Former Gov. Phil Bredesen, who announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) on Thursday, is a big supporter of “Mayor Moonbeam” Megan Barry’s $5.4 billion and growing mass transit boondoggle.
Bredesen showed his support for the massive deal by sitting next to Barry when she announced the scheme back in October (at the time supposed to cost just $5.2 billion, according to the mayor).
Barry recognized Bredesen at the announcement as having “the insight to know that an investment in infrastructure changes the city’s trajectory and changes it for decades.”
“You started with the structure of the arena, then you followed it with a stadium. Go Titans. Yes. What followed from that was a city full of people, a city full of energy and a whole lot of Predators fans,” Barry said of Bredesen.
It was under then-Mayor Bredesen’s term that Nissan Stadium (previously LP Field) was constructed at a cost that exceeded $291 million, $207 million or 71 percent of which came from taxpayers. The public funding came from allocations of city sales tax and other tax revenues as well as state bonds. Taxpayers are still paying those debts today, even as reports earlier this year indicate that needed improvements to the stadium will cost as much if not more than the initial construction.
Mayor Barry’s transit plan, the pricetag and scope of which has grown from $5.2 billion at the initial launch to $5.4 billion, has been disparaged by a wide range of critics from Nashville’s working class and entrepreneurs to a Cato Institute expert, a global economist and the conservatives at the Manhattan Institute.
In October, “a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute conservative think tank similarly criticized Barry’s plan, writing that it ‘makes no sense.’ Aaron Wren wrote that “Nashville is a very sprawling city with highly dispersed origins and destinations of traffic. It lacks the gigantic downtown employment centers of New York or Chicago that are well-suited to transit,’ ” The Star reported:
An economics professor at Vanderbilt University has also spoken out against mass transit for the Nashville area.
In defending the plan, Barry spokesman Sean Braisted told the Nashville Business Journal that “we’re not going to bet Nashville’s future on the same failed transportation policies that are bringing the region to a halt. We need to take action today and start to build more transportation options for all Nashville residents — and for the million more people who will live in the Nashville area by 2040.”
Barry will ask Metro Council to put a referendum on the ballot in May to raise taxes for the project.
The project would be funded with tax surcharges as well as federal grants, bonds and fare revenues. A half percent sales tax surcharge would start in July 2018, increasing to 1 percent in 2023. There also would be surcharges on the hotel/motel tax, local rental car tax, and business and excise tax.
Then last month, in November, Cato Institute economist Randal O’Toole wrote a scathing editorial in the Wall Street Journal in which he singled out Barry’s mass transit plan for Davidson County for criticism.
“When it comes to mass transit, politicians never learn. Last month, Nashville Mayor Megan Berry announced a $5.2 billion proposal that involves building 26 miles of light rail and digging an expensive tunnel under the city’s downtown. Voters will be asked in May to approve a half-cent sales tax increase plus additions to hotel, car rental and business excie taxes to pay for the project,” O’Toole wrote.
“Instead of spending billions on new rail lines, cities like Nashville, San Antonio and Tampa ought to use buses to move people faster, more safely, and for far less money. Rail is simply a bad investment,” he concluded.
Former Gov. Bredesen has not commented on any of these critiques of Mayor Barry’s $5.4 billion mass transit boondoggle.
Written by someone that isn’t very knowledgeable about these things. Apparently, understands just enough to get whipped up in the usual populist anger. “Bonds” aren’t automatically taxpayer debt, for instance. Ever hear of a revenue bond? Those are bonds paid back out of the revenue resulting from the project financed by the bond. Most of our city’s bonds for such things are of this nature.
Similar ignorance is typically on display when articles cry about taxpayers funding incentives given to businesses, such as those that relocate to the city. Those are frequently not money out of the taxpayers’ pockets, but rather a reduced amount of taxes COMING IN from the company that wouldn’t otherwise be here to pay ANY taxes — and only within a limited period of time, afterwhich they are paying the full amount of applicable taxes. You can’t say taxpayers paid $10 million for Company X to relocate to Nashville just because the city granted a $10 million dollar reduction in taxes over a 10 year period. The Company relocating IS the taxpayer. If the company doesn’t relocate here, the city receives $0 in taxes from them FOREVER. If the company relocates here the city WILL STILL see an increase in tax revenue from the transaction due to the fact that the company is paying its employees, who are in turn paying taxes. Furthermore, such tax reduction incentives generally only apply to one type of tax, whereas all other forms of taxes and fees remain in place and are paid by the relocating company.
All of this stuff is reasonable and clearly too complex for the internet pundits to grasp (or even the MSM). Dig a little deeper, learn a little more, and you’ll find there isn’t as much out there in the realm of populism that merits great anger and angst.
Bredesen is just a throwback to the era of when Democrats felt they had to pretend they weren’t Communists.
Cinservatives won’t vote for him and Liberals don’t think he is cuckoo enough.
That only leaves Establishment Republicans to vote for him.
Anyone who thinks a big tax increase in Nashville is about a transit system is poorly mistaken. This is about a further decline of neighborhoods in Nashville. A further decline to house welfare and other government supported people so that Democrats can get that vote. Anyone who drives into Nashville right now will NOT ride mass transit into Nashville for work.Who will ride it? The low income workers, illegals, criminals. Those areas that are isolated away from high crime areas will now be exposed to the criminals as now they have transportation to do get there.
Bruce – You are spot on.
Exactly, we feel like we are living “deja vu”–we saw this living in ATL. Administration after administration run by “progressives” until it imploded. We moved home to TN 10 years ago and are seeing the same thing play out here in Nashville. These “progressives” who keep getting elected by libs moving here are ruining the city. We decided to cut our losses and have bough a house in another county. Good bye Davidson.
Crime is already exploding in Nashville because our mayoress is too busy with her “legacy” and what happens when you can jump on a “rapid rail” and move criminals countywide? Dont think that will happen, look no further than ATL, Baltimore, Chicago, Portland, etc
Nashville would be better off with Bill Boner still as mayor.
Sad, but true.