To Sustain Success, Nashville Area Must Think Regionally

Two decades of phenomenal growth have transformed Nashville into 'one of America’s hottest success stories.' In an op-ed for The Tennessean, Bill Freeman argues that for the area to continue to grow wisely it will need to embrace regional planning.

August 5, 2013, 2pm PDT | Jonathan Nettler | @nettsj

"Almost every issue is a regional issue now," says Freeman, chairman a Nashville-based real estate investment, management and brokerage company. "Traffic, transportation and mass transit. Economic development. Crime and public safety. Tourism. Education."

"While Nashville paid the whole bill for LP Field, Bridgestone Arena and the new Music City Center, the entire region reaps the benefit of those assets, and I believe we will need a more regional approach to funding regionally beneficial projects in the future, especially when it comes to expanding and enhancing our transportation infrastructure — widening roads, building mass transit and adding people-friendly assets like a regional network of greenways and bike trails."

"How we get there from here — how we evolve regional cooperation from the planning level to the funding and operational level — is a discussion we need to be having now, not in 2035."

Full Story:

Middle Tennessee leaders must take regional approach to growth

Published on Thursday, August 1, 2013 in The Tennessean