Month: July 2017

Categories
News The Fly-By

One Year After the Bridge Protest: Now What?

A few-dozen people gathered in Tom Lee Park last Sunday to commemorate the more than 1,000 protesters who blocked the I-40 bridge one year ago to rally for justice in the wake of the then-recent killings of several black men by police officers.

Sunday’s afternoon of events, organized by the Coalition for the Concerned Citizens of Memphis (C3), featured “street theater” comprised of skits related to social justice and meant to shed light on the “real obscenities” the C3 believes people of color currently face in society.

Some skits touched on immigrant rights and police brutality, while others paid tribute to individuals such as Alton Sterling and Martin Luther King Jr.

Al Louis, 63, a member of C3, was involved in the protest last year. He said he believed it was one of the greatest protests in the history of the city, but added there has not been nearly enough change in Memphis since last year, citing the small percentage of the city’s business receipts that minority businesses hold as an example.

“There are no laurels to rest at,” said Louis. “This event is just to honor ourselves for a minute, then get right back on the grind.”

The Coalition for the Concerned Citizens of Memphis (C3)

However, Louis says he is beginning to see a cross-racial effort that he did not expect to see in his lifetime. “This I’ve never seen before,” he said, regarding Sunday’s gathering. “It’s an effort among people of all hues and ethnic backgrounds. This is progress I never imagined I’d see in my lifetime.”

Representatives from five organizations, including the Memphis chapter of Black Lives Matter and Inward Journey were at the park Sunday, each with ideas about what needs to happen in the city for equality to be realized.

Another group present was Movimiento Cosecha, a nationwide organization that is in the process of being launched in Memphis. Volunteer Coordinator with Movimiento Cosecha, Roberto Juarez said that as immigration tension rises in the country, the group wants to be able to get the undocumented community to come together and fight back strategically.

He said the group organizes systematic boycotts and strikes, encouraging the community to have their voices heard by using their labor and consumer power.

There were also members of Show Me 15, who say they want to see the crime rate in the city go down and wages go up.

While the skits played out at Tom Lee Park, just a few blocks away, more activists celebrated the anniversary of the protest with a march from Robert Church Park to City Hall. In what was called March for 1,000 Children, youth from all around the city came to write down what they want to see change in the city. Their suggestions were collected in a box.

Organizers of the march say it was designed to send Memphis city officials a message that more changes need to take place.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Dueling Visions

The voices of Shelby County commissioners audiby changed during the course of Monday’s special meeting — a  marathon affair that had been called to deal with a budget that was already past its July 1st deadline. Toward the end of a meeting that started at 3 p.m. and adjourned at 10:15 p.m., the commissioners sounded either strident (maybe “strung out” is closer) or exhausted.

What had not changed was the substance of what they were saying. The commissioners — or at least what seems to be a working majority of them — remained fixed on a course that will give their constituents a tax cut of from 1 to 3 cents on a still-to-be-determined tax rate.

Mayor Mark Luttrell, who was as edgy as anybody on Monday, went with the flow and reluctantly consented to budget amendments that cut close into what he sees as a necessary fiscal reserve. But he is clearly resolved to do what he can between now and the fixing of the tax rate to either scale back the amendments or keep the rate close to the level of 4.13 cents, a status-quo figure adjusted to the latest county property assessment and designed to generate the same amount of revenue as the current pre-assessment rate of 4.37 cents.

Luttrell made it clear that he wants to have enough of a discretionary fund on hand to deal with exigencies. That was the case also two years ago, when the administration and the commission had a similar disagreement, one that ultimately saw a win for the mayor in the slowing down of what had been a pell-mell move toward a tax decrease and then the aborting of that tax-cut initiative altogether.

Luttrell had held the line back then, pleading that the county had infrastructure needs (it plainly did), and the tax rate held firm. The mayor’s victory proved to be a pyrrhic one, however — especially as the county’s general fund, even with a good deal of overdue paving and other infrastructure work taken care of, turned out in an ad hoc audit to have a significant and unforeseen surplus: upwards of $20 million. That was enough, contended the commission’s tax relief advocates, to have underwritten the gift to the taxpayers that they had intended but, ultimately, under pressure from the administration, had backed away from.

