Tennessee Voices, Episode 255: Faye DiMassimo, transportation adviser to municipalities
The crushing defeat of Nashville's transit referendum in 2018 stunted the city's progress on transportation.
However, nearly four years later, plans and action are moving forward.
The Metro Council approved Mayor John Cooper's $1.6 billion transportation plan in December 2020.
The Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure emerged a year later. The passage of the federal infrastructure law last fall brought even more opportunities.
On this episode of the Tennessee Voices podcast, I spoke with Faye DiMassimo, outgoing senior transportation adviser to the mayor about the Cooper administration's achievements and the work ahead.
DiMassimo discussed with me the plans for the East Bank of the Cumberland River, where Oracle will build its massive presence in Nashville, as the location of Nashville's "multimodal spine" for the city's transportation needs.
We recorded this episode a few days before the announcement that DiMassimo was leaving the mayor's office to return her home city of Savannah. On Tuesday, she was unanimously selected as executive director of Chatham Area Transit.
Our conversation touched on Georgia, though. Ever since I arrived in Nashville in 2014, many city leaders have said that they don't want to be like Atlanta.
DiMassimo, who previously worked in Atlanta, said she often is asked how Nashville can avoid being like Atlanta and how far behind Nashville is from Atlanta.
Her answers were illuminating and good for thought for city leaders.
Op-ed by Faye DiMassimo: Nashville is ready to build back its roads and infrastructure stronger | Opinion
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About Tennessee Voices
The Tennessee Voices videocast is a 20-minute program, which started in March 2020 and invites leaders, thinkers and innovators who have written guest columns for a USA TODAY Network Tennessee publication to share their insights and wisdom with me and our viewers.
Please email your ideas for future guests to me at dplazas@tennessean.com. Thank you for watching.
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David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and an editorial board member of The Tennessean. Tweet to him at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Voices: Faye DiMassimo on solving city transportation needs
