The topic that took center stage at Tuesday’s meeting of the Jackson City Council? Parking kiosks.
Six frustrated residents took the stage during public comment to air their grievances about the City of Jackson’s newly installed parking system. All argued the city should rescind its contract with SP Plus Parking, the company who installed and manages the 800 parking spots in Downtown Jackson. Many speakers called for a return to when downtown parking was free.
“Please rescind and terminate the city contract with SP Plus Corporation and remove all parking meters from the downtown area,” said David Archie, the former Hinds County District 2 Supervisor and staunch opponent of the parking kiosks. “We ask that of you members that are sitting on this board, I know it’s a tough task, we understand that but sometimes you got to vote on a tough task.”
This was the second meeting in a row that Archie and Addie Green, a former Bolton Alderwoman, spoke against the parking kiosks, saying residents have not been properly educated on how to use them. They also raised issues with the kiosks being hard to locate, the prices, how much tickets cost, residents not being able to contest said tickets and the kiosks being too spread out.