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A Few Questions with Councilmember Tonya Hancock, District 9

BY JUDITH TACKETT

In November, I ran into Councilmember Tonya Hancock at the Heroes Breakfast of Operation Stand Down Tennessee, which seems to have become our annual catchup date. She is the only active military family member on Metro Council (her husband serves with the Tennessee Army National Guard) and started its Veterans Caucus.

The Contributor talked with Hancock as part of a series called A Few Questions With where we interview councilmembers about their district’s most pressing issues.

How would you describe District 9?

District 9 is the only district that is purely Madison. We have urban, suburban, and rural communities, and we also have a very diverse population with 35 percent Caucasian, 37 percent African American, 25 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent other. We have people who have grown up here and never left, people who have moved away and come back, and we have people who have moved here for the affordability or for the community.

District 9 houses some of the original homes of the first stars who helped put Nashville on the map. An interesting fact is that District 9 is a peninsula. We’re surrounded by the Cumberland on three sides. We’re also an island district with Hill’s Island, which is located in the middle of Cumberland right before you get into Old Hickory. Hill’s Island has recently been donated to the Cumberland River Compact and is going to be an ecological educational island.

Finally, we have a pedestrian path planned from Peeler Park across the Cumberland River to Donelson. Once complete, this pedestrian path would connect 40,000 Madisonians to Downtown. It’s in the greenways long-term plan, and Metro Council voted it number one on their priority list.

What are the main concerns you hear from your constituents?

The people in the urban area, who live closer to Gallatin Pike, are more concerned with the spike in crime that we’ve seen lately, as well as the growing numbers of unhoused individuals. Those in the suburban areas are concerned with the large developments that are being built. They have increasing stormwater problems. And then the people in the rural areas are concerned for the future of the farmland and the disintegrating of the riverbank, which has probably been happening all along, but since the flood of 2010, they can really see the change in their riverbank properties.

You are actively engaged in multiple environmental groups supporting greenways, parks, walking and biking, etc. What are the most urgent next steps for the city to take in regard to the environmental conversation?

For constituents themselves, the most urgent thing is to reduce consumption. While I support recycling, what we should be focusing on is not the quantity of recycling but the necessity. If you’re using reusable water bottles, for example, then you’re reducing the consumption of plastic, which is more important than recycling 10 water bottles every day.

Next, I think as a city we need to require recycling. Having it as a requirement in the town that I lived in in 1997 is the reason I started recycling in the first place. I believe if it’s a requirement, more people will do it.

We also need to incorporate conservation education into schools. I’m serving on an educational sustainability advocacy committee to try and get conservation education into Metro schools. If we can get the message out early to youngsters as they grow up, it will be a part of their lives and a natural thing that they do and consider.

And probably most important, we need to protect our green spaces, our farms, our waterways, forests, wildlife habitats, and historic sites. All of these things together help protect our public health and biodiversity. As Greta Thunberg said, There is no Planet B. We need to protect Planet A, which is our Earth.

To follow up on your suggestion that Metro should require recycling. Is that something you’re looking into?

I have not done it yet because I’ve been focused on District 9 specifically. In general, I think it’s important to educate first and legislate later, but I think if we had a recycling requirement in place the majority of our law-abiding residents in Davidson County would understand it as something we need to do. Technically this would likely fall under the Metro Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, so I need to get with that chair and see if they would support something like that.

You are a member of the Metro Council’s Veterans Caucus and you have served on the Special Committee on Veterans. How can Metro serve Veterans best?

I actually started the Veterans Caucus, and we have three councilmembers who have previously served in the military – John Rutherford and Kevin Rhoten in the Airforce, and Tanaka Vercher in the Navy. Councilmember Thom Druffel serves on the Veterans Caucus as a lifelong supporter of veterans, Colby Sledge serves on the caucus as his district houses Operation Stand Down Tennessee, and Jeff Syracuse has supported us as well. We’re just very lucky that many members of the Metro Council have joined us and support the Veterans in our community.

Even prior to starting our Veterans Caucus, Metro made huge strides in giving Metro Nashville Public School children Veterans Day off and now Veterans Day is an annual holiday for Metro employees as well. Since we launched the Caucus, we have worked to increase the staff in the Metro Veteran Services Office to allow us to connect more Veterans to resources that they may not be aware are out there for them. Our next goal is to get the Veterans Services displayed in a more prominent spot on the Nashville Website. Right now, it’s buried under Human Resources, but unless you’re a Metro employee, most people would not look under HR for Veteran Services.

Finally, what do you think is the most urgent need the city should address in terms of serving vulnerable populations?

I know that we’re not the only city that has the level of people who are unhoused or people facing addiction issues that we currently see. But I really think the city, the state, and perhaps most importantly, the federal government need to address addiction issues and curb access to drugs. The rise in prescription drug use and the dangers of synthetic opioids is overwhelming. Only four states are higher on the list than Tennessee when it comes to the mortality rate in opioid overdoses.