Karl Dean has been mayor of Nashville since 2007. He was born in Prior to being elected, he served as Nashville’s Director of Law and the city’s public defender. He is also an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School. Although city positions in Nashville are non-partisan, he is widely recognized as a Democrat.
The Politic: What would you say was your motivation for entering public service?
I’ve had a long-term interest in public affairs and history and politics since I was in high school. After law school, I ended up in the public defender’s office here, which I loved, and the head of that office is an elected position. I was an assistant public defender for six or seven years, and then I ran and was elected as the head in 1990, then re-elected in 1994 and 1998. I really enjoyed the court and administrative work, the work around getting the budget for the department. Then when Bill Purcell became mayor he asked me to leave the public defender’s office and become the city’s law director, which got me more involved on a day-to-day basis in the bigger picture for the city, which I really enjoyed. At some point, when Bill wasn’t running for reelection, I made the decision I wanted to do that; I felt that I understood the city very well, having worked in the criminal justice system and having worked on the other side of it. I loved the city and still believe the city has tremendous potential and thought it would be an exciting thing to do—so I ran.
The Politic: What kind of unique impact would you say a mayor can have?
Mayors are unique in that they are closer to the people than any other level of local government, and you’re dealing with issues that are really concrete, whether it’s quality of schools where people’s kids actually go, the safety of the streets where they actually walk on them, the economy of the city where they’re trying to make a living. You work on those issues and get an immediate sense of impact, you have an immediate sense of how things are going, and you hear regularly from the people that you represent and whom you’re working for. Mayors are unique in that, by the nature of the job, what they’re trying to do is to get something done, to accomplish things, to move the city forward. There’s the old LaGuardia line: there’s not a Republican way to pick up the trash or a Democratic way to pick up the trash—people just want their trash picked up. And so there’s that component that makes mayors unique. I also think, with the federal government having so much friction, that mayors have a real opportunity to be more creative at the local level than you can be at other levels of government.
The Politic: Nashville has a unique government organization, in that, first of all, it’s incorporated into the county, but also in that it has a really large Metro council—forty members is much larger than most other cities. How does this affect the role of the mayor, especially considering that all the council members work part-time?
Well, just from the Metro charter, you have a strong mayor system to begin with, because the mayor has the responsibility of doing the budget and the mayor has the power to appoint most of the critical department heads. In general, the large council probably makes it more difficult for the council to do their own thing. I think it’s just structurally difficult the way the charter is written anyway, but the large council probably makes it harder. And I think it’s significant that, by charter, our elections here are nonpartisan. And so the council doesn’t organize itself along political parties. Instead, you get these loose affiliations of people who may share a similar ideology or viewpoint, but they don’t have a structure to them, which probably enhances the mayor’s position too.
The Politic: What kind of relationship do you have with the state legislature? Recently, the state senate passed a bill that limited the options for the Amp, a major bus rapid transit project that your administration has pushed for. Do you think that’s indicative of your relationship with the legislature or is this an anomaly?
I wouldn’t call it an anomaly. Beginning around three or four years ago, we started to have Republican supermajorities in both of our state houses, and the legislative body is – I would perceive it as being more conservative than the governor, and is certainly more conservative than most local government – and they also have more of a tendency to get involved in local affairs. The Amp is one example; gun control is another. There’s a whole series of things where they’ve gotten more involved. It’s not really so much my relationship, I would say, it’s just their relationship to local governments around the state. I think it’s just a period of time where you’ve got these supermajorities where their tendency is to be, probably, more aggressive than they’ve been in the past.
The Politic: You mentioned education, and that’s clearly been one of your top priorities throughout your tenure. What do you believe is most important for Nashville schools, speaking generally, and how specifically is your administration trying to help them improve?
Nashville’s biggest issue is for our school system to perform at a higher level, in terms of how our young people do on ACT testing, college preparation, where we rank on a national basis—not because we’re looking to brag about where we rank, but because it’s an issue of how kids will be able to go to college and succeed in life. And I think it’s absolutely critical for the city that Nashville will be a city that not only attracts a lot of college graduates, but that also produces a lot of college graduates. So I believe the work we’ve done with Teach for America and the New Teacher Project, the charter efforts we’ve made have helped push the ball along. We’re not where we need to be, but we’re making progress. I would think that it’s pretty clear that for almost every person in Nashville, certainly every organized entity, education is the number one priority here.
The Politic: Much of the recent debate about education has focused on charter schools. What do you think of their current role in Nashville and what role do you see them playing in the future?
I’m a supporter of charter schools. I don’t think they’re the answer to everything, but I think the more choice you can offer people, the better. I was involved in establishing the charter incubator here, which has produced very good schools. We’ve had charters that are clearly outperforming most of the traditional schools and even the suburban counties. I think we need to continue down that path. There’s going to be a mixture of schools, traditional and charter, that’s going to offer families more choice, and I think it keeps the idea of excellence forward and I think that’s a good thing. Clearly, every city that goes through this has debates and people get upset about it, but I think support for charter schools is growing, and I think you’re going to continue to see them grow in numbers in our city.
