NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For the second year in a row, Nashville Mayor John Cooper's office has carried out a round of "participatory budgeting," allowing a group of neighbors in Bordeaux directly decide how to spend some of the city's budget.
The program has led to many improvements in the area, including a new pavilion and playground equipment at the Bordeaux Gardens Park. But the topic that seems to garner the most attention is efforts to slow down drivers on neighborhood streets.
Toward that end, Mayor Cooper announced Tuesday that a newer type of speed bumps, called "speed cushions" will be installed throughout Haynes Park Drive — something neighbors asked for as part of the participatory budgeting process.
Neighbors say they can't wait for the speed bumps to slow down drivers.
"When it's raining, they're speeding. When it's snowing, they're speeding. When its sunny, they're speeding. It's no particular day or time," said Erma Harris, who lives on Haynes Park Drive.
They're the same type of speed bump that was installed last year under the same program on Hinkle Drive in Bordeaux.
But Jeffrey Condrey, who lives right by a speed bump the city installed on Hinkle Drive, says the speed cushions simply don't work.
"After awhile after they figured out how to go in between them, they're not slowing down, its like business as usual," Condrey said.
The speed cushions consist of three smaller mounds with gaps in between them, which Condrey says motorcycles and some cars simply drive through without slowing down. He says he wants to see more traditional speed bumps that go across the entire road with no gaps.
"The thing of it is, Metro Council really needs to take a look at this and see for themselves," Condrey said. "This situation here is nice and all, but its not working the way we thought it would work."
Harris is hoping for different results on her street, as next week Metro Council is set to examine a proposal to spread the participatory budgeting process from just Bordeaux to neighborhoods all across Nashville.
