An attendee of the Stop Amp meeting held at the Blakemore United Methodist Church on Tuesday. About 75 people showed up to voice concern with the project. Credit: Bobby Allyn
Three acknowledged candidates for mayor have expressed reservations about the Amp, Mayor Karl Dean’s 7-mile bus rapid transit project.
There are many moving parts that will ultimately decide if Nashville’s first in earnest mass transit project will come to fruition, but whether the city’s next political leader will see the project through is key.
Construction is scheduled to start next year, just as Dean leaves office.
LEAD charter school founder Jeremy Kane, who on Wednesday launched his mayoral campaign, says residents feel out of touch with the project. What’s more, he says the Amp’s planning was flawed from the beginning for not better engaging residents. He says state lawmakers’ attacks on the project have weakened its chances of being successful.
“If we get into the next legislative session with as much acrimony as last time, I think it’s tough to move forward, and the best leadership position may be to start over,” Kane says, adding that the debate sparked by the Amp has primed the city for future transportation proposals. “We’ve started to talk about transportation in a major way, and I don’t think we have for years.”
Amp supporters, meanwhile, say barring more legislation aimed at the project, the current political landscape shouldn’t sidetrack plans. Given that the bus route’s dedicated lanes have been scaled back, the overall $174 million price will be shaved down, making it an easier sell, they say.
Planners are still expecting about $75 million from the federal government, leaving the remaining balance split between Metro and state tax dollars. Messy debates are expected on both fronts: when state lawmakers vote on annual transportation funding (where the Amp money will be included) and when Metro Council votes on its next capital spending plan.
Yet assuming the project clears all the budget hurdles and has enough money to move forward, when voters elect a new mayor ten months from now, they could also be voting on the future of the Amp.
Some candidates are expressing concern in measured, the-race-is-still-early ways.
On her website, mayoral candidate and Metro Councilwoman Megan Barry writes that the Amp “mixes good intentions with questionable strategy.” In an email, Barry wrote that “the Amp is the issue of the moment, but the real conversation about traffic and transit needs to be broader and more strategic.”
Former Metro school board chairman and mayoral contender David Fox says Nashvillians tell him almost daily that they’re unsure about how the project will benefit their lives, even among those who live along the route, like Fox himself. “It’s reasonable and understandable and political leaders need to be sensitive to this,” he says.
Attorney Charles Robert Bone and marketing company CEO Linda Rebrovick did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
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