NashvilleNext Receives National Planning Award from the American Planning Association

Press Release, Washington, D.C. – NashvilleNext, a three-year regional planning effort providing a 25-year vision for Metro Nashville/Davidson County, Tennessee, has been named recipient of the American Planning Association’s (APA) prestigious 2016 Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan.

APA’s Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan is presented annually to a plan that advances planning—the work of building and enriching communities. The award is named for Daniel Burnham, one of the nation’s most renowned urban planners.

A combined effort by city planners, 17 metro departments, and over 18,500 community participants, NashvilleNext provides a plan of action to achieve the community’s long-term vision. It addresses seven distinct elements, updates all 14 of Nashville’s community plans, and refreshes the planning commission’s multimodal transportation and right-of-way plans.

“NashvilleNext is a true community-driven plan to guide and grow Nashville in a way that benefits everyone,” said Doug Sloan, Executive Director of Nashville’s Metropolitan Planning Department. “Receiving this award is an honor for Nashville itself, as so many community members were involved in the planning and continue to work toward implementing our vision to become an even greater city.”

The planning process was guided by four core values or goals for the city: opportunity and inclusion, economic prosperity, healthy environment, and efficient government. The planning staff focused on the contributing interests that most affect the daily lives of residents. From the extensive public engagement, two themes emerged as key issues: preserving rural and neighborhood character, culture, and diversity; and improving affordability, transit, and economic opportunity.

“The thorough approach NashvilleNext took to understanding the diverse concerns of the community in updating its general plan is a model for comprehensive city planning everywhere,” said W. Shedrick Coleman, 2016 APA Awards Jury chair.  “Community involvement is the foundation of sound planning and the surest indicator of its success.”

Read more about NashvilleNext.

The 2016 APA National Planning Award recipients will be honored at a special luncheon on April 4, 2016, during the APA National Planning Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The award winners will also be featured in the April 2016 issue of Planning magazine. For a list of all of the APA 2016 National Planning Excellence and Achievement Award recipients, visit www. planning.org/award.

APA’s national awards program, the profession’s highest honor, is a proud tradition established more than 50 years ago to recognize outstanding community plans, planning programs and initiatives, public education efforts, and individuals for their leadership on planning issues.

The American Planning Association is an independent, not-for-profit educational organization that provides leadership in the development of vital communities.APA and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, are dedicated to advancing the art, science, and profession of good planning–physical, economic and social–so as to create communities that offer better choices for where and how people work and live. APA has offices in Washington, D.C., and Chicago. For more information, visit www.planning.org .

My Comment: I guess we should feel honored and pleased, but somehow I don't.  What does it mean to say the plan had 18,500 participants.  That somehow is supposed to give the plan legitimacy. Some of the 18,500 participants are people who visited the website once or answered one survey.  Also, those at the meetings were not a representative cross section of Nashville; they were people who care a lot about planning issues or particular topics. If the session was on housing, there were not normal people at that session, there were advocates of affordable housing and the same for other session devoted to particular topics. 

I sort of feel like the process was a sham. I think the 18,500 participants were just props to justify a preconceived notion of what should be in the plan. I felt part of the plan was boilerplate text and they just changed the name of the city.  I don't really believe, "NashvilleNext is a true community-driven plan to guide and grow Nashville in a way that benefits everyone."

I did take part. I went to several of the public sessions.  I heard from some good speakers and enjoyed some thought provoking discussion. I put little sticky dots on various policy options. I played on the NashvilleNext website. I think all of this public participation however was designed to make it feel like like "a true community-driven plan."

I don't know how much this process cost. If you go to the NashvilleNext website you do not find that information. I think we would have been just as well served if the staff of the planning commission would have developed a plan, presented it to the Planning Commission, and after their approval it was sent to the Metro Council to be adopted after the Council had a public hearing. I would have felt like it was as much "my" plan as I feel the NashvilleNext is "my" plan. A mass of people cannot draw up a plan and 18,500 people can not develop a plan. Representative Democracy already has a mechanism for conducting the affairs of the public.

The plan is hundreds of pages long. I have not read it. I doubt many of the 18,500 participants have read it either, but it will give policy makers a justification for doing whatever they want to do, when they say, "It is in the NashvilleNext Plan. That is what the people of Nashville want."

