They’ve toured the Gulch, visited Nashville’s newest police precinct and made it to Stratford High School to check out the Academies of Nashville.
Next on the agenda: Drive through Music Row, hear stories on the consolidation of Metro government and learn about Nashville’s growing ethnic diversity.
Around 4,000 city officials — mayors, county commissioners, city council members and others — from across the nation are on a policy-filled field trip in Nashville this week to find ideas and possible solutions in areas ranging from education and crime to downtown growth and race relations.
The occasion: the National League of Cities’ 2015 Congress of Cities, which kicked off Wednesday at Music City Center but begins formally Thursday with an opening general session headlined by a speech from Vice President Joe Biden.
The conference, which runs through Saturday, gives cities a chance to see what has worked — and perhaps what hasn’t — in Nashville. That includes off-site excursions throughout the city. And it gives leaders in Nashville, which last hosted the conference in 2002, an opportunity to showcase initiatives and successes they’re most proud of.
In addition, the conference features informational sessions and discussions for delegates on a host of topics such as budget waste, local water policy, community broadband access and municipal bonds and fiscal health.
The conference was held last year in Austin, Texas, and is scheduled for Pittsburgh next year and Charlotte, N.C., in 2017.
National League of Cities Director Clarence Anthony talked about the conference and other issues involving cities. Before assuming roles at the National League of Cities, Anthony served as mayor of South Bay, Fla., for 24 years.
What are some of the biggest challenges cities are facing right now?
That’s how we build our conference, to be honest — around what cities are facing. Clearly, infrastructure needs continue to be one of the high priorities. When we talk about infrastructure, we’re talking about transportation, water and wastewater and other infrastructure that cities need in order to provide effective services for citizens who live in those communities. The other thing that continues to be a big issue is the whole issue of public safety. Not just the community relations part of public safety, but we’re talking about best practices. We’re talking about what kind of funding is needed in order to make public safety effective in communities for all citizens.
Why is Nashville an appealing place for National League of Cities to visit?
Oh, man. I’ve been here three times in the last year because we’ve been getting prepared for the conference. Nashville has so much to offer in terms of the creative things that you all are doing, especially as it relates to sustainability and LEED certification buildings. You look around, and the greening of Nashville is something that every city leader wants to understand. How can we build a convention center and make it solar and sustainable-friendly? That’s going to be one of the major questions of these city leaders. If you look at your education system here, your university, elementary and high school (education levels), how does your city manage and integrate all of those programs?
Your classroom-to-career program (the Academies of Nashville), people want to see. How do you make that work? And then Nashville’s transformation in regards to the vacant-to-vibrant (growth and development) programs that you have here. How did you turn the vacant property into vibrant property? You have a lot to share and show. And as fast as it’s growing, how do you balance what’s happening downtown to what needs to happen in neighborhoods? I know that is one of Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s interests.
That actually ties to one of Nashville’s most talked about challenges right now — affordability to live in changing neighborhoods with soaring housing prices close to downtown. Is that conversation happening in most cities like ours right now?
You know, in the 1980s, a lot of the downtown areas were left vacant and people left to the suburban communities. Now, what we’re seeing in the new millennium is that they’re coming back after college, and they want to live in cities that have affordable housing and have access to restaurants and access to recreation and access to their jobs.
That challenge that we’re talking about as it relates to the affordability of housing closer to downtown is a national challenge in big cities and urban cities all over America. I think what we’re also seeing is that local governments are coming up with ways to help keep some of the property affordable. This is not just a challenge in Nashville. It is a challenge in Washington, D.C., where I live. Atlanta continues to be challenge. … Now because the millennials want to move back closer to downtown, and be closer to their work and not drive, it’s becoming an issue all over America.
What do you see as opportunities for cities right now?
That goes into the theme of our conference: “Cities on Center Stage.” You can look around America right now, and everybody is talking about cities. Every company wants to be downtown in cities all over America. Cities are on the forefront of every solution because they can’t look to Washington for solutions. So, cities are funding a lot of these programs that historically they have looked for support from Washington for. They’re creating their financial systems to be able to deal with it. So, as we look at the future, I think that this whole new economy that is out there — Uber, Lyft, Airbnb — how do cities integrate this new economy? What that will do is make us look at our taxing infrastructure and look at how we make our downtowns and rural communities look friendly to nontraditional brick-and-mortar companies. They’re not going away. So, our members will talk about that.
National League of Cities
National League of Cities delegates, who started arriving earlier this week, won’t just stay inside Nashville’s new convention center. They’re taking off-site trips across Davidson County in what are called “mobile workshops.” Nashville “mobile workshop” topics either discussed Wednesday or at the center of future sessions on Thursday include:
Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.
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