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Many of you know that when I was serving on the Metro Council, I wrote a newsletter. For 8 years, before every single Council meeting, I made sure to review the agenda and share my thoughts with constituents and other interested stakeholders.
Well, I quickly discovered that the mayor's office offers no discernible rhythm. Those biweekly agendas turned out to be good writing prompts and deadlines.
I miss it, and I feel like today's major deadline is a great opportunity to get back to writing at least occasionally.
Today is Election Day, and we've spent much of the past year preparing for an important local decision, developing Choose How You Move—a comprehensive transit improvement program focused on delivering sidewalks, signals, service, and safety.
Basically, today—especially if you haven't voted—I hope you'll be thinking about Nashville's two futures. The first is the status quo. The second is the one we get if we vote for the transit referendum, which is the last item on Nashvillians' ballots.
Dedicated funding for transportation and infrastructure not only gives us confidence in delivering our own longer-term needs; it also brings back hundreds of millions of our own taxpayer money that we are currently investing in other cities after sending it to Washington, D.C. I want to bring that money back home to invest here.
It's especially important to do this now while both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act are in full effect and there's more federal infrastructure money available than many of us have ever seen before or will again in our lifetimes.
But fundamentally I want more Nashvillians to have the walkable neighborhood I grew up in and am lucky to live in today. I want more people to have the financial empowerment I had as a young man when I could be car-free for a while, saving up for a house instead of a car, just as transportation costs have started to eclipse housing costs for many Nashville households. And I want to reclaim 10% of my time with my family by having more green lights as we upgrade 2/3 of our traffic signals across the county.
And safety is the binding tie for all of it.
So that's one of the things that will be on your ballot. To those of you who've already voted, thank you. To those of you voting today, keep the resources of the Davidson County Election Commission handy.
But Wait, There's More
I often get asked what my favorite part of the job is. And I say it's very easy to get up to go to work every day with good people working hard to do good things. Our team in the mayor's office is amazing.
And we've gotten a lot done over the past year. We tried to elevate a lot of important cost of living and quality of life work in my State of Metro address.
But after we took office, led by three transition committees, we've been at work on that project all year long and tracking our progress. We even made a cool story map of the year because we were busy!
Over the next few years, we'll be working hard to make Nashville more affordable and a better place to live.
Thanks so much to those of you who are serving and leading alongside us. It's an honor and privilege to get to do this work every day.
Best,
 Freddie O'Connell
Mayor
Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
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