a particular partisan for one or the other as opposed to being a partisan for good government progress. Continue the work. Here is how one is a better city. I will say overall, there's less ideology in cities, I think, or should be than in most things in politics.

A lot of your work is paying teachers and picking up trash and with somebody answering your 911 call when they call, what's the fire department's response when there's a fire. These are non-negotiable, just basics. You're given the property tax, a little bit of sales tax and some excess taxes. You have to balance the budget. As I was explaining to all the people who are candidates, you're not the federal government; you're not printing money. How much revenue you're going to have next year is actually already known. And it's not determined by you.

On regrets, worries and the future

Plazas: Any regrets from the last four years that you've had?

Cooper: With all these emergencies and crises, it would've been nice to just have focused on the administrative work. So, I think my term is unmatched both in the challenges, but then also in the accomplishments. The highest credit rating, the best tax rate, the massive investment in schools, which again.

Plazas: Are you concerned that your successor might screw things up?

Cooper: Well, everybody is going to be worried. I am not. There are always going to be disagreements. I mean, part of being mayor is to get through the friction to get to traction. Now we are in a moment of having some traction on what's going on in the city. The next mayor is going to want the city to be successful too. And I think the work that we've done to put it on a successful path is again, pretty great.

Plazas: You're going be entering private life again. Yeah. What are you going to do?

Cooper: I had a pretty good career in business before and it's going to be super fun. Both my family and I will not mind returning to private life a little bit. And I have a bunch of hobbies from cooking to painting to golf. I'd love to, you know, be reconnected in it. And then I've always been a little bit more of a writer than anything else. And so I look forward to the opportunity to being able to do that.

I do want to stay involved in public affairs, but particularly as a coach on how to be successful. And let's not give up on that in America. I mean, it was a successful country. We came a long way. We can't talk ourselves into such a negative moment that we're not determined to be successful and that means serving people, serving more people better with what they need to have better outcomes. That's how we're all going to have better lives.

The importance of pets

Plazas: And one thing I remember you telling me, you quoted, President Truman when you were on my podcast, Tennessee Voices, that if you want a friend in politics, get a dog.

Cooper: I have three … maybe I need four

Well, one of the things that I'm looking forward to getting to is – I have a Happy Retales store that I own, but 100% of the profits go to animal rescue, and the volunteers there designate the animal rescue. I think that's kind of the innovative idea that is exciting to roll out in other places. Several people do it.

But again, I think COVID – one of the pluses of Covid – is there's a little bit of a different relationship between people and their pets and the acceptance of pets and offices is much greater now than it was. In part, that's the price of people coming back to the office. But that they're a great thing for human beings. And incorporating their virtues into our lives just makes for better life. And I won't say it's exactly like church, but there's some things that just do make people better. And I'm grateful to the role that pets have in making people better.

There's something about the human being, I think – this is somewhat off the topic of the city –, in being a caregiver. You know, we used to have stock. Everybody's life depended on how well they looked after their cows and their sheep and their horses. And that's a very human act to look after and to nurture. And pets give us that ability to practice that. And then we hopefully use those skills on each other,

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: As new Nashville mayor elected, John Cooper recalls 'unmatched' term