Nashville voters return to polls to decide transportation funding
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Nashville is merely six years removed from voters emphatically rejecting a transit ballot measure, setting the stage for what seems to be a make-or-break referendum Tuesday.
Flashback: The 2018 proposal cost $5.4 billion at the time, included light rail and other expensive elements like a downtown tunnel. Strategists chose to put the measure on the ballot in a non-presidential election year when turnout was lower.
- By comparison, this year's proposal costs $3.1 billion, excludes light rail altogether and is paired with a higher-turnout presidential election.
Why it matters: If voters say no to the pared-down plan, it would cast doubts on whether Nashville will ever approve of a dedicated funding source for transportation.
Mayor Freddie O'Connell is asking voters to agree to a half-cent sales tax increase to fund his plan.
State of play: A grassroots opposition effort showed up at neighborhood meetings across the city to make its case against the plan.
- Former Metro Councilmember Emily Evans argues the city should upgrade its sidewalks, traffic signals and bus stops out of its regular annual capital budget. Critics like Evans and Metro Councilmember Joy Kimbrough say raising sales tax will disproportionately impact poor people.
- Some of the groups that opposed the 2018 proposal are not part of this year's opposition effort, and prominent former critics like businessperson Mark Bloom endorse O'Connell's plan.
The bottom line: Nashville is one of four of the nation's 50 largest cities without a dedicated funding source for transit.