Bredesen's 1993 speech set the stage for Nashville's future

• Among Metro insiders, it's still cited as one of the more consequential and memorable public addresses by a Nashville mayor.

Between the lines: Not every State of Metro speech is meant to be a cinematic masterpiece. Sometimes, it's just a nuts-and-bolts update on how the government is working and what the next year's budget will look like.

Driving the news: Although the hypothetical helicopter ride is the part veteran Metro people remember, Bredesen didn't get to that part of the speech until several pages into his remarks.

• Bredesen, a former business executive who went on to serve two terms as Tennessee's governor, began his remarks by updating the public about social service programs, education initiatives and relations with the Metro Council. Then he pivoted.

What he said: "Now I want you to look at the future with me," Bredesen told the crowd of elected officials, political insiders and downtown business leaders in 1993. "Let your mind loose a little bit, and let the clock slip forward to the year 2000; the new century, the new millennium. It's spring, about this time in the morning on the first of April, and we're going to take a helicopter ride over the city."

The intrigue: During the helicopter ride, Bredesen predicted a downtown anchored by a professional sports team called the Nashville Notes playing at what is now Bridgestone Arena. The city didn't break ground on that project until a year later.

• Bredesen envisioned a new library (in Centennial Park instead of its downtown location), a vibrant Meharry Medical College campus and a new Country Music Association headquarters.

What's next: Mayor Freddie O'Connell will deliver this year's address Wednesday.

• There are some parallels to 1993. Like downtown in the '90s, the East Bank is being completely remade with a sports venue — the new Titans stadium — as the anchor.

Axios Nashville interviewed Bredesen about his recollections of the speech. For starters, Bredesen says he "always" wrote his important speeches like this one himself, and then solicited feedback from aides.

• "I think speeches like that are the way you're trying to explain to people what you think ought to happen. I just think morally, it ought to be my words," he says.

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

What were you trying to accomplish by using that device of the helicopter tour of the city?

"The idea was that I had things I wanted to do. I wanted to build a library. We had the arena. So rather tackle them as individual issues — 'Well this year, I want to build a library' — I sort of said, 'Let me paint a picture of where I'd like to be 10 or 15 years from now,' and sell people on that vision for the city."

I also interpreted it, especially the closing remarks, as trying to inspire people that Nashville could be more than it was in 1993.

"I came into the mayor's office having never held political office before, and being out of the business world. One of the things that struck me about city government, and state government as well later on, was that it was different from business in that there tended to be a bias toward the idea that if you have an extra dollar, you use it to do something operational."

• "If I have an extra dollar, I need to hire another policeman, or pay another fireman or pave an extra street. Yet, I'm of this belief that $100 is a lot more valuable than 100 $1 bills.

• "That is to say, accumulating your resources and saving them to do a couple big things is a lot more valuable than taking your resources and scattering them all over the place."

"I described it as building civic furniture, you know, libraries, arenas, parks and those kinds of things."

• "I also wanted to paint a picture of a very different Nashville from the same old crew down there doing the same old stuff."
• "When I left the mayor's office, I did the standard exit interview with The Tennessean and they asked me what I was most proud of. I said the thing I'm most proud of was that Nashville expects a lot more of itself today than it did eight years ago."
• "When we first built the arena, I said publicly I want to bring a pro sports team here. And people just hooted and hollered and said, 'We're never gonna get a pro sports team and let's move on.'

"The speech was about trying to convince people they could expect a lot more from the development of the city and to put some bones on it with a helicopter ride to show you what that might be."

How was your speech received?

"It's a little hard to remember. The helicopter speech was different than I think a lot of the usual political speeches. It's a little more of a story and a visual. I know I got a number of compliments later. It was certainly not something where people said, 'Oh my God, that's the best speech I've ever heard. Let's do all that stuff.'

• "But it was more of a case of people were nodding their heads saying, 'Well that's interesting.'"

Read the full speech