Ben Cunningham: Nashville Mayor’s Transit Plan Appears to be Illegal

Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit plan, which is expected to be on the November ballot, is likely illegal under the IMPROVE Act, which passed the Tennessee General Assembly in 2017.

The 2017 IMPROVE Act, signed by former Governor Bill Haslam, permits local governments to seek a dedicated funding source via surcharge to support mass transportation projects through local referendum.

The legislation reads as follows:

Revenue from a surcharge must be used for costs associated with the planning, engineering, development, construction, implementation, administration, management, operation, and maintenance of public transit system projects that are part of a transit improvement program.

“Public transit system” means any mass transit system intended for shared passenger transport services to the general public, together with any building, structure, appurtenance, utility, transport support facility, transport vehicles, service vehicles, parking facility, or any other facility, structure, vehicle, or property needed to operate the transportation facility or provide connectivity for the transportation facility to any other non-mass transit system transportation infrastructure, including, but not limited to, interstates, highways, roads, streets, alleys, and sidewalks.

Not only does O’Connell’s plan allegedly consists of 38 miles of “around-the-clock” bus operations Murfressboro, Gallatin, Dickerson, and Nolensville, the plan also is reported to include 86 miles of new sidewalks and 600 new traffic signals.

The mayor’s full plan, called “Choose How You Move,” is expected to be unveiled on April 19, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.

Regarding financing, it has previously been reported that a half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax will likely be required to fund the transit plan.

However, Cunningham argued that the transit plan appears to be illegal under the 2017 IMPROVE Act, as the legislation only allows for the increase of taxes through a voter referendum for a mass transit system such as bus routes – not for the installation of simple projects such as sidewalks and traffic signals.

“The bus stuff is mass transit and that’s what was envisioned by the IMPROVE Act when it was passed in 2017. This was a provision put in the IMPROVE Act to allow cities to create a mass transit system. And it was very clear…they said we’re going to give the cities, the four largest cities, the opportunity to increase taxes through a voter referendum for a mass transit system. That was specifically what it was targeted for. It was not for all the other stuff that [O’Connell’s] doing,” Cunningham explained on Tuesday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.

Cunningham said the funding for more sidewalks and traffic signals should be “part of a normal, healthy operating budget for a city.”’

“That’s all part of a normal, healthy operating budget for a city. Those are things that you would normally be doing in a city. What [O’Connell’s] doing is taking those elements, putting them into this IMPROVE Act referendum and the IMPROVE Act was never meant to include those elements. It was specifically for mass transit: buses, trains, that kind of thing. It says in the definition of the act “shared transport.” It’s specifically and explicitly and clearly for mass transit,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said he believes the mayor is pandering to different “far-left constituencies” regarding his inclusion of sidewalks, bike paths, and other agenda items expected to be part of his plan.

“Freddie has said, ‘Okay, I’m going to take a lot of elements that really weren’t meant to be in the IMPROVE Act and I’m going to target these specific voting constituencies. I’m going to target the people that are concerned about traffic signals. I’m going to get concerned about sidewalks and bike lanes and all these other things. And I’m going to put them in there because we’re going to target these constituencies to get this thing to pass.’ That was never, ever meant to be. The IMPROVE Act was never intended to be used for that kind of thing,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham, who has previously described the mayor’s plan as a “greendoggle,” went on to add how mass transit in Nashville currently carries less than 1 percent of passenger miles.

“We need to remember that less than 1 percent of passenger miles are accounted for by mass transit, the bus system essentially. And I don’t know if you’ve seen buses in Metro Nashville lately, but I have and I watch them closely. It is very rare for me to see a bus going down the street with more than two or three people. A bus is a fixed route mode of transportation. You’ve got to go where you get on the bus. Then, you’ve got to go to your final destination somehow after you get off the bus. Clearly, no one is going to be riding the bus if they’ve got a car, if they’ve got other means of transport. That simply is the truth. And yet, this is the main thrust of this transit referendum and of this tax increase,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham also noted that he believes the mayor’s transit plan is the first step in the Democrats’ plans to get rid of automobiles.

“People love the safety and convenience of a privately owned automobile. Ninety nine percent plus of passenger miles in Nashville are in a privately owned automobile. That is the fact. The lefties want to get us out of our automobiles. They see this as the first step, the camel’s nose under the tent. That’s what they see. They see this as the first step of getting people out of their cars,” Cunningham added.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Freddie O’Connell” by Freddie O’Connell, Mayor of Metropolitan Nashville & Davidson County. Background Photo “Nashville Bus” by Thomas R Machnitzki. CC BY 3.0.