Q&A: Nashville Mayor Megan Barry on transit, a soccer stadium and Cloud Hill halfway through her first term

Monday marks two years since Mayor Megan Barry was sworn in as the seventh mayor of Metro Nashville.

It brings a new milestone, her midterm, and it starts the countdown to another significant date: Aug. 1, 2019, when she's up for re-election.

Who’s counting?

The mayor herself keeps a ticker on her cellphone that tracks the number of days left as a reminder that time is limited to get things done.

As of this interview on Wednesday, it stood at 682.

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Barry touts her efforts surrounding affordable housing and Opportunity NOW, her youth jobs program, as two of her top achievements.

But she faces a political gauntlet over the next eight months as she seeks approval of a public referendum for funding mass transit, pushes a new Major League Soccer stadium and presses ahead on a controversial redevelopment proposal for the old Greer Stadium site.

How these issues unfold will likely define her term.

The Tennessean recently sat down with Barry to discuss the top issues facing her administration.

It’s been two years now since arriving in office. Have you started to think about that benchmark and what it means? 2019, your re-election year, suddenly doesn’t feel too far away.

I think we’ve done a lot in two years, but there’s a lot of great work ahead. We’ve got transit coming down the pike, fast and furious. And so many other things. I think the one thing that I’ve learned in the two years since I got elected is you don’t get to focus on just one thing. You get to focus on lots of things.

Looking back on your first two years, what are some of the things you’re most pleased with that you would call your accomplishments?

Affordable housing absolutely comes to mind. We have an Office of Housing in the mayor’s office and we have focused specifically on building and retaining housing. To that end, in this year’s budget we’ve put $35 million in, and in the previous budget, we put $15 million in. That’s a total of $50 million for affordable housing, which is more than any administration has ever done. That’s definitely one thing on the campaign trail that people were very excited about, and I think we were able to meet that.

The other thing was our great program, Opportunity Now, that we did this summer around youth. We put over 10,000 kids into meaningful paid internships with over 350 companies participating. I think that really speaks to the folks in Nashville who wanted to see those kids engaged and also that we were able to take those kids and get them into something that was meaningful.

(According to the mayor's office, Opportunity NOW posted more than 10,000 youth job and internship opportunities from 350 private-sector, nonprofit and government employers. They say 9,553 youth registered through the Opportunity NOW online portal.)

Major projects converge

You’re really entering a pivotal stretch here with major projects converging all at once. I don’t need to tell you what they are: the transit referendum you want in May, the soccer stadium and the proposal on the table to transform the Greer Stadium site. Is this too much for the city to digest in such a short window?

Not at all. As I just said, mayors don’t oftentimes just choose what is happening around them, so you have to be nimble. The things that we campaigned on and the things that I think we’ve focused on the last two years have been absolutely housing, economic development, transit, jobs, public safety and quality of life. That's been our focus. And all of those pieces have a part of what you were just talking about.

Each of these three projects present major tests in the Metro Council — to a level that I would say exceeds anything during your first two years. Are you confident you get can everything you want passed with the council?

I think that the role of the council is to ask good questions and make sure that whatever they’re voting on is good for Nashville. And my job and my role is to bring that to the council so that they can make the decision. I hope I’ll do my job well enough that they will absolutely support both the transit referendum and also a soccer stadium.

Transit referendum

I heard a supporter of the transit referendum describe it as a “once-in-a-generation” kind of issue for Nashville. You would agree?

I absolutely agree. I think that Nashvillians are sitting in traffic, and they get it. They get that we have to make significant progress on this. And if we don’t vote to find a revenue stream to address this that we’re going to be way behind. And so this is our opportunity to step up and say, "I’m for transit and I’m absolutely willing to pay for it."

I asked you during the petition signature kickoff event about potential revenue streams, and you indicated that sales tax will likely be one of multiple tax revenue streams targeted.

And you got that story, Joey.

Yep, we reported that. I have heard some, particularly Democrats, who are worried about the poor and working class shouldering too much of the financial burden as a result of using a regressive tax. What’s your response to that?

