Gicola Lane
Gicola Lane, an activist and community organizer who was one of the leaders of the campaign to create the Community Oversight Board for Metro police, is running for one of the Metro Council's five at-large seats.
Pith noted earlier this month that Lane had decided to run for one of the countywide seats as opposed to the district race she'd previously filed to run in. Now she's made it official.
"Nashville needs fresh leadership that has a strong grasp of the issues facing Nashville’s residents," Lane says in a prepared statement. "With my experience solving complex, large-scale problems with compassion and empathy, I’m the next generation of leadership we need on the Metro Council. It’s time to build a Nashville that’s for the many, not the few.”
Lane is a graduate of Emerge Tennessee, a state affiliate of the Emerge America program, which seeks to recruit and train Democratic women to run for office. She was also featured in the Scene's 2019 People Issue.
Nashville attorney Joy Kimbrough will serve as Lane's campaign treasurer. In her announcement, Lane lists her priorities as "trust and transparency, redefining justice and public safety, and creating equity in housing, education, and employment."
The announcement goes on:
She plans to do this by requiring city contracts and development projects be held to a high standard of transparency and oversight. She will push for funding of community-led organizations that work on anti-violence and assist at-risk youth and their families with interventions. She will fight for more equitable investments in housing projects, propose an anti-displacement plan, full funding of our schools, higher teacher pay to keep our best educators here, and pursue policies that expand job opportunities for all and protect workers from unfair public sector practices.
Lane becomes
one of 15 at-large candidates, a group that includes incumbents Bob Mendes and Sharon Hurt.