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NashvilleNext is a done deal. Now, we will find out what it means.

Press Release from Craig Owensby of the Planning Commission - The plan is the result of three years of planning and community engagement, including guidance from issue-specific committees of local leaders and experts. The public engagement process has included more than 420 meetings and presentations and more than 18,500 participants. All of the input has been directed toward anticipating future growth, creating stronger communities and maintaining our quality of life by deciding where and how we grow. 

Community engagement in NashvilleNext involved a multistep process that asked Nashvillians about their hopes for the future and asked Nashvillians what land to preserve and develop to achieve their vision. A draft plan was made available to the public in late March, and comments and amendments were accepted through June 15. At a public hearing last week, the Commission heard amendments and comments from more than 60 Nashvillians. The general direction of the plan includes: 

•  Protecting and restoring Davidson County’s natural and rural areas 
• Creating a more robust transit network 
• Encouraging housing affordability and the de-concentration of poverty 
• Encouraging new development in walkable centers and along corridors while preserving the character of existing neighborhoods 
• Guiding growth to make Nashville welcoming for new residents and improving quality of life for existing Nashvillians 

The plan also provides guidance in the areas of Education and Youth, Arts and Culture, and Economic and Workforce Development. FOR MORE INFORMATION on NashvilleNext, call (615) 862-NEXT (6398) or email info@nashvillenext.net. You can also keep up with NashvilleNext on Facebook and Twitter.

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What Is NashvilleNext? City's 1,000-Page Plan For the Future Explained In 90 Seconds

What Is NashvilleNext? City's 1,000-Page Plan For the Future Explained In 90 Seconds

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NashvilleNext Pubic Hearing June 15th 3PM

The Metro Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the NashvilleNext countywide long-term plan on Monday, June 15, at 3 pm, in the Sonny West Conference Center in the Howard Office Building, 700 Second Ave South. 

Public comments will begin around 4 pm and continue through the evening; community members may sign in to speak beginning at 2:30 and as long as the hearing is open.

Can't be there Monday evening? Metro 3 will be live-streaming the meeting, and you still have time to submit comments (until noon on June 15) by email, phone at (615) 862-NEXT (6398), or online on the Concept Map (desktop only).

If you would like to request to speak during the meeting, please fill out this form and bring it with you ahead of time. (Forms will also be provided at the meeting, but bringing a completed form will reduce waiting times.) Each speaker will have two minutes to present his/her comment. All requested amendments will then become proposed amendments that the Planning Commission will consider for its June 22 meeting.

Check out the walkthrough video below for more information, and we hope to see you on June 15! And remember: You can keep up with NashvilleNext at NashvilleNext.net, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

My Comment (similar to my emailed  comment to the Planning Commission) : I have not read the 1,000 + page report and a casual reading would not inform anyway.  This is the kind of thing that needs to be studied.  If one does not have a background in land use issues, there would be a steep learning curve to understand what one was reading.  I think the way this thing is being rammed through is a disgrace. 

Sure, it was three years in the making and 50,000 people participated (or what ever number) in developing it, but that does not give it legitimacy. I went to several of the public meetings. I listened to some good speakers. I put little sticky dots on preferred options, which in a way was insultingly simplistic choices. The questions were often of the kind like, "Do you prefer bad, or do you prefer good." I sat at tables in small groups and brainstormed and I listed on the website things I like about Nashville and things I wanted changed.  Still, I think that this public process was all "dog and pony" show.  I felt I was no more than a prop. The public participation was for show. 

I suspect the plan is boilerplate and the name of the city is simply changed. I don't know what is in the plan.  Maybe it is a great plan, but I think it is so massive that no one will actually know what it does until it is passed and then applied. Someone told me it plans for greater density and what is generally thought of as "new urbanism" or "smart growth."  Actually, I think we must have greater density in order to have good mass transit and I support a relaxation of the type zoning that strictly separates land uses.  If that is what is in the plan, I will probably actually like it, but I think people should know what they are getting, and not just in general, but how the plan would change their neighborhood and their street.

The General Plan is very important. Here is why and how zoning works.  If some one wants to do something with their property that under current zoning they do not have a right to do they propose a rezoning. The planning department evaluates the proposal for conformity with the General Plan. If it is in conformity with the General Plan, they recommend approval to the Planning Commission, the Planning Commission recommends approval to the Council and the Council, after a public hearing, can pass it with a simple majority. 

