John Cooper (Tennessee)
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John Cooper was the Mayor of Nashville in Tennessee. Cooper assumed office on September 28, 2019. Cooper left office on September 30, 2023.
Cooper ran for election for Mayor of Nashville in Tennessee. Cooper won in the general runoff election on September 12, 2019.
Cooper completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Mayoral elections in Nashville are nonpartisan. Cooper has stated that he is a Democrat.[1]
Cooper was an at-large member of the Nashville Metro Council from 2015 to 2019.
Biography
Cooper earned a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard University and an MBA from the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University. His professional experience includes running a real estate business, managing a technology investment bank in San Francisco, and working as a corporate finance specialist in New York.[2]
Elections
2023
John Cooper did not file to run for re-election.
2019
See also: Mayoral election in Nashville, Tennessee (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Mayor of Nashville
John Cooper defeated incumbent David Briley in the general runoff election for Mayor of Nashville on September 12, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | John Cooper (Nonpartisan)  | 69.1 | 62,440 |
 | David Briley (Nonpartisan) | 30.2 | 27,281 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 621 | ||
| Total votes: 90,342 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Mayor of Nashville
The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Nashville on August 1, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John Cooper (Nonpartisan) | 35.0 | 35,676 |
| ✔ | | David Briley (Nonpartisan) | 25.3 | 25,786 |
 | Carol Swain (Nonpartisan) | 22.0 | 22,387 | |
 | John Ray Clemmons (Nonpartisan) | 16.1 | 16,391 | |
 | Julia Clark-Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 404 | |
 | Bernie Cox (Nonpartisan) | 0.3 | 337 | |
 | Jimmy Lawrence (Nonpartisan) | 0.3 | 305 | |
 | Jody Ball (Nonpartisan) | 0.3 | 280 | |
 | Nolan Starnes (Nonpartisan) | 0.1 | 129 | |
 | Jon Sewell (Nonpartisan) | 0.0 | 24 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 83 | ||
| Total votes: 101,802 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2015
The city of Nashville, Tennessee, held nonpartisan elections for mayor and metro council on August 6, 2015. A runoff election took place on September 10, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was May 21, 2015. All 41 metro council seats—including the office of vice mayor—were up for election. In the race for five open at-large seats, candidates included Buddy Baker, Jody Ball, Karen Bennett, Al Carota, Erin Coleman, John Cooper, Elizabeth Dachowski, Adam Dread, Robert Duvall, Leroy Johnny Ellis, Erica Gilmore, Ronnie Greer, Sr., Frank Harrison, Jason Holleman, Martin Holsinger, Phillip Joseph Hostettler, Jr., Walter Hunt, Sharon W Hurt, Ken Jakes, James Keeton, John Lasiter, Don Majors, Lonnell Matthews, Jr., Bob Mendes, Sandra Moore and Jim Shulman. Bennett, Coleman, Cooper, Duvall, Gilmore, Holleman, Hurt, Matthews, Mendes and Shulman advanced to the runoff election.[3] The winners in the runoff election were Cooper, Gilmore, Mendes, Hurt and Shulman.[4] All five at-large incumbents were term-limited.[5]
| Nashville City Council At-large Runoff Election, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
 John Cooper |
14.5% | 56,802 | |
| Erica Gilmore |
12.8% | 49,996 | |
| Bob Mendes |
10.5% | 41,160 | |
| Sharon W Hurt |
9.8% | 38,317 | |
| Jim Shulman |
9.6% | 37,676 | |
| Erin Coleman | 8.9% | 34,877 | |
| Karen Bennett | 8.5% | 33,052 | |
| Lonnell Matthews, Jr. | 8.4% | 32,807 | |
| Robert Duvall | 8.2% | 31,925 | |
| Jason Holleman | 8.1% | 31,763 | |
| Write-in | 0.5% | 2,122 | |
| Total Votes | 223,951 | ||
| Source: City of Nashville Election Commission, "Official runoff election results," accessed October 2, 2015 | |||
| Nashville City Council At-large General Election, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Erica Gilmore |
9.6% | 36,675 | |
| John Cooper |
9.2% | 35,080 | |
| Bob Mendes |
6.5% | 24,581 | |
| Jim Shulman |
5.7% | 21,869 | |
| Sharon W Hurt |
5.3% | 20,086 | |
| Robert Duvall |
5% | 18,877 | |
| Lonnell Matthews, Jr. |
4.7% | 18,064 | |
| Karen Bennett |
4.6% | 17,390 | |
| Jason Holleman |
4.4% | 16,612 | |
| Erin Coleman |
4.3% | 16,557 | |
| Don Majors | 4.3% | 16,214 | |
| Adam Dread | 4.2% | 16,146 | |
| Walter Hunt | 4.2% | 16,090 | |
| Sandra Moore | 3.9% | 14,991 | |
| Buddy Baker | 3.3% | 12,695 | |
| Ronnie Greer, Sr. | 3.3% | 12,454 | |
| Ken Jakes | 3.1% | 11,922 | |
| Frank Harrison | 2.5% | 9,659 | |
| John Lasiter | 2.4% | 9,151 | |
| Elizabeth Dachowski | 2.2% | 8,525 | |
| Phillip Joseph Hostettler, Jr. | 2% | 7,738 | |
| Jody Ball | 1.5% | 5,709 | |
| James Keeton | 1.1% | 4,026 | |
| Leroy Johnny Ellis | 1% | 3,880 | |
| Martin Holsinger | 0.6% | 2,245 | |
| Al Carota | 0.6% | 2,097 | |
| Write-in | 0.4% | 1,374 | |
| Total Votes | 138,291 | ||
| Source: City of Nashville Election Commission, "Official general election results," accessed September 15, 2015 | |||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John Cooper completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cooper's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
My top priorities after taking office are: 1. Restoring public trust in Metro through transparency and accountability 2. Fiscal stewardship; rebalancing the city’s priorities and refocusing our budget to address all neighborhoods’ needs, not just downtown. 3. Addressing the costs of growth by focusing on our economic and community development efforts on people and not just buildings. I will invest in our schools and neighborhoods, come up with a real affordable housing plan, and address our transportation needs within my first term.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
I am most passionate about responsible public finance. It may not be the most exciting part of governing, but that the decisions that leaders make about how the government spends money determine the level of services they are able to provide for their constituents. As the saying goes, "You show me your budget, I'll show you your priorities." Fixing almost all of Nashville's present issues- affordable housing, police officer retention, teacher salaries- begins with better managing our finances.