It will be a combination of different revenue streams. It won’t just be sales tax. So, the burden won’t only reside on the sales tax component. But the fact of the matter is that Tennessee is a state that has taxation that is very limiting on what we can do. And what we can do was carved out for us by the state legislature. So, we’re going to balance that out so that we feel that people are paying appropriately — people who use the roads, businesses who are having the benefit of getting folks to and from jobs as well as people who come visit our city and people who live here. I think that combination will be as fair as we can to spread that revenue stream.

I realize there’s not a formal release of the plan until next week, but how many tax revenues are you thinking for the referendum?

Our menu was pretty limited, and I think you could think that we’ll probably use about four.

There’s already some critics.

Seriously?

For example, Ben Cunningham, the anti-tax crusader, is having his own (debt limit) referendum and has framed your transit vision as a 19th-century railroad. Some are saying autonomous vehicles are where the future is at ... .

When we talk about this plan, it’s about mobility and modalities. And light rail is definitely a piece of it, but so is improved bus ridership and transit. So are improving intersections because we know people are still going to drive. So getting that through those intersections, that’s important. And autonomous vehicles, they’re also part of this. But they’re not here yet. And the reality is, lots of places have light rail and they’ve had them for a long time. It’s a great way to move around a city, and it’s one component. And I appreciate that Ben Cunningham has his thoughts. He doesn’t live in Davidson County.

Is your vision for light rail to over time actually reduce traffic congestion or is it giving people an option to get through congestion that is there?

It’s both. At the end of the day, we’re a growing city with a lot of people coming here. And a lot of people would like to give up having to get in a vehicle or a car. So, those transit-oriented development along the corridors, where people are going to be able to live and work and play, are going to be critical. That's also really important because those corridors are helping us to create affordable housing. We did work with the state legislature to do these transit-oriented development districts that would put affordable housing along those (corridors).

Let’s say you do get approval in May. That’s just the dedicated funding. What would be the next steps? I know you’ve said Gallatin Pike is where you want to start light rail, but you’ll have to get approval for that.

It will be a comprehensive plan for all of Davidson County that has lines going many different places, increased bus services, intersection (improvements). Once we actually have the funding mechanism, we’ll start the work on more community engagement. There’s no reason to get upset or worried about stops along one of these pikes or corridors because if we don’t have the funds to pay for it, we’re not going to have anything to fight over.

On May 1, people would simply be voting for the dedicated funding. It's not a vote on supporting every part of the plan, right? Do you see the difference there?

I do. We have 250 words or less to say exactly what we're doing and how we're going to pay for it. Now, exactly what we're going to do will be defined in that component. So, I think it's going to be a pretty tight piece of legislation that will go to the council.

One thing that’s been reported is the possibility of rail going underground in downtown to accommodate what are narrow streets in downtown. Is that something still getting looked at?

Absolutely. You might remember the nMotion plans and the 20,000 folks who gave input in this. Well, one of the things that that plan has was just a big circle around downtown that just said, somehow you have to address this. We’ve had engineers looking at what might be the best possible way to address that. A tunnel might solve a lot of those issues and also free up the street space to continue to have other types of modalities.

Do you think it will be part of a proposal? Or is still too early to say?

I think it’s definitely something that we’ve been working toward. A lot of the engineering that we’re having to do and think about right now is a way to come up with a price tag, so that we’ll know what we'll also have to save from the funding mechanism. These are still very high-level proposals, but clearly a tunnel is a possibility.

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Death of son Max

Diverting away from the policy questions for a second, you had a terrible tragedy in early August when your son, Max, died from a drug overdose. How have you been able to continue pressing forward with your very public job in those weeks?

