Bill Freeman’s letters do not reflect or guide the Scene’s editorial coverage of the mayoral or other political races.
Mayor Briley has taken a pretty good beating in the press recently. A few points have been valid. Most, however, have been unwarranted.
I think David Briley is the best candidate in the race. And as someone who believes that we should back our beliefs with a financial commitment and that we should be transparent about who we support, I have donated to his re-election campaign.
Briley has been accused of opposing the will of the people. As an example, I can’t count the number of times he’s been described as opposing Nashville’s community oversight board. It’s simply not true.
Briley supported the idea of a community oversight board from the get-go. He repeatedly and publicly confirmed his support of a community oversight board and voluntarily committed to enacting one by executive order if the amendment failed.
He questioned the legal language of the actual amendment, yes. He expressed the very real concern that, as written, the stipulation that the Metro Council approving board members ran the risk of politicizing the board. Briley’s legal expertise gave him pause over language that most of us wouldn’t have thought to consider. He was concerned that the amendment was insufficient to guarantee the board could withstand political influence. He didn’t oppose the board’s creation. He was understandably concerned that the amendment wasn’t written carefully enough.
Briley was also criticized for saying he would enact the oversight board by executive order if the amendment didn’t pass. Critics questioned why he wouldn’t simply enact it immediately instead of waiting until after the vote. Here’s why: If the board was enacted by vote through a referendum, it would become a permanent amendment to the Metro Charter. A program enacted by executive order is subject to the approval of future mayors, who could decide to end the board at any time simply by overruling the former mayor’s executive order. Executive order was better than nothing, but Briley smartly waited to see if the permanent and voter-led effort would succeed. He even later defended the board to the Tennessee General Assembly during the GOP’s attempts to limit the board’s subpoena power. He supported the concept of the oversight board and never wavered.
Briley was also unfairly accused of opposing the will of the people with the recent mass-transit project. He inherited a mess and had no involvement in its design or cost. The problems were created long before Briley took the helm. The vote clearly showed that Nashville found the mammoth plan to be a poor fit, but Briley doesn’t deserve the blame for its flaws. He took on the job of pointing Nashville in the very necessary direction of addressing our mass-transit needs.
The mayor has also been accused of clumsily wandering from one self-made crisis to the next, with no real plan of action. That’s just semantics. It would be equally accurate to say that Briley has responded promptly and directly to each issue as it came, showing an honest willingness to listen to constituents’ concerns. In the pre-NFL Draft cherry-tree debacle, Briley made good on his promise to remove as few trees as possible. With the help of the NFL, he planted a whole boatload of trees to balance the scales. Was there a grand conspiracy to hoodwink Nashvillians out of their cherry-tree canopy? No. I think it was one poorly timed step out of untold thousands of steps that were necessary to complete the gargantuan job of hosting the largest sporting event in the history of Tennessee.
Briley has also been accused of poor decisions to make up Metro’s budget shortfall. I myself have criticized the sale of Metro-owned property. I stand by those concerns, but here’s the other side of the coin. When there is precious little to go around and Metro must find $40 million in spare change before the fiscal year ends in July, there aren’t many options available to our mayor and council. I doubt it’s anyone’s first choice to sell off real estate or parking services, but all options should be considered in the burdensome and necessary task of getting Metro’s books back in the black.
Does Briley deserve the full weight of the criticism he’s received? I don’t think so. I’d say that Briley has listened to us and tried to follow our will. He’s been brave to admit mistakes and make them right. Can you remember any elected official ever doing that without provocation? Briley deserves the right to continue. His administration hasn’t been aimless. It simply doesn’t toot its own horn. There’s a big difference between the two.
When he first took office, Briley said this: “My pledge is simple: As mayor, I will begin work immediately with a sole focus on managing the city and making progress on community priorities. That work will be transparent and be conducted with every effort to restore public trust, and move our great city forward.” He has done every bit of that. What else can we ask for?
Bill Freeman
Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, Nashville Post and Home Page Media Group in Williamson County
