Project Nashville 2019 in Review: Aggressive developers, underfunding for first responders

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — FOX 17 News sounded the alarm on public safety right out of the gates in the Project Nashville series.

From fire, to police to EMS, our investigations uncovered a pattern of underfunding the very people and departments who keep us safe.

Larry Walker, a newly retired Nashville Fire Chief explained, “This city is going 24/7 and 365 (days) and so is the fire department with fewer people and less equipment.”

“I think it's a lack of political will to do what is necessary," Buck Dozier, also a former fire chief said.

Project Nashville wrapped 2019 with the fire union president saying we're still 90 firefighters short. It’s a problem punctuated with the life of brain damaged firefighter David Powell, according to his wife Connie, he responded to a fire with just three firefighters on the truck instead of the standard four. Without a buddy, it went unnoticed when he didn't come out.

“There never needs to be just three," Connie Powell said. "Never!”

Our Project Nashville investigations also found we pay our police officers $46,000 a year without a degree trailing Indianapolis, Dallas, Cincinnati and Denver to name a few.

“They're overworked, underpaid, understaffed and at some point they all reach a breaking point and say I’m going to go somewhere else," Fraternal Order of Police President James Smallwood said.

At year's end, the police union says we're still 109 officers short, forcing long time merchants on Broadway to capture and share surveillance video of crimes in our central tourist district to try to get some help.

“Two weeks ago, I got spit in the face with a guy chewing me out. I didn't know if a knife was next or not," Ed Smith, a longtime Broadway businessman who owns several boot stores and other commercial buildings said.

By year's end, new Mayor John Cooper had restructured long standing formulas that had tourist revenue funding more tourism. He now has more of it going into the general fund for city services.

“If a city has its growth revenue categories redirected away from city services itself, you're going to have this problem," Mayor Cooper said.

This change allowed Mayor Cooper to give teachers a three percent raise in January 2020. However, that doesn't fix problems. Project Nashville exposed schools without soap and toilet paper and teachers without books.

“We run out of tissue by Wednesday," Honey Hereth, a teacher’s aide explained.

“How expensive can these paperback books be that they can not put one paperback book in each child's hand?” Sherri Martin, a veteran Metro teacher questioned.

As more people struggle to afford a place to live, Project Nashville uncovered aggressive developers abusing our codes violations system to force out long time residents like 94-year-old landowner Evelyn Suggs.

“They wanted the whole damn street, but they couldn't get it because I was there," Suggs said. "You understand and I'm not selling.”

“I think it is a way of fining her so she'll get tired and move on," Suggs’s pastor, Dr. Yvette Tisdale, added.

Finally, Nashville is running out of space to bury our trash. The regional landfill has about eight years left and Project Nashville highlighted the city's new Zero Waste Plan that could have all of us recycling and composting eventually.