Bruce and I made the decision right away when we found out how Max died to make sure we talked specifically about it because we wanted to save another family from the same kind of pain that we’ve gone through. For me, there’s a real benefit in getting up every day and being able to serve Nashvillians. And the outpouring of love and support from the community has just been incredible. And the number of stories that people want to share with me about their own pain and their own grief has helped me be stronger. These are stories I never would have heard if I hadn’t had this own grief in my own life. I think it helps build that community. It's never a community that you want to belong to, but when people want to tell you this story about loss, it benefits you both.

Your schedule in terms of public events has always been visibly busy, and that doesn’t seem to have changed in recent weeks. Has that sort of presence been difficult to maintain throughout this?

Clearly, I’ve tried to make some more time to work through this very painful thing, and so my schedule has changed a little bit on that. But the work of the city goes on. And I’m reminded every day that we have a finite amount of time to move significantly on the issues that are important. So, I’m also grateful and thankful for the work because whenever you get to pour yourself into something that you love, it helps offset some of that grief.

When you held the initial press conference after Max’s death, you became an immediate voice in the opioid crisis that is happening nationally. Have you thought more about how you might help tackle that issue as mayor?

Absolutely, we’ve already gone forward as part of this budget process and hired an opioid specialist who is based out of the health department. And we’ve made sure that Narcan is available to police officers. But my focus right now is about that journey well before you have a Narcan involvement. And that is about access to treatment beds and access to help. I believe that is a role I can have as mayor. We have already made that commitment to building a new facility across the street — the new jail — to look at this through the lens of mental health. And often mental health issues are issues of addiction, so I think this is part of this process.

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Major League Soccer stadium

What's the status of your administration's negotiations with John Ingram regarding a new soccer stadium?

We continue to have those conversations with John. They’ve been a great group of folks to work with. We really think that if we can finalize a proposal for a soccer stadium to the Metro Council for consideration that we will absolutely be in a strong, strong running for one of two teams that will be chosen in the end.

There’s obviously a time crunch there because of the December deadline that MLS has laid out to award the first two cities. Do you think a deal will be struck soon?

Yep. I think you’re going to see it pretty soon.

You’ve said you want a “private-public” partnership, with an emphasis on the private. Does that mean Metro would share the cost of the stadium construction? Or could the city’s contribution be the donation of the fairgrounds property, which is very valuable land, as well as improvements to what’s over there right now? I’m just trying to get a sense …

You’re just trying to guess what it is, Joey. Come on. (laughs) What our vision is and my vision is to put the city at the most minimal risk and to say, what makes the most sense for Davidson County taxpayers? So, what you’re going to see when that comes out is a combination of thoughtful ways for them to be able to build the stadium but for us to benefit and to make sure that the taxpayers are protected.

Early in your term as a councilwoman, you voted against a reworked stadium lease deal, heavy on city incentives, to keep Nashville Predators in town. I only bring that up because it shows you understand there’s a different side when it comes to the city being in the business of professional sports. Why are you a believer in investing in Major League Soccer in Nashville?

Well, I think I’ve talked about that vote on the Predators. Thankfully I lost. (laughs) I do think it’s about making sure whatever deal is proposed is a good deal for Nashvillians. And when this comes out, the council will absolutely have the ability to dive deep and ask questions. That’s what their role is. That was my role when I was on the Metro Council.

Are you confident in MLS itself, its stability and what you’ve seen from the league? There’s been a few stories that have questioned its business model and the rapid expansion of the league.

I do. And I think that Nashville has a real opportunity to be a soccer city. You look at all the diversity around Nashville, and soccer is a natural place for a lot of that diversity to coalesce because we have lots of soccer fans. We just sold out soccer games over at (Nissan Stadium). We had over 60,000 people. We had over 45 or 50 affiliate teams. We love soccer in this town and I think you’ll see that support continue.

(The games did not sell out, but 47,622 people attended the July 8 CONCACAF Gold Cup match between the U.S. and Panama, a state record at the time. Three weeks later, a new record 56,232 attended the July 29 English Premier League match between Manchester City and Tottenham.)

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Greer Stadium redevelopment

Moving to the Cloud Hill debate.

Greer.

