NASHVILLE, TN — Jefferson Street, the legendary and historic corridor of Black culture, is finally a smooth ride all the way from Rosa L. Parks Blvd. to Dr. DB Todd Jr. Blvd. thanks to the efforts of District 19 Councilman Freddie O’Connell and new leadership at the Nashville Department of Transportation, including Faye DiMassimo.
Back in 2015, just after he was first elected, O’Connell worked with Metro Councilwomen Brenda Gilmore and Sharon Hurt to leverage a stormwater project into Jefferson Street’s first Metro Park, now Kossie Gardner, Sr. Park. What was going to be a grassy space over a water detention project is now a wonderful community asset.
At the time, O’Connell assumed that the remainder of Jefferson Street, which had gotten increasingly bumpy and dangerous to drive, would follow suit in short order. He was wrong.
Year after year, O’Connell pressed what was the Metro Public Works department to finish what was started in 2015. And year after year, he was told he would have to wait. Finally, after witnessing a motorcycle accident several months ago, O’Connell refused to take no for an answer.
Working with Ms. DiMassimo, he secured a commitment from the new Nashville Dept. of Transportation for a paving schedule, and now Jefferson Street has been freshly resurfaced.
“It was unthinkable to me that, after the scar of I-40, we were still letting infrastructure harm this community,” said O’Connell. “Before, it was an act of intent. With regard to Jefferson Street itself, it had become an act of neglect. That has now been corrected, and I’m grateful.”
Motorists from surrounding neighborhoods and those who patronize businesses along Jefferson Street are already grateful.
HISTORICAL NOTE: When Bill Purcell was Mayor, for some strange reason, Metro Public Works decided to resurface Jefferson Street prior to a TSU’s Homecoming Parade. The Tennessee Tribune Publisher asked the Mayor to rectify that racist situation by MPW, which Purcell did immediately and the MPW employees worked late into the night completing the resurfacing of historic Jefferson Street before thousands of TSU supporters arrived for the TSU game.
