Thread by @freddieoconnell

With yesterday’s departure of Audra Ladd from the mayor’s office, following the departure of ECD director Jamari Brown in December, we effectively have no @Nashville_ECD.

This is truly troubling to me in the middle of a pandemic.

I’m here to tell you that the single biggest thing I hear from anxious Nashvillians about what they want right now is income. Which means work. Which means jobs.

Right now, we have no one focused on attracting, recruiting, and retaining jobs in Nashville.

There are industries that are thriving. Does it make sense to try to recruit a specific industry or company to Nashville right now that would be a good short-term and long-term fit? I wish we had someone doing the analysis to make that determination!

There are industries that are thriving. Does it make sense to try to recruit a specific industry or company to Nashville right now that would be a good short-term and long-term fit? I wish we had someone doing the analysis to make that determination!

The @nashchamber, @ashfordhughes, and others have done important, impressive work on inclusion and diversity in economic and workforce development. It would be great to have an ECD office with a focus on the C continuing to work on those issues!

During the budget process, I voted against collapsing the Nashville Career Advancement Center into the Metro Action Commission because I believe that the mayor’s office should retain an active and strategic role in workforce development just as with ECD.

Now more than ever.

You don’t have to believe in incentive-driven deals to believe in the process of strategically developing a city’s economy.

Historically, we’ve been America’s healthcare capital and Music City.

But our knowledge economy and craft manufacturing sectors have both grown.

Even if you disagree that $500/job will pay off far more than that in revenues, I can assure you that the 1,000 Amazon employees who have just been hired are happy to be in Nashville and working.

Last term, we passed the “Do Better” bill to add transparency to incentives. We completely overhauled TIF under @mendesbob’s leadership. Council intensely scrutinizes PILOTs and participation agreements. @StandUpNash negotiated the city’s first-ever community benefits agreement.

It is possible to develop our economy strategically in a way that benefits the community broadly.

I’m concerned we run the risk of “better deal” being a mask for “no deal” economic development.

Right now, I’m especially anxious that we will see a 4Q headline along the lines of “Major Software Company Passes on Nashville; 10,000 Jobs Head to Some Other City.”

I hope, instead, that I get to be excited about a big jobs announcement.