David Briley's Announcement, Abridged Edition

The original announcement released by the Briley Campaign is edited and abridged below. Neighborhood leaders should note Briley's plans on education, "quality-of-life" policing, affordable housing, greenways and parks, and the appointment of a neighborhood liaison for each Metro Department. Sounds more neighborhood-friendly than what we've been getting from the other candidates.

“Nashville has a clear choice,” said [David Briley]. “We can act boldly to claim the exceptional future on the horizon, or we can sit back and be overtaken by the past. The opportunity for success is too great to rest. The cost of being overtaken by the past demands bold action. We must rise to this challenge. Together, we must claim Nashville’s future” ....

Chief among David Briley’s priorities is education. “We will claim a future where every child graduates high school in four years, where every graduate can continue his or her education after high school and where we know that every child who enters kindergarten has a genuine chance to succeed,” he said, noting that for failing schools, “every option should be on the table. We will partner with every institution of higher learning in our community to help us ensure that children succeed."

Briley also declared that Nashville’s government must be managed well and its citizens’ tax burden kept low. “Today Nashville has the lowest tax rate of any major city in the state. The good management of the council and mayor, as well as our diversified economy and strong long-term growth have given the city the highest bond ratings in our history,” he said. “As mayor, I will continue to monitor our departments closely to insure that every penny spent is a good investment of your money. I will keep Nashville the well-managed city it is today and cronyism will not return.” He pledged that within 90 days of taking office, he would work with the council to implement a tax relief program for the elderly.

Further, Briley vowed to make juvenile intervention and quality-of-life policing top priorities to make Nashville’s neighborhoods safer. “In Nashville’s future, no crime will be too small to require the attention of the police,” he said. “In my first budget, I will fund a quality-of-life enforcement team for each of our six precincts. These officers will exclusively respond to neighborhood concerns and quality-of-life crimes. No broken window will be too minor. No abandoned car will sit on your street for weeks. We can claim a safer future for ourselves, but we must act.

Briley praised Nashville’s vast wealth of entrepreneurial and creative talent and vowed to keep conditions attractive for future job creation in the city. “Nashville’s economic future depends upon our ability to attract and nurture entrepreneurs in the economy of ideas,” he said, vowing to make the city a “center of excellence in the idea economy” ....

Briley listed further priorities as well. They include: providing a neighborhood liaison within each city department, improving options for affordable housing, confronting head-on the opportunities and challenges presented by Nashville’s diversity, fully implementing the riverfront, greenways and parks master-plans and incorporating sustainable, environmentally responsible building standards into all city projects.