Nashville’s Metro Parks asked the Metro Council for $1.9 million to clean and manage some of the cities parks. Metro Parks requested the money in October during the COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee.
From the $1.9 million, about $850,000 will be put towards renovating Brookmeade Park. Brookmeade has become a permanent campsite to many in the homeless community after Nashville “evicted” people who were living under the Jefferson Bridge.
Many of Nashville’s residents called for the park to be reclaimed for public use. Metro Parks and Recreation Director Monique Horton Odom said at the Financial Oversight Committee meeting that the park is “unusable” and “not safe” in its current condition.
Plans for the park include money for heavy equipment for renovations, an electric gate, maintenance for the park, and for cameras to be installed.
The Tennessee Star asked Councilman at Large Steven Glover about the issue. He said that there was no real fix for the parks proposed.
“I think the people of Nashville are getting cheated because they’re not receiving a complete fix. it’s just a partial, a Band-Aid. It’s not something that’s going to work when you have a hemorrhage,” Glover said.
Some members of the Metro Council voiced concerns about installing cameras.
Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda said, “I’m not comfortable putting in cameras where people take their children.”
Councilmember Sharon Hurt said, “I also think that Brookmeade Park was neglected and it was not as much as COVID.”
Odom pointed out that there are already many cameras in Nashville parks. Footage recorded in the parks and public spaces are kept by the city for 30 days. Eye in the Sky and the Metro Nashville Police Department installed the cameras, and have been, as Odom said, a “safety and security measure for the public in general” for the past 20 years.
Councilman Colby Sledge said on Twitter, “Our Budget committee deferred the legislation one meeting yesterday, so this bill will be automatically deferred tonight — in large part over concerns regarding the surveillance items listed in this article. There’s no reason they should have been linked to Brookmeade funds.”
One Twitter user asked “Will these be special cameras that magically make city & council leaders care about what they see? Everything happening in & around Brookmeade Park has been in plain sight for 1 yr+. It’s currently & literally spilling into the road. Visibility is not the issue.”
https://twitter.com/danschlacter/status/1455553615117135881?s=20
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Morgan Nicole Veysey is a reporter for The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Brookmeade Park” by Brookmeade Park Homeless Camp.
For goodness sakes Commie Cooper and Council of his minions, give Metro Parks money to clean up the debris/garbage and annual or bi-annual maintenance. But the rest is wasted because the cause of this effect, the homelessness, drug dealing/taking and mental health problems, are not being addressed in a serious way.
No surprises here. Our mayor can’t even keep our neighborhoods safe, keep the potholes on the streets filled, make sidewalks so we don’t have to walk in the traffic, etc., problems that are much easier solved than growing homeless camps.