Since the RFQ was awarded to the Bert Mathews/T Bone Burnett group, the debate has gotten louder than I think some people thought it would. Are you supportive of the proposal despite the resistance you’ve seen out there?

Yeah. What we wanted to see was that dilapidated stadium that hasn’t been accessible to the public for years be reimagined and become an active park space — but also to address some serious issues that Nashvillians have told us that they want. This was done through a community process, you know. Councilman Sledge had lots of meetings. People want affordable housing. I hear it everyday. People want creative and maker space. And they want open green space. What this will do is take a dilapidated stadium with big parking lots and turn it back into green space, and active green space.

Fort Negley, that hill — which, by the way, until last year or two years ago, no one has paid attention (to it), it hasn’t been an active space — that all stays. None of that goes. We have archaeologists who are coming in because we are absolutely sensitive about wanting to respect the history of that space. I don’t think that happened 40 years ago. So part of this is reclaiming that history for the African-American community and making sure that we’re actively doing that.

How do things proceed with the archaeological study? Are you waiting until that completes and any idea how long that will take?

Yes. I think we’re in the final stages of the (contract) award, and then that will happen almost immediately.

But is that a yearlong process? Or how long?

I honestly don’t know. But it doesn’t matter. It’s however long it takes.

So you wouldn’t continue negotiations (with Cloud Hill) …

Well, the negotiations continue because the reality is that the RFQ has been out there. The RFP now, that starts to happen. And that becomes a council conversation, a community conversation. None of this moves forward without all of that additional conversation. So, we'll be moving with those conversations as well as the archaeology.

I just want to make sure I’m understanding this. You’re going to wait for the results of the archaeological study to decide whether you still want to build on some of these spots at the Greer site?

Based on what the archaeology says, I think that will dictate what happens on with that space. But those conversations are continuing.

Do you have a hard-line date on when you want this to go forward? How would you describe the status of this?

I would love to see it go forward, but I would also tell you that that's been sitting there for a long time. It will take as long as it needs.

PSC Metals relocation

Your administration has been in talks with representatives of PSC Metals about the possibility of relocating the scrapyard from the east bank. The Nashville Business Journal reported there’s even a code name: “Project Phoenix.” Several mayors have had these talks over the years but did not get this done. Is this something that you think your administration can really make happen here?

Well I think, again, everything is always through the lens of what’s best for Nashville, and what that means for us as far as what we would have to do to make it happen. But the previous three mayors have absolutely tried to make this happen. I think there’s general consensus that getting that thing out of here would be a really good thing for Nashville. If we have a chance to make it happen, I hope we can.

But I assume this would be an expensive lift for Metro.

That’s the conversation. What is the amount of revenue that might be appropriate and how could we structure a deal that is best for us?

Short-term rental debate

Council members have been meeting with Airbnb, for a long time actually, to try to get a resolution or compromise on some regulations so that people feel that they can limit disturbances in their neighborhoods. What’s your take on this short-term rental issue?

Well, I’ve said it many times. I completely understand neighbors’ concerns. I also understand how if I’m somebody who is relying on an income stream because I bought a house thinking I could use my asset to sustain my asset — I get the push and the pull on this. I think nobody is very concerned about owner-occupied ones because they think that the owners are there making sure things are responsible. I think it’s those ones where you don’t have owner occupied. And that’s what the council is trying to address. We just helped the council by putting in place a hotline that you can call that can help expedite if there are issues out there. So, we’re doing our part. The reality is council members are the closest to their neighbors and they’ll make the decisions on what they want to do.

What’s your position on this idea of phasing out — I'm going to get technical here — the non-owner-occupied short-term rentals from residential neighborhoods like the critics have wanted (and like legislation on the table would do)?

Well, as I just said, I think council members are closest to their neighbors and know what they want. On my street, I have a guy who has an owner-occupied Airbnb, and that’s how he’s able to stay there. I also have one that’s not owner-occupied, but there are no problems. So again, I think it’s about what council is hearing from their neighbors and how they want to go forward.