The Politic: Let’s talk about economic development. Nashville’s downtown is booming—there have been a number of projects that have gone up, businesses are moving in, people are moving in. How do we make sure that the growth is smart? How do we make sure that we do it in a sustainable way that respects the environment as well as making sure that we remain an economically competitive city?
You have to invest in a lot of different things. Clearly, we’ve invested in downtown, but we’ve also invested publicly—more than most people realize—in the Hickory Hollow Area, and we’ve invested all over the city, whether it’s in parks or in greenways. Quality of life is obviously very important, and we’ve done initiatives with transportation, complete streets, making more streets pedestrian-friendly, cycling—things like that. But I think what people want is to live in a city where there’s opportunity. They want to live in a city where there are jobs, where they can live the American dream, where their kids can get ahead, where they can get ahead. And we’ve had good luck. In 2013, Nashville, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, had the number two percentage job increase in the country. In 2012, we were number one. We’re seeing that 2014’s going to be a good year. This past fiscal year, we set the all-time record for construction and code permits, the amount of money being done here. It’s a very healthy economy. You’ve got to remember, a lot of this is occurring in the years after one of the worst recessions since the Depression, so that’s been a major focus of what we’ve worked on.
The Politic: What about mass transit? Nashville currently has a working bus system, but not much else. Are there ways we can improve mass transit, and how crucial do you think that is for Nashville going forward?
I think mass transit is critical. There’s both the regional and the local level to look at. We’ve close to doubled the budget for our bus system since I’ve been mayor, whether it’s doing bus rapid transit line on Gallatin Road, Murfreesboro Road—we’re working on Charlotte right now, we’re working on the Amp proposal out there. We’ve expanded service, and the city needs to keep doing that. According to the Census, of the fifty major cities in America, we’re the seventh fastest-growing. The city, the state, the region has to be serious about transit solutions or it’s going to be an impediment to our future prosperity.
The Politic: What would you say the mayor’s office can do about issues that are maybe not as publicly visible, but are just as important, such as domestic violence?
We’ve put maybe a million dollars additional money into the budget this year to start a center in the Ben West building to help prosecute domestic violence cases and to make sure the victims get attention all through the system. We did a major study, and we’re responding to that. That’s something that the mayor’s office was able to do—take the lead on that, do that study. We did the funding for various agencies, to improve the way that Nashville handles those cases.
The Politic: The Metro council recently passed domestic partner benefits for government employees—could you talk a little bit about that? Obviously, Nashville wasn’t the first city to do it, but what do you think was the importance of that step?
Well yeah, there are cities that have done it before…but the important thing, number one, is just basic fairness, that people should get the same benefits for doing the same job. And I also think it’s important that Nashville as a city be competitive in terms of employment. If you offer benefits, you attract the best people. So to me it just comes down to basic fairness, and having a modern system of benefits similar to other cities and to businesses. Many of the larger businesses here have done this for a long time.
The Politic: Recently, Moody’s downgraded the city’s bond rating from AA1 to AA2. What do you think this says, if anything, about the Nashville budget, and has it affected your approach?
I don’t think it says anything, really. The reasons that occurred were because of things such as them recalculating the way they go about making those decisions—that’s the number one factor. And the other factors, I would say, are things like us having an indigent hospital. Those are the major things. None of these projects had anything to do with it. I know, and most people know, that our reserves are higher now than when I took office. Our tax rates are lower now than when I took office. So I think the Nashville economy is darn strong.
The Politic: Inequality has recently become a major part of the national political, and with the election of, for instance, Mayor de Blasio, there have been politicians who have pledged to do much more about it and focus on it as a key issue. How do you see this issue manifested in Nashville currently, and what is your administration trying to do about it?
I think what I need to do as mayor is work on the things that I actually can have an influence on. So what we’ve worked on is to try to have a strong economy where jobs are being created here faster than most places, where people have an opportunity to get employment, earn a living, get to live the American dream. I think that’s the best way you deal with that issue. I wouldn’t compare Nashville to New York City, and I would say that our position is that you have a strong economy here that is creating jobs, and you have a city that is filled with opportunities. People are attracted to the city, and that’s part of the reason why we’re growing—people come here because they perceive it as an affordable city where there are jobs. And I think that’s the way you go.
The Politic: Let’s talk a bit more generally for a moment. What is your vision for Nashville in 2020?
I would hope that we see continuous improvement in education. Crime has gone down – we had a 50-year low in our homicide rate last year – and I hope that it continues to drop. I would hope that our economy remains as vital as it is right now. Nashville has a lot going for it as an attractive place for people to do business. I would hope that there is substantial progress being made in the area in transportation, both regionally and within the city itself. I think those would be my big hopes. And that we continue to maintain a high quality of life here, whether it’s through our park system or our greenways, but to maintain the city as a very attractive place to visit and live.
The Politic: What would you say are the greatest challenges that Nashville faces, both long-term and short-term?