That was essentially the casus belli for what has turned out to be a two-year power struggle between the mayor and his commissioners. The commission, with two fired-up Republicans, Heidi Shafer of East Memphis and Terry Roland of Millington in the lead, and with a sufficient number of other suburban Republicans, along with fellow-traveling inner-city Democrats, following, began campaigning for new commission perks, including a greater share in budgetary decisions, and to that purpose, the acquisition of an independent commission attorney so as to augment its own oversight.

The commission ultimately got a lawyer approved, former commissioner Julian Bolton, though both his title and his function are more tightly circumscribed than the commissioners preferred. And the battle goes on, with both sides taking as much as they can and giving up as little as they have to. Right now the $4.10 tax rate seems to be holding, but sans a vote, some or all of that hard-earned three-cent discount could vanish in further negotiation, as could other budget goodies voted on on Monday. (More details this week in Politics Beat blog.)

Categories
Editorial Opinion

A Call to Arms on Health Care

It was a heck of a party, jammed to the rafters and brimming with overflow energy. The only problem was that the chief invited guests were a no-show, though no one was much surprised by that.
We’re talking about last Saturday’s town hall on health care at the IBEW union hall on Madison, sponsored by a generous assortment of local organizations devoted to the subject and dedicated to the preservation of the Affordable Care Act, currently under threat of elimination by a GOP-dominated Congress and a fellow-traveling tag-along president.

In theory, Tennessee’s two Republican Senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both regarded as antagonistic toward the ACA (aka Obamacare) were to be the guests of honor, but, as was relayed with heavily underscored irony early on by co-host Mary Green of the progressive group Indivisible, both senators had responded that they had “schedules that would not allow them to come.”

That got an appropriate mix of groans, sardonic laughs, and boos from the audience, and the laughter got more uproarious when Green drew attention to the fact that Alexander and Corker, along with fellow Obamacare opponent David Kustoff, the GOP congressman from the 8th District, were all represented at the meeting by life-size cardboard cutouts that were “questioned,” mocked, and scolded in the course of the meeting.

Another Indivisible host, Emily Fulmer, noted the fact that passage of the pending Senate bill, disingenuously called the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) would mean $880 billion in cuts for Medicaid, which in one form or another pays for the medical needs of 60 percent of the American population.

Aftyn Behn of the Tennessee Justice Center presented slides demonstrating, among other things, that BCRA would mean disastrous cutbacks for hospitals and programs designed to curb the current opioid epidemic. Tennessee, she observed, owned the dubious distinction of having the nation’s leading rate of hospital closures, “with more rural closures coming, including one in Blount County on Lamar Alexander Parkway.” That got the wry laugh it deserved.

Ashley Coffield of Planned Parenthood pointed out that the bill included a provision to “defund” her organization and prohibit women, children, and men from availing themselves of the wide range of “affordable, high quality, and non-judgmental health care” offered by Planned Parenthood.

Allison Donald of the Center for Independent Living and ADAPT, which sees to the needs of the disabled, saw services to these “most vulnerable” about to be disrupted. Physicians Art Sutherland and Tom Gettelfinger pointed out the ongoing hijacking of heath care by self-serving corporations and the outrageous spike in therapeutic drug prices. Essence Jackson of Sistercare proclaimed the obvious: “Health care is not a privilege; it’s a human right!” And Virgie Banks of the COPPER Coalition exhorted, “Keep the pressure on!” As she and the others noted, the BCRA will likely come to a vote the week of July 24th.

It would behoove all of us with a concern for the general health and welfare our citizenry to pay heed to what was said on Saturday.