If the proposal is not in conformity to the General Plan, the Planning Commission recommends disapproval and then it takes 27 votes of the Council to pass it, but a council member does not have to move forward with a disapproved bill. The council cannot refuse to introduce a bill in conformity with the General Plan.  The council does not vote on the General Plan, once approved by the Planning Commission, that is it.

The current General Plan has sub area plans that were developed by committees of citizens guided by the staff of the planning commission.  The NashvilleNext plan has changed "sub area" plans to "community" plans, but no one from the communities had input in developing the community plan.  Please put off the adoption of the plan and adopt it in phases, chapter at a time or whatever and then community subarea at a time, only after their has been a process of citizen input in each community. We are buying a pig in a poke with this plan and being sold the idea that it is a plan developed to reflect the will of the people. I'm not buying it.

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NashvilleNext and its impact on community/subarea plans - Subarea plans changed with no neighborhood input.

This was posted to the Nashvilleneighborhoods google group by Tish Bolian who is a neighborhood leader in the Hillwood community. I think her view represents the view of many who have been involved in the NashvilleNext process.

From Tish Bolian:

By now, I am sure that all of you are more than keenly aware of
NashvilleNext and many issues involving it and the extraordinary timeframe
for responding or seeing any changes. I have been to quite a number of the
NashvilleNext meetings, responded to surveys, gone to presentations, talked
to staff, etc. Even though I have done that, I learned quite by happenstance
through someone plodding through documents here in our neighborhood that the planning department has totally changed our Subarea Plans (now
"community Plans") and then we are to refer to 2 huge massive 4 in. binders
for answers to land use and other applicable issues regarding our
neighborhoods and areas of concern.  

If you recall, they promised us allthat when NashvilleNext was complete, they would get back to updating the remainder of all of the subarea plans. Now, they are updating them for us with no heads up and no neighborhood involvement into that process and basically making NashvilleNext (the vision of Nashville for the next 25 years) include NashvilleNow (our subarea plans they now call Community Plans).

I am more than a bit concerned about the impact to all of us and our
neighborhoods, hears at planning, BZA, the council, etc. I just wanted all
to be sure they were aware of this. Time for input was just at 1 month
though they will accept comment into this week. The community had 4 weeks to respond what they worked on for 3 years (with several deadline extensions for their process). I am so very concerned re this and just wanted to be sure all were aware.  
 
Trish (Hillwood)

We are having NashvilleNext crammed down out throats with no opportunity for input! And, without knowing what is in it. The planners will claim x thousand people participated in the process and it was three years in the making. The truth is, after the plan was written they gave people one month to understand the plan and how it effects their community and to comment.  One would have to read all 1,700 boring technical pages of it and be well-versed in the jargon to have a clean understanding of the plan. The plan will be approved by the Planning Commission; it does not have to go to the Council for approval.  The usual community organizers are not raising a stink about this process because they probably like what is in the plan. The professional or semi-professional community organizers do not necessarily have the same interest as regular neighborhood leaders despite the often times successful tactic of coopting neighborhood leaders.

I myself am primarily concerned about other metro issues and not planning and zoning, so I have not read the full 1,700 pages and studied it, but I hope neighborhood leaders rise up and call their councilmen and ask their councilman to stop the planning commission from adopting this NashvilleNext as the city's planning document until there has been a systematic opportunity for neighborhood input, very similar to the sub-area planning process. This does not pass the smell test.

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Final public meetings for NashvilleNext to be held Monday

Final public meetings for NashvilleNext to be held Monday #Nashville

(WKRN) – Monday night will be the final night of public meetings for Nashvillians to learn about NashvilleNext, a plan for the city's next 25 years....Both meetings will run from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. One will be held at the Bellevue Library, and the other at the Madison Police Precinct.

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Are you engaged in the NashvilleNext process? We need to slow down the process and actually read it.

I know I ought to, but I have not yet read the NashvilleNext plan.  This three year process that cost us $x million dollars to develop (a lot of money, I do not have the figure) and had the participation of 17,000 Nashvillians has now produced a draft.