Both long-term and short-term, I think the two greatest challenges Nashville faces are education and mass transit. I’d bet there’s a pretty wide consensus on that.
The Politic: You’ve advocated for a number of larger projects over your time as mayor. The Music City Convention Center was built—that was obviously a boon to the downtown economy. But other projects you’ve advocated for, like redeveloping the fairgrounds, have not been implemented to such an extent. And more recently, the Amp has run into some political trouble. What do you think makes some of these projects succeed, and what political obstacles are there?
Getting the Convention Center built was obviously a difficult process and took a while. Change is difficult, and making investments in the future is difficult, and you have to persuade people to do it. Transit has its own sort of issues, because no matter where you go you’ll see the same issues that come up with the Amp—the ‘not in my backyard’ mentality, or ‘we don’t want to pay for it,’ or outside groups come in with a political agenda and finance opposition. That happens everywhere. The issue is that people will need to accommodate themselves to change. We’ve needed transit for a lot longer than I’ve been mayor, and we just haven’t done it. At some point, you have to start working on it. You look at other things—I mentioned Hickory Hollow, we’ve created I don’t know how many jobs out there working with the private sector. We’re building a library, we’re building a community center, we’re building a park, we’re building a skating rink for the Predators—we’re making a massive investment out there that’s certainly much bigger than the baseball stadium, for instance, but that doesn’t get as much attention because it’s not as controversial. The baseball stadium’s not controversial at all; as far as I can tell, no one is upset by that. It’s also a huge economic development tool; it’s done remarkable things already for that neighborhood.
The Politic: Let’s talk about the baseball stadium for a moment then. You mentioned economic development, but how do you think it might play into a sense of a larger Nashville culture, or a sense of identity?
I think people are excited about baseball being played downtown, they’re excited about baseball being played in Sulphur Dell where it was historically played. I think they’re excited about an investment in North Nashville that’s not in the middle of downtown, that’s going to energize a part of the city that needs that. Then you look at the baseball stadium, with all that’s going on in Germantown, the way it’s spurring development in Jefferson Street, then you look at the investment HCA is making over at the termination of the Gulch, which is really nearby. The North Nashville area there is going to be transformed over the course of the next five years.
The Politic: I just want to talk a little bit about the 2010 flood, which was clearly a major disaster for Nashville. How do you think that affected Nashville’s sense of itself, and what role do you think that you as Mayor played in the aftermath?
The 2010 flood was obviously a major natural disaster: eleven of our citizens died, there were two billion dollars of damage to private property, extensive damage to public property, but I think, looking back on it, most Nashvillians’ memory of it would be, and certainly what I would take from it, is the remarkable resiliency of the city, the remarkable volunteer spirit here and the speed with which we were able to recover, the way we were able to lift ourselves back up by people working together. Our departments here responded extraordinarily well to the crisis, and my role is to be the cheerleader, the leader who can help get people to focus on the future and recover and pick themselves up, which I think people did. But to me, the story is not about the government, or me – it’s about the people of Nashville.
The Politic: Say I’m visiting Nashville for the first time and have just two hours. What should I do to get the iconic Nashville experience?
Clearly, lower Broadway would be high on the list for the evening, I would say. The Country Music Hall of Fame is such a wonderful cultural institution, and then I would say go to Shelby Park greenway and take in the beautiful park and the beautiful natural beauty that is the city and the river. That would be a pretty good way to introduce yourself to Nashville in a couple of hours.
The Politic: What would you say the average voter might not know about your job? What would be something unexpected or surprising about it?
I knew more about my job going into it than most people who get elected mayor because I was law director and I spent so much time around it. But people ask me what surprised me the most about it, and I’ll always say the biggest surprise I got was I worry about parking all the time. When you have a growing city where the downtown is vibrant, you have the need for parking. It factors in to so many different things that you’re trying to do, whether it’s in terms of bringing jobs downtown, whether it’s a big event, but it also factors into other things going on in neighborhoods around the city, whether it’s 12th Avenue South, Sylvan Park, East Nashville—every part of the city has parking issues, and I think that is one thing I did not expect to think about as much as I think about it.
The Politic: Do you have any advice for aspiring public servants? Would you tell them to go into public service, no question? Would you tell them, perhaps, to follow the steps of someone else like John Seigenthaler, the former Tennessean publisher and founder of the First Amendment Center who just recently passed away, if they want to influence the city for good?
There are all sorts of ways to influence the city for good. Certainly, John Seigenthaler is an example of somebody who took a particular course where he had a huge positive impact on the city of Nashville. But you could also point to people who have created nonprofit organizations like Renata Soto, who worked with the Hispanic population moving into the city—she’s had a huge impact. There are people who create businesses. The impact that the Frists have had on Nashville, their entrepreneurial spirit, the creation of the Hospital Corporation of America Healthcare and the hundred companies that have been spawned off from that has been tremendous. I’m a big believer in public service and I’ve loved being mayor, I think it’s the best job I could ever imagine to have, and I would encourage anybody to pursue politics. I think you have a huge ability to do positive things.