Categories
News News Blog

TVA Finds High Arsenic, Lead Levels Near New Wells

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

High levels of arsenic and other toxins have been discovered in ground water beneath monitoring wells near the Allen Fossil Plant in south Memphis. According to the TVA, which first reported the levels to Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation department in mid-May, arsenic levels were more than 300 times higher than federal drinking water standards. Lead levels in the water were also higher than federal safety standards. The pools were originally installed to monitor pollution from nearby ponds containing slag and ash generated by the plant’s coal-burning.

The TVA’s old Allen coal plant

The polluted groundwater is little more than a quarter mile from five recently drilled TVA wells that will provide cooling water for the agency’s soon-to-be-completed gas-fired power plant. While TDEC officials contend that the polluted groundwater is constrained from contaminating the Memphis Sand Aquifer by a layer of clay, local Sierra Club spokesman Scott Banbury begs to differ.

Here is a statement from the Sierra Club:
The Tennessee Valley Authority has found high levels of arsenic,
lead, and other toxins in groundwater beneath the Allen Fossil Plant, where thousands
of tons of coal ash and boiler slag are stored in massive ponds.
The arsenic was discovered in monitoring wells at the plant at levels more than 300
times the federal drinking-water standard. Excessive amounts of lead were also
detected.

Scientists have linked long-term arsenic exposure to health problems including heart
disease, diabetes and several cancers. Exposure to high lead levels can severely
damage the brain and kidneys in adults or children, and can also be fatal.
The tainted groundwater was found about a quarter-mile from where TVA recently
drilled five wells into the Memphis Sand aquifer, the primary source of local drinking
water. TVA plans to draw 3.5 million gallons a day from the aquifer to cool its gas plant,
though their original plan was to cool the plant with “grey water” from the nearby
Maxson Wastewater Treatment facility.

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation officials said they don’t think
the arsenic and lead are impacting drinking water, but have asked the Memphis Light,
Gas and Water to test samples anyway.
Justin Fox Burks

Scott Banbury (file photo)

In response to the findings, Scott Banbury, conservation program coordinator for
the Sierra Club in Tennessee, released the following statement:
“This contamination is exactly what we feared when TVA decided to use our pristine
drinking water source to cool its fracked gas plant. We still don’t have enough
information about existing breaches of the clay barrier that protects the aquifer, or about
whether pumping from these wells could pull contaminants into the Memphis Sand
Aquifer.

“TVA should immediately contract with MLGW to use municipal water to cool their new
plant, or reconsider their original plan to use grey water, and should contract with the
University of Memphis Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research to
do an extensive geophysical study of the area around TVA’s ash ponds to make sure
there’s absolutely no risk to the drinking water and public health of Memphis families
and children.

“We also call on the Shelby County Health Department to immediately reconsider their
decision to issue TVA’s well permits in light of this new data.”
Ward Archer, president of Protect Our Aquifer, also weighed in on the findings:

“We suspected the groundwater beneath the Allen plant was already contaminated, but
this is even worse than we had imagined. TVA’s plan to pump Memphis Sand Aquifer
water from beneath this contaminated site is irresponsible and endangers our drinking
water supply.

“These contamination findings reinforce our commitment to encourage TVA to find an
alternative cooling water solution, and we will continue to work to protect our drinking
water aquifer by supporting scientific investigation, raising public awareness, working
with our elected officials, and, when necessary, initiating legal action.”

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Burger Week!

Guys, I need you to do something for me. I hardly ever ask for anything. One (more!) of you HAS to go to Growler’s and report back on their Memphis as Chuck burger. It’s beef ground up with pulled pork topped with cheese sauce topped with pork rinds. Do it!

The Memphis as Chuck burger is just one offering from the 15 restaurants participating in Memphis Flyer Burger Week. All Burger Week burgers are $5!

Myself, I’ve got plans to meet friends at Huey’s later in the week. For those of you out there burgering, make sure to check in with us on Instagram and Twitter @memphisflyer using #FlyerBurgerWeek. There will be prizes!

Burger Week runs through July 18th.

Burger Week!