What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?
I believe the core responsibilities of the mayor are to provide high-quality universal services and care for our most vulnerable citizens. We have to provide the resources and support for a great school system, provide adequate funding for our emergency services workers, and make sure that the costs of growth are not falling upon our citizens who need our help the most. Nashville has gotten away from these primary responsibilities, and it is my intention to get our priorities back in line.
What legacy would you like to leave?
I would like to be remembered as the Mayor who got our city back on track. The citizens of Nashville feel that with all of the national attention we are receiving, we have started to prioritize tourism and development to the detriment of our neighborhoods and residents. I want to get back to investing in human capital and increasing livability. I want to create a Nashville a city that works for everyone.
Mayors have many responsibilities, which vary from city to city. Which of those do you personally consider the most important in your city?
The most important job for the Mayor of Nashville is managing the budget. The budget is the document from which all decisions flow; it's how our city's priorities are determined. The Mayor of Nashville needs to be a financial manager with experience in long-term capital planning, and that why I am the right Mayor for Nashville right now.
If the mayor in your city is not a member of the city council and oversees the day-to-day administration of the city government, what do you believe is the ideal relationship between the mayor and city council?
The Mayor and administration should work with the Metro Council, not against them. The Nashville Metro Council is full of talented, dedicated individuals with vast institutional knowledge who should be consulted on major initiatives for the city. If I am elected, I will make sure that my office and our city's agencies cooperate fully with Council members and reach out to them for input on projects about which they possess expertise.
What do you perceive to be your city's greatest challenges over the next decade?
Nashville is going to grow more over the next five years than it has in the previous five years. Our greatest challenge is going to be how we make that growth work to the benefit of all of our citizens and all of our neighborhoods. If we are able to harness the benefits of this economic boom, we have an unlimited potential for the future.
What do you believe is the ideal relationship between your city and the state government?
For too long, we have perpetuated a cycle with our state leaders where when Metro takes almost any major action, the state immediately pre-empts it and stifles the initiative. As mayor, I will make every effort to establish a mutually beneficial working relationship with our state leaders so that we can operate without the constant threat of preemption.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
The following were found on Cooper's campaign website.
| “ |
NEIGHBORHOODS I am honored to be endorsed by the political committee affiliated with the Coalition of Nashville Neighborhoods: the Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund. My job as your mayor will be to ensure that everyone benefits from our city’s growth. Nashville needs to remain a great place to live, not just a great city to visit. It’s time to put our focus back on our neighborhoods. Let’s create a city that works for everyone. Neighborhoods are a cornerstone of each of my policy discussion pieces. Here are some highlights on each topic relating to focusing on neighborhoods. Affordable Housing: Education: Fiscal Accountability: Parks and Green Spaces: Police and Public Safety: Transportation: Economic and Community Development: Infrastructure: Restoring Trust: I encourage you to read my full policy statements for any topics that interest you so you can get a sense of my priorities and how I think. The first question I will ask as mayor on any issue will be “how does this affect residents?” I want to hear from you. What improvements would you like to see in your neighborhood? How can we make Nashville a better place for you and your family? With your help and support, we can make Nashville a city that truly works for everyone. FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY Finance is the foundation of everything a city does. Sound fiscal management will allow us to get beyond this moment of financial stress. Better management of taxpayer money will free up resources for priorities like education and infrastructure. Metro has picked up some bad financial habits in recent years. The current course of deficit spending and selling assets for short-term operating funds is unsustainable. Metro’s revenue grew by over 19% between 2013 and 2018, yet education, transportation and affordable housing are still underfunded. Payments on our rising debt have limited the investments that can be made in education and affordable housing. But that has not stopped Metro from awarding incentives to developers instead of investing services that benefit residents. Metro needs a reset of priorities and leadership. Shared prosperity begins with fiscal sanity and people-centric growth. I voted against a property tax hike last year and this year. It is a false choice that our only option is to approve Briley’s parking privatization plan or increase property taxes. There are other options. The city has other revenue sources than just the property tax. As for parking privatization, I will not as mayor be sending that to council. I have been strongly opposed to it, and it requires future council action for it to happen. You can change the bad things in this mayor’s budget by changing the mayor. The city needs to benefit more from tourism revenues. The number one thing I have heard on the campaign is the desire for the tourism space to cover its own costs and not impose them on the resident taxpayer. Tourism is an important part of our city’s economy and identity, but it is time for the tourist economy to stand on its own two feet. We can obtain additional revenue from tourism and development. Part of that revenue is from the surplus already being collected by other local government agencies such as the Convention Center Authority. It would be easy to raise property taxes, but there are other revenue sources that need to be utilized. I’ve consistently favored the good management approach over a sizable property tax increase. Only a mayor can turn the page and usher in an era of good management, but the effort has already begun via Metro council action. One year ago, I led the formation of the Blue Ribbon Commission to identify targeted savings and revenue opportunities. The first year of the BRC was a partial success, but real support from the Mayor’s Office is crucial to realizing the potential of the process. Here are some examples that illustrate our city’s