The reason I have not read and analyzed and commented on the NashvilleNext draft is that I have been more interested in other things, such as the Council agenda, the race for mayor and Council and the financing of those races, Bob Corker's effort to keep the President from unilaterally approving a nuclear arms deal with Iran, various pieces of state legislation and what is going on at the School Board and the search for a new Director of schools and other things.

Another reason, is that I feel the whole thing is somewhat of a sham.  I attended the first meeting rolling out the NashvilleNext process and a lot of meetings since then. I heard some interesting speakers. I sat in small groups and shared my vision for the future. I put little sticky dots on various policy options and I put my opinion on sticky notes. I went on line and shared my opinion about a lot of things. Somewhere along the way however, I felt like I was no more than a prop. I got the feeling, that this was all one "big dog and pony show" to make people feel like it was "our" plan and a plan developed by the people. I lost my motivation to participate.

Some of the questions in acquiring input were almost insulting, they were of the type, "Do you like good development or bad development."  And some of the choices were of the type that the answer had to be "yes" or "no" when the answer should be, "if done in a responsible way, respecting private property rights, then yes."  I suspect the people doing NashvilleNext already have a template and change the name of the city.  One  scientific poll would have probably presented a better gage of what people want than the three years of public input that went into NashvilleNext. One thing wrong with gaining pubic input the way NashvilleNext did, is that the participants providing the input select themselves.  They may not be representational. Also, while the planners brag about 17,0000 participants, that may mean someone showed up for part of one meeting or logged on and quickly logged off of a NashvilleNext video.

Another thing I see wrong with this process, is that to fully participate, it would have almost been like a full-time job.  Even civically engaged people like myself have other thing that interest them and they have private lives.  I would have liked to have watched the Metro budget hearings this year but simply did not have the time. One can not stay informed about everything.  One has to pick and choose their involvements. So, those most engaged in NashvilleNext are those for whom this is a priority.  It is those with an agenda who feel passionate about the topic. Anyway, I do hope to get re-engaged in the NashvilleNext process before it is a done deal, but time is running out.

The two minute  video above is an overview. To see other short video on specific areas of the plan, such as transit, neighborhoods, and centers, follow this link. To read the NashvilleNext draft plan, follow this link. While an overview may make you feel informed, be aware that the full text of NashvilleNext is hundreds of pages long. Volume one is 151 pages long. The devil may be in the details.

There are opportunities to get involved:

• April 18: Tennessee State University (Downtown Campus), 10am - 1:30 pm
• April 20: 5 - 7pm at both the North Nashville Police Precinct and the Edmondson Pike Branch Library
• April 27: 5 - 7pm at both the Madison Police Precinct and the Bellevue Branch Library

I would like an independent review of the plan from someone who is somewhat knowledgeable about planning, and who values private property rights and limited government.  All we are going to get from The Tennessean are puff pieces and with their limited news staff, I doubt they have actually had anyone read the plan. I do not expect any reporters to be informed enough to ask serious questions about the plan.  With newspapers and other media outlets reducing the news hole and tailoring their news to give people the news they want, we can only rarely expect journalist to be the experts and informed enough to ask hard questions.

If you have read NashvilleNext and have an opinion, I would welcome you sharing  it on this blog or if you are reading this on Facebook, please let me know what you think.  If you share my values of limited government and private property rights and would like to actually read and analyze the draft and write an essay, sharing your view to the document, I would like to talk to you about posting such an essay. Email me at Rodwilliams47@yahoo.com.

Several neighborhood activist are expressing reservations about the NashvilleNext process. Below is an email written by Tish Bolian to NashvilleNext. I am not sure which neighborhood she represents but I know she is a neighborhood leader.

I am finding it rather impossible for people to have adequate time to

review, critique, get feedback to given feedback, etc. in the time

allotted.

  

This has been a plan 2 years in the making. To basically give citizens a few

weeks to read, understand, go to a handful of meetings is not appropriate in

my view.

  

I know you have changed the timeframe several times to meet your needs.

  

I am now asking you to change the timeframes to meet the needs of the

community and the neighborhoods. Spring is the busiest time of year for

everyone. To add this and the intensity and time it takes is inappropriate

given its importance. 

   

Please have more public meetings and contact all those involved in community  plan development (you have their e mail addresses) and give them a chance to have you explain what you are changing in their community plan, why, get  feedback, etc.  To carry out this kind of change without that courtesy is inappropriate. 

