What tier is Nashville in and what does it have to do to ascend? (Clarksville: transplants)

[BayAreaDave]

I think focusing on the residents instead of tourists at this point will do a lot. Build bike lanes and sidewalks, preserve affordable housing, and most importantly public transportation. The downtown boom will not stop soon. Coming soon we have a ballpark, amphitheater, two new 400-600 footers (Turnberry and Sheet music-not even going to mention 505 CST), and various new hotels and office buildings that will united SoBro, CBD, and North Capitol.

Personally I think that a North-South light rail system will take us up a tier if it ever happens. Everyone knows that the working class residents of South and North Nashville is the backbone of the city. Tourists and transplants are nor permanent. Have a rail that extends from Antioch to Bordeaux. You would also have the amp (if it ever happens) and Music City Star.

[Hey_Hey]

I don't know what "tier" Nashville would fall into now. But I agree with you that a transit system is vitally important for us to become a more complete city. There are many areas in which Nashville doesn't really have to improve in order to maintain its status (number of colleges, cultural significance of its residents and industries, healthcare offerings), but there are a few areas that need improvement. Chief among those is the transit system.

Nashville needs to focus on two areas of transit: 1. Getting people into the city from the surrounding suburbs. 2. Moving people inside the city without needing a car. We need heavy rail transit to Murfreesboro, Brentwood/Franklin/Spring Hill, Clarksville, and Sumner County in addition to the Music City Star. We also need a light rail or BRT system inside the city to move people from downtown to West End or from Midtown to East Nashville or from the airport to downtown. The reality is that it will cost billions of dollars to build everything out, however we don't really have a choice. If we don't give people alternatives then we're going to start being passed over by companies and talented people when they are choosing where to live.

[DonCorleone]

Preaching to the choir! Mass transit should be a top priority. "So Nashville doesn't become the next Atlanta or Charlotte..." is the standard refrain...and that is true...but quite simply it's for quality of life purposes. I know we do not have a culture of mass transit here. But we will never have one if we don't have an adequate system in the first place. Build it and they will come, etc. It will take massive infusions of state and federal funding to make it feasible...and unfortunately I'm just not sure it's going to happen.

A smaller, though still difficult, thing would be to extricate the salvage yard on the east bank of the Cumberland and turn that into a development. That's more tangiable...though not easy...and could be done within a mayoral term.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by DonCorleone

Preaching to the choir! Mass transit should be a top priority. "So Nashville doesn't become the next Atlanta or Charlotte..." is the standard refrain...and that is true...but quite simply it's for quality of life purposes. I know we do not have a culture of mass transit here. But we will never have one if we don't have an adequate system in the first place. Build it and they will come, etc. It will take massive infusions of state and federal funding to make it feasible...and unfortunately I'm just not sure it's going to happen.

A smaller, though still difficult, thing would be to extricate the salvage yard on the east bank of the Cumberland and turn that into a development. That's more tangiable...though not easy...and could be done within a mayoral term.

This is what every smaller city says (despite the fact that Atlanta and Charlotte both do better than their regional peers when it comes to mass transit) and yet it manages to do this anyway. Let's face it: from a global perspective, the US sucks when it comes to mass transit investment and it's even worse in the South.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

This is what every smaller city says (despite the fact that Atlanta and Charlotte both do better than their regional peers when it comes to mass transit) and yet it manages to do this anyway. Let's face it: from a global perspective, the US sucks when it comes to mass transit investment and it's even worse in the South.

Definitely true. A lot of that can be credited to post WWII development patterns.

I'll say this, we can certainly learn things from both Atlanta and Charlotte, both positive and negative.

I know there are many transit nuts in Nashville that envy the Lynx.

[mcredux]

If you want to become a "Tier 1" city, then at some point you need to lure in "Tier 1" workers, who tend to be preoccupied with career opportunities and their kids' schools.

It generally helps if said workers are not faced with the immediate choice of "Do I shell out 20k to put my kids in private or do we 'do Brentwood', where the nightly dining options consist of PF Chang's and Chipotle."

If Nashvillians want their city to be Tier 1, at some point their relocation sales pitch needs to evolve from "cost of living" to "Tier 1 opportunity."

[newdixiegirl]

Originally Posted by mcredux

If you want to become a "Tier 1" city, then at some point you need to lure in "Tier 1" workers, who tend to be preoccupied with career opportunities and their kids' schools.

It generally helps if said workers are not faced with the immediate choice of "Do I shell out 20k to put my kids in private or do we 'do Brentwood', where the nightly dining options consist of PF Chang's and Chipotle."

If Nashvillians want their city to be Tier 1, at some point their relocation sales pitch needs to evolve from "cost of living" to "Tier 1 opportunity."

And the COL sales pitch really ought to be true. It's not.