Countdown to a new Mayor

First, I admit I was wrong about my prediction for the election held on the first day of this month of August 2019. I thought that David Briley would coast to a full term as Nashville mayor. After the debacle of Megan Barry, Metro Nashville voters seemed to gravitate toward stability and the same steady presence in the office of Mayor.

But I am quick to add that Nashville voters have a collective mind of their own. Sometimes that mind is unpredictable. But it seems to take us in the right direction, almost as if we know what we need, what is around the corner, and the best man or woman for the job.

This is a gift from God. And it is one of many reasons I am happy to call Nashville home. And I was here a long time before we ever heard about an IT city. In fact, though I did not grow up here, I was born here. 

Megan Barry spoke of the "city that gets it". But she apparently did not get it. Finally, I saw press coverage of an interview where she admitted she was wrong in carrying on an extramarital affair on the taxpayers' tab. Oh if only she had repented while in office. I would have been one of the first to forgive her and to favor her staying put.

But a cloud of arrogance seemed to engulf the first female Mayor of Nashville: Defending herself to the hilt. Hiring a high-profile legal team. Stonewalling until the last possible moment when the district attorney drove her from office in disgrace.

It could have been so much different. But it was what it was. 

David Briley has done the job for a time and helped us move on as a city. He is smart, clever, and honest as the day is long.

But there are lingering issues of debt, prioritizing the powerful at the expense of the common man, and half baked solutions to major problems. Oh yeah, and I am more interested in these core issues than whether Kid Rock serves as grand marshal of the annual Christmas parade. So much focus seems to happen over social issues and positions that are important but that do not merit top priority. 

David Briley received 25,786 votes. John Cooper received 35,676. Total votes: 102,002. 

It doesn't take a political science major like me to know that, despite a somewhat admirable tenacity in the face of steep odds, Briley isn't going to be around much longer.

Councilman Cooper developed a policy platform based on neighborhoods, fiscal accountability, restoring trust, economic and community development, transportation, affordable housing, education, police and safety, and parks and green space. He cites examples of poor real estate deals that gave away too much from the perspective of Metro Nashville. 

I cannot understand how folks are flocking here to spend money either as tourists or home buyers. Read: Spend Tax Money. We should not be worried about debt. Some of these poor decisions date back to the administration of Karl Dean (2007-2015). But we are done with Dean, Barry, and almost Briley, too.

A new day is about to dawn.

On other election fronts, Jim Shulman received 68.097 votes for a whopping 80.43% and a return to the position of Vice Mayor. Bob Mendes will return to to the position of Council At Large with 37,476 votes. The other four at large seats will be decided September 12, 2019 and during early vote. Candidates are Burkley Allen, Fabian Bedne, Steve Glover, Sharon W. Hurt, Howard Jones, Gary W. Moore, Zulfat Suara, and Sheri Weiner.

District council seats were all finalized on August 1. 

Early voting has started and continues Tuesday through Friday of next week. Election day is Thursday, September 12.

James A. Rose

Publisher