Vice Mayor Angie Henderson is settling into her new role. After two-terms as a District 34 Metro Councilmember, she ran against incumbent Jim Shulman and was elected to her current position on Aug. 3, 2023. That election made history in that a majority of Metro Council seats are held by women, all at-large Council seats are held by women, and the vice mayor is a woman. In her role, she serves as president of Metro Council and is the presiding officer for council meetings, as well as organizing legislative work, appointing chairs to committees, and forming special or ad hoc committees.
In the months since, she’s been working toward a more efficient and accessible legislative branch of local government, and hoping to facilitate better discussions around transit and land use policy. The Contributor asked Henderson about her main priorities to lead the Metro Council for the next four years.
The legislative term officially started with its Oct. 3 Metro Council meeting. After being elected, you had only a relatively little time to prepare. What are some immediate changes you implemented?
I made a proposal to consolidate some of our committees. When I was in council service we had about 14 committees. My predecessor, starting in the last term, had created a whole host of additional special committees. I felt that was somewhat dilutive to the work that we need to do.
And so, in consolidating committees, I hope that we will bring more intention and focus to our work. That does not mean we won’t have working groups, subcommittees, and so forth, but it kind of effectuates that. One of the first things I did prior to the first meeting was appointing all members to their committees and making the proposal for now eight committees rather [the] previous 14. I met during that time with all 40 councilmembers for at least an hour [each] to learn more about them and what their legislative goals were and their goals for their service.
Looking at the next four years, what are your top three priorities?
Firstly, I’m focused on the operations of the council as it relates to the legislative work that we need to do. I want to be able to show the work and narrate the work of the legislative branch, so that we are accessible, and citizens understand the complexity and the challenges we face.
Citizens often interact with their council members about a particular problem. A street light is out, a stop sign is leaning, a pothole, and so forth. Sometimes these complaints speak to larger issues whether they be related to process, staffing, budget, etc. That constituent service piece is very important for councilmembers to be actively engaged in, so they can understand the systems. Highlighting and putting some focus on the legislative aspect of this work is one of my early priorities.
Next, [I would like to] facilitate some difficult but essential conversations about land use policy. That includes everything from parking to density to building heights, how all that is aligned with affordability and transportation. I think sometimes we’re not having constructive conversations as a community. It’s all about what we are against and what we are for, largely conceptually, but we don’t focus on that middle place of how we actually get this stuff done. I think [it’s important to] focus on some common misconceptions, some false narratives and picking those apart for citizens in a way that is educational, informative, and constructive. And so, facilitating those conversations will be a priority of mine as well.
Thirdly, I think because transportation ties so much of all of this together, I think it’s incumbent upon us as public servants — and I want to lead the way in that regard — to take the bus, attempt to bike to places, and advocate for that. I want us as a body to walk the talk. Of course, that looks different for many members depending on where they reside. But leaning into that and acknowledging that ‘I couldn’t take the bus today because I had to be at a meeting across town,’ or ‘I had to pick up my kids at school,’ and show our engagement within that space by getting out and walking on our streets, trying to bike, riding transit… I do think we have got to help our citizens navigate all that. At the same time, we need to fund it and facilitate the conversation about why this issue is important.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell has outlined his focus areas during the campaign with his 15 fixes, which he intended to start addressing on day one. Which of his fixes do you find the most important?
Frequent Transit Network I think is the most important fix. It was top of the list. Mayor O’Connell and I have been advocating for more funding for transit, [which] in time [could be] through another referendum for dedicated funding. But those day one fixes the Mayor outlined during the campaign are dignifying our transit riders with enhanced stops, with making sidewalk connections to help more people get to the bus, and really prioritizing.
I would tie the Frequent Transit Network fix to something that’s truly multimodal where more people are biking, more people are riding the bus, fewer people are driving and that kind of goes back to my third thing that I said before, we need to walk the talk. I think it’s important for council members to engage with schools or corporate entities, etc. to ask them what they are doing to help more students or employees use the bus. What are they doing to help more folks carpool and so forth. I think if all forty of us proactively have those conversations and at the same time fund those spaces, encourage the improved transit stops, fund a more frequent bus service, I think that is the top most important fix because it really is linked to everything else. Housing affordability, access to employment, buses running later, more people out walking to and from, eyes on the streets — all that improves public safety.
There have been conversations that a transit referendum could become before Davidson County voters as early as the 2024 election. Do you think that’s feasible?
I think that will be challenging, and I am not yet read into if that is achievable and whether we’re on track to get there. I do think from a policy standpoint it is important that the Metro Council carries out the [transit] work across the entire term, we also need to have those conversations early on, now, and always. Not just because we’ve got a referendum coming but also because fundamentally, a city of our size, population, and challenges needs that system. So, I’m hopeful that we can bring [a referendum] back as quickly as possible.
Looking at homelessness, affordable housing, and poverty reduction, what can you in your position as Vice Mayor do to help reduce the wealth gap and ensure all Nashvillians have a chance to thrive in this city?
I think the primary work of the council is land use policy and our budget. Land use policy is a way to structurally deliver affordability. When people live more approximate to where they work, it takes out that drive. When people are pushed to our most extreme suburban periphery or even out of the county, they incur the cost of gas and a tax on their time. So that goes back to [setting] priorities and facilitating those conversations and narrating what we can do from a policy perspective to have more neighborhood-scaled density and put folks in closer proximity to access to transportation. That is huge for affordability and access to employment.
I would include the conversation about building a truly bikeable network that is safe and protected and enjoyable. I think that a walkable, bikeable, and transit-oriented focus is very important for affordability and access to employment. People putting less money into their transportation cost is a huge savings to them. It’s sort of a cost that is often hidden. As a city and a state, we really subsidize driving a lot. And if we’re not having to widen highways and repave [constantly], we could be putting more of our budget to benefit people and programs directly. Investing in systems that are more sustainable and affordable is very important.