Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s multi-billion dollar transit plan was approved by voters on Tuesday, according to unofficial election results published by the Davidson County Election Commission.
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Both the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Resettlement Coalition (TIRRC) Votes PAC and the Davidson County Democratic Party are among the groups that have provided in-kind contributions to the political action committee formed to support the Nashville transit referendum that will be decided by voters next week, the group revealed in a report filed Tuesday, when the Green Lights for Nashville PAC filed an amended financial disclosure statement with the State of Tennessee.
The report revealed the pro-referendum group received nearly $1.3 million in contributions, mostly from the Nashville Moves Action Fund, which is reportedly a 501 (c) (4) nonprofit that does not need to reveal its donors, but has nonetheless been ordered to register with Tennessee and disclose them by Election Day.
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Emily Evans, head of the Committee to Stop an UnFair Tax, is warning that the multi-billion dollar transit referendum presented to Nashville voters on the November 5 general election ballot is “unfair, unsafe, and unnecessary.”
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” would be funded by a half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax to construct miles of new sidewalks, bus stops, transit centers, parking facilities, and upgraded traffic signals throughout Nashville.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, is warning that the multi-billion dollar transit referendum being presented to Nashville voters on the November 5 general election would “drive people out of Nashville” if passed.
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Memphis Mayor Paul Young on Friday fired all nine members of the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) Board of Commissioners following the release of a third-party report that claimed the members were responsible for creating a “culture of poor accountability” for the troubled transit service.
Young reportedly called his decision an effort to create “a clean-slate environment,” according to NewsChannel 3, who revealed the mayor directly cited the third-party report completed by TransPro and sent to the city last week.
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A group formed to oppose the Nashville transit referendum proposed by Mayor Freddie O’Connell warns the plan will have the largest financial impact on the city’s poorest population while boosting a bus system “plagued by crime” and offering minimal decreases to the city’s traffic congestion.
The Committee to Stop an UnFair Tax was organized in August when Axios reported former Metro Council Member Emily Evans, Davidson County Republican party leader Beth Campbell, and attorney Ferrell Neal were behind the effort.
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The co-chair of the Memphis Bus Riders Union is calling for metal detectors or security guards to be included on the city’s bus network after a shooting left a passenger injured on Saturday.
An argument on a bus reportedly led a Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) driver to eject a passenger on Saturday evening, with News Channel 3 reporting police said the disgruntled man then fired one bullet into the bus, grazing one person who required hospitalization.
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WeGo Public Transit in Nashville said on Friday it has now reached the high watermark of riders previously set in 2018, more than a year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that saw the number of Nashvillians using public transit cut in half.
News that Nashville’s bus system has reached its pre-pandemic ridership numbers comes as the city’s voters consider a $3.1 billion transit package, which will be on their November ballot at the request of Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Wednesday said the 2018 transit referendum, which was rejected by 64 percent of the city’s voters and supported by just 36 percent, would have been “pretty useful” for Nashville’s residents.
O’Connell spoke about the failed, 2018 referendum in an appearance on The Nashville Scene Podcast, where he compared the long-term benefits of mass transit to planting trees.
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell raised the infrastructure elements of his transit referendum as evidence that even Nashvillians who do not use the city’s bus system will benefit if it passes. He did not acknowledge the possibility the infrastructure elements are illegal under Tennessee law, as alleged by government watchdog Ben Cunningham.
O’Connell was interviewed about his transit referendum on Thursday by Nashville Scene. When asked about individuals who are only familiar with his proposed improvements to Nashville’s bus system, the mayor turned to the “improved infrastructure” promised in the referendum.
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Crom Carmichael, Green Hills resident and original all-star panelist of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, said the proposed upgrades and expansion plans for the WeGo Star, a commuter rail service which operates between Nashville and Lebanon, are “typical leftist ideas” that would not benefit Nashville taxpayers.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell is promoting lawlessness through his transit plan which will be presented to voters on the November 5 general election ballot.
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A man was shot three times at a WeGo bus stop in Nashville on Friday, marking the third violent crime related to the city’s bus system in under 10 days.
Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) confirmed the shooting and arrest of 19-year-old Dejuan Prime in a post to the social media platform X, explaining the crime happened on the steps of 4th Avenue North.
