NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The group Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, or NOAH, held its annual meeting with Mayor Cooper Sunday at the Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church.
As Nashville continues to grow, NOAH wants to make sure that the people who have called Nashville home for years don't get pushed out.
"We see Nashville changing around us constantly, and some change is good, but not all change," vice chair of NOAH, Maura-Lee Albert, said.
The group Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, or NOAH, has been pushing for more affordable housing, criminal justice reform, and economic equity as the city keeps growing.
"We want to make sure that Nashvillians can still live in Nashville particularly with this idea of an East Bank, the millions of dollars that the Mayor is talking about to build, it might be good, and it might be bad. It could cause more gentrification, more of our black and brown people not being able to stay in the neighborhoods they've lived in for years," she said.
These concerns were at the center of NOAH's annual meeting with city leaders including Mayor John Cooper today.
When asked if he would commit to making half of the housing built in the East Bank plan affordable. Mayor Cooper said yes, but added that can't happen, unless the final plan is approved.
"It gives us a platform for creating a great Nashville including housing, including sights and resources for affordable housing and gets the city out of the sports business and the sports maintenance business and into a bright future," Mayor Cooper said.
The Metro Planning Commission recently gave the plan the green light, but the sweeping changes still face several more votes.
Two different options are outlined in the city's plan: one that accommodates a new Titans stadium and one that accommodates the renovation of the existing one.
Talks are ongoing between the team and the city on that decision.
