District 34 Councilmember Angie Henderson is a veteran legislator who has gained the respect of her constituents and colleagues over the past eight years and is currently running for vice mayor. The Contributor talked with Henderson as part of a series called A Few Questions With where we interview councilmembers about their district’s most pressing issues.
You were elected in 2015. How would you describe the changes of the past eight years in District 34?
I would say the pace of development has been fairly constant over that time. We’ve seen mostly residential development. In addition, I have seen some capital improvements in my district that I have been pleased about, sidewalks and so forth, connecting folks to parks.
What are the main concerns you hear from your constituents?
There is a lot of concern about stormwater and that does go back to the aggregating impact of infill development, tree loss due to the Emerald Ash Borer epidemic and the derecho that hit our area pretty hard. All that is having an impact on mitigating stormwater. And then more holistically for Nashville, folks do have concerns about the feeling of volatility. Just all the challenges we have been through as a city from the tornado, the bombing, the derecho, the pandemic, all that seems to have created a general uneasiness as to the direction of the city. I also hear a lot of frustration about the downtown tourist engine. Folks say it doesn’t feel good to go downtown anymore.
How would you describe your constituency?
District 34 stretches all the way from Bellevue, where I represent apartment communities, across single-family residential neighborhoods up into Green Hills, where I also have some apartment communities. While my district is perhaps not as diverse a constituency as the majority of [those] of my colleagues, I certainly see different challenges and concerns [regarding the] level of income and housing uncertainty. The last time I checked mine was the district with the most seniors. We have a high level of education, a lot of doctors, a lot of lawyers, engineers. When they have questions about a problem, they want a very detailed answer and I’m pleased to give it to them. My district trends a little bit more conservative than other districts. I would say this is kind of a purple district politically.
You hold a degree in Growth & Structure of Cities. Can you explain briefly what that means, and secondly, how do you think Metro Council can help Nashville grow in a healthy way?
I went to Bryn Mawr College. It’s a women’s college outside of Philadelphia. I really loved going to school there because I could get on a train and be in downtown Philly in about 20 minutes. The Growth & Structure of Cities major is a liberal arts approach to urban studies, history of urban form, urban sociology, economics, politics. So, I tell folks, I use my college major every day at work. For the second part of the question, we can learn so much from the patterns of historical cities and how they grew, whether they maintain their grid structure. We kind of have a “hub and spoke” [structure] here in Nashville, which is how folks refer to our pikes coming out from our center. That has a lot of implications on transportation and how we can get around our city and how folks can have access to opportunity. And so Metro Nashville has struggled somewhat with urban sprawl. There was a time when not every family had multiple cars. You got around on foot or trolleys and so forth. We were at a denser, walkable scale. At this time, we are largely car-dependent and that is not particularly healthy. I think to have a healthy city, it is really crucial that we put some grid back, to the extent that we can, in some of our suburban areas to make it more walkable, implement some mixed-use [developments] and have that oriented to transit.
How does Nashville ensure the most vulnerable populations are not left behind?
I do feel strongly that transit and transportation, our bus-based system really, has to be excellent to connect communities and to connect people, to connect folks to opportuni- ties. You should not have to have the expense of a car to be able to have a job and a good quality of life and enjoy your time in a city and thrive here. And so, I think it’s imperative that we move towards dedicated funding for our transportation system. I would assert that first there needs to be a really excellent bus system so that folks can get across town, downtown, wherever they need to go. And I think that really has positive implications on cost of living and access to opportunities.
Do you think with the new transportation department, Nashville is on the right track?
WeGo is doing a really great job working their actionable strategic plan adding transit shelters or increasing frequency on a certain corridor as funding allows. I think NDOT, our Nashville Department of Transportation, which used to be Public Works, you know, it’s going through some growing pains. There’s been a lot of leadership change there over these multiple administrations. We’ve had a fair number of plans. The big transportation plan, then the new transportation plan, then we had a walk and bike strategic plan and a walk and bike strategic plan update, then a vision zero plan, and now a connect downtown plan, and it feels somewhat disjointed. Again, a lot of great folks, well-intentioned, but there is still a lot of work to do there.
You are running for Vice Mayor. What made you decide to take this next step and what are your top priorities?
I have enjoyed the policy work during my service. I have engaged with several countywide bills for our zoning code, whether that be elevat- ing and expanding our sidewalk requirements, adding street view requirements, elevating the requirements for trees to be planted or saved with commercial or multifamily development. Legislating for Davidson County, because it is 526 square miles with a wide variety of contexts, is very complex. It’s not particularly easy, and we have got a lot of work to do as it relates to land use because land use is inextricably related to affordability and environment. We’ve done some good things with parking policy, eliminating some of our parking mini- mums, first aligned with our transit corridors and then looking at our urban zoning overlay. So, we’ve been doing a lot of good work. I really feel we need to do our policy work with strategic intention. The vice mayor as the president of the council, which is our legislative policy body, can be a support, a help, an organizer, so that we do work in concert with each other with strategic intention. It’s a difficult job. There is a lot on the plate of a councilmember, in what is at present still a part-time job. So, it is imperative that our office be organized in such a way that it can support councilmembers. I’m term limited and I can pack it up and be proud of my policy work and go home. But I see so many things that we can improve and so much more work that we need to do together, and I think it’s important to have somebody leading and supporting the body, the councilmembers themselves, in the work that they do.
And why did you choose vice mayor versus an at-large council seat?
I had some concerns about the current leadership. And so, as I thought about continuing to do policy as an at-large councilmember [or vice mayor], I thought my skill set is well-suited to help councilmembers who are new or returning with their policy goals and how we can get those aligned [to move Nashville forward]. It goes back to that strategic intention. My success in major policy work and my personality, my ability to listen, collaborate and support my colleagues, I just think I’m well-suited for that role.