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Ron Shultis, the Director of Policy and Research for both the Beacon Center and Beacon Impact, said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit plan is subject to major changes if approved by voters on the November ballot.
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A report out of Los Angeles regarding the city’s crime rates on its public transportation services is being flagged by a local watchdog in Nashville as a glimpse of what Music City’s future may look like if Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s multi-billion-dollar transit plan is implemented.
O’Connell’s transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” would be funded by a half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax to construct miles of new sidewalks, bus stops, transit centers, parking facilities, and upgraded traffic signals around Nashville.
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Mayor Freddie O’Connell relaunched the Nashville Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) on Tuesday. An agenda posted to the city’s website reveals that committee members received a “Transit Referendum Briefing” during their recent meeting.
A Wednesday press release by O’Connell’s office explained the mayor “released a new map related to his Choose How You Move transportation improvement program” and revealed a map of “35 miles of new and improved bicycle facilities that would be covered” under his referendum.
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An independent accounting of the costs associated with the transportation referendum put forward by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Thursday claims the true cost of the mayor’s goals will swell to $6.93 billion over the 15-year life of the project.
O’Connell originally announced the cost of building the transportation improvements in his referendum would amount to about $3.1 billion, with additional annual operating costs of about $111 million.
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One month after announcing a transportation plan focused on more busses, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell reportedly requested a full safety review of the city’s public transportation service, WeGo, after a man was shot six times on the steps of the bus station located at Rep John Lewis Way & MLK Jr Blvd, according to WSMV.
On Thursday, the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) announced that a 31-year-old convicted felon was arrested for the shooting of an 18-year-old at the bus stop earlier in the day.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said the Nashville Mayor’s $3.1 billion transit referendum is a “ripoff” of the taxpayers who are not given a proper voice in the media to express opposition to the transportation plan.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell unveiled his $3.1 billion transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last month.
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell described his “Choose How You Move” transportation referendum as “very progressive” in a Wednesday interview, highlighting the endeavor as one of the most progressive acts of his administration.
O’Connell was asked by The Guardian, which describes itself as “the world’s leading liberal voice,” to what level he views himself “as a progressive leader in a state that is not politically progressive” following the 2022 redistricting process that split Nashville between multiple congressional districts.
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Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) released a statement Thursday in response to Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s proposed $3.1 billion transit referendum that will be presented to Davidson County voters on the November ballot.
AFP-TN State Director Tori Venable, noting how Nashville voters rejected then-Mayor Megan Barry’s $9 billion transit plan six years ago, acknowledged the dramatic cost difference in O’Connell’s plan while also pointing out the half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax that will be used to fund the plan.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said not only does Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit referendum appear to be illegal under the IMPROVE Act, but the transit plan’s overall vision of commuters suddenly switching over to public transport is “absurd.”
O’Connell unveiled his $3.1 billion transit plan, called “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last week, which would be funded through a half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax.
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell released the details of his transit referendum that is expected to go before voters in November, revealing his plans will cost $3.1 billion and be partially financed through a half-cent sales tax increase.
In a statement, O’Connell called his transit referendum “the best opportunity we’ve ever had to build out our priority sidewalks, to synchronize signals so you’re spending less time at red lights, and to connect neighborhoods via a better transit system that doesn’t have to come downtown just to go somewhere else.”
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Thursday provided details of how his proposed transit referendum would expand lines and services for the city’s bus system.
O’Connell posted the details to the social media platform X, where he wrote the bus transit improvements are “a key element” of his referendum. The mayor confirmed, “We’ll have local, frequent, new, and express service updates.”
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell claimed on Thursday that his transit referendum will include plans for approximately 600 new traffic signals, and that new technology will be used to streamline the flow of vehicle traffic in the Music City.
O’Connell addressed Nashville drivers in a series of posts to the social media platform X, writing, “one of the most important elements” to his “transportation improvement program” involves “how it improves how everyone moves, including people driving.”
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell attended a Monday evening meeting with the city’s leading business leaders and lobbyists in a bid to secure their support for his mass transit referendum scheduled for November.
The meeting between O’Connell and Nashville community leaders took place at the offices of Ingraham Industries Inc., according to the Nashville Business Journal, which reported the mayor met with many of the groups and individuals who backed the failed transit plan pitched by disgraced Mayor Megan Barry in 2018.
