First Oak Hill, then the Senate: Heidi Campbell running for Nashville mayor

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Participating in Nashville politics for a while, Sen. Heidi Campbell said she's ready for a new challenge: overseeing the city.

A current Tennessee state senator, Campbell is encountering her third election in just as many years. She's the former mayor of Oak Hill. She's running so Nashville has a mayor who understands political dynamics.

NewsChannel 5 sent every person running for mayor a questionnaire with the same questions. We have not edited these answers from the candidates, meaning these responses are straight from them.

Nashville’s violent crime rate outpaces the national average as well as that of similar-sized cities. As Mayor, how would you work with MNPD to ensure Nashvillians can feel safe in our city?

Ensuring that Nashvillians feel safe will always be one of my top priorities as mayor. Our gun problem in America is a public health crisis. Firearms are now the leading cause of death for our children. And while this problem understandably gets a lot of attention in the wake of tragedies like Covenant, we need to realize that it is a problem that plagues our city every single day, with a disproportionate impact on communities of color.

While Nashville’s Mayor can’t change the gun laws passed by the State Legislature, they can educate the public on gun safety and help ensure firearms are responsibly sold and safely stored–this is exactly what I’ll do as Nashville’s Mayor. I will also pursue solutions to our opioid epidemic, a crisis that has left no family untouched. Increasing Narcan Kit availability in Metro facilities, partnering with community organizations to promote recovery options, and quickening response times to overdose calls through Smart City Technology are just a few of the ways my administration will work to address this issue.

We’ve seen multiple neighborhoods grapple with the proliferation of homeless encampments that pose threats to public safety and sanitation. How would you balance compassionate treatment of the unhoused with the desire of citizens to live in clean, safe neighborhoods?

It’s true that safety concerns can arise with homeless encampments, but over-policing of them only exacerbates the issue. The recent bill that criminalized homelessness in Tennessee — yet another of legislative overreach by the state government — is a prime example of this. I voted against it in the Senate not only because of its many problems but also because of the dehumanizing message it sends.

My administration will work with our outstanding medical providers to give our unhoused citizens the resources they need, especially in the area of mental health. Additionally, I will expand and build relationships with community organizations like Oasis and Open Table to ensure that our efforts are community-led and prioritize transition opportunities.

Metro Nashville government has been involved in a series of spats with the Republican-controlled state legislature that could have far-reaching effects on how the city functions. How will you work with the state legislature and preserve the will of Metro Nashville’s voters?

I have been firmly against these measures in the State Senate and have always been outspoken in my opposition to them. Helping Nashville deal with the legislation’s ramifications will require us not only to explore workarounds but also to work with lawmakers to tamp down the attacks and redirect our combined efforts to help our constituents. As someone who has worked alongside the sponsors of this legislation, I have already built the relationships necessary to accomplish this goal.

The fact that I have won the endorsement of every Davidson County Delegation member who has weighed in on this race so far, is evidence of my ability to work across the aisle while simultaneously remaining a staunch defender of our priorities. Additionally, I want to rebuild our relationship with the Greater Nashville Regional Mayors Caucus. This group of mayors is an excellent way for our city to work with surrounding communities and advocate for sensible, nonpartisan legislative initiatives. As a former caucus member, I am well-prepared to do just that.

For the first time ever in Vanderbilt’s annual poll, a majority of Nashvillians said our city is moving in the wrong direction. How do you think we can get Nashville on the right track?

I frequently ask the question, “Are we building a city to visit or a city to live in?” But this isn’t just a campaign tagline, it’s reflective of why so many Nashvillians believe our great city is moving in the wrong direction. Many of our residents feel that big businesses and out-of-town developers are getting priority over everyday people who have lived here their entire lives.

And with some of the deals Metro Nashville has offered — take the Omni Hotel, for example —it isn’t hard to see why. Moving forward, we need to make sure that we put Nashvillians first. How? By building more affordable housing, erasing the iniquities in our education system, expanding multimodal transit, rebuilding trust between law enforcement officers and the community, ensuring reliable garbage pickup, and more. We need to build a city that we can live in and a city that works for all of us–no matter who we are or what we believe. That’s what I’ll do as your mayor.

As Nashville has grown, so has the cost of living. What strategies would you employ to make our city affordable for working families?