misplaced priorities when it comes to managing Nashville’s money: Omni Hotel When the convention center was built, Metro handed out massive incentives to bring in a luxury hotel. Taxpayers footed the bill for the Omni by providing $61.56 million in tax increment financing (TIF), a 62.5% property tax abatement for 20 years, and $245.5 million in cash payments over 20 years. All-in, we paid Omni more than the hotel cost to build! The TIF loan was enough to cover Omni’s $26.5 million land cost back in 2010. The 62.5% property tax abatement was worth $2.28 million to Omni last year alone. Giving the abatement on top of TIF created an unusual circumstance in which the Omni development doesn’t pay back its own TIF loan. Property tax revenue from other properties has to cover the difference. It is worth pointing out that the Metro General Fund only receives 1/6th of total hotel taxes collected countywide. So in 2018, the General Fund saw $15.86 million in hotel tax. That same year, Omni received a $2.28 million tax break plus a $12 million cash payment. More luxury hotel incentives: The Westin Hotel received $14 million of tax increment financing in 2014. 5th & Broadway Fifth & Broadway, the site of our old convention center, was probably the most valuable piece of undeveloped property in the Southeastern United States. Yet in 2015, Metro sold the property to a developer for a mere $5 million due at closing plus $6.25 million over 25 years. The property’s true value was many times that. That additional money could have gone to affordable housing. Nashville taxes then paid to build a $34 million parking garage on the site for the developer. That’s not all our taxpayers paid for. In the fall of 2018, the developer received a $25 million tax increment financing loan via a tax-exempt bond from the Metro Development and Housing Authority. Private developers, not the public, were the winners. Nashville Yards In February 2019, a deal orchestrated by Mayor Briley passed through Metro council with only three votes in opposition. Metro agreed to give $15.2 million to the developers of Nashville Yards, the future home of Amazon. This agreement was in addition to the Amazon incentives. In effect, Metro is paying to help build a development and secure the tenant of a lifetime for the developer. Here is what I said at the time: “Once again, we are using taxpayer money to subsidize the wealthiest, and once again we don’t need to. We are handing subsidies out due to habit.” Tourism taxes The taxes collected for the Convention Center Authority will reach $136 million this year, for an annual surplus of $60 million. The Convention Center Authority will have an estimated unrestricted cash balance of $190 million. I began the process for recapturing some of this revenue to cover costs downtown, but more needs to be done. The Music City Center does not pay property taxes; perhaps it should before we raise residents’ property taxes. Police Overtime for Private Events Police officers logged 17,770 overtime hours during the NFL Draft weekend. As Channel 5 reported, MNPD spent more than $4 million on special events overtime through the end of April. That compares to less than one million dollars in all of 2006. Police overtime is a drain on Metro’s general fund and many officers don’t like mandatory overtime. Private events need to begin paying for their own costs. Private development at Fairgrounds At the same time Mayor Briley was patching a budget hole with ill-advised one-time property sales, his administration steered ten acres at the Fairgrounds into private hands. Briley awarded ten additional acres to the developer for mixed-use private development. Building the stadium itself should have been enough of an incentive for a soccer team. We should not have included a bonus of ten acres at the Fairgrounds beyond the incentive of the stadium. City hall has sold land with its right hand and awarded it away with its left. Parking The current mayor’s parking privatization proposal is not the first time Metro has made mistakes regarding parking. When Metro sold the Clement Landport, it received net $15,000 per space for hundreds of parking spaces in the Gulch. Meanwhile, Metro built parking spaces for private developments downtown for well over $45,000 per space. Ben West Public Library In 2017, Metro sold the historic Ben West Library building and only got $2 million. It is a historic 55,000 square foot building with parking. I was one of two votes against the sale. Here is what I said at the time: “I feel that we will regret selling this site for $2 million. It’s located across from what will be the amazing new federal courthouse and what will be a glamorous part of town. The city has had a string of valuable assets downtown — jewels in our crown — and each has been sold for too little. We have divested ourselves of these public jewels and we will wish that we had it back.” Rolling Mill Hill land sale Also in 2017, the Metro Development and Housing Agency sold 2.76 acres south of Broadway at the Rolling Mill Hill development. The developer paid MDHA $9.4 million, but the land was actually worth many millions more, perhaps double. MDHA also gave the developer a tax-increment financing payment of $7.9 million. Here is what I said at the time: “My concern is that Nashville gets the fair value of the assets that it owns. This is clearly an extremely valuable piece of property, and we need to get the fair value of it for taxpayers. In effect, we are giving away a piece of land for $1.5 million net.” Metro needs to begin doing business with the taxpayer in mind. Opryland Waterpark Metro gave Opryland Hotel an estimated $14 million incentive package to build a private waterpark in 2017. The arrangement froze property taxes for the Ryman facility. Nashville residents are only able to use the waterpark if they book a stay as a resort guest. Here is what I said at the time: “I express my own reluctance to let groups pay their fair share of property taxes, and we will fail as a community if you let that happen. Everytime that we need in the future something for our districts: a reading instructor for our children, a policeman, a body camera, or a stormwater drain, we will know where to find it — and you’ll find it in the Opryland swimming pool. And literally that is where it will be.” Lifeway As the Nashville Scene reported in 2016, Metro awarded a “$3.5 million package aimed at sweetening LifeWay’s plans to move their headquarters from one part of downtown to a different part of downtown.” I was the only vote in opposition. I said at the time that Nashville had become a swan and that Metro needed to raise our expectations for developers. “We have to expect a payback from it because we are depriving schools and children of the same money that could have gone to these other groups.” Debt Metro has issued or obligated itself to issue $2.6 billion in new general obligation bonds to cover spending, since 2015. The State of Tennessee only has $1.9 billion in total