Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, is speaking out about multiple concerns with Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s multi billion-dollar transit plan unveiled last month.
O’Connell unveiled his billion transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last month.
The plan would be funded by a half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax, which would be used to construct miles of new sidewalks, bus stops, transit centers, parking facilities, and upgraded traffic signals.
If the Nashville Metro City Council approves the referendum ballot language via ordinance, voters are expected to decide on the mayor’s plan via referendum on the November ballot.
Cunningham has consistently pointed out that the mayor’s plan appears to be illegal under the IMPROVE Act and would raise property taxes. He is also raising concerns with other aspects of the plan, specifically when it comes to crime, costs, and outdated technology.
On Tuesday, The Tennessee Star reported on an independent audit by the independent accounting firm KraftCPAs that showed O’Connell’s plan – originally priced at $3.1 billion – will swell to $6.93 billion over the 15-year life of the project.
To this, Cunningham said the project’s actual cost could “very well” be even more than the cost calculated by the accounting firm.
“The question now is will they put that number on the ballot? They haven’t committed to it yet. Will they put the $6.9 billion on the ballot? And of course, that could well be much less than what the final cost is going to be,” Cunningham said on Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Cunningham also pointed out how inflation would affect the plan’s cost, saying, “There’s just no telling what inflation will do to the cost of this.”
“What has been a real concern for people lately? It’s a little thing called inflation. Can you imagine in 15 years how the cost of this thing will balloon? There’s just no telling what inflation will do to the cost of this…There’s just so many unknowns to this and it’s just pie in the sky. Even to $6 billion, it’s probably pie in the sky and God knows what the ultimate cost will be,” Cunningham added.
When it comes to crime, Cunningham pointed to a recent incident at the bus station located at Rep John Lewis Way & MLK Jr Blvd where a man was shot six times over what appeared to be drugs.
“The crime is awful. It’s here in Nashville and it’s all on bus transits…Transit, in general, has been plagued by crime for a long time and that’s why, of course, the transit ridership is way down and is not going to come back,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham cited multiple examples of transit crime on Nashville’s public transportation service, WeGo, over the years.
“If you do just a little bit of research – if reporters in town use this tool that we all know, Google, and you do a little bit of research – you find the story, the true story. Here’s one from April 16, 2016: ‘After shooting at downtown bus station, Nashville riders want more security.’ That’s 2016. Here’s another from August 23, 2022: ‘Man stole WeGo bus after threatening driver.’ Here’s another, August 2023: ‘WeGo increasing safety measures after student sexually attacked at bus station.’ And in January of this year: ‘WeGo driver assaulted behind the wheel by passenger.’ Plus there’s the two incidents that we just had. Nationally, this is part of a continuing pattern. Here’s an AP story from March the 7th: ‘Transit crime is back as top concern in some U.S. cities.’ Transit crime in New York and Chicago and Los Angeles is just off the charts. It’s terrible,” Cunningham said.
“The only people who ride transit are the people who absolutely cannot do not have any other choice,” Cunningham noted.
Cunningham also raised concern in regard to crime with the mayor’s plan to have 24/7 bus routes and free ride fares for people who make less than a certain income.
“The problem with free fares is it attracts even more of the criminal element. New York is getting away from free fares because the vagrants and the homeless people would come in and you couldn’t stop them because the fares were free and they would camp out on the trains all night long and crime just went through the roof again. That’s what we’re going to see in Nashville. They’re also touting the fact that these buses are running 24/7. Can you imagine anybody riding a bus on Nolensville Road at two o’clock in the morning? It is a crime scene on wheels and nobody except the homeless folks and the drug users are going to be in there… You think crime’s a problem now, baby, you ain’t seen nothing. People will be even more apprehensive about riding,” Cunningham explained.
When it comes to the mayor’s plan in terms of technology and innovation, Cunningham said the concept is based on “very old technology,” as fixed-route buses date back to the 19th century.
“It’s an awful proposal. We’re on the cusp of probably one of the most transformational periods of transit technology here. Elon [Musk] is talking about his robo taxi…Now, obviously, we’re not going to have what they call level five self-driving technology probably for another five years. “But with how the speed of the technology is going, to invest in a 15-year plan based on fixed route buses is like in 1920, investing in horses. That’s really about the best metaphor I can come up with. That’s the level of stupidity here,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham also pointed out how travel times via public transit are twice as long and “restrict economic opportunities” of low-income individuals.
“Democratic policies hurt the very people that it was intended to help…You had a whole bunch of folks when [the mayor] introduced his transit plan and at Metro who came up to the podium and said, ‘Oh, this is so wonderful because it’ll help immigrants and it’ll help low income people from North Nashville and South Nashville.’ No, it won’t help them. It restricts their economic opportunities. It takes twice as long to get to the job, and they have to constantly deal with the threat of crime. It’s just unbelievable that people are pushing this plan,” Cunningham said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Freddie O’Connell” by Freddie O’Connell, Mayor of Metropolitan Nashville & Davidson County.