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A poll touted by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Wednesday, which claims the majority of the city’s residents want greater investments into public transits, admittedly over sampled black and Hispanic citizens in a bid to achieve “greater insight” into city’s mood.
The Imagine Nashville survey claimed that 74 percent of Nashville residents strongly agree with the city spending additional money on public transportation. The pollsters further claimed that 33 percent of respondents cited a lack of public transportation as an issue where the city needs to improve.
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The CEO of Ryman Hospitality Properties now says he was never on board for Nashville’s $9 billion light-rail plan, which went off the tracks at a May 1 referendum, the Nashville Business Journal said. The transit proposal came to a crashing halt after voters defeated it by 64-34 percent on May 1, The Tennessee Star reported at the time. Business supporters included McNeely Piggot & Fox, which handled the failed plan’s PR, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Predators. Now, the Nashville Business Journal says Colin Reed, CEO of Ryman Hospitality Properties, had some misgivings. “I had some of the same concerns that the ‘antis’ had,” the Nashville Business Journal quotes him as saying. “The notion of tearing up the middle of Broadway for an extended period of time, building a tunnel underneath and bringing it up somewhere on Broadway, concerned the living daylights out of me. Building rail lines in the middle of highways concerns the life out of me. This was a huge amount of money. What we have to fix is morning-time rush hour and evening-time rush hour. That’s where our problems reside here. I felt like this whole evolution we’re seeing with self-driving…
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TDOT’s leader said Nashville’s transit plan failed at the ballot box because it “had no bearing on regional traffic” and would not help anyone, the Nashville Business Journal reports. John Schroer made the comments at a town hall meeting last week at Williamson Inc., the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce. He is commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation. “It wasn’t going to help anybody, it was going down through the main corridors in Nashville,” the Journal said, quoting the Brentwood Home Page website. “Those were all state roads, and they had to get our approval … in order to do what they were going to do, but no one ever asked us about it.” Schroer referred to the $9 billion Nashville transit plan that failed in a May 1 referendum by a massive ratio of 64 percent against vs. 34 percent in favor. The Brentwood Home Page story quoted Schroer as saying Tennessee’s interstates are being used at only 20 percent of their capacity. “If you look at downtown Nashville, that’s not our issue. We do have traffic, we know we have traffic, but it can be better managed,” Schroer said. Technology and use of flexible work schedules can…
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A Middle Tennessee mayors association that pushed for Nashville’s failed $9 billion transit plan has handed out an award to State Rep. Susan Lynn (R-Mt. Juliet) as state legislator of the year. Voters in Nashville/Davidson County resoundingly rejected the transit plan by a 64 percent to 36 percent margin in a May 1 referendum. The Tennessee House Republicans issued a statement on the award Monday. Greater Nashville Regional Council honored as its legislator of the year during its May executive board meeting. This award is given annually to one member from both the House and Senate for their work towards the legislative priorities of area mayors. “As an organization, we are grateful to Rep. Lynn for her tireless efforts and continued leadership on behalf of Middle Tennesseans,” said City of Franklin Mayor Ken Moore, president of the Regional Council. Moore endorsed “Let’s Move Nashville” as “the first major step in constructing a regional transit system,” the Brentwood Homepage website said in March. The endorsement came after years of collaboration among regional leaders who serve on the Regional Council and its Transportation Policy Board (TPB). The TPB convenes mayors from across seven counties with transportation officials and is responsible coordinating regional plans and programs.…
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by Dr. Mark McDonald, Professor of the Practice of Civil Engineering at Lipscomb University There is no doubt after the transit referendum that the proposed master plan was found to be a train wreck by almost two of three voters. This is a most unfortunate situation, as the window of time to manage Nashville’s rapid growth is shrinking and if not managed competently, Nashville will pay dearly for it. In this article I will provide my insight as to why the plan failed, what I think is good and bad about the result, and where I believe Nashville should go from here. Let’s first of all establish a few baseline facts. Nashville’s surface streets in the urban core are approaching gridlock at peak hours. Nashville’s interstates are operating regularly at level of service F at peak times, when most of our citizens need the network to be reliable and efficient. Our primary arterials are operating at capacity, and we will have a very large number of people moving to middle Tennessee in the next 20 years. Our city’s infrastructure is totally unprepared to handle this population explosion, and to make matters worse, the additional motorists expected on our highways will…