general obligation bonds outstanding. Our total issued and obligated general obligation debt is now about $4.5 billion. This is with the assumption that there will be no new capital spending in the years ahead. General obligation debt will be $6,500 per person in Davidson County – this is one of the highest per capita debt burdens in the country. Our issued and obligated debt per capita has almost doubled since 2015, even accounting for our population growth. Metro deficits over the last three years are bigger proportionally than the Federal government’s during the same time frame. Metro’s deficit in 2018 was 15% larger than our entire sales tax collections. The increase in debt service payments since 2013 would essentially fund our entire police department. My commitments As mayor, I will put taxpayers first in negotiations. I will end the giveaway culture that is more focused on enriching a small elite than serving our entire city. I will re-evaluate the use of incentives so that they go to projects supporting community improvement rather than downtown development. I will provide robust support for the Blue Ribbon Commission to identify savings and revenue opportunities. We need to conduct performance audits of Metro departments and agencies to increase the transparency of how tax dollars are spent and identify areas for improvement. I also support creating an independent Metro Inspector General. This will be an independent office that will work with the independent Office of Internal Audit to identify and prevent fraud and waste across Metro government. City leaders have been exceptionally creative with financing deals to help private developers, but that creativity and dedication is missing in action when it comes time to fund our schools, take care of our employees and create affordable housing. Nashville’s taxpayers deserve a mayor who will stop this unsustainable cycle – a mayor who understands that tourism dollars should be going to improve the lives of residents, rather than residents’ dollars going to tourism. We need to reign in deficit spending because it hampers our ability to pay for essential services. I am running for mayor to provide sound financial management, recapture tourism revenues, end a culture of giveaways, and get our city’s finances back on track. With your help and support, we can create a city that works for everyone. RESTORING TRUST Nashville is at a crossroads. For the past four years, I have served as an at-large Metro Council member. In the process, I’ve learned a lot about how this city is being run. What I’ve learned concerns me. Simply put, the Mayor’s office has lost track of the public’s priorities. It values promoting development, not protecting our quality of life. It has given millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to developers who don’t need them and has ignored our schools, our traffic, and our affordable housing crisis. Misplaced priorities and missed opportunities aren’t the only problems. City hall is also mismanaging taxpayers’ money. A culture of secrecy and entitlement has grown up where there should be transparency and accountability. In deal after deal, the taxpayer is getting the short end of the stick. One of the primary reasons I am running for mayor is to change that. Let me provide a few examples:
Economic incentives have their place. However, Nashville needs a mayor who will make sure the taxpayers come out ahead. As a former banker and a long-time businessman, I’ll do the math to make sure developments benefit taxpayers. Development should serve the needs of this city, not the other way around. Nashville deserves better deals. My business experience and my time on the council have given me the skills and the knowledge to do better for our taxpayers. But I am also committed to helping the city do better. That means ending the culture of secrecy, evasiveness, and insider dealing that have taken root at city hall. Consider the following examples:
It’s time for a change. As Mayor, I will put taxpayers first when it comes to negotiating development deals. I will do the math and negotiate good deals for this city. I will collaborate with Metro Council to craft real solutions to our challenges. I won’t hide what I am doing. Accountability begins with transparency. Here are some of the changes I will pursue in my first year in office:
Public trust is easy to lose. But we can rebuild trust with a new start and a new attitude: Government serves the people, and the people deserve the truth. I’d like to hear your thoughts and ideas. With your help and support, we can create a city that works for everyone. ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Nashville has focused on one half of the growth equation: buildings and economic incentives. Measuring by the number of cranes you’ll spot downtown on any given day, we are doing well by that measure. Economic growth and tourism has created a bustling downtown that attracts people and businesses from around the world. We should celebrate that! But how are Nashville’s residents doing? It is time to assess how all this growth has served us. It is clear that access to affordable housing is a concern across the city, as is transportation, public safety, and education. Growth has costs and people are feeling left behind. Without a course adjustment, we risk leaving our neighbors further behind. Nashville does not have a great track record of treating those on the lowest end of the economic spectrum well. Our city ranks poorly on intergenerational mobility, which is a measure of the percentage of those born into the bottom 20 percent of incomes make it to the top 20 percent. And our urban core is surrounded by the federally designated Promise Zone to the north, east, and south. The Promise Zone is made up of areas where poverty is concentrated; unemployment is high, educational attainment is lower than other areas of the city, residents are geographically isolated from healthy food options and employment opportunities, and violent crimes are more likely to occur. While many residents are within only a few miles of our bustling downtown, they have not been able to benefit from the city’s growth. The last chapter of Nashville’s economic development story was focused on downtown development and tourism. It is time to turn the page to a new chapter of economic and community development, where we emphasize growing human capital and focusing on the neglected neighborhoods of Davidson County. As your mayor, I will make sure that the Mayor’s Office of Economic & Community Development emphasizes that community development mission, and not just growth at any cost. Here are some of my ideas on how to make Nashville a city that truly works for everyone: Economic Development through Human Capital Recruiting highly skilled talent from elsewhere is good, but we need to prioritize developing the talent already here. Nashville looks inexpensive to those relocating from the coasts, but we are becoming increasingly