Nashville Tennessean

Nashville seems to be losing the things that attracted people here in the first place.

As I reflect on the quality of my life as a citizen of Nashville, I see many negatives.

We spend time and money catering to Nashville's newest residents while ignoring those who made the city what it is.

I have watched with interest several portions of the budget hearings as rebroadcast on Metro Channel 3.

The hearings contained many polished presentations; many good questions were asked by all of you, and very logical responses were given to those questions.

As I watched and learned, an important question popped into my head, and I ask it of each of you: What is the benefit to me of Nashville being the "it" city?

I have lived in and loved Nashville all my life — 57 years. It has grown and prospered. But in the last few years — as we have been labeled the "it" city — things have become frenetic and chaotic, and I wonder to what purpose and benefit.

There is an episode of my favorite TV show, "The Andy Griffith Show," where a film crew from Hollywood comes to town and wants to use Mayberry as the location of a movie. Everyone in the town starts dressing differently and changing their storefronts. The episode culminates with residents gathering to cut down an old oak tree in the town square, as town leaders think it is unsightly.

The movie producers stop and chastise the residents, telling them the town needs to keep what attracted them there in the first place. Nashville has been acting a lot like Mayberry.

Development has gone on all my life, most of it good and orderly. As various large projects were proposed and debated, we would always hear a lot about the dollars those projects would bring to our city. I always anticipated that something good would come from those added dollars. At some point began the panic of so many people wanting to come to Nashville and the question of where we would house them all. So development went crazy.

Infrastructure improvements were not required until development after development was approved. As I watch the council's public hearings on developments from time to time, developers are always quick to point out how much their projects will increase the tax base.

But as I reflect on the quality of my life as a citizen of Nashville, I see so many negatives. The news reported recently that violent crime is up. The council is discussing how to fund a bigger jail. Traffic is awful, so I have to get my errands done by 10 a.m., and I don't go near Green Hills on a Saturday.

Our schools are not performing — I have children in public and private local schools. We are still using taxpayer money to attract/keep business here (recently, Lifeway and the TV show "Nashville"). Our taxes are going up through property revaluations. It is ridiculously expensive to come downtown and park or to secure a reasonably priced hotel room for guests coming to town.

Though we have been requesting sidewalks on our end of Bowling Avenue for years, we are told there is not enough money, even though Natchez Trace is getting its existing sidewalks replaced. And finally, I learned through the budget hearings that there is a movement afoot to charge us for our trash pickup.

So again, I ask the question: How do I benefit from being in the "it" city?

As you go through the rest of the budget process this year and in the years to come, I ask you to recognize that we spend a lot of time and a whole lot of money catering to the people who are coming, or have recently come, to Nashville as part of our new definition of ourselves. I ask you to provide some benefit to those of us who have lived here a long time and contributed to making this city what it is.

Carolyn Schofner is a Nashville resident.