NEWS

A Few Questions with Joy Styles, District 32

BY JUDITH TACKETT

Council member Joy Styles (District 32) said that she has always loved helping people. As a former actress and recording artist, Styles has honed her communications skills. She believes that people need to use their voices to work together and solve problems.

“We need to stop talking about problems and go about the business of coming up with solutions and enacting those solutions,” Styles said.

Looking at District 32, what are the top issues your constituents are concerned about?

Housing is one of the top issues for sure. We have a lot of development coming to the area and current renters want to ensure that they are able to buy something in the future if they want to stay in the area; and homeowners who want to upgrade their home, they want to know if that’s feasible for them in the area. Constituents are also very focused on having places to eat and places to shop. We lost a lot in the recession that never really came back.

You have been instrumental in the District 32 revitalization efforts, namely the 330-acre, mixed-use Century Farms development. Do you have any updates?

There is a lot of excitement about Tanger Outlets, which is part of the Century Farms development along I-24 behind the old Target. Tanger Outlets will bring 65 stores and it will also have a few restaurants. We’re getting restaurants people have been asking for — a Panera, a Chipotle — destinations that are currently about 25 minutes away by car.

Currently there are some apartments under construction. One apartment complex has been open for about six to seven months. And the soccer practice facility is under construction on that site as well. Century Farms is vitally important to the area.

We really are a second urban core to Nashville when you think about it.

The mall is also in process to be purchased to be revitalized. I’m having conversations to find out what people want to see on the site. The person who has it under contract has done some surveys and came to community meetings to get input. There will be more community conversations to talk about that site. It’s going to be a community-focused center. It’s not about bringing the mall back, but it’s about creating a space that the whole community can enjoy, green space, hopefully some entrepreneurship opportunities for local business owners.

Another issue I hear about is homelessness. We had a surge when the Rapid Rehousing [program] came. That did increase a lot of our litter, and individuals have remained, so that continues to be an issue. I’m trying to work on social services, bringing The Salvation Army out, just trying to work with people to find housing but also trying to clean up our on- and off-ramps.

You are also the vice chair of the Human Services Committee, which is looking to see what it can do to help address homelessness. What would you like to see happen in that committee?

We have some really great initiatives thanks to council member [Ginny] Welsch. We are looking at other cities that have created homeless programs that truly help people go from being in the streets into being housed. I think we spent a lot of time talking about the issue of homelessness and not enough time about the business of solving homelessness.

We all know the cost of [building] housing is going up. But that doesn’t explain what we were doing before we were in this position and why we weren’t looking for places to purchase to take over and turn into housing opportunities.

I understand shelters can be a bit off-putting for some individuals, but I think we have to come up with an intermediary step… something that’s more along the line of temporary housing. We bring you in off the streets and you get to stay here for 30 days and during those 30 days we try to help you find permanent

housing. So, it’s not a shelter, but it’s a temporary housing solution. That to me is what I would like to see more of, purchasing old motels or hotels.

What are other concerns you hear about?

People want to make sure we have good safety protocols in place. The new police precinct in Antioch is in the design phase. Being able to have a police precinct close by will decrease the police response time, which we all know is pretty long across the city. I do think our officers are doing a good job with what they’ve got, but we need more officers for sure.

You have called for accountability within Metro Arts Commission to address the racial discrimination and toxic workplace concerns that have been voiced by former staff. Are you satisfied with the way the current investigation is being handled?

I won’t be able to answer that question really until the results come out. The fact of the matter is, we have a toxic culture in Metro Arts. It’s one thing if only one person is saying it. It’s an entirely different story when multiple people are repeating the same narrative, and we’re talking about it occurring over a period of years. It should never happen. But when you think it’s only been for a few months, that’s one thing, when you find out it’s been going on for years and in the one department that has a racial equity statement that just makes it even more egregious to me because this should be the department where we don’t have this conversation.

And so, for me, of course with Director [Caroline] Vincent being on medical leave, which means she is still employed by Metro so of course legally nothing can be done to remove her. I do, however, believe that when her time is finished, she needs to move on. I don’t see a solution that involves bringing a problem back into the environment and expecting a different outcome because that will create distrust with the staff given any great ideas they have, which they do, in terms of bringing in DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] staff and third-party investigators and making sure people are feeling safe in their work environment as everyone should if you do all of that for the next two months, you will completely destroy it if she comes back and you’re trying to convince staff that somehow we can coach the person who’s been doing this intentionally for years. We’ll coach them into being anti-racist and that’s not how this works.

I’m going to wait for HR to complete the investigation and see what they come back with. If they come back with similar findings as the last time, my request will remain the same.