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by Steve Gill Any election or referendum has a clear winner and loser after the votes are count-ed. The margins may be wide or slim, but the results are there in black and white. Every election cycle also produces less apparent winners and losers who were not on the ballot, and that is definitely the case with the Nashville transit tax battle. So, who were the winners and losers in the Barry-Briley Transit Tax referendum that was rejected by a nearly two to one margin? WINNERS 1. NASHVILLE TAXPAYERS, who avoided an unnecessary $9 billion boondoggle that would not have improved traffic congestion nor fixed Nashville roads and bridges. More importantly, they dodged having one of the highest sales tax rates in the country! 2. TAXPAYERS IN SURROUNDING COUNTIES, who would have been among those paying about 47% of the taxes for the Nashville transit scheme that would not have improved commuter traffic nor roads leading in to Nashville. 3. EVERY CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR NOT NAMED BRILEY, since every candidate for Mayor in the May 24th special election not named Briley was on the side of the 64% of Nashville voters who rejected the Briley tax increase. 4. THE…
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee–Voters in Nashville/Davidson County delivered a crushing defeat to the $9.2 billion transit plan proposed by disgraced former Mayor Megan Barry and supported by Acting Mayor David Briley, 64 percent to 36 percent on Tuesday. A record turnout of 122,477 voters cast their ballots, with 100 percent of all precincts reporting. Sixty-four percent of voters, 78,710, voted against the plan, and only 36 percent, 43,767, voted for it. A little more than 59,000 voters were cast during early voting, while about 63,000 were cast on Tuesday, election day. The sentiment against the transit plan was virtually the same during each voting period. Sixty-five percent of early voters opposed the plan, while only 35 percent supported it. Among those who voted on election day, 63 percent opposed the plan, while 37 percent supported it. The election day results were remarkably close to the results of a Tennessee Star Poll released on Monday April 16, which had 62 percent of voters opposing the plan with only 27 percent supporting it. The Tennessee Star was the only media outlet in Tennessee that conducted a poll on the Nashville Transit Plan. Transit for Nashville, the group that favored the plan, conceded the race…
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UPDATE: 9:15 pm Candidate Party Votes Percentage ★ Against 56,016 65% For 30,343 35% Total 86,359 8:45 pm NASHVILLE, Tennessee–“Tonight is a great victory for all of Nashville. A $9 billion transit boondoogle that benefited developers, construction companies, and engineering firms, and left the little guy out to dry has been defeated,” Nashville mayoral candidate Carol Swain said at the Victory Celebration for opponents of the transit plan hosted by her campaign. “As mayor, I will work to implement immediate and long term solutions to regional traffic congestion,” she added. “There is a short sprint to May 24, and I’m asking for your support in my bid for Mayor of Nashville. I pledge to create a government that works for you and not against you,” the former Vanderbilt professor concluded. 8:39 pm Candidate Party Votes Percentage ★ Against 46,931 65% For 25,600 35% Total 72,531 8:20 pm The Pro-Transit Group conceded at 8:20 pm after the first dozen precincts reported today. As of 8:25 pm, the vote total was: Candidate Party Votes Percentage Against 41,999 65% For 22,451 35% Total 64,450 Rep. Diane Black’s (R-TN-06) gubernatorial campaign released the following statement after the pro-transit group conceded: “Tonight, the voters of…
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Acting Mayor David Briley demonstrated that he is not ready for prime time when he repeatedly stumbled Monday night in his responses to questions about the Nashville Transit Plan to a large group of voters in Bellevue. The 90 minute meeting was intended to be a last minute pro-transit pep rally, but it ended up being more like the cross examination of a witness who was not particularly compelling. Briley admitted several things damaging to the plan during the evening. He conceded to the audience that he did not think he would get federal funding for the $9 billion transit plan, already criticized as being hugely and disproportionately expensive. He also admitted that residents of Bellevue are not likely to use the proposed mass transit system. “I don’t really understand how a $9 billion investment for 3 percent turns out to be a good investment for the majority of us,” one member of the audience said, and asked Briley to explain how that math made sense. “Lots of people are not going to get on light rail or any sort of transit. I know that. We’re not saying everybody should,” a defensive Briley responded. “What we’re saying is if we…