   

I wrote to you before a critique of the process and made recommendations for change in part give people more opportunity for dialog (without the

ridiculous maps and stickies that no one can see and inaudible hearing

rooms such as the Bridge Building). You want this to reflect

Nashville...then it needs input from its citizens in forums where they can

ask questions, hear proposals, give input and know what is done with their

feedback.

This rush to meet a deadline when you have changed it multiple times to meet your needs is rather insulting to taxpayers aka citizens of Nashville. This document is far too important to all neighborhoods toward the future to rush this through. 

Trish Bolian Nashville, TN 37205

Margo Chambers, a leader of the Richland West End neighborhood group is urging people to object to the plan.

 Two ways to register our opinion on this is to
1. Reserve June 10 on our calendars. This is thr Date of the MPC public Hearing of the adoption of the proposed General Plan - which apparently contains far more density than has been communicated.

2. Log on, now, to the MPC website. Find your "future" Community Plan. If you do NOT agree with what has been proposed, simply leave a comment of 'Do not Support such & such proposed Community Plan', your name & email. Get your neighbors to do the same. At this point, I would not recommend getting any more 'specific' than a No Support.
The Metro Planning department is chronically not specific with us; I think a dose of their own medicine is now required.

Reminder: Metro Council does not approve the General Plan.
Only the unelected Metro Planning COMMISSIONERS get to approve an 'adoption' of the new General Plan. In my opinion, the MPC has proven itself to be tone deaf to the public for the last 3 years, AT LEAST.

Margo Chambers
Richland West End

Long  term neighborhood activist John Stern has expressed concern about the limited opportunities for input on the specific area plans.

One reason I think this plan is being pushed through the way it is, is because Nashvillians want two contradictory thing.  We want to preserve opens space, reduce urban sprawl and maintain the low-density character of our communities and yet still have great mass transit.  Those are contradictory things.  You cannot have low density and great mass transit.  You cannot have low density and avoid urban sprawl. I suspect planner know this, if not the public, so I suspect that in the details of the hundreds of pages of text is a prescription for much greater population density.

We need to slow down the push to get NashvilleNext approved and let people learn what is in it before it is passed.  Nancy Pelosi famously said about Obama care, "we have to pass it so we will know what is in it."  We don't want the planning commission to pass NashvilleNext and then then find out what is in it. We don't want to assume that because 17,0000 people "participated" in the development of the plan and it took three years to produce it that, that makes it a good plan.

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NashvilleNext is ready for review and comment: The Draft Plan - Vision, Trends, & Strategies.

I was at the very first meeting of the NashvilleNext project and attended numerous of the various meetings that occurred over the last two years and I posted on their website and took the surveys.  Now the plan is prepared and ready for public consumption.  Somewhere along the way I lost my appetite.

I did my part; I brainstormed in small groups, I put little sticky dots on various options, and I answered surveys. I reached a point however in which I thought I was being led around by the nose. I reached a point to where I thought this is sham.  The plan is already written and there is a boilerplate template somewhere where they will simply change the name of the city. 

Surprise, surprise: Nashville wants less congested roads, affordable housing, walkable communities, good schools, low crime and economic opportunity.  I could have told you that without spending millions of dollars and two years. I don't know how much NashvilleNext cost, but I am sure it was not cheap.

While NashvilleNext did engage a lot of citizens, that does not necessarily make it any more democratic than if the same input would have been gathered from a single pubic hearing.  Council members are elected; no one elected the participants in the NashvilleNext process.  The planning staff and metro council could have come up with NashvilleNext plan and then had a single public hearing and I think the result would be the same.  Why should the opinions of those who showed up be given greater weight than those who didn't?

I am doing other things and I have not read the final report. I don't really know what is in the final product. I just know the generalities. However, to ensure, we are not getting a future we don't want a lot of people need to read it. They are calling this "the peoples plan." Anything that claims to represent "the people," somehow concerns me.  Especially if "the people" who contributed were self selected rather than democratically elected.

