We let nine Nashville mayoral candidates debate. Here's what they said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The seat for Nashville mayor is open.

In doing so, 12 candidates have joined the field. On Thursday, NewsChannel 5 — along with its partners at The Tennessean, Belmont University, the American Baptist College and the League of Women Voters — hosted the first of three debates.

Here is what the candidates said:

As Nashville has grown – the tension between providing for residents and attracting tourists has also grown. How do you plan to balance those competing needs?

Jim Gingrich: I think that's a false choice. We do need to nurture out tourism industry. But we need to focus on the people who live here. We need tourism 2.0. We need a family-friendly tourism industry, not the overconsumption of 26-year-olds.

Natisha Brooks: You have to pay to park to eat. We need to make it more friendly for those who live here. You shouldn't have to pay to park to play. Nashville needs to be friendly to those who are already here. My answer to the question is that we are friendly to the ones who are already building Nashville and building Nashville up.

Freddie O'Connell: What I have heard is that I have traveled the county. Two of the top concerns are cost of living and quality of life. It's not a choice. The investment we made a few weeks is the biggest toy for tourists we have ever built. Residents want easier access to jobs and better commutes. We lost more pedestrians to fatal crashes last year than ever before. I want to be focused on those issues as mayor. We will focus on our residents.

What does affordable housing mean to you? Many people in Nashville can’t afford – or don’t want to – own their own home. But renting is so expensive many working families or young professionals simply can’t afford it. Tell me two or three specific steps you would take to make a real difference when it comes to affordable housing?

Jeff Yarbro: That is a critical question I hear on the campaign trail every day. So specific ideas, I helped author legislation nine years for Metro to invest dollars in affordable housing. But that's only nibbling around the edges. We need to preserve more housing by utilizing property tax freezes and expanding the Barnes Fund. We need to turn renters into homeowners. There are numerous steps we can do but the next mayor has to make a citywide effort.

Alice Rolli: We made much of our affordable housing less affordable with a property tax increase. Our residents here don't own their homes, too. That creates a challenge if we have an economic downturn. We need to not raise taxes and we need to work effectively with the state.

Vivian Wilhoite: The tax rate is the second largest tax rate in Davidson County history. Your value has appreciated. The question is how do we deal with affordable housing? They must outreach to private partners. How much affordable housing do we have? You have to find out what is it that is needed. Second, you have to ensure affordable housing is affordable for all. My son lives with me and has a college degree. He cannot afford to rent. We have to make housing affordable and look who we partner with.

Data says more than 600 people live on Nashville's streets and parks — as some of these encampments have grown, we've seen increasing concerns about public health and safety.  How would you balance the needs of the unhoused and the needs of nearby neighborhoods?

Matt Wiltshire: We need to take immediate action. It's a failure of the city and state that it's this way. We need more affordable housing. We've had a plan and we are working on implementing and it needs to be funded. Our parks aren't campgrounds and our sidewalks aren't restrooms. It's a both/and approach for this issue.

Sharon Hurt: There has to be a political will. We have to get to the root of the problem. We have people with substance abuse disorders. We could put those people in Nashville General Hospital. We need to utilize the resources we have. We need to be like Nike, and just do it. If Habitat for Humanity can build a house in a day, we can build spaces to provide temporary housing for our homeless community. They are unhoused but not hopeless.

Heidi Campbell: This is a symptom of a bigger problem. We have people facing affordability and mental health problems. We all do better when we all do better. We also need to support our mental health courts which are doing a fabulous job with anti-recidivism. In the final analysis, we need to recognize the humanity of the problem. If we don't take care of homeless people, we aren't taking care of Nashville.

56% of respondents of a recent Vanderbilt Poll say Nashville is headed in the wrong direction. Do you agree and what’s one thing you would do to change that perception?

Heidi Campbell: One of the best things we can do is clean up our room. We feel bad about our potholes. We need to clean up our litter.

Sharon Hurt: I would change the way people see the word minority. It's not race-based. It's about humanity.