Categories
News News Blog

City Council Approves Grants for 1968 Sanitation Workers

The 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike

After a slightly heated conversation and an attempt by one council member to postpone the vote, on Tuesday the Memphis City Council voted 13 to 0 in favor of providing 1968 Sanitation Workers with financial assistance.

Council member Martavius Jones advised the Council to hold the vote until they had more information, while chairman Berlin Boyd told Jones and colleagues that he thinks they cannot afford to wait any longer, as it has already been put off long enough.


“We can never make up the sacrifices that these individuals made financially because they went above the call of duty to do things that risks their lives for a greater cause,” Boyd said. “The $50,000 is just a grant saying ‘hey we appreciate the sacrifices that you guys made.'”


The Council agreed and unanimously approved to grant 14 surviving 1968 sanitation workers $50,000 each. Four of the recipients are still working and 10 are retirees.

However, Public Works director Robert Knecht told the Council that the number of surviving sanitation workers from 1968, might actually be more than 14 and could increase by six or seven people. Therefore, he says more research has to be done.

Knecht says the City must “clarify and verify” they have not missed any surviving workers. If other survivors are identified, he says the Council might have to approve another 50 percent of the original amount for the additional survivors.

Additionally, the Council approved a 401(a) retirement plan for current sanitation workers, in which the City, depending on length of employment, will contribute between 50 cents and $1.50 to the employee’s Social Security contributions and deferred compensation.

The funds for both the grants, which equals $900,000 and the retirement plan, equaling $450,000, will come from the City’s reserves.

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Pets of the Week (July 13-19)

Each week, the Flyer will feature adoptable dogs and cats from Memphis Animal Services. All photos are credited to Memphis Pets Alive. More pictures can be found on the Memphis Pets Alive Facebook page.

[slideshow-1]

Categories
We Recommend We Saw You

Jimbo Mathus, Gone to the Dogs Fest and Arcade wedding celebration

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Jimbo Mathus and the Squirrel Nut Zippers performed at the Levitt Shell

The Squirrel Nut Zippers played Levitt Shell for the first time on July 8, but lead singer/co-founder Jimbo Mathus played at the venue many times.

He played with his own group, Jimbo Mathus, and tribute shows for the late Jim Dickinson.

“It’s a beautiful venue,” said Mathus. “So much history. I love the whole band shell style. It’s one place Memphis really comes together.”

Mathus, a Fat Possum recording artist/producer living in Oxford, also loves the lighting and sound and the “all ages aspect and the free aspect” of Levitt Shell.

“It’s one of the best places to play if not THE best in Memphis. The staff is fantastic. Just a good family environment.”

The Squirrel Nut Zippers has been revived and currently is on tour, Mathus said. The group also has a new album, “Beasts of Burgundy,” coming out in January. The music is “cabaret, vaudeville, swing, burlesque and jazz,” he said. “Same energy, but a higher level of performance.”

Also debuting at the Levitt Shell were “Booze Pops,” which sounds like a music group, but they’re actually an alcohol-added version of Mempops.

“They’re pretty much frozen drinks on a stick with alcohol in them,” said Mempops founder Chris Taylor. “We use a lot of the same ingredients we use for Mempops, but we add alcohol – rum, vodka, tequila and bourbon depending on what we’re making.”

On hand during the Squirrel Nut Zippers show were “Blueberry Mojito” with rum, “Roasted Peach and Bourbon,” “Strawberry Margarita” with tequila and the “Moscow Mule” with vodka. More flavors will be available, Taylor said.

Each pop is “give or take five percent alcohol,” Taylor said. “As much alcohol as in a beer. So, only a four-ounce serving. If you’re going to get drunk off those, you’re going to have to be dedicated.”

….

Michael Donahue

Eagle Claw at Gone to the Dogs Fest 3.

Gone to the Dogs Fest 3 was their most successful festival, said event founder Shawn Mullins. The music festival, held July 6 to 9 at Growlers, raised between $3,000 and $4,000 for Streetdog Foundation, Mullins estimated. “We raised more than the last two combined.”

