Nashville mayor's transition committee eyes 2024 transit vote
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Mayor Freddie O'Connell's transition team has urged him to decide soon if he will pursue a referendum to overhaul mass transit in Nashville.
Driving the news: Committees focused on transit, growth and government functions released their recommendations for the O'Connell administration on Tuesday.
- The transit committee said O'Connell should make an "early determination" about pushing for a transit referendum, which would allow voters to weigh in on establishing a dedicated local tax stream to support and expand mass transit.
- The committee identified Nov. 5, 2024, as the next high-turnout election that could include a referendum on the ballot.
Why it matters: The transit committee's discussion of a possible referendum isn't particularly surprising given O'Connell's passion for and experience with transit issues. If he wants to develop a plan in time for a 2024 vote, the committee wrote, he'll have to begin work soon.
- A previous transit referendum failed in 2018. But the committee wrote that shifting the vote to a high-turnout election "maximizes its chance of success."
State of play: The committee noted O'Connell's "reputation as one of Nashville's biggest transit and multimodal transportation champions" gives him the opportunity to "rebuild Nashvillians' trust in our transportation system."
Zoom out: Elsewhere, the committee focused on growth said the looming development of the East Bank should "set a new standard" for Nashville neighborhoods, complete with bus rapid transit, robust network of sidewalks and protected bikeways.
- That committee also encouraged O'Connell to spread the wealth by prioritizing "investments across Nashville that are equivalent in impact to those made in the East Bank."
What he's saying: O'Connell said in a statement that he would use the committees' recommendations "as guiding principles in the months ahead."
Go deeper: Read the full reports from O'Connell's transition committees