unaffordable for those who have been here. As mayor, I will commit to further developing the human capital of Nashville’s residents and will prioritize education and workforce training as mayor. Leverage Existing Resources There are lots of opportunities to leverage existing resources. For instance, Tennessee is the only state where adults can attend community college or a Tennessee College of Applied Technology tuition-free. The Lumina Foundation has designated Nashville as a Talent Hub, investing money in our city’s workforce development efforts. Organizations like the Nashville Technology Council provide apprentice programs for those interested in a career in Nashville’s growing technology field. Nonprofits are working to connect displaced workers with new careers. Many people and organizations are playing a role in connecting residents to opportunities. This work could go further and be more impactful with sustained leadership from the Mayor’s Office and further investment where necessary. Invest in Small Businesses It is critical that Nashville remains a place where small businesses open, grow, and flourish. I worry about how the escalating costs in this city inhibit the ability of locally-owned businesses to survive. As an example, this summer Flatrock Coffee on Nolensville Road was forced to close their doors due to rent increases. Sadly, their story is not unique. Metro Government has handed out many large incentive deals to big businesses wanting to relocate here, but what about helping grow small businesses that are already here? Without programs that make it possible for small businesses to continue, we risk losing the foundation of what makes our city and neighborhoods unique. We should do more to target incentives to help entrepreneurs start and grow businesses here. Use Economic Incentives to Increase Quality of Life Metro has overused tax increment financing (TIF) to incentivize luxury condos and hotels downtown. Metro has heavily used the tool downtown, but TIF can be used to bring benefits to neglected parts of our community. In a previous era, TIF was used to help bring Kroger to Monroe Street in North Nashville. We should explore using TIF to bring grocery stores to food deserts. Economic incentives have their place, and that is creating livable neighborhoods and spreading prosperity and opportunity across our large county. Infrastructure Building out high quality infrastructure is one of the best ways to foster good growth. Our sewer and stormwater systems, roads, sidewalks and intersections are key components of economic and community development. Nashville is going to grow more in the next five years than in the past five years, so we have to get this next phase right. That requires targeted investments in neighborhoods that haven’t seen meaningful investment in generations. An area like Bordeaux is going to keep growing, but the quality and community impact of that growth will depend on the quality of the underlying infrastructure. A neighborhood like the Nations is already well into its boom, but the stormwater and sidewalk infrastructure has lagged behind. Neighborhoods need investment. It is my goal to make Nashville a city that works for everyone. As mayor, I will make sure that our city invests in human capital and infrastructure so every neighborhood has the opportunity to thrive. TRANSPORTATION Nashville will grow more in the next five years than in the last five years. As we grow, we need to make sure that Nashville remains a livable city. That requires investments in infrastructure — in roads, traffic lights, sidewalks and crosswalks and in public transportation that residents use. We need transportation improvements that allow residents to get around the county better and experience all that Nashville has to offer. We all agree that Nashville has traffic and transportation problems. Time spent in traffic is increasing. Pedestrian deaths are on the rise; 62 pedestrians have been killed in the last 3 years. Significantly less than half of Nashville’s streets have sidewalks. We have an inadequate and under-resourced bus system. Nashville needs to address these problems. But instead of developing a plan to address them, the current administration is avoiding them. Instead of improving bus service, the mayor’s budget cuts services. Voters rejected last year’s transit plan supported by this mayor because it cost too much and delivered too little. Last year’s vote was on a specific plan and therefore should not be interpreted as a lack of countywide interest in funding the right plan. Instead of listening to these criticisms and developing a new plan, Mayor Briley has announced that if he is reelected there will be no plan in the next four years. It’s time for a different approach. Nashville can’t wait five more years for transportation solutions. As mayor, I am committed to developing a people-first transportation plan that is focused on helping you get to where you work and where you live in a timely, safe, and cost-effective manner. Here are my guiding principles:
Four years ago, Houston switched from a spoke-and-hub system similar to what Nashville has now to a grid model. It saw an immediate increase in bus ridership and decreases in trip times. Changing to a grid system and increasing the frequency of buses on key routes enabled Brampton, Ontario’s bus system to double ridership within 12 years. It is clear that Nashville would benefit from a move to more of a grid model as well, with more cross-town and connector routes.
We can do better. As a candidate, I have held many conversations with residents who have mentioned that they would like not to rely on their car for each and every trip they make, but that they feel unsafe being a pedestrian. I want Nashvillians to feel safe as they move about the city. Given our level of pedestrian deaths and our lagging infrastructure, I am frankly unsurprised that many don’t choose to walk or bike — or that many scooter riders stay on the sidewalk. Building safer crosswalks and making strategic sidewalk connections should be prioritized in our city budget. Calming traffic in pedestrian-heavy areas using actual physical measures such as reduced lane widths, speed tables, raised crosswalks, roundabouts, curb extensions, and better lighting are reasonable cost solutions and best practices that we must implement. Cars drive too fast in our neighborhoods. I support the recommendation of a 25 mph maximum speed limit for neighborhood streets to ensure that residents are kept safe. Protected bikeways should be expanded; a recent study showed that protected bike infrastructure nearly halves the number of fatalities and results in fewer deaths of drivers and pedestrians too. Existing bikeways and sidewalks must be kept clear of parked cars, debris, and scooters. Scooters need to be effectively regulated, and that starts with enforcing existing regulations. We know where the problems in our neighborhoods are; Nashville needs a mayor who will address them.
