When I first met Councilmember Bob Nash, he impressed me by handing me an article in The New York Times about the effectiveness of Housing First. That’s when I realized he cares about actual solutions to complex issues such as homelessness.
The Contributor talked with Nash as part of a series called A Few Questions With where we interview councilmembers about their district’s most pressing issues.
How would you describe District 27?
We’re primarily a working class neighborhood. We’ve become a very diverse district. [Along] part of that Nolensville corridor [we have] a lot of Latinos, we have a lot of population of Middle Easterners, Kurdish folks, Egyptians, so a lot of [diversity] over here.
What are the main concerns you hear from your constituents?
The main concern I hear is speeding cars. People want traffic calming. Second on that list of things that I am aware of is the shots fired. Ever since COVID, we have seen an increase in the folks that go out and fire off a couple of rounds up in the air and tear off in their automobile. It’s scary for folks in the neighborhood, and we work with the [Metro Nashville] Police Department to try and address it as best as we can. I try to get my neighbors to call every time it happens, so that we maybe can determine if there is a pattern of where and when, and it also provides the police department the ability to [utilize some of their tools and resources].
You are the vice chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Where do you see opportunities for a next Mayor to improve transit and infrastructure?
A lot of work continues to be done on our infrastructure. We have so many miles of roadway, so many miles of sewer, so many miles of water that folks don’t always appreciate because they don’t see the work going on right at their front door. The water folks are doing a great job extending their services, also repairing old infrastructure, and this all takes time. But there is a plan in place, they’re doing it.
Likewise, the Nashville Department of Transportation, they’ve got a plan to repave our roads. And they’re pretty quick about filling potholes. One of the things I find problematic is that [complaints about potholes are often on state roads]. At a recent public hearing a man got up and said we need to fix the potholes on Murfreesboro Road and Donelson Pike and Lebanon Road. These are all state highways. Hopefully the state will step up in a little bit too.
As far as transit goes, there is a lot of interest in trying to find some dedicated funding to assist transit. I recently saw a sketch of Seattle where somebody had done some map work. They were able to color some neighborhoods, different colors based on the walkability. Could you walk to a grocery store in 15 minutes? Could you walk to transit in 15 minutes? And even in a city with a lot of good transit [like Seattle], on the outskirts, it was not colored. District 27 is on the edge of the county, and folks out here who want to take the bus and transit, really have to find a way to live close to Nolensville Road and [Old Hickory Boulevard] to some degree. We used to have a bus on Edmondson Pike that was cut back because we did not have the ridership. Going forward, my hope is that as traffic becomes a little more troubling, we can get folks to ride the bus and reestablish some of those routes.
Transit in Nashville is so difficult because we don’t have a grid system. The city was constructed with spokes and so many of the people who do use the bus have to go all the way downtown and then have to go back out again to where they’re going.
You are running unopposed for a second term. What is on top of your priorities for the next four years?
My priority is really constituent services. For that person who missed [their trash pickup], I try to coordinate. If somebody needs help with a sewer issue, I try to help.
Of course, I spent 33 years with the Metro Police Department, so public safety is always a primary interest. Crime is an issue in our city. We ought to give our Police Department all the support we can. I also acknowledged when I ran, I know that public safety is more than just cops and robbers. It’s also about having good jobs, good education, and a good way to get to those jobs and to schools. And so, it’s a matter of being supportive of our schools, being supportive of our police department, being supportive of our transit and trying to find ways to fund more affordable housing.
Our city’s police department has to address safety, the opioid crisis, mental health issues, homelessness and other social issues. With your prior experience in law enforcement, what is Metro doing well and where would you like to see more improvements in regard to these issues?
I think Chief [John] Drake and his team are doing a great job trying to wrestle with every single one of these issues you just mentioned solely within the constraints of their staffing. But none of these issues get solved by the police department alone. They’ve been working very hard to collaborate. [With regard to] the opioid crisis, obviously the health department has a lot to say about that, but the police department is helping, for example with Naloxone distribution. In homelessness, we’re doing a lot of good work with the Homeless Impact Division. I think the strategy they’ve been using to close down some of the big encampments, we go in, we find housing for people whether it be transitional and/or permanent, trying to get them connected with addiction services if they need them or mental health services, so we’re not just playing whack-a-mole, we’re really trying to find them housing and get them started down the road away from being homeless. We are now partnering with the Mental Health Coop to send police and a mental health worker to [respond] to calls that are determined to be largely in need of emotional help, and that seems to be working well.
I certainly will always be looking for opportunities to see if there is something else they can be doing. But I think they’re doing a great job of reaching out and implementing these programs.
The [Nashville] Fire Department is also implementing a new program called the REACH (Responders Engaged And Committed to Help) similar to the police department. (REACH partners a paramedic with a master’s-level clinician from the Mental Health Coop on non-violent mental health crisis calls). That’s a pilot program, and I believe they’re going to get another person or two in this [upcoming] budget.
Anything else you would like to add?
Being a councilperson, you are quickly humbled. We’re not [the] chief of police, we’re not the head of the fire department, we’re not the head of stormwater, we’re not the head of schools. Our job really is to make sure we’ve hired good people to fill those positions and support them, and sometimes we get that backwards. You learn very quickly you cannot help everybody all of the time despite the things you try to do, and it can’t always happen overnight.