Purcell Uses Final Speech to Praise Dean

In his last public appearance as Nashville’s Mayor, Bill Purcell passed the torch to Karl Dean today.

Purcell spoke to the annual meeting of the Downtown Partnership, where he was given the first ever Jeannie R. Hastings Vision Award.

During his two terms, Purcell says Nashville developed a healthy understanding of how important downtown is to the city as a whole. He says the city has moved from looking for one key element-for instance, a downtown grocery store-to understanding that downtown needs many things all at once.

Purcell says that sort of approach won the mayor’s race.

“You have to have good schools and safety and quality of life. This is a city that uniquely understands the words of a new mayor who said right from the beginning, “it is all connected.” He understood the connections and reaffirmed it, and the voters heard exactly what they knew to be true and made him our next mayor.”

Purcell went on to wish Dean good luck. The two men have a long history together. They were once coworkers in the public defenders office, and Dean served as Metro’s Legal Director under Purcell.

Purcell’s time in office ends at noon tomorrow.