Musk's latest venture blasted as 'vanity project for the wealthy'
Nashville is getting a makeover all thanks to business mogul Elon Musk. Musk's Boring Company, has plans to build a massive underground tunnel in Tennessee and it seems he has the support of many major Tennessee lawmakers on a federal level, but not so much from local leaders. What one representative called a 'vanity project for the wealthy' has been dubbed the 'Music City Loop'. It will span 10 miles from city center to the airport on Nashville's south east corridor, its entrance just steps from the airport.
The privately funded project will supposedly shuttle Tennesseans between downtown and the airport in only eight minutes. The company plans to use electric vehicles to connect city hotspots, similar to an already operating Boring system in Las Vegas . Musk and Boring Company seemed to have the full support of Republican lawmakers, who demonstrated their support at a press conference about the project on July 28. Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee attended, and expressed his excitement for the endeavor.
'They could have taken their next underground loop anywhere, but they saw something unique about Tennessee,' he said. 'The best part of all of it is it's 100 percent privately funded. There will be no cost to Tennessee taxpayers.' But, John Ray Clemens, chair of the Tennessee House Democratic Caucus, called the privately funded endeavor 'fiscally irresponsible and legally suspect'.
'No responsible executive would give away unrestricted and unlimited underground property rights to an unhinged billionaire, who Donald Trump doesn't even trust anymore, and grant him and his company exclusive access rights beneath our city and a monopoly to profit in perpetuity.' The project has yet to receive approval from the Metro Nashville Council or the mayor's office, and Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell was notably absent from the event.
In a brief statement about the project, he said: 'We are aware of the state's conversations with The Boring Company, and we have a number of operational questions to understand the potential impacts on Metro and Nashvillians.' Yet, United States Senator Marsha Blackburn seemed to think the impact would be overwhelmingly positive. She posted on X that the company 'couldn't have picked a better new home for their state-of-the-art tunneling technology than Nashville'.
She wrote: 'I look forward to seeing the tremendous impact of this investment in our city!' State Representative Aftyn Behn called the tunnel a 'privatization of public infrastructure,' noting that it was designed to benefit a select few 'not the people who actually live and work here'. In his press release about the 'Music City Loop' Behn wrote, 'It's a vanity project for the wealthy, and once again, the Lee administration is rolling out the red carpet for billionaires while working families are stuck in traffic.'
'We rank at the bottom in livability, and yet instead of investing in roads, schools and transit that benefit everyday Tennesseans, they're floating billion-dollar boondoggles for the ultra-rich,' stated state Senator Heidi Campbell The decision seems to be just as divisive among citizens as it is among local lawmakers. Many took to social media following the press conference to chime in with their opinions.
Reacting to coverage of the press conference on Reddit , one user posted: 'And the grift continues. This isn't a much needed or desirable project. 'This is a grift meant to line the pockets of the world's richest person. The goal was never providing a decent or even acceptable transit service.' Another commented: 'Could've had a great light rail system and instead get this utter nonsense.'
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