A Few Questions With

Tom Cash, District 18

BY JUDITH TACKETT

Councilmember Tom Cash loves District 18, where he’s lived most of his life. He’s a public schools supporter who is focused on improving walkability in his neighborhoods.

The Contributor talked with Cash as part of a series called A Few Questions With where we interview councilmembers about their district’s most pressing issues.

How would you describe District 18?

District 18 is an active and engaged district. We’ve got two universities and a major medical campus. This brings in a diversity of backgrounds and ideas. The neighborhoods in District 18 have historic pride in their architecture and their history. But they also are looking at the larger community in a big-picture way, not just what’s in front of them.

What are the main concerns you hear from your constituents?

Topping the list is managing growth in a fair way to ensure that infrastructure keeps up and concerns related to growth are addressed. Some neighborhoods are concerned with historic protections. We already have several conservation overlays.

Constituents care a lot about pedestrian and bicycle safety, making sure the neighborhood streets are walkable and safe for drivers as well. They want to make sure we keep up with infrastructure in a thoughtful way.

They care about their schools, parks, and come up with ways to beautify the neighborhoods, protect greenspace — those are some of the top things I hear about.

What do you think Metro needs to do to protect the local flair of areas like Hillsboro Village, which is in your District?

First, I’ve got to say that as consumers and Nashvillians, we really have the most power over protecting local businesses based on the choices we make, much more than anything government can do.

However, some independent businesses are being priced out of their rents, so helping with that as we can is something local government can pay attention to. Another thing is making sure we look out for and encourage women- and minority-owned businesses. In this term, with the American Rescue Plan funds we had some money we could give to support local businesses.

I think the COVID Oversight Committee did a good job in looking out for different industries in Nashville, especially those with a local flair and entertainment businesses, like the Belcourt theatre, and restaurants. It should have helped some of the smaller ones that were impacted by the pandemic the most.

Metro recently gave Fisk University some money for their business incubator. We continue to do things like that so that we have think tanks that help young and new entrepreneurs find a way to get off the ground. In some areas, government could explore business improvement districts where we can collect extra taxes off the top to promote the area or improve services and infrastructure in the area. This might be good for Hillsboro Village.

We keep improving our Codes Department, making sure that if small businesses are moving into a new location, they have the city’s support to meet all the requirements. We can also make sure that our neighborhoods have safe routes to walk or bike to local businesses rather than jump into the car to drive across town to a mall.

Hillsboro Village has in the last 10 years benefited from tourism. That has helped those business owners. It might change the character some, but it is good for the financial stream for the businesses.

What would you like to focus on in this final year of your current term?

As it relates to transportation, I have a long list of things that I want to keep working on. I have three major avenues that go through my district. On the west side I’ve got West End, to the east I have 12th Avenue, and then 21st Avenue goes down through the middle. There are improvements that all three need, for example, parts of 21st and West End need some safe crossings.

We’re an older district near the core of the city. We are fortunate that we’ve had a pretty good sidewalk network, but there are still some gaps and streets that don’t have them, and it’s a pedestrian community. So, I hopefully can get some more sidewalks where we need them and make sure that we have safe paths and crosswalks to commercial shopping areas.

The Metro Council last year passed a new parking management bill. There are some great things in there to better manage the public parking spaces we have and improve service for residential permit parking on streets. I think it’s going to be a big change, and so we are preparing different folks for those changes. It will bring more enforcement. In some ways, that’s going to cause more issues, but also clear up some issues, especially in a district that has two universities and a major medical campus. There will be some transition time to be aware of what works and what doesn’t.

You’re a staunch supporter of public schools. Where would you like to see investments made to strengthen Metro schools?

In this term, the Metro Council and Mayor have increased school funding in a very positive way, including teacher salaries and protected class sizes. We’ve also requested that funds be earmarked for social-emotional learning efforts and restorative practices.

My hope is that it becomes inherent in the culture and part of the regular classroom rather than just a special program.

Sometimes in education, we go through these periods of focusing on good ideas and trying something new. I think we need to be careful when we try special programs that we don’t let that hurt teacher salaries and classroom sizes.

What, in your opinion, are the ingredients Nashville needs to invest in to make a dent in homelessness?

The first answer is housing. Second is understanding and making sure that we as a city care about the homeless, and that we all work together to help them find housing and improve their lives, so that they can succeed and be independent and safe.

When it comes to understanding, one of my favorite books to teach as an English teacher for many years was To Kill A Mockingbird. In it, Atticus Finch talked about how you really never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Obviously housing is most important, but understanding is a key ingredient to help improve things.

As I said, we want to make investments in housing and wraparound services, but we also want to make sure that those investments include efforts to make sure that folks are aware of what’s offered. We can spend millions of dollars building housing and other government services that can help, but if people are not aware of them, then it’s not doing any good. We need to make sure we have strategy to reach out to people and not just wait for folks to come to us.

Kind of related, we started a program that has the Metro Police work side by side with Mental Health professionals. I think that’s a good program and should be expanded. That can help when police are to engage with homeless individuals.