Nashville can’t wait five years for solutions to our traffic and transportation problems. As mayor, I will bring a fiscally-responsible plan to voters within my first year in office. I will start by listening to the residents of this city. I commit to creating and publishing a public engagement plan for transportation planning, something the current Mayor has not done. Creating an equitable transportation plan starts with changing the public planning process to make it more inclusive. We need a planning process that seeks community input as the foundation for our transportation plan, so that the final product is a plan that voters support. My administration will listen to your ideas and concerns, and propose a plan to directly address those ideas and concerns. Many were wary of the 2018 transit plan because it used a regressive sales tax to fund a plan that concentrated benefits in a relatively small percentage of our neighborhoods. If, in the future, we move to use a regressive funding mechanism for a transportation plan, we need to be hyper-vigilant that improvements are distributed equitably across the county. Voters overwhelmingly decided that last year’s transit plan wasn’t the right plan for Nashville right now. The Let’s Move Nashville plan was built with too little consultation with residents and neighborhoods. It was driven by a desire to go as big as possible, not a realistic assessment of our needs. I was the only countywide elected official who campaigned against it, and I did so because it simply was not the right plan for Nashville. But rejecting a bad plan is no reason not to present a good one. I believe that Nashvillians are ready to address this problem. Doubters will say that it isn’t possible to come up with a transportation plan in a year. But we aren’t starting from scratch. There were good elements in last year’s plan and we largely know what needs to be done. The outline of a cost-effective transit plan is already visible in proposals such as the Nashville Community Transportation Platform. I was the first candidate for mayor to endorse it. I have too much optimism in Nashville to believe that we need another four or five years to come up with a comprehensive transportation plan. These are my ideas. What would you like to see Metro do to improve your experience moving throughout the county? Send me your thoughts. With your help and support, we can create a city that works for everyone — and that moves everyone. AFFORDABLE HOUSING Though Mayor Briley disagrees, Nashville is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. Between 2011 and 2017, rents in Nashville rose by 64 percent. During the same period, wages rose by only 14 percent. Not surprisingly, half of all renters and a quarter of all homeowners now spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Rising rents and gentrification have pushed many residents out of their homes. Before we can talk about neighborhoods, we must deal with housing. As everyone in Nashville knows, the private market has responded to the demand for housing. As Nashville grows, developers are building more apartments and more houses. That’s a good thing. Increasing the supply of housing is an important first step to addressing costs. But it’s not enough. Most new units are priced for affluent renters and buyers. Middle class residents need options too. So do our workforce and lower income residents. By 2025, Nashville is projected to have a shortfall of 31,000 housing units for low-income residents. The market alone will not address this problem. Affordable housing isn’t simply about putting roofs over people’s heads; it’s about creating community. Having access to secure housing allows families and neighborhoods to thrive. Children do better in school; mental and physical well-being improves; seniors remain more socially connected and live longer; residents’ mental and physical wellness improves, particularly when people live close to where they work. I have spent my career in finance, real estate development, and project management. I know how to manage large, complex projects. No one in the mayor’s race understands the real estate development and financing market better than I do. After four years on the city council, I’ve seen what Metro is doing to address the housing problem. The answer is not much. In the past couple of months, this administration has talked a lot about its affordable housing plan. Look closely, though, and you will see a plan that is all sound bite and no substance. In short, this administration is faking it. A press release pretending to be a plan. Briley wants to give the impression that he is hard at work addressing the affordable housing crisis through his Under One Roof affordable housing proposal. However, his one-page proposal is completely inadequate. Here is how Mayor Briley’s $750 million headline number breaks out:
In short, the mayor’s supposedly three-quarter billion dollar housing investment is made up of unsecured promises for private contributions and a reframing of pre-existing funding and development plans. The real solutions we need. We can do better, and as mayor, I will do better. Here are some of my ideas.
This is not a new city expenditure, nor is it an unrealistic request to the private and not-for-profit sector to simply give us money. Rather, this self-replenishing fund will be an investment that can generate returns and have a multiplier effect on housing creation. With access to a $25 million revolving housing fund, community development corporations and other builders will be able to access approximately $250 million in funding from banks and other lenders to build affordable housing. As this program succeeds, investment amounts can be increased. This is by far the most cost-effective way to build new affordable housing.
