Don't Turn the Faucet Off: Keys to Growth, Mobility, and Our Shared Future
- jessicadauphin
- Apr 2
- 8 min read
I had the opportunity to attend Outlook Williamson: An Economic Forum for Business Leaders, hosted by Williamson, Inc.
It was a bright morning filled with local business owners. I did happen to cross paths with at least a few TCLA Alumni (see photo at right).
I walked away with so much to think about. They shared great data, and there was high-level thought leadership on regional growth and business.
They did touch on transportation a little bit, but I instinctively knew that regional economic sustainability is riding on how we invest in regional public transit.
I had to put all my thoughts down so as not to forget it.
“Growth is not the same thing as development. Garbage piles grow bigger without getting any better. Artists develop.”
That line from Del Boyette, President and CEO of Boyette Strategic Advisors, lives in my head rent-free now. (Scroll to the bottom for a link to view the keynote)
It’s worth sitting with.
Because Middle Tennessee is growing rapidly. Williamson County’s population has increased by 75% since 2006. Across the 10-county region, we’ve grown by nearly 40% in that same period. (Scroll to the bottom to view Matt Largen's presentation)
That’s growth.
But development? That’s a different question.
Development is intentional. It’s iterative. It demands that we try new ways of doing things, learn from others, adjust our perspective, weather our mistakes, and stay the course toward the objective. Like an artist refining their craft, development strengthens capacity over time. It builds the ability to anticipate outcomes, make better decisions, and create something more resilient with each step forward.
Growth happens to you.
Development is a choice.
Right now, Middle Tennessee is at an inflection point between the two. The truth is, we are no longer a collection of counties. We are a region. And in many ways, we’ve already embraced that reality. Decades ago, leaders in economic and community development recognized that to compete, we had to act as one, coordinated, aligned, and seamless. That philosophy has served us well. When Franklin lands a major employer, the benefits ripple across the entire region.
But that seamlessness has its limits.
While our economy operates regionally, our infrastructure does not. That gap is where the pressure keeps building.
If we continue to grow without developing the systems that support that growth, especially how people move across this region, we risk more than inconvenience. We risk entering a cycle of strain that, over time, becomes harder to reverse.
Or we can choose a different path.
With the right investments and a shared commitment to getting this right, Middle Tennessee could build on its momentum. We could develop into a region that is more connected, more competitive, and better prepared for the next 20 years.
The question in front of us isn’t whether growth will continue. It’s whether we’re willing to make 30-year decisions today to shape our shared future into one of success.
The Reality We’re Living In
Spend time in any room where economic development is discussed in Nashville, Franklin, or anywhere in between, and it’s clear.
Companies aren’t choosing a city block. They’re choosing a region.
Site selectors look at how a place looks, feels, and functions. They evaluate workforce access across county lines. They consider housing availability, commute times, infrastructure capacity, access to talent, and long-term livability. It’s not siloed observation, rather an observation of systems of connection.
Up until now, Middle Tennessee has been winning. Franklin was recently ranked among the best small cities in the country for big careers. Employers continue to invest. Population growth has surged 75% in Williamson County alone over the past two decades.
This is what success looks like.
But success, unmanaged, has a way of turning on itself. Beneath the headlines, the data tells a more complicated story.
Local business leaders are clear about what’s getting harder:
Rising operational costs (1st)
Increasing traffic and congestion (1st)
Growing challenges around housing affordability (2nd)
Mounting pressure on working families, from childcare to cost of living (3rd)
These are not separate issues. They are connected; pressures and symptoms of a region growing faster than its systems can manage. At the center of it all is one foundational question:
Can people access the region’s opportunities? Or do the barriers to access stack up against them?
We Already Have a Regional Economy
Whether we’ve fully embraced it or not, Middle Tennessee is already functioning as a regional economy.
People live in one county and work in another. Employers recruit across county lines. Housing decisions ripple across the entire market. Growth in one place creates pressure in another.
Stephanie Coleman, President and CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, called it the ‘Nashville Economic Market’. We are linked by geography and economy. The lines on the map haven’t changed. How we live and work has. Business leaders are beginning to say it out loud. (Scroll down to the bottom to view the fireside chat between Stephanie Coleman and Matt Largen)
A strong majority believes a regional transit system matters. Even more believe it matters more than isolated, local solutions. Many are willing to invest in it.
That’s not a political statement. It’s a market signal.
It tells us that the people responsible for creating jobs and making long-term investments understand something fundamental: Mobility is economic infrastructure.
Not a luxury. Not an add-on. A prerequisite.