Matt Wiltshire: It's not about the right or wrong track. I got into the race 10 months ago because things weren't working. A part of that is a lack of public trust. I will tell you the truth when it's a good thing or a bad thing. I will tell you the truth. We have to increase the public trust. I will increase trust.

Vivian Wilhoite: One of the things that need to change is diversity in the workforce. When we are talking about extending diversity in Nashville, we have to be intentional. We must be fair. We must be intentional and invest in our workforce.

Alice Rolli: The voters are right. The city is going in the wrong direction. We have leaders that think the purpose of City Hall is to use it for national politics.

Jeff Yarbro: I think people are disappointed but most of us can't imagine living anywhere else. We have an amazing start of a system in HubNashville. We need to make that more robust and more used across the county.

Freddie O'Connell: This is the fundamental question that got us all here. I live these frustrations. I've had a flat tire from a pothole recently. We are dealing with road closures all over the place. We are unmanaged and uncoordinated with our growth.

Natisha Brooks: We have a huge opioid and fentanyl crisis. I will be addressing those issues first and second is gentrification. Some of us on this stage promoted our taxes double.

Jim Gingrich: Let's respect the people who said it's going in the wrong direction. Issues like affordable housing we know what to do. Where I come from, you don't get paid to study a problem. You get paid to solve a problem.

Five years ago this month, voters overwhelmingly rejected a transit plan that would have brought light rail to Nashville. Fast forward to today and WeGo Transit says our city’s bus and train system is “chronically underfunded” with an operating budget far less than similar-sized cities. What one or 2 things will you do as Mayor to help alleviate traffic congestion?

Natisha Brooks: I am in favor of light rail and fast bus tracking. But it's not what I want. It's what voters want. No one knew what was going on five years ago. We need to make the language simple so people know what they are voting on. We need to look at those living within the city. Biking and walking are dangerous. Our bus drivers are looking out for you, too. We need to make sure the lights are synchronized. For instance: Bell Road.

Alice Rolli: We need to look at adaptive signal technology and cross-town busing. The most important is the spectacular failure of the go-it-alone approach. The single biggest priority is securing dedicated transit funding. We are leaving dollars on the table at the state and federal level. I have met with many of our regional mayors. Our citizens are smart. The way we are going to get that funding is not do it alone. We need our regional mayors to also get those dollars.

Sharon Hurt: I suggested tolls at the county lines, but they didn't like that. We should use the HOV lanes and let them go and ensuring they do the right speed and keep the traffic flowing. I don't like seeing the big buses in Bellevue where there are three buses. We need to put the magnet school children and put them on the buses.

Several bills passed this session by the Tennessee legislature – primarily around LGBTQ rights – could lead some people to think Tennessee is no longer welcoming. How will you address these concerns?

Freddie O'Connell: The state is acting out against the cities. This session was especially Nashville. Now it's become the job of the mayor to defend our residents. I will continue doing the same thing I have done for quite some time. I will stand with all Nashvillians. We are Tennesseans, and we deserve to be treated as such by our peers in the general assembly. This session was particularly rough, and as mayor, it was important for us to understand that the mayor had the opportunity to ask them to back off these bad bills.

Vivian Wilhoite: I will use my voice to stand for the rights of everyone. There's no reason for those to be disrespected because they are gay or who they love or who they want to be with. As mayor, I will use my voice to protect and to speak out. As a Black woman with two Black sons, I understand treating someone differently. I will continue to speak out and speak for those who are being disrespected.

Heidi Campbell: This relentless march toward authoritarianism is that Nashville is the tip of the spear. Those who came and testified were so brave. I was their safe space. It is not OK to otherize anybody. It's been a horrible thing to watch. Quite frankly, we forget women's reproductive rights were taken away a year ago. The bull pulpit is something we need to employ.

Now that the state has eliminated Community Oversight Boards, what should the Mayor’s Office do to keep communications open between Metro Police and the public?

