Nashville must oppose Mayor David Briley's public parking privatization plan | Opinion

• Carol M. Swain, former professor of political science and law, is a candidate for Nashville mayor.

Metro Council members need to vote “no” on Nashville Mayor David Briley’s proposal to privatize public parking.

Selling the parking meters is a bad deal for Nashville’s taxpayers and its business owners.

Under the proposed plan, the mayor would sell the city’s parking meters to a third-party company that would replace existing meters with different ones.

Short-term parking would increase 25 cents per hour and fines would leap from $11 to $25. Plus, instead of only paying until 6 pm, consumers would be feeding meters until 10 pm.

For the first-time in Nashville’s history, taxpayers would lose free parking on Saturdays and Sundays. Energy-saving vehicles would have to pay like everyone else; now they park free.

All revenues would go to a private company versus helping pay for schools and better infrastructure. 

The traffic and parking commission is expected to 'rubber-stamp the deal'

How does this benefit consumers? The mayor and his supporters are pointing to benefits from modernizing the equipment: phone apps and parking meters would take credit cards. Fine, but these are practical upgrades that a well-run city government should do itself.

Mayor Briley’s latest money-raising scheme follows a failed effort to sell city land to make up for the 2018-2019 revenue shortfall. Despite public opposition, the mayor persuaded Metro Council to approve an ill-conceived, doomed online auction rather than an open-market approach concerning valuable land. So much for looking out for the people.

Now the mayor is frantically trying to raise millions of dollars before this fiscal year ends. The Tennessean reported that the bidding process for the sale of the city’s parking meters ended on April 19. The city then plans to award a contract on April 23 with final negotiations on the 29th.

Tennessean reporter Yihyun Jeong writes that the deal will be presented to the Traffic and Parking Commission in a special meeting to “rubber-stamp the deal.” The Metro Council, which typically does the mayor’s bidding, would meet on June 18 to likely approve the deal.

Nashville needs to get on a better fiscal path

We the People of Davidson County and surrounding areas will be adversely impacted if Mayor Briley, who is up for re-election, can push through this deal that would entail a 30-year commitment.

No agreement of this magnitude should be for more than any one term of the mayor’s office.

Once they have the contract, there is nothing to prevent the bid-winning private company from also raising rates until they match rates common to larger cities such as Chicago and New York City.

Selling the parking meters will affect employees in Public Works, the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, and, potentially, Metro Police.

We are witnessing the desperation that comes from poor mismanagement of city funds. A booming city should not have a revenue problem and a depleted reserve fund.

Metro Nashville needs new leadership. For far too long we have borrowed money for projects that we should have been able to afford.

Nashville needs a mayor who puts the welfare of the city about the demands of special interests groups. It is time to balance the budget and end reckless deficit spending.

As the next mayor of Nashville, I will put public safety, affordable housing, and traffic and transit problems at the top of the list of priorities. We can put Nashville on a stronger footing than it has had over the past three mayors.

Carol M. Swain, former professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, is a candidate for Nashville mayor. Learn more at www.swainformayor.com.