opinion

Opinion | Can Mayor David Briley bridge Nashville's growing wealth gap?

The abrupt change from one mayor to another has not halted the growing prosperity and inequality facing Nashville.

Far from it.

Rapid population growth, booming businesses, rising housing prices and the increasing cost of living are on track to continue regardless of who heads Metro Government.

Nevertheless, the Mayor’s Office can serve as a countermeasure, a champion and a voice for citizens who are struggling, living in poverty or homeless.

The mayor is someone who can invest money in helping create a more economically inclusive city.

That was a campaign promise of former Mayor Megan Barry, who invested millions more than past mayors in affordable housing, who created job opportunities for youth, and who gave citizens hope that she could balance anti-poverty measures with strong economic development.

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Now that she has pleaded guilty to felony theft and resigned from office, can her successor David Briley take on the mantle and follow through on that promise?

This is a daunting challenge in a city where:

Average monthly rents grew from $897 in 2011 to $1,400 in 2017 – a 56 percent increase (RentJungle).

Median earnings grew from $52,348 in 2010 to $58,385 in 2016 – a 12 percent increase (U.S. Census).

Nearly a fifth of Metro Nashville’s 684,000 residents lives in poverty while about a third of children do (Census).

The issue of affordable housing and quality of life served as the focus of yearlong series of columns I wrote in 2017 for The Tennessean: “Costs of Growth and Change in Nashville."

Longtime and native Nashvillians feel left behind as many newcomers enjoy the benefits and wonders of “it” city.

Briley, grandson of Metro Nashville’s first Mayor Beverly Briley, is the first native Nashvillian to become mayor since Bill Boner served from 1987 to 1991.

The new mayor is well aware of the costs of growth.

Last fall, he spoke at the groundbreaking of micro-homes for ailing homeless people at Glencliff United Methodist Church. I included those words in the series chapter on homelessness.

► Read More: As Nashville booms, its homeless fall through the cracks from fragmented leadership

“I’m here to ask for forgiveness,” then Vice Mayor Briley said on Oct. 4. “We have designed a place and accepted a place where there’s too much violence and poverty. We have designed a place where people don't have housing.”

This issue is not going away and the new affordable housing coalition Welcome Home — comprising labor, nonprofit and religious organizations — are demanding greater focus and better results from Metro.

One of the coalition groups, Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, organized a forum Thursday evening called "Transit and Affordable Housing: Voting Your Priorities" at Lee Chapel A.M.E. Church in North Nashville.

Since Briley supports the $5.4 billion transit plan referendum on May 1, it would benefit him to listen and work with these groups to show how these priorities are not mutually exclusive.

Creating an inclusive economy amid growth

Briley came to visit with The Tennessean on Thursday – his second full day on the job – and we talked about the wealth gap, compassion and advocating for the underdog in an interview, which was originally broadcast live on Facebook.

Here are some excerpts from Briley’s remarks:

“It is hard to see neighborhoods being torn down, communities being negatively affected, destroyed by the changing environment. I feel a lot of pain for those communities.

“It’s not clear exactly how much the mayor can do to stop that. People sell their houses voluntarily. That’s a reality of the circumstances.

“What I believe we have to do is to make sure that everybody has access to the piece of the pie, to make sure that people have access to financial capital, to make sure that people have access to educational capital, that they get the opportunity to learn, to make sure the playing field is fair and level.

► Read More: Affordable housing in Nashville: Not now, not never

“That’s really the place where the mayor can do the most.”

Showing compassion and listening

“As mayor, I am primarily a person that is responsible for the laws that are adopted in our community. The laws are the budget and our zoning code and all those different things.

“Fundamentally, I believe that we need laws to protect the poor, we need laws to protect the vulnerable, we need laws that protect the powerless.

"Each and every day, that will inform me and influence me as I decide what we’re meant to do as a city … I’m truly committed to hearing from every perspective.”

Nashville not 'parochial place it once was'

Briley has lived in San Francisco, Latin America and the East Coast, but his Nashville roots give him a unique view that recent mayors might not have shared.

► Read More: The costs of growth and change in Nashville

“I hope it gives me a good perspective about what’s good about Nashville and will focus me on trying to maintain it – our neighborhoods, the accessibility to community here, the religious community," he said. "All those things are what make Nashville pretty special.”

However, he added this caveat: “Nashville is not the parochial place it once was. As we save what’s important here, we also have to be focused on what’s good in other places and try to bring it here.”

Briley has made clear he has a heart for the "least among us."

Voters will decide in an upcoming special election whether they think he deserves more time to make a mark.

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee and opinion and engagement editor for The Tennessean. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.