The festival, which featured 13 bands, was based on the old Memphis Hates You Fest, said Mullins, who “didn’t really have anything to do” with that festival. “It was basically a local showcase for bands people didn’t feel like got a lot of attention.”



That festival “fell through,” but people wanted to bring it back. Mullins didn’t want to bring it back the way it was. “Something like that wouldn’t work unless it was for a good cause, so we re-tooled it.”



Dogs sounded perfect. “My wife and I have been rescuing dogs for a while and we love dogs. It seemed like the next logical step was to attach the two things we cared about.”

This year’s festival featured “mostly metal bands, but Saturday afternoon got a little more family friendly with indie rock. But I think it’s safe to say all the bands are on the heavy side. Mostly metal bands.”

Growlers manager Jonathan Kiersky will be more involved with the upcoming Gone to the Dogs festival, Mullins said. “One of the first things he spoke to me about after he got his foot in the door was, ‘Let’s do Gone to the Dogs again and do it every year. Let’s make it a consistent thing.’”

Said Kiersky: “Anything we can do to support the community, we as a company feel strongly about. The other thing is that I love dogs.”

Kiersky’s dog, Fezzik, attended Saturday night’s show.

Melanie Pafford, who, along with her husband, Kent, are founders of Streetdog Foundation, was pleased with the response. “I went all four nights,” she said. “The people who attended were all dog lovers and have an affinity for dogs. We had a donation bucket. They already paid to come in and they were very generous about wanting to donate.”


They also would “come up and talk to us about dogs,” she said.

Describing Streetdog Foundation (streetdogfoundation.com), Melanie said, “We take the worst of the worst dogs off the street. Our mission is to get dogs off the street – rescue, rehabilitate and re-home.”

Streetdog Foundation’s biggest fundraiser, “Howl at the Moon,” will be Nov. 11 at The Warehouse off South Main.

…….

Michael Donahue

Kelcie and Jeffrey Zepatos at Arcade

The fourth generation of the Arcade Restaurant owners and his wife celebrated their recent marriage with a party July 7 at the restaurant, which is billed as “Memphis’s oldest cafe.”

Jeffrey Zepatos and the former Kelcie Beharelle were married June 17 on the beach in Santa Rosa, Florida. The bride wore a blush pink gown and a white veil with a rose gold crown and the groom wore a white button up and gray vest and gray suit pants. “We were barefoot,” Jeffrey said. “Very casual.”

Relatives and friends threw the Memphis party, Jeffrey said. “We just wanted to have a celebration on South Main, really,” he said. “Have all our friends from South Main, Downtown and Memphis celebrate with us. A destination wedding made it tricky. Basically, we wanted to come back here and do something fun with everybody else.”

Jeffrey’s great-grandfather, Speros Zepatos, opened the Arcade in 1919, Jeffrey said.

[slideshow-1]

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Game of Thrones Drinks to Get You Through the Season

On Memorial Day weekend, while most of Memphis languished without power, I fell under the spell of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Since then, I’ve blazed through the first three seasons, downing gin and tonics, margaritas, white wine, and an occasional beer while taking in royal beheadings, adolescent dragon hijinks, and the infamous Red Wedding. I’m determined to be ready next weekend when season seven begins. And I’m determined not just to be ready but to be on point with my beverages when those devilish Lannisters, the zombie-like White Walkers, and the fearless Daenerys Targaryen continue their small-screen saga.

If only Memphis had its own version of the Game of Thrones-themed bar that just sprang up in a hipster neighborhood in Washington, D.C. According to accounts from thirsty East Coast GoT fans, the pop-up bar includes an Iron Throne, fire-breathing dragons, and a replica of the Red Keep.

Game of Thrones

The cocktails menu is equally devoted to all-things Westeros. Drinks include the gin-based What is Dead May Never Die, a vodka cocktail that’s fiