Nashville chamber members, Belcourt Theatre and Associated Builders & Contractors, voice support for transit solutions

Invest today; reap benefits tomorrow

Nashville is a major city that continues to grow and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

As more people move to Nashville, we have to prepare for the influx of traffic that comes from more cars being on the road. If we don’t do something about it now, our worst commute today will be our best commute in the future. It only gets worse from here. 

I am a Nashville native. I’ve watched this city grow and become more vibrant.

When I worked in the mayor’s office, I studied and learned a considerable amount about using our current transit system, and I know that it has room to expand and the potential for better solutions. Our focus needs to be on supporting and funding those solutions.

As president of Associated Builders & Contractors, I know that expanding transit is something that employers can directly benefit from.

By improving public transit in our city, we’ll create more jobs and increase the city’s workforce. Transit can be a major contributor to Nashville’s economy, but we have to get behind the cause now in order to reap the benefits later.

Toby Compton, president/CEO, Associated Builders & Contractors – Greater Tennessee Chapter

Mobility is a livability issue

As a city that prides itself on and is celebrated for its creative community, finding and funding a transit solution that keeps artists and audiences moving, working and engaging is critical.

The very nature of being a creative worker means change and unpredictability.

Opportunities for artists can appear quickly, and the ability to say yes to those chances can mean the difference between a door-opening job or not.

Moving easily and frequently between creative opportunities in the course of a day means more paid work and the ability to craft a better living in a community that demonstratively supports the unusual and unpredictable nature of the creative workforce.

The decisions we make around core livability issues like transit are crucial factors in whether our city continues to grow and thrive, or whether we risk losing the cultural workforce that helps define Nashville. 

The recent Arts and Economic Prosperity national impact study found that Nashville’s arts and culture industry currently generates nearly $430 million in annual economic activity, and we are consistently in the top four arts and culture markets in the U.S. Imagine how much broader that impact would be if our artists and our audiences could easily navigate the city using an affordable, equitable and accessible system.

It is time to commit to transit. Our economic vitality depends on it, our creative community needs it, and we should all, as Nashvillians, come together to support it with our voices and our votes.   

Stephanie Silverman, executive director of the Belcourt Theatre

These opinions first appeared as letters to the editor of the Tennesseean on October 2, 2017.