Mayor David Briley's office is delaying its plan to privatize the city's parking enforcement, according to multiple Metro Council members.
The proposed deal with LAZ Parking would have given Metro more than $30 million up front, followed by revenue sharing and other payments expected to top $300 million through 2049. Critics of the deal have cited privatization in Chicago — where a large up-front payment left the city without recurring revenue for decades — as a worst-case scenario, though LAZ officials emphasized that Nashville had negotiated a better deal.
The company would have taken over management of the city's parking meters and enforcement of parking violations.
According to one council member, the mayor's office said the deal was not dead but being delayed until after the election.
UPDATE: The mayor's office released the following statement Friday morning:
Nashville is a leader in everything from affordable housing to philanthropy to health care. There is no reason why we should not at least be on par with our peer cities when it comes to technologies like on-street parking modernization. It’s smart city management.Better yet, the proposal before the Metro Council would modernize our system while generating much-needed revenue for transit-related projects – all without ceding Metro’s control or selling anything.
That said, it is clear to me that residents still have questions about the merits of this proposal. Residents need more time – and it is unfair to the public and to Council to rush this process. Worse yet, others are using misinformation to further confuse and scare people. It’s politics at its worst.
For these reasons, I am hitting the pause button on this proposal. I have asked the sponsors of the ordinance to defer it until we can have a more comprehensive discussion. We have time to keep talking, and we should take it. Let’s get past the noise of the election season and allow everyone to get their questions answered.
