NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — "Nashvillians are missing too many important moments because we are sitting in traffic," says the voice in a new political ad now hitting the airwaves.
This is part of the case being made by the group Green Lights for Nashville, advocating for a "yes" vote in the upcoming November transportation referendum in Nashville.
As part of the referendum, voters will decide whether they want to pay more in sales tax to fund things like more sidewalks, bus service and hundreds of new smart traffic lights to reduce traffic. It's an investment that Mayor Freddie O'Connell says is worth it.
"This whole program is about affordability," O'Connell said on Monday. "The way I experienced financial empowerment through access to transit and safe infrastructure, it was my pathway to home ownership."
This week, the organized group opposing this referendum has also started to get its name out there through social media ads.
One of the group's leaders is former Metro Councilwoman Emily Evans.
"A lot of what is proposed in the transit referendum, we're doing it now," Evans said. "We have a $10 million grant earlier in the year to help with signalization and we're moving forward."
In the battle for public votes this November, the public may very well see more of these kinds of ads in the weeks to come.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at jason.lamb@newschannel5.com
For people of my generation, in our younger days we spent part of our weekends watching music shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train. That was before the age of music videos. Several years before Soul Train was syndicated out of Chicago, another syndicated R&B show was taped in Nashville at NewsChannel 5. Night Train aired in the 60s and included what may have been the first TV appearance for legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Forrest Sanders has another great look back at station history.
-Lelan Statom