I do hope to read NashvilleNext soon. However, I hope some other skeptics of grand plans read it and makes sure it does not lead to the adoption of policies that impact our freedom and property rights.  It probably does not, but someone needs to be objectively reviewing the plan. Most plans gather dust on a shelf and never do more than inform the thinking of a few people. Also, plans can turn on a dime when circumstances change. Long range planning never envisioned Music Valley Dr. and Opry Mills and The Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, yet when an investor showed up with the money the plan changed.  A developer with money can turn a plan on its head and on the other hand, all the good plans in the world can not make something happen if someone does not want to develop in accordance with the plan.  Still, I am not opposed to planning. It is good to have some established guidelines even if they are subject to change. Some plans are really bad plans however and we should be pleased they never went into effect. Some of what causes our problems today are a result of plans that sounded good at the time.

Here is the link to the NashvilleNext website. I hope someone whose opinion I trust gets involved and can inform the rest of us what is in the final document.

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Tonight Oct. 30th: See the Future at upcoming NashvilleNext meetings.

I have kind of lost interest in NashvilleNext.  When the process first started a couple years ago, I attended several of the meeting and heard experts speak on a wide range of issue involving land use, planning, and mass transit and changing demographics.  I have always been somewhat interested in these topics and do think that one of the reasons some cities are much more desirable places to live than other cities is because of wise planning.  I found the sessions interesting and thought-provoking.  I also took part in the on-line surveys and some of the discussion session.  In the work sessions I put my opinions on little post-em notes and I put my allocated little post-em dots on the choices offered. 

Recently however, I have felt like this is all one big "dog and pony show" and the results have already been determined and the public participation is just for show. Also, some of the choices come down to something like, "do you like good, or do you like bad?" I feel like we are being led to a pre determiend conclusion. 

I was disappointing that there has not been much diversity of opinion at these meetings. This process started about the same time as the craziness about Agenda 21 was at its peak, when the John Birch Society was training Agenda 21 experts to resist any aspect of Agenda 21.  People were being warned that there was a major conspiracy afoot to force us to give up our cars and golf courses and suburban lifestyle and all live in small apartments in the city. The Anti-Agenda 21 people were alerting us that you could id advocates of Agenda 21 if they used words like "sustainability," "communities," "affordable housing," and "justice". Everything from green ways to wide shady sidewalks to bike share programs to traffic calming was said to be part of the plot. Surprisingly, none of the anti-agenda 21 people showed up at NashvilleNext. They could have had field day!  I guess I am glad they didn't show up but it would have at least presented some diversity of opinion. It would have made the meetings more interesting.

The value for planners of this NashvilleNext process is that after the plan is adopted they can say, this plan was developed by the people of Nashville in a long involved process and it really is the "people's plan," that it represents community consensus and that x number of people attended x number of meetings an x number of people participated on line. I don't know how much this process is going to cost us by the time we are finished.  I tried to find that answer on line but couldn't. I think we would be about as well off it we would have let the planning department and their consultants draw up the plan, present it to the planning commission, then the Metro Council, had a public hearing, and then the Council adopt it. I don't think the NashvilleNext process makes the final product any more valid than if we would have followed the legislative process I outlined above and it would have cost a lot less.

While I have lost interest in the process, I still may attend one of the meetings to "see the possible future that Nashvillians picked." If one cares about the future of Nashville and wants to be informed, I think one should attend.  I would suggest anyone who is thinking about running for Council attend and learn what is in the plan. Also, I hope that some people will dig deep into the final documents to see what it is we are exactly getting when the final plan is adopted. The process by which this plan was developed should not make members of the Council any less diligent in examining it before they adopt it.

Below is the announcement from Cumberland Region Tomorrow:

NashvilleNext: “Preferred Future” workshops announced. Make plans to attend!

Make plans to attend one of five upcoming NashvilleNext community gatherings in October and November to see the possible future that Nashvillians picked and discuss what’s next for Nashville!

During the meeting, Metro Planning will present a “preferred future”– a direction our city and county could possibly take over the next 25 years. This “preferred future” is based on thousands of comments by and conversations with community members over the past year and a half.

Public input on this “preferred future” will help shape a draft General Plan which will guide Nashville community’s growth, progress, and preservation through 2040.
CRT’s role with NashvilleNext is to engage our ten county region’s leaders in the development of a unified vision and plan for Nashville’s future growth and development. Please take the time to attend and provide your input at one of these important community meetings:

Thursday, October 30th at 5 pm–Rocketown (601 Fourth Avenue South)
Monday, November 3rd at 6pm–Whites Creek High School
Thursday, November 6th at 6pm–Hillwood High School
Monday, November 10th at 6pm–McGavock High School
Thursday, November 20th at 6 pm –Southeast Library Complex (at the Global Mall)

For additional information, visit the NashvilleNext website.