Jim Gingrich: Well, I would say a couple of things. First — I was visiting Warner Elementary last week. I got into a conversation with third graders. They said more kindness, less knives, no stabbing, no shooting, less killing. That's on the mind of 8-year-olds. It's a false premise is that our police can't do their job and keep the city safe. I will properly resource and lobby like crazy for common-sense gun legislation.

Jeff Yarbro: The legislature's decision to overrule the decision of Nashville voters is nightmarish in terms of trust. Trust isn't something we want. It's something we need. IF we don't have trust in the police force, it's a critical failure moment for your city. One of the first priorities for the next mayor it's more incumbent than ever that the police chief and officers to really focus in on transparency and oversight and accountability. I want to fully staff and have the most well-trained officers in the country. We know laws are going to change, and we need to find another way to serve our citizens.

Matt Wiltshire: It was the wrong decision of the legislature to overturn what Nashville voted for. It erodes trust. Transparency, sunshine and looking at what police do bring light to what they are doing. You know who wants the accountability? Other police officers. We should have an openness to have truth and trust and transparency. An oversight board provides that. I will make sure we have appropriate engagement between the citizens and the police force. Our police are under attack way too often. We need to shine a spotlight on how great they do.

What’s something we aren’t talking about enough in this race?

Jeff Yarbro: Childcare, childcare, childcare. Fourteen years ago, we realized we should have put him on a wait list three years before he was conceived. You need to put childcare where the city is growing.

Alice Rolli: We have to wake up and think about whether our children are reading. Only a quarter are on grade reading. Our children aren't getting the maximum wage jobs coming to our city.

Vivian Wilhoite: Belmont and Bordeaux pay the same tax rate, but we need to talk about economic parity.

Matt Wiltshire: The issues we care about are the same. We need to hear who has the skills to be the mayor. There are 56 different departments. Who has the executive leadership to lead through the next phase of history.

Sharon Hurt: I came here as a student, songwriter and musician. Nashville fulfills that promise. We need to talk about the good things that is happening. We need to make it better for all Nashvillians and make sure they know their dreams can come true.

Heidi Cambpell: Trash is a huge problem. Our landfills are nearly full. We need to message reduce and resuse reduction.

Jim Gingrich: We need to elect someone who has run something in their life. And I have. The challenges we have today are complex. It's not because people aren't working their butt off. It's because people need leadership.

Natisha Brooks: Teachers are the best executors. We need to send a real executive to the mayor's office. A teacher.

Freddie O'Connell: We have had unprecedented amounts of federal opportunities. As mayor, we want to use the opportunities in front of us to build the city of the future.

What would you cut out of the current Metro budget to fund your priorities?

Vivian Wilhoite: There's something always in our budget that will be able to help. What would I cut? I would cut out waste that won't help our Metro employees. Investing in Metro employees is very important to me. We have to fund where are employees will benefit. They are the reasons they will benefit.

Jim Gingrich: We will go through the budget line from line. We start where are we at in value. It's simple. I have done it time and time again. We can do it for the City of Nashville. We need to do a better of job of working at the state. But we need to modernize the way we run Metro government and we need to have the government of 2053 not 1993. We need to lead.

Sharon Hurt: I can't cut the budget. We spend many years getting the budget in place and in a good spot. We are there. I would do redistribution where there are more receiving and some less receiving. We don't need too much excess in some departments so we can serve best our people throughout Metro government and throughout our county.

Middle Tennessee has a trash problem. Landfills are filling up and communities have been reluctant to open new ones. How will you address the regional solid waste needs of Nashville?

Heidi Campbell: I served on the mayor's caucus of Oak Hill. A lot of these issues are regional. On the mayor's caucus, I brought trash to that organization. We developed a zero-waste master plan. Nashville's waste is mostly compostable. A composting plant is one way to address that. I would like to have a plant for upcycling plastic and buildables. Let me just tell you — our recycling isn't getting recycled. I would look at education and messaging that reduction and reuse should happen before recycling.

Jeff Yarbro: Running for mayor will take you to the strangest of places. I am going to a landfill and talking to people who work in this area. We have to think about this as a region — Rutherford, Wilson and Wiliamson County are facing this. We haven't take any steps in our own plan, and we need a strategy for recovering demolition waste and putting less in a landfill. We have to do a lot more, and it will take working regionally.

