Dean forms mayors' group to further transit

Mayor calls on private sector to organize 'those who care and are willing to stake a claim'

Email | Print By Kyle Swenson

A tram makes a stop in Grenoble, France

Regionalism was in the air Wednesday at the Cumberland Region Tomorrow's summit on mass transit options in Middle Tennessee, an event featuring national speakers as well as the mayors of local cities and countries.

But key to the event were comments made by Mayor Karl Dean, who reinforced his commitment to local mass transit and announced the formation of a Mayors' Caucus to make that vision a reality.

"When people are deciding where they want to live and raise their families, they want a place with a high quality of life, and mass transportation is a part of that," Dean told the crowd.

Dean said that the recent state legislation that allows for setting aside dedicated funding for developing mass transit was the "critical first step" in bringing rail to the area. However, more proactive moves now need to be made for planning such a system, he added.

"I suggest the formation of a working group of those who care and are willing to stake a claim in this," he said.

The Mayors' Caucus, based on a similar group Dean encountered in Denver, will be a collaboration between all the mayors in Middle Tennessee in order to further the transit cause. "No one city, no one country, takes the lead. We all work together."

Dean also called for a similar private-sector group to form.

In addition to Dean, representatives from Charlotte, Austin and Denver spoke to the gathered crowd about how those cities united their regions with mass-transit options. The event also featured comments by Congressman Jim Cooper and a panel discussion featuring Dean, Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson, Hendersonville Mayor Scott Foster, Gallatin Mayor Jo Ann Graves, Clarksville Mayor John Piper and Franklin Mayor John Schroer.