Nashville is going to grow more in the next five years than in the last five years. We need to welcome everyone who comes, and honor everyone who is already here. My task as mayor will be to manage that growth and address the costs of growth, one of which is affordability. As mayor, I will commit to doing the hard work of getting affordable housing right. That will require working through many layers of complexity to maximize our existing and future resources that can be devoted to creating and maintaining affordable housing units. We will do the hard work because we care about our neighbors, our neighborhoods, and in creating conditions that allow us all to call Nashville home. I want to hear your thoughts and ideas. With your help and support, we can create a city that works for everyone. EDUCATION Nashville is booming and employers from around the country want to be here. In order to be a successful city, we must be a well-educated city. Education is key to sustainable growth that benefits the whole community. Metro Government has invested heavily in downtown development in recent years, yet has lost its focus on the city’s essential responsibilities. Metro Nashville Public Schools has been under-resourced for too long while downtown has a surplus. For the past two years the money going towards public schools has represented just under 40% of Metro’s general operating budget. The lack of prioritization of schools has led to troubling outcomes for many students. The number of schools in the bottom five percent statewide has increased to 21. Only 27.4 percent of MNPS students were on track to meet grade level standards last year. Additionally, only 13.8% of economically disadvantaged students met literacy benchmarks in 2018. Due to generations of underinvestment in certain neighborhoods, low-income students and students of color are frequently left behind in our current system; in some neighborhoods, students move from a low-performing elementary school to a low-performing middle-school and into a low-performing high school. And we need to keep taking steps to address chronic absenteeism. Approximately 18% of MNPS students missed at least 10% of school days last year. And despite an estimated 60% of jobs in Nashville requiring a postsecondary degree or certificate, only 24% of recent MNPS graduates complete a degree within six years of graduation. Despite the challenges, there is much to celebrate about our school system. Here are just a few examples. The Academies of Nashville have long been seen as a national model for career and technical education in high schools, and are often credited for improving high school graduation rates. One example I like to highlight is the solar farm project at Whites Creek High School. Over 375 businesses are connected to high schools through the Academies program. Additionally, the wrap-around support of the Community Achieves program is helping improve student and community outcomes. Another recent success is that MNPS secured a $13.4 million federal grant to provide targeted services to increase enrollment and retention in postsecondary programs for students from ten high-poverty schools. I am running for Mayor to ensure that all of Nashville’s residents and neighborhoods are able to benefit from our city’s growth. This requires investment in human capital. As mayor, I will: Secure Resources for Public Schools Our biggest challenge as a city is making schools our top priority. My business background makes me uniquely situated to take on this challenge. As a council member, I created the Blue Ribbon Commission to identify $20 million in savings for Metro Government. This is money that can be used to invest in schools. As mayor, I will continue to exact the same scrutiny on the budget to ensure that our schools have the resources they need to succeed. I will join the voices of those advocating at the state level for revisions to the BEP formula to better account for the needs of urban districts and secure more funding for our schools. Financial management and finding other revenues from tourism and development is the mechanism through which we will find additional funding for education. See more in my Fiscal Accountability policy statement. Invest in Human Capital As mayor, I will prioritize investments in human capital through education in order to ensure that everyone benefits from Nashville’s growth by bringing education’s share of the budget to the level of our peers. As mayor, I will commit to directing over half of new revenue into our school system. Use Mayor’s Office to Set Tone and Expectations All students have the right to high quality education. As mayor, I will support current school leadership and help the school board recruit a great candidate for Director of Schools. I will prioritize having a strong working relationship with the council in order to bring the focus back to students. I will demand that district leadership and school board are aligned and focused on improving student outcomes, will set measurable and achievable goals for improvement, and will hold accountable to the goals that we set. Because all students from all neighborhoods need to have access to high-quality educational experiences, I will be especially focused on reducing equity gaps in student outcomes. It isn’t enough to be the fastest improving urban district if there are students who are left behind. As mayor, I will expect that our schools get great results for all kids and will celebrate the achievements of those that do. Teachers are the Developers We Need to Support I frequently say that teachers are the real developers that we need to support. Educators deserve to be treated as the professionals they are; these are the individuals who are preparing our kids for the future. They are not currently valued as they should be, and teacher recruitment and retention has suffered as a result. Over half of teachers are leaving the district within their first three years of teaching. The increased cost of living in Nashville has made it difficult for many educators to afford to live in the county. Most teachers ended up with lower take-home pay last year because of rising health insurance premiums. This is a problem. Wage stagnation makes it hard to sustain a career in teaching; it shouldn’t take 18 years of teaching in MNPS with a Master’s degree to reach $60,000 per year. As mayor, I am committed to finding mechanisms to not simply provide one-time raises for teachers but also finding a longer-term, sustainable vision for teacher salaries that provide the opportunity for more growth over time. Connect Schools with their Communities Research shows that teachers are the most important factor that affects student learning inside of schools, but non-school factors have a greater impact on student achievement outcomes. Over half of MNPS students are economically disadvantaged, and many students have been affected by challenges such as trauma, violence, and food or housing insecurity. Basic needs need to be met in order for students to meet their full potential. The district and non-profit partners such as STARS, the Oasis Center and the Martha O’Bryan Center have been working hard to support successful student outcomes. I am a supporter of collective impact programs like Community Achieves, which has brought community partners into 22 MNPS schools to focus on improving family engagement, college and career readiness, health, and social services. I see it as part of my role as mayor to convene and connect community resources to the schools so that students receive the support needed to succeed in an intentional and systematic way. These are some of my ideas for how I can best serve students as mayor. I invite you to share what you’d like to see moving forward so we can continue this discussion. I realize that it is not enough to say that we believe in the power of education; we must make the investments in human capital to ensure that all students can make the lives they want and fully participate in our city. Nashville’s future depends on the quality of education we provide to our students today. With your help and support, Nashville’s schools will work for everyone. POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY Keeping people safe is the first job of government. Unfortunately, the current administration is failing the residents who need us most. It is also failing the men and women who serve us. Our young people face an epidemic of gun violence. Last year, we had nearly twice the number of 13-year-olds charged with violent crimes than in the year before. Too many people don’t feel safe in their own neighborhood. Between 2014 and 2018, auto thefts increased 280 percent. The number of murders doubled. Violent crime last year was at a level not seen in a decade. Yet our police department is understaffed by more than 130 positions. We need to come together to address these challenges. You deserve a safe city where citizens and officers are treated fairly. Let me give you an example of why leadership from the Mayor’s Office matters on these important safety issues. For many years, Nashville has used “hot spot” policing. This can be effective when used fairly and in a targeted fashion, but the use of traffic stops to try to disrupt crime grew too much over time. These stops can put both residents and officers in tense situations and there is evidence that they are prone to racial imbalances. It is important to note that the Mayor’s Office had long had access to traffic stop data that revealed racial imbalances. It did not act on that data. It should not have taken sustained community activism to get leadership to pay attention. Metro has now significantly reduced traffic stops following the Policing Project’s report in November 2018; however, we should have changed course much earlier — at least after the Gideon’s Army report in 2016. It should not have taken the deaths of Jocques Clemmons and Daniel Hambrick in officer-involved shootings for this to happen. Our residents and our officers deserve better. It is the job of the mayor to set clear goals, provide the resources necessary to realize those goals, and hold people accountable for results. Here are some of the approaches I will use to safeguard the public and strengthen the relationship between police officers and the communities they serve:
I consider this to be a working document. I want to hear your feedback and your ideas. Building a safer community requires setting goals. Setting goals begins with listening. As your mayor, my door will be open. Through neighborhood and precinct visits, surveys, and community forums, I will work to ensure that community residents are actively involved in reshaping our police department for the 21st century. PARKS AND GREEN SPACES Cities across the country have recognized that parks are about more than green space. Parks play an important stewardship role by protecting and honoring the best aspects of a city’s history and character. Their presence in a neighborhood promotes residents’ health and well-being by cooling urban “heat islands,”providing places for recreation and exercise, improving air quality, and helping to prevent flooding. Parks promote investment. They increase the natural beauty and resiliency of our city, and define our sense of place. Parks are public spaces where all are welcome. Parks improve the quality of life of residents and provide an important foundation for strong communities. I was surprised to see a recent report by the Trust for Public Land that ranked our park system 54th in the country, far behind cities such as Raleigh, Austin, and Atlanta. My family and I love to spend time at Bells Bend and the Warner Parks, however, not all neighborhoods and families have easy access to our great parks and greenways. Only 37 percent of Nashvillians live within a 10-minute walk of a park — this is less than half the percentage of a typical major U.S. city. Given the environmental, health, and economic benefits of parks, we should view parks as part of the solution to issues facing our city. Nashville should work with residents and businesses to invest in and expand our parks system. But under the Briley administration, instead of looking to turn surplus public land into green space, the mayor has attempted to sell off property to private developers to cover revenue shortfalls. Covering operational shortfalls with one-time budget gimmicks is a bad idea. Covering shortfalls by irreversibly selling public land is a terrible idea. It’s time for a different approach. I want our parks to play central and valued roles in helping Nashville continue to be and become more of the city we want it to be. There are so many ways parks can be assets for needed solutions to many of the challenges facing Nashville. We must set goals, provide resources, and bring agencies together with residents, businesses, and donors to keep Nashville green. As mayor, I will:
For me, parks are a passion. I have always prioritized green space in my real estate development work because I know how critical it is for a city’s health and the health of future generations. As a council member, I am proud to stand by my record of supporting access to green space and preserving Nashville’s unique assets. Parks should be a shared space for all, and the resources, beauty, and programs they provide strengthen our community. As mayor, I will set clear goals for expanding access, identify new ways to support expansion and programming, and put parks at the center of the city’s health and wellness efforts. In my administration, Parks will play a central and valued role in helping Nashville continue to be and become more of the city we all want it to be.[6] |
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| —John Cooper[7] | ||
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Cooper has a wife, Laura Fitzgerald, and three sons. His father, Prentice Cooper, served as the governor of Tennessee for three terms, and his brother, Jim Cooper, was elected to the United States House of Representatives representing Tennessee's 5th Congressional District.[2]
Noteworthy events
Events and activity following the death of George Floyd
Cooper was mayor of Nashville during the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, when events and activity took place in cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd. Events in Nashville, Tennessee, began on Saturday, May 30, 2020, downtown and at Capitol Hill.[8] The same day, Mayor John Cooper (D) declared a state of emergency, issued a curfew, and requested that Gov. Bill Lee (R) deploy the Tennessee National Guard to the city.[9]
| To read more about the death of George Floyd and subsequent events, click [show] to the right. | |||
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See also
2019 Elections
External links
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Candidate Mayor of Nashville |
Footnotes
- ↑ WPLN, "Mayor’s Race 2019: Contrasting Philosophies About The Job Of Being Mayor," September 6, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 John Cooper campaign website, "About," accessed July 23, 2015
- ↑ City of Nashville Election Commission, "Official general election results," accessed September 15, 2015
- ↑ City of Nashville Election Commission, "Official runoff election results," accessed October 2, 2015
- ↑ City of Nashville, "Davidson County Election Commission," accessed December 4, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ John Cooper's 2019 campaign website, "Policy," accessed September 11, 2019
- ↑ WKRN, "Nashville ‘I Will Breathe’: Protesters march to Capitol Hill for George Floyd," May 30, 2020
- ↑ WBIR, "Curfew established, National Guard mobilized as protests continue in Nashville," May 31, 2020
- ↑ Washington Post, "The death of George Floyd: What video and other records show about his final minutes," May 30, 2020
- ↑ The New York Times, "8 Minutes and 46 Seconds: How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody," May 31, 2020
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 USA Today, "Medical examiner and family-commissioned autopsy agree: George Floyd's death was a homicide," June 1, 2020
- ↑ Associated Press, "Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death," April 20, 2021
- ↑ CNN, "Protests across America after George Floyd's death," accessed June 2, 2020
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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