“[West to East Nashville] is an area that does have lots of housing, a lot of residents do reside in this area who use transit. You already have active transit users in this area, you have places of work, you have places of recreation, of entertainment — all the metrics that experts use to determine where transit projects should take place.”
And what transit toys did the North Nashville's council members bring home to us?
UPDATE: Via Mike Peden, below are the numbers that the Mayor intends to spend on bus rapid transit, east-west.
I.D. Number: 13MT0007
BUS RAPID TRANSIT (BRT) - EAST WEST CONNECTOR - FINAL DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND STREETSCAPE
2013-14 $49,000,000
I.D. Number: 13MT0006
BUS RAPID TRANSIT (BRT) BUSES - EAST WEST CONNECTOR - 10
2013-14 $10,000,000
I.D. Number: 13PW0016
EAST-WEST CONNECTOR BUS RAPID TRANSIT (BRT) - STREETSCAPE PHASE 1
2013-14 $38,400,000
And in North Nashville:
I.D. Number: 13MT0011
BUS RAPID TRANSIT (BRT) - CLARKSVILLE HIGHWAY AND D.B.TODD BOULEVARD
2013-14 $4,840,000
Notice that the cost for streetscape designs alone--that is design stuff like planters, landscaping, lights (likely with expensive underground power lines), attractive seating, art, etc--starts out at $38.4 million for phase 1 and continues up in the final design. There is no "design" component mentioned with the measly $4.8 million he sets aside for North Nashville BRT altogether. The cost of the east-west buses alone more than doubles what the Mayor says he intends to spend on North Nashville BRT.
It does not appear that the North Nashville council members brought much home at all from last night's budget "fight" (a term I use loosely, given the general lack of backbone in the Metro Council).
Various existing bus routes will connect with Amp along it's route. You could bus, walk or bike downtown from Salemtown, then ride the Amp to Centennial Park, midtown [maybe breakfast at Noshville?], Belle Meade or wherever, then take the same route home. People neglect the fact that West End is one of the few options that has room for dedicated lanes. Take two lanes off Rosa Parks, and it won't work. What the North routes could use is upgraded bus stops/shelters that would come with a BRT 'lite' like those on Gallatin or M'oro roads.
ReplyDeleteWhat does spending so much more money on design elements for plants and sexy lighting in west-to-east Nashville than on basic transit in North Nashville have to do with my ease of travel?
DeleteAlso, it's not just about me. A Charlotte line would have suited North Nashville better than it does West End. This Mayor is bent on serving wealthy interests first, which is exactly why this is unfolding as it is. There are two Nashvilles, and one of them gets a great deal more transit resources than the other. At least acknowledge that brutal fact before lining out the bus routes to get to BRT, like there is no qualitative difference.
Word is the NN council members sold out bus routes for promised jobs building and working the route. Will that turn out like Nashvillians who were promised most of the jobs building the Music City Center? That didn't happen either.
ReplyDeleteThere may be many busses running on West End, but how many are empty? Let's have numbers on actual bus ridership! New bus routes need to be in areas where folks ride the bus-DAH? Folks just want affordable transportation, not millions of dollars of pretty Bus Huts in a seven mile stretch in the high rent district.
Does the mayor want to build the AMP in order to shuttle the new HCA employees to their new towers? How much more of our money is the mayor going to give HCA? First he gives them the land, then he gives them the largest tax break in the history of the city, now he wants the city,state, and federal government to build them a private shuttle system. HMMM? Guess Karl lost face when he could not deliver the fairgrounds for them.
ReplyDeleteIf this is not for HCA, then who is it for? Is it for tourists? Karl has to know that Nashvilllians are too smart to pay to park, them pay again to ride the AMP, just to travel 7.1 miles to dinner or entertainment.
Will someone ask the mayor why Nashville tax money (from MTA) is being spent for glossy color mailers in order to mislead the taxpayes with opinions from the Tennessean newspaper? We all know that the Tennessean is nothing more than the PR department of the mayor.
Let's see the actual report that the taxpayers paid for. Why will the MTA board and commission not release this report to the public? Is it damning to the project? Are they crafting another in order to cover the truth? Why snuff out CM Stites' request for an independent study on where mass transit is needed most? Isn't Freddie O'Connell on this commission? Surely he wants neighbors to be informed?
Mass transit might be a good idea. The current location of the AMP is a complete waste of taxpayer money and the taxpayers are running out of money. Someone please tell Mayor Dean and Rich Riebeling to be good stewards of OUR money. We are not giving you any more!!
I am watching the replay of the Council meeting right now. I am astonished how rude CM Maynard is being as he carries the mayor's torch for the amp brt. The entire North Nashville delegation appears to be working in unison to protect the amp. How odd that these council members are working so hard to give so much of their constituent's money to a part of the upper class part of the city and ignoring economic development in their own communities.
ReplyDeleteIf you watch carefully it is easy to tell who has sold their soul to the mayor and has been meeting behind closed doors on the amp. When they ask questions or point out the truth, they are made fun of. Sounds like Dean has been teaching them his bully tactics. Council member Moore acts like an employee of the mayor and puts down anything to support the fairgrounds.
What are these council members sucking up to the mayor? Do they think they are important if they do what he says? Have they been threatened with lack of services for their area if they support their people instead of the mayor? Why have only certain members of the council been allowed to be part of the planning of the amp?
We use to say, "We are Nashville." Now it is more like "A Few of Us Are Nashville, the Rest of you Just Pay for It and Keep Quiet."
It's encouraging that Nashville has more than $100,000,000 available for transit-related issues. Imagine if that $97,400,000 were allocated out differently.
ReplyDeleteI live on the West End corridor. People DRIVE 2 blocks to eat. The buses run empty, in fact I have only observed ONE rider on the "University Connector" route, and I am out morning, noon and night with my dog. West End buses sit in Vanderbilt traffic with 1/2 a dozen riders. This is just King Karl ramming another albatross around the necks of hard working Davidson County taxpayers who are vocal in not wanting the BRT destroying West End Ave. Small businesses are worried about the fact that left turns on West End will be few and far between. Oh, never mind, all the conventioneers will be spending their money along the 7 mile route. Right.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte Ave is ripe for development, with a base who would actually ride the bus DAILY. Maybe the "connected" don't own the property there.
As far as my council member. She is useless, and panders to whatever the Mayors office is focused on doing. We've tried to replace her, but district gerrymandering pretty much took care of that option.