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NoTax4Tracks, a PAC that seeks alternatives to Metro Nashville’s $9 billion light rail plan, is making a final push to defeat the measure on today’s ballot. “From the beginning we knew that this transit plan had problems. We’ve been around government long enough to know that when you hide the price on page 55 of a plan, there is something fishy,” the group said in a newsletter Monday. NoTax4Tracks has previously pointed out that the light rail system would only serve 3 percent of Davidson County’s population and not cover most of the high-traffic areas. “The more we looked, the more we saw the fatal flaws, like it really doesn’t solve the congestion and hits those who can least afford it with one the biggest sales tax of any major city.” The group said a focus group in February provided three key messages for undecided voters: Does this really fix congestion and what areas does it cover? How much is this actually going to cost? How long will the streets be torn up to build this? NoTax4Tracks responded with fact-based commercials. “Online, if you can get 25% of the people to watch a thirty second commercial, you have a home run. Over…
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Early voting on Nashville’s light rail transit plan ended Thursday, April 26, but one group advocating for alternative transit planning is making a final push for Election Day. There is one more opportunity to vote on the transit plan as Election Day is Tuesday, May 1. In a newsletter Thursday, the NoTax4Tracks PAC said, “This plan is incredibly flawed and costly. What’s worse, it’s being forced onto Davidson County families and businesses before we have seen any alternatives. There are better, less expensive options than making families pay $43,000 in new taxes for a light rail system that won’t even reach them.” In a separate communication, NoTax4Tracks referred people to listen to an episode of the Nashville Sounding Board podcast discussing the light rail transit plan. Nashville Metro council members Freddie O’Connell and Angie Henderson were guests. O’Connell said, “I think that as a councilmember trying to do the best job of representing my constituents… I will say I think a mistake was made by the administration in preparing this plan was a lack of council engagement.” Henderson said, “Absolutely, I concur with that.” James Pratt wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in The Tennessean on Wednesday, April…
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A new poll first reported on Monday morning by Brian Wilson, host of 99.7 FM WTN’s Nashville’s Morning News, shows that likely voters in Nashville/Davidson County oppose the proposed $9 billion transit plan on the May 1 ballot by more than a 2 to 1 margin, 62 percent against to 28 percent in favor, with only 10 percent undecided. The Tennessee Star Poll of 607 likely voters in Nashville/Davidson County was conducted by Triton Research over a two day period between Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13 in an automated telephone (IVR) survey and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. When asked “If the election was held today, would you vote for or against the $9 billion Transit Plan and Tax?” poll respondents answered as follows: 62.4 percent said “Against the Transit Plan” 27.9 percent said “For the Transit Plan” 9.7 percent said “Don’t Know/Not sure” Voter interest in the May 1 Davidson County primary election and the referendum on the transit tax was high among the 607 poll respondents, all of whom were registered voters residing in Davidson County. Sixty-three percent of respondents said they “always vote,” 20 percent said they were “very…
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Brian Wilson, host of 99.7 FM WTN’s Nashville’s Morning News, will break a story on the results of a new Tennessee Star Poll on the Nashville Transit Plan that is on the May 1 ballot for approval or rejection by Nashville/Davidson County voters at 7:05 a.m. this morning, Monday April 16. You can listen to today’s broadcast of Nashville’s Morning News here. The Tennessee Star has provided these results to Wilson on an exclusive basis prior to the publication of the full details of the poll in The Star at 7:30 am. The Tennessee Star Poll, conducted over a two day period between April 12 and April 13, will be the first poll to give details of attitudes among likely voters in Nashville/Davidson County about the merits of the $9 billion transit plan whose fate they will determine at the ballot box on May 1. The long, twisting road to the May 1 Nashville/Davidson County voter referendum began in January of 2017, when Gov. Bill Haslam introduced the IMPROVE Act to purportedly fund road construction in the state by increasing the gas tax by 6 cents per gallon and the diesel fuel tax by 10 cents per gallon. Tucked away…
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