The Metro Council will likely still consider a law to limit the way newspapers are sold on Nashville streets. But after a meeting Thursday, Councilman Steve Glover said he’ll be making changes to his initial idea.
In October, Glover
drew swift opposition from some officials and from The Contributor newspaper, which has been sold on street corners since 2007, sometimes with a volume of 9,000 copies per week.
The proposal would ban sales through the windows of cars.
He said he’s not targeting the newspaper, but worries about public safety after he nearly had a collision with a vendor.
“I had the public safety issue in mind. And I will stick by that,
“
he said.
“
Because that’s exactly what I did and why I did it.”
Council Attorney Mike Jameson cautioned that other cities, like Brentwood, have been
sued over newspaper limitations. He also said Metro Code already requires vendors to stay on sidewalks — so enforcement could be one answer.
One Metro Police officer in the meeting noted that vendors are often seen crossing into traffic to complete sales of the newspaper, but that there have been no recorded incidents of newspaper vendors causing a crash.
“[Vendors’] comment back to me was we already have all the laws on the books to protect all the things you are asking for, but in reality we really don’t,” Glover said.
Yet Councilman Russ Pulley said he thought outlawing vending would cause a greater public safety issue.
“We write a law that makes the newspaper’s sales people go away — who we know are vetted and have some level of management and we remove them from being able to sell this newspaper — do you not think someone is going to take their place that is un-vetted and out there pandering for money?” he asked.
Glover promised two more meetings — on the first Thursdays of January and February — before bringing a bill back to the council in March.
No one with The Contributor attended the meeting.
David Smith contributed to this report.
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