Supporters of The Amp Turn Their Attention To Mayoral Candidates

Ralph Schulz, who leads the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, says it would be a mistake for the next mayor not to carry on Mayor Dean’s 7-mile bus rapid transit project. Credit: Bobby Allyn/WPLN

Over the next year, supporters of Mayor Karl Dean’s bus rapid transit line will be trying to convince the mayoral candidates to make continuing the project a campaign promise. This week, Dean pushed the Amp off to his successor, triggering questions over whether the move will spell the end of the project, or just another delay.

One of the lead boosters of the Amp, Ralph Schulz, who heads the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, says maybe the Amp needs to continue with a different name, since it’s had some “branding issues.”

But, no matter what it’s called, he says abandoning the Amp would be a setback for the future of the city’s public transit.

“Mayor Dean often talks about the fact that he never realized when he got elected that every day he was gonna have to talk about parking,” he said. “Well, when you get in the seat, and you see what’s happening, you know there’s got to be a transit solution, and it’s gotta be a rapid transit solution.”

Schulz says he’s going to continue to, as he puts it, provide the candidates with “information and data” about the Amp. When asked if he plans to lobby the candidates, he ducked the question, citing, again, the “information and data” the chamber will be giving the candidates as the campaigns carry on.

Although none of the candidates have taken a strong stance either way, the next mayor has the ability to completely kill the controversial 7-mile bus rapid transit project. Some Metro observers say adopting the project could prove to be politically poisonous to the next mayor, particularly given the community tension it has stoked. At the same time, optimistic watchers say the Amp will be advanced by the city’s next leader, albeit rejiggered in some way.

Did Dean’s move to step away from the Amp this week surprise Schulz?

“I wasn’t surprised by Mayor Dean’s announcement,” he said. “I don’t think it pushes the pause button on at all,” he said, citing the “check-list” of environmental and engineering studies that are still ongoing. “Bottom line is we need transit on that corridor to distribute people,” he said.

To put it another way, Schulz is confident that whoever becomes mayor will pursue a bus rapid transit project along the current West End corridor, whether it’s called the Amp, or hatched with a new name.