At Realtors Forum, Candidates For Nashville Mayor Talk Housing And Take Shots At Bill Freeman

With voting set to start next month, the race for mayor appears to be growing more pointed.

The seven-person field squared off over affordable housing, job growth and school accountability in a 90-minute forum Monday morning, organized by the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

And in a sign real estate investor Bill Freeman may be emerging as the frontrunner, three of his six rivals hit him with pointed questions when given a chance to take on each other one on one.

The candidates differed most on the issue of how to keep Nashville affordable for working families. Several candidates offered a variety of solutions, while Freeman seemed to suggest the problem was overblown.

Three candidates — charter school executive Jeremy Kane, Metro Council member Megan Barry and technology executive Linda Eskind
Rebrovick
 — said the key to affordability is giving Nashvillians
more options.

“We’ve got to focus on density,” said Rebrovick. “That will be a big change to how we do zoning in certain areas, but that’s where we’ll have innovations.”

Criminal Court Clerk Howard Gentry and former school board chairman David Fox used the question to expound on education. Both favored some intervention in the housing market, but they argued if Nashvillians
made more money, affordability wouldn’t be an issue.

“We need to focus on both the denominator and the numerator here,” Fox said. “I’m not a coercion person. I’m more of a carrot person, rather than a stick.”

Attorney Charles Robert Bone focused on Nashvillians’ conflicting feelings about housing. He shared how 
Donelson
 residents reacted when told home prices in their neighborhood were soaring. They all cheered.

“You can’t have it both ways,” said Bone. “You can’t say, ‘Well, I’m concerned about affordability, but if I can sell my house for a premium in a month, then I’m all for it.'”

And Freeman, who made his fortune in real estate, turned the question around. If one-third of Nashvillians
pay too much, two-thirds of the city’s residents are just fine.

“It’s just how you parse these numbers and how you say it,” Freeman said.

Candidates Hone In On Freeman

Freeman nonetheless committed to promoting affordable housing. He said he’d do so by working with the private sector.

That prompted Kane to ask Freeman about his motivation.

“You’ve obviously talked a lot about housing and affordable housing,” Kane said. “What’s driving you? What’s personally driving you?”

Later, Bone asked Freeman to say whether he thought changes should be made to the pensions for city workers — a potentially dicey topic for any mayoral candidate.

And Barry highlighted Freeman’s promises to raise public salaries, spend more on education and relocate the PSC
Metals’ scrapyard
next to the Cumberland River.

“So my question to Bill today is, where would you find the money to do that?”

Freeman’s response: The costs were being exaggerated.

It put Freeman on the defensive. But at least one candidate, Gentry, considered that to be an enviable position. 
Given a chance to ask the forum’s final question, Gentry quipped he wouldn’t put it to Freeman.

“I kind of wish my name was Bill,” he said. “I would have liked to answer some of those.”

As the mayor’s race enters the late stages, the candidates want to make sure the well-funded Freeman doesn’t gain the advantage.