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Will you help plan Nashville's next 25 years?

Saturday, Oct. 12 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. The Bridge Building, 2 Victory Ave. With the skyline and the Cumberland River as our backdrop, community members will create maps of Nashville's potential future using thousands of NashvilleNext comments as guidelines.    This event is open to the public, but space is limited, so we ask that you let us know you're coming and indicate a time you would like to participate. The exercise takes about 90 minutes and is our biggest step yet toward creating a plan that reflects Nashvillians’ vision for our future. Join us! Questions? Email info@nashvillenext.net or call (615) 862-NEXT (6398). Free food | Free parking

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Which issues should get the most attention as we plan for our community's future?

Over the last several months, NanshvilleNext received over nine thousand ideas for Nashville’s future – and they are now starting to narrow those down into a list of broad values which will anchor the rest of the planning process.

NashvilleNext wants your help in selecting the most important issues raised in the first round of public input.  They have developed a short survey which asks you to name your five top priorities. 

 

Take the survey

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Report from the "NashvilleNext Mayor" planning event

I attended the last of the NashvilleNext public community meetings today. I was disappointed to see only about 25 people in attendance, not counting the dozen or so people either with the planning department or an art project that was part of the activities. I spoke to someone with the art project who had attended all of the public "NashvilleNext Mayor" events. She said one of them had about 75 people in attendance and one had as few as maybe a dozen people.

We set at tables grouped by regions and drew up "campaign planks" to reflect what we wanted as part of our vision for Nashville. There was one planner and four other people beside myself at our table, included my old friend, environmentalist Burce Woods. We had lively discussion on a variety of issue. 

In a discussion of homelessness, I pointed out that we already had an aggressive policy to combat homelessness and pointed out that it was a complex problem to solve.  I suggested that some government policies such as financing downtown development or strict codes enforcement that prohibited large homes from being subdivided, contributed to the problem.  I was of the opinion that we could not make substantial headway in doing much more about combating homelessness than we are already doing.

In a discussion of "affordable living," I argued that to keep Nashville affordable we needed to keep taxes low and argued that raising taxes could drive people across the county line to live and reduce the tax base.

I got included in our table's "transit" plank language that called for transit choices that avoided price-fixing, used market forces, and welcomed entrepreneurs.

While these public input session have concluded, one can still contribute online.  One my make their own suggestion or "like" the suggestion someone else has made. I have probably made about a dozen suggestions.

Do you want charter schools? Do you want to keep the fair grounds? Do you prefer more bike lanes and fewer traffic lanes, or making our streets user-friendly for drivers? Do you want to preserve the honky tonk row on lower Broadway? Do we need to add more parks and greenways as Nashville grows?  Do you want to hold the line on taxes? Go to "NashvilleNext by MindMixer" to join the discussion and make your suggestions. To read the background papers and hear the expert guest speakers that have been part of this process, go to this link.

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Where were you when they planned the future of Nashville?

NashvilleNext is the process for creating a new General Plan which will guide growth and "progress" in Davidson County through 2040. Community members shared over 5700 thoughts and opinions in the first phase of NashvilleNext; the next step is to refine those into guiding principles, goals for the future based on that initial public input.   Several meeting have taken place in this next step, and only two more remain. There will be one "Be the NashvilleNext Mayor" meeting tomorrow evening at the North police station from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM and another Saturday morning at Metro's Howard Office Building, 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM. If you want input into this process, opportunities are running out. 

 

Below is a video of a recent NashvilleNext meeting:

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What are your priorities for Nashville? Speak out!

Your input is needed at public meetings around the city this month. You can help decide what our city should focus on as we create a plan for Metro Nashville's future. Conversations in South Nashville and Madison last week got the process started.  Conservatives are poorly represented at these meetings. They are simply not taking part; liberals are!

