A coalition of Nashville community groups is calling on city leaders to slow plans to bring tech giant Oracle to the riverfront in East Nashville.
The Equity Alliance and Stand Up Nashville are pushing for Nashville’s highly touted Oracle proposal to be put on the back burner until local residents have a chance to weigh in on the deal.
The company says it will invest more than $100 million in public infrastructure as part of its construction plan. It also says it will create thousands of jobs with high-paying salaries within the next decade.
But there’s pushback about a lack of community input and questions about whether the needs of residents are being considered.
“If Nashville is really going to remain ‘It City,’ then we have to protect the people here who have made us ‘It City.’ Nashville is not ‘It City’ because the corporations that are moving here,” says Tequila Johnson, co-founder of The Equity Alliance. “We’re ‘It City’ because [of] the soul of the working class people that have built this city on their backs with little compensation for decades.”
Today we stood with @StandUpNash to let our elected officials know that the community must be heard before they vote on the Oracle business deal. pic.twitter.com/OvqjeEXBUR
— The Equity Alliance (@EquityAlliance1) April 26, 2021
Johnson is also part of the Metro Industrial Development Board, which needs to approve the deal before it heads to Metro Council. She says she’ll be calling on her peers to hold off on any Oracle decisions.
The board is set to take public comment on the proposal at a meeting on Tuesday morning.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper along with other leaders have touted the deal as a win for the city. Cooper also says he’s interested in funding affordable housing projects with revenue gained from the Oracle development.
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