Matt Wiltshire: We have long-term challenges our city is facing without long-term plans. We need buy-in from the entire community. The three steps to immediate action is composting food waste into energy. Keep it out of the landfill and dumping it and burying it. We need to increase recycling. We need to encourage more recycling. Third, we need to have a long-term plan for construction waste.

If you’re elected mayor – what will be the most important idea or innovation you bring to office?

Alice Rolli: It's tackling our debt and lurking debt. We need to reset some of our fund balances and the biggest lurking challenge is the debt. We have $413 million going toward debt service. If we have more debt as a single county than the entire state of Tennessee, that scares me for how we leave the city to my children and your grandchildren. This may not sound innovative. But we need a pay-as-you-go approach.

Natisha Brooks: All roads lead through teachers. Teachers — let's do away with the Praxy (sic) test. I don't think a teacher with a college degree needs to take a test. I was a HG Hills School today. We need to make sure children aren't going from third grade to the pipeline to prison. As you can see teachers, I am fighting for you.

Freddie O'Connell: I mentioned the coordination of customer service. Part of the process is troubleshooting. Metro has an incredible capacity to not wait until we are told about a problem. As we try to rebuild confidence, coordination is how we help the city when people who are struggling.

What figure in Nashville history should the community get to know more about?

Matt Wiltshire: The kid that helped women to vote

Sharon Hurt: Black excellence in technology — Jesse Russell

Heidi Campbell: That kid was Harry Burns. That changed the trajectory of women in this country.

Jim Gingrich: Diane Nash

Natisha Brooks: Sen. Thelma Harper

Freddie O'Connell: Charlie Straubel

Jeff Yarbro: Alexander Looby

Alice Rolli: Katharine Drexel

Vivian Wilhoite: The unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement

One of the biggest challenges facing the next Mayor will be our relationship with the state. Why are you the best candidate to restore the relationship between Nashville and the State of Tennessee?

Jim Gingrich: How ridiculous is it that we are in this situation? We have politicians looking to score political points. I am not a political insider and I am not going to play politics. If we think about our region, we are 50% of the economic growth. We are all tied together. If we are going to solve problems in the region, we need a much stronger relationship with the mayors of those counties.

Natisha Brooks: We need to work together. Sen. Paul Bailey is one of her favorite senators. To send a mayor who knows people there and I will continue doing that. Send a teacher to the mayor's office.

Freddie O'Connell: I think anyone who wants to persuade you is either bad at it or lying. I don't think anyone has a great answer of what to do. We have backed away to regionalism. We want the Nashville mayor to be deeply involved.

Jeff Yarbro: The conflict between the state and city is a threat to all of the priorities that the city are facing. There's no one in this city has done more than I have. There's not going to be a moment that I will sit idle and let it happen. I have worked across the aisle and bridged divisions.

Alice Rolli: The first act is taking the ego out of it.

Vivian Wilhoite: You can learn a lot from losing. You have to reexamine what you are doing. We need a hard reset for our relationship for the supermajority at the Tennessee General Assembly. I am that consensus builder. Nashville is a city for all people.

Matt Wiltshire: People on this stage have been in the political food fight. I have been in the executive branch getting things done. I have been working to build affordable housing. I have experience working with our partners to get results. We are electing a mayor. That involves a whole bunch of different skills. That means sitting down with people you don't agree with. I believe I have the background and skillset.

Sharon Hurt: I am a downtown Rotarian. Many come to speak. But they should go by the four-way test. The time is always right to do right.

Heidi Campbell: This is about relationships. I have spent the past few years developing those relationships and passed 80 pieces of legislation. A lot of this is about accessibility. I tell the truth. They can trust me. I am able to get things done. The most valuable experience is when I worked with rural mayors to get stuff done. We didn't care about ideology. We cared about the things that matter in day-to-day life. We need someone who can calm down the conversation.