Growth Is Not the Problem
There’s a temptation, when growth begins to strain a system, to push back against it and to want it to slow down. This is when policies aim to limit development or housing or try to preserve what was.
It’s an understandable instinct.
But it’s also a dangerous one. It ignores the core issue: growth itself is not the problem.
Growth is an opportunity. An opportunity to develop.
The real distinction, the one we don’t talk about enough, is the difference between growth and development. Just like Del Boyette kicked off his keynote, growth will grow, and even garbage can do that.
Growth is what happens when more people arrive, more businesses invest, and more demand is created.
Development is what happens when we intentionally shape that growth. When we strengthen our systems, expand access, and build the infrastructure that allows a region to function at a higher level.
Growth, left unmanaged, will create congestion, rising costs, and strain on communities.
Development turns that same growth into increased prosperity, improved quality of life, and long-term competitiveness. The difference is not whether growth happens. It’s whether we choose to guide it.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
There are places in this country that have faced this moment before. Places that were growing, thriving, and full of promise. Then, faced with the pressure of change, they chose not to act together.
The result wasn’t stability. It was decline.
When regions fail to coordinate housing, transportation, and economic strategy, they don’t preserve what they had. They begin to lose it.
Population stagnates or shrinks. Employers leave. Investment slows. Opportunity becomes harder to access. The very character communities sought to protect begin to erode under the weight of disconnection.
You don’t turn off the faucet. You mismanage it. Once that cycle begins, it’s extraordinarily difficult to reverse.
This is not hypothetical. It’s a case study. Mr. Boyette shared the details of the St. Louis region from the stage.
In 1950, St. Louis grew rapidly. It was ranked 8th in the nation. Then came the pressures of growth. Instead of working with the suburbs surrounding the city on housing and infrastructure, they allowed the crime, congestion, and mounting barriers to access to manifest and worsen.
What were the costs of this resistance to shared and collaborative development? In the intervening years, they lost two NFL and one NBA teams, a major airline, Purina, major retail, Anheuser-Busch, and more.
Today, the net gain for their MSA since 2018 is 735, and they are 80th in the US.
The Opportunity in Front of Us
Here’s the best part: Middle Tennessee is not behind. Yet. We still have time to learn, iterate, and implement regionally significant public transit infrastructure that will work as seamlessly as our Economic and Community Development teams.
We are still in the window where decisions made today can positively define what this region looks like 20, 30, even 50 years from now.
We have:
A growing and dynamic economy
Strong business leadership
Communities that care deeply about the quality of life
A track record of collaboration
And importantly, we have alignment around challenges. Housing. Workforce access. Congestion. Cost of living. We don’t need to convince people that these issues exist. They’re living them.
What we need now is the willingness to connect the dots. Because these are not separate problems. They are part of the same system. And mobility, how people move through the region, is what connects them.
Why Transportation Is the Through Line
When transportation works:
Employers can access a broader workforce
Workers can access more opportunities without relocating
Housing markets can expand more sustainably
Communities can grow without losing connectivity
When it doesn’t:
Commutes get longer
Costs go up
Access narrows
Growth becomes more uneven—and more fragile
Transportation is not just about getting from point A to point B. It’s about whether a region functions as a cohesive whole or a collection of disconnected parts. Right now, our economic strategy is regional. Our transportation system is not.
That gap is where the pressure is building.
The Question We Have to Answer
At its core, this moment comes down to a simple question: Are we willing to invest in the kind of region we say we want to be? Are we willing to make the tough decisions to meet the pressure of our rising challenges head-on? Are we willing to pay today for the infrastructure it will take to ensure continued success into 2050 and beyond?
Because doing this right will require:
Long-term thinking
Cross-county collaboration
Public and private partnership
Investments, large investments
It will require making decisions that may not pay off immediately, but will define success for the next generation.
The alternative is not standing still. It’s falling behind. Maybe slowly at first, then suddenly there's no net gain and the strong corporate backbone disintegrates.
Holding Space for What Comes Next
This is where the work of the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee lives. Not in a single project or proposal, but in the space between ideas and action. In convening conversations that cross boundaries. In translating data into a shared understanding. In connecting mobility to the broader goals we all care about: economic competitiveness, workforce access, and quality of life. And in helping this region do something that isn’t always easy: Move forward together.
“You face forward, or you face the possibility of shock and damage.” –Brodie, Mallrats (1995)
We must face the fact: the future of Middle Tennessee will not be determined by whether we grow.
We will.
It will be determined by whether we choose to shape that growth intentionally, collaboratively, and actionably, with a clear vision of what we want this region to become.
We can’t turn off the faucet. But we can decide what we build with what’s flowing.