Addressing Nashville’s affordability crisis will require a multi-faceted approach. Building more affordable housing through lease agreements and the expansion of public-private partnerships is a frequently talked about solution, but there are others we must also pursue. One of those is childcare. In Tennessee, the average childcare worker makes less than a parking attendant–this pay disparity has exacerbated a lack of qualified employees and forced many parents to quit their jobs to take care of their kids. Estimates suggest that this crisis costs Davidson County 276 million dollars every single year. As mayor, I will promote a living wage for childcare workers, work with MNPS to expand training and certification opportunities in high schools, and partner with childcare providers to streamline the school-to-workforce pathway.

A Nashville mayor hasn’t discussed rapid-area transit in earnest since Mayor Barry’s plan was rejected by voters. What are your thoughts on what the city needs for public transit?

The time for stop-gap and small-scale solutions to this city’s traffic nightmare has long since passed. We need a major solution–now. Commutes that took 15 minutes an hour ago can now stretch on for over an hour, and as our population grows and our infrastructure ages, this problem will only worsen. A few years ago, TDOT studied relocating Radnor Yards to Wilson County, but no action was taken on the proposal. Relocating the facility would have incredible benefits, the largest of which would be that existing rail lines would be opened up for passenger service.

Additionally, the move would allow for Radnor Yard’s expansion, reducing freight bottlenecks, increasing economic productivity, and bringing new jobs to the Midstate. The best part, however, is that the entire plan would cost just 1/6th of the plan proposed in 2018. Relocating Radnor Yards is a feasible, sensible solution that would also catalyze the development of other multi-modal transit options across Davidson County.

Just under 30 percent of Nashville’s third graders are reading at grade level. Nashville has trailed significantly in education gains compared to other Middle Tennessee counties. What can a mayor do for education?

As mayor, I will work to implement more community school coordinators. These community school coordinators, who often have a background in social work or a related field, work to provide services like college and career readiness, family engagement, health and wellness, social services, and adult development.

Essentially, they turn the school into a neighborhood hub, building relationships and providing resources for the community at large. By establishing more community school coordinator positions at underserved or struggling campuses, we can fuel student success and build stronger neighborhoods.

There is a perception that downtown is more of a priority because of the revenue it generates. What policies do you propose that will serve all neighborhoods?

That isn’t just a perception, it’s a fact. We have offered massive amounts of money to out-of-town developers so they can relocate to Downton, pay little to no taxes, rarely engage in community improvement projects, and worsen our affordable housing crisis. The benefits of Nashville’s growth have been radically unequal in their distribution, and far too many of our residents have ended up worse off because of it.

As Mayor, I will look at establishing grant and incentive programs for small businesses to establish themselves in or relocate to all parts of our city. Additionally, my administration will work to streamline our city’s permitting process, which has served as a roadblock to many development projects outside of downtown. These two policies, combined with my administration's plans to tackle affordable housing, make our neighborhoods safer, and more, will promote growth in every sector of our great city.

Nashville has faced the following in the last three years: the pandemic, a tornado, a bombing, and a mass shooting. What makes you qualified to handle these levels of crises?

No mayor comes into office knowing what will happen every day of their tenure–in fact, it is largely the opposite. A candidate’s position on the issues is important, but their ability to handle the crises that arise is just as critical. Nashville voters need to elect a mayor who they know can handle everything that is thrown at them.

The Covenant School is in my district, and on the day of the tragedy, I went down to the reunification center and sat with the families as they waited to receive news on the status of their children. I did this because elected leaders should always put their constituents — the people who elected them, the people they serve — first. But when the time came for action, I wasted no time pursuing bipartisan solutions, engaging with community partners, and fostering relationships to find a path forward. My tenure as Mayor of Oak Hill and my work in the State Senate have prepared me with a unique combination of experience in building coalitions, creating effective solutions, and implementing policy.

Come July 1, Nashville’s Community Oversight Board, as we know it, will cease operating. How will you ensure that Nashville gets the same level of community oversight that voters overwhelmingly approved?

One of the most critical aspects of law enforcement’s relationship with a community is trust, and countless studies and reports have revealed what many of us have known for a while now: A large percentage of Nashvillians don’t feel like they can trust the MNPD. With the elimination of the community oversight board, this problem will only worsen, which is why we need to look for innovative solutions to rebuild law enforcement officers' relationships with the community.

One of the most proven methods is by having police officers walk the beat of the neighborhoods they serve–doing so allows residents to get to know their local officers and enables officers to build trust with the people they’re protecting. Adopting this initiative will require us to ensure that MNDP has the time to pursue it. This means investing in Smart City Technology and partnering with community organizations to increase MNPD’s efficiency and reduce the burden we put on our law enforcement offices.