At-Large Council Candidates Promise To Lead On Countywide Concerns

It’s unusual that all five at-large Metro Council members will change at one time — there aren’t even any incumbents. Once elected, those council members are supposed to take on countywide policy questions, so many of the 10 candidates running for the five openings have promised to take on some of Nashville’s toughest challenges.

Several candidates, like former district councilman Jim Shulman, 
campaigned on the idea that they’re familiar with a wide variety of Nashville’s neighborhoods.

“I was a district council member, and so you know, we  work on the big city issues at the same time that people were calling about dogs barking and potholes and street lamps being out,
“ Shulman
 said. 
“
The at-large is supposed to take a much bigger perspective, since they represent the city as a whole.”

Yet current councilman and candidate Robert Duvall questioned whether Nashville has gotten the full value from its recent at-large members.

He says they need to take the lead in creating well-informed policies.

“If the council at-large are used the way they should be, where they are utilized for at-large projects — projects that circumvent or go over numerous council districts — you’re going to get a stronger bill that comes out of that, presented to the council,” Duvall said. 
“They just haven’t been utilized over the last … 8 years, not in my opinion.”

The five outgoing at-large members — one of whom is mayoral candidate Megan Barry — have been known to champion specific subjects, such as the workforce, the arts, or public health.

The current candidates, who campaign widely, say the concerns they hear most often are about
transit,
affordability, and infrastructure.

“The prize we win for having done such a great job of developing downtown is we need to do it in a dozen different neighborhoods simultaneously,
“ 
said candidate Bob Mendes. 
“
The 
‘
what-is-going-to-happen-with-my-neighborhood?
‘ i
s the core thing.
“

Mendes said he feels Metro zoning, codes and planning have been slow to modernize.

“
These neighborhoods,
“ 
he said, 
“
are changing lightning fast.
“