Author: Wendy Wilson

Many critics of Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s mass transit proposal are conservatives and libertarians, but her plans have also prompted criticism from left-leaning advocates of the poor and working class. A group called People’s Alliance for Transit, Housing and Employment (PATHE) has formed to press the progressive Democratic mayor and other Metro leaders to make affordable housing, higher wages and immediate improvements to the bus system greater priorities. A key element of Barry’s proposal is light rail along five corridors, but PATHE maintains that “light rail is meaningless if most of us can no longer afford to live along the routes,” according to a statement on the group’s website describing its mission and purpose. The statement also says: While no one denies that our public transit system needs major expansion, we still have not been presented with a plan that addresses the most pressing crises facing our communities, mainly economically distressed neighborhoods and residents. The experience of other cities, including Denver and Atlanta, has shown that without explicit community benefits (or equivalent measures) legally written into or alongside major transit projects, there are unintended, devastating consequences for everyday people. These include dramatic cost of living hikes along new transit corridors, mass displacement…

While a number of Nashville entrepreneurs support Mayor Megan Barry’s $5.2 billion mass transit plan, some are saying the proposal is outdated for the needs of today. The Nashville chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization has surveyed members on the proposal for Davidson County, reports Nashville Business Journal. Forty-four of the chapter’s more than 200 members responded. Eighteen percent said they are “strongly against” the mass transit plan, 6 percent are “somewhat against” it and 3 percent “neither support nor oppose” the proposal. Forty-five percent “strongly support” the plan and 28 percent “somewhat support” it. However, even some in favor of the plan expressed reservations in comments. Those opposed said new technology is consigning light rail to a thing of the past and that Nashville should be part of the latest innovation in transportation. Other critics have voiced similar concerns, saying people today want customized door-to-door transportation offered by services such as Uber and Lyft. They say city officials need to take a closer look at those services, and at how self-driving cars could have an impact in the future, as well as how technology will soon allow even more people to work from home. Some also want the city to consider…