 If your priority is to save the fairgrounds, hold the line on taxes, privatize public services, have school choice, curtail crony capitalism, curtail corruption, end abuse of imminent domain,  have something that resembles a free market in transportation that abolishes minimum price controls, protection of private property rights, then please attend one or more of the events listed below and share what you would do if you were the "NashvilleNext Mayor." 

 Monday, July 15: Crossings Event Center, 5130 Hickory Hollow Parkway, Antioch – doors open at 5:30 map to the Crossings Event Center

Thursday, July 18: The Temple - Congregation Ohabai Sholom, 5015 Harding Pike – doors open at 5:30 map to The Temple - Congregation Ohabai Shalom

Tuesday, July 23: North Police Precinct, 2231 26th Avenue North – doors open at 5:30 map to the North Police Precinct 

Saturday, July 27, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm: Sonny West Conference Center, Howard Office Building (formerly Howard School), 700 Second Avenue South – doors open at 9:30map to the Sonny West Conference Center

 

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Nashvillenext meeting Monday July 8th

Community meetings will begin next Monday, July 8, to help decide what our city should focus on as we create a plan for Metro Nashville's future.

Everyone is welcome - six meetings will be held around the city during July.

Help decide what our city should focus on as we create a plan for Metro Nashville's future - by joining the discussion at a series of public meetings around Metro Nashville during July.  All meetings except the last one will be held from 5:30 - 8:30 pm.

Schedule and locations

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What do you want for the future of Nashville?

For some months now, Nashville has been in the process of developing a plan for Nashville for the next twenty-five years. If your goal for Nashville is privatization, lower taxes, less government, keeping the fairgrounds, abolishing the Human Relations Commission, Charter Schools, or something else, please speak up. You can rest assured those who want a Nashville to be a microcosm of California are speaking up. Planned or not, change will occur. If future bureaucrats and elected officials do not hear from you then they will assume the majority agree with whatever plan comes out of the Nashville Next planning process. The following is from NashvilleNext:

Please take a short survey and share your thoughts with us!

We've just published a new NashvilleNext Community Survey, and we hope you'll take a few moments to tell us what you think. Click here to get started now.

Thanks, and we're looking forward to hearing your feedback.

This is an open, transparent process, yet the "progressive" element has been dominating the input. Too often conservatives sit on the sidelines and then complain that they had no input. Please get involved. 

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"The High Cost of America's Inefficient Development Patterns" is now available online

William Fulton's April 22 presentation on "The High Cost of America's Inefficient Development Patterns" is now available online, along with brief comments from audience members and key slides from his PowerPoint. This was very informative. I attended this meeting and have attended most of them. I encourage anyone who is concerned about the future of Nashville to get involved in the NashvilleNext planning process. The presentations of all previous speakers are online.

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NashvilleNext tonight addresses Smart Growth

William Fulton AICP, Smart Growth America's Vice President and Director of Policy Development and Implementation, will discuss "The High Cost of America's Inefficient Development Patterns" at 5:30 pm Monday, April 22, at the Nashville Children's Theater, 25 Middleton Street.

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The next meeting of NashvilleNext is Monday April 8th:Ways of bringing new life and additional sustainability to our suburbs.

From NashvilleNext

Dear Rod,

Our next event's coming up next Monday, April 8, as Ellen Dunham Jones, professor of architecture and urban planning at Georgia Tech, discusses possible ways of bringing new life and additional sustainability to our suburbs.

 Please join us for this visionary presentation - and share this message with others who have an interest in Nashville's future.

Connect with NashvilleNext Be sure to find NashvilleNext online!

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New Report from Vandy U. offers road map for Nashville Schools

As part of the long-range planning NashvilleNext initiative, Vanderbilt University and David Lipscomb University education experts have prepared a report on the status of public education in Nashville and have make recommendations for the future. (read more)

I would encourage those who care about the future of pubic education in our community to get involved in the planning process of NashvilleNext. Future decisions will be justified based on their conformity to this plan and the plan will guide decision makers.  If only advocates of bigger government, higher taxes, and social engineering are involved in developing the plan, then the plan will reflect those values. If advocates of individual liberty, property rights, and excellence in education are at the table those values may be reflected in the plan.  The plan needs the input of all Nashvillians.

I have not yet read the full 40 page education report but plan to do so.  I hope those who care about the future of education in our community will read the report and then get involved in the NashvilleNext planning process.

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