HOME SAFE HOME
JOHN COOPER
Mayor of Nashville
Mayor Cooper has been a North Star for many Nashvillians since March 3, when the tornado touched down in Bells Bend. Now, thanks in part to his daily press conferences, the mayor has become a key point of information and strength in a time of unprecedented uncertainty.
“You realize how important it is to get this right,” he says of holding office right now. “We have the tornado, the coronavirus, and our finances in addition to schools, public safety, and infrastructure,” he says. “Now the days and nights are longer, and they will be until we’re all on the other side of the storm rebuilding process and the coronavirus pandemic. But Nashvillians should never expect anything less from their elected officials, at any level of government.”
Cooper says that while some of the choices he’s had to make along the way have been difficult—and not always popular—he’s doing what is best for the people he serves.
“I am responsible to keep the residents of Nashville and Davidson County safe. Some decisions haven’t been easy, because they have tough implications for our local economy—especially our small business owners and their employees. But we’re going to keep following the science, listening to our public health experts, and responding as a community to eradicate this virus,” he says.
“I’m optimistic enough to see that we will get back to having traffic problems in a few months. Visitors will come back to downtown, and our growth will continue. This means jobs will return, and those