Downtown flood protection system and flood wall

Scott Potter, the director of the Metro water department, plans to come to the council soon to again kick off talks about a flood protection system, which would include a downtown flood wall. This is something you support. Are you ready to start pushing this again?

I think all you have to do is look at Houston and go, "All right. We have to start planning for these events." And to not plan and to not take steps is not being smart about how Nashville is growing. And so, yes, I supported it on the council. I supported it when I came in. I totally get that part of the concern was a flood protection system, which is why Scott is going out and now spending time with council members to help them understand how it’s comprehensive. But ultimately the council will make that decision. And my hope is they will decide to protect not only downtown, but to think what this looks like across our county.

Do you plan on including the flood protection system/flood wall in your next capital budget?

I will include it again and I hope that it stays in.

Tennessee governor's race

The Tennessee governor’s race is underway. Do you plan on endorsing in the Democratic primary?

Let’s see who files papers. Let’s see where it goes. At this moment, nobody’s filed. At some point, I want to see somebody who is sitting in that seat in the governor’s office who loves Tennessee but also loves Nashville.

And I don’t need to tell you: One of the candidates (Karl Dean) was the person who previously held your office.

Yes, I’ve heard that.

So what do you want to see from the next governor?

It’s been very good to be able to work with a governor’s office who understands the importance of an economic engine that is Nashville. So when there are competing interests, there’s an ability to work through that. I think the IMPROVE Act is a great example of that. We were able to have a referendum for Davidson County, but also then to pass a gas tax across the state that helps our rural communities. That gas tax doesn't pay for Nashville's transit. And our referendum in Nashville doesn't pay for rural roads. We were able to come up with a great, I think, compromise on how to move forward that benefited the whole state. That’s what I want to see.

Affordable housing

You mentioned what you believe is your progress on affordable housing. Still, I continue to hear that issue talked about as a top one. One needs to only drive around any neighborhood close to downtown, and it’s just amazing. You go down a street and see eight houses torn down to make way for more expensive town homes. Is Metro limited on what it can do based on the state outlawing inclusionary zoning? What else can be done amid this booming economy?

Well, there’s no silver bullet. We’ve tried to, through the Office of Housing, create lots of different components. So when you talk about that loss of housing, one of the things that we did in this year’s budget was pass $25 million in general obligation bonds that can be used to go in and help shore up some of those that are at risk of being bought and turned, so that we can help create a stable opportunity for those folks who are living there to stay there. That's one tool, but there's lot of tools. We’ve got the Barnes Fund that is actually building the housing with not-for-profits.

It’s a complex issue, but one of the things that would really help is transit because if you can have transit that actually gets you to your job and you don’t have to have a car, you do have more disposable dollars for housing. But we’re worried about folks who aren’t just low income but also that band of teachers, and firefighters, and nurses, and police officers. So one of the projects we have is at 12th and Wedgewood, that’s coming out of the ground, that will be specifically designed for workforce (housing). So, we’re trying to do lots of different pieces because there’s not one solution.

As we enter your next two years, what’s your message right now?

I think the next critical thing for Nashville is to pass a referendum on transit in May. And I know that there’s going to be lots of desire for much deeper information, but what this referendum is really about is that you’re for transit and you’re willing to pay for it. The reality is if we don’t pass it then all of the other conversations about where should we put more bus service? It doesn’t matter. So what I want people to really realize is that’s so critical. And it’s multi-modal. The light rail is the sexy part, so that’s where people focus. But there is a tremendous amount of increased bus service that will serve all of Davidson County because we won’t be able to do light rail everywhere.

It comes with some political risk, of course.

I ran on wanting to get behind and fix our traffic problem. Everybody did. We talked about housing traffic. So I think that right now is absolutely a time in Nashville that we have to to pass it, and I've got to make the case, and so do a lot of other folks. Business, labor, they're all together. Millennials. We've got to get them out to vote.

Reach Joey Garrison at jgarrison@tennessean.com or 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.