At a West Nashville community meeting last night, tempers of residents, Metro Council members and the developer of the proposed May Town Center, flared over the project’s impact.
West Nashville residents who live across the Cumberland River from the development proposed for rural Bells Bend largely oppose the two bridges needed for the project—one for vehicle traffic and another for pedestrian and mass transit. The Councilman for the area, Buddy Baker, says he’ll vote against the project if that pedestrian bridge is included.
But resident Connie McCaslin says you can’t have one without the other.
“You can’t vote for May Town and say, ‘I’m for May Town and be against the bridge. Because if you have May Town, you have to have the bridges there’s no way to get in and out. So those bridges have to exist.”
The primary bridge for cars will go through Cockrill Bend and connect into Centennial Boulevard and Briley Parkway. Residents of that neighborhood, called Nations, want Baker to oppose the project altogether because they’re worried about the extra traffic and road widening that could come with the project.
Developer Tony Giarratana argued that Planning staff added the pedestrian bridge. He says the neighborhood should tell the Planning department to change it. Residents of the Nations neighborhood walked out and held their own meeting in the same building last night. They feel it’s unfair for their Councilman to support the project with the first bridge, which would dump vehicle traffic into their neighborhood. The Planning Commission takes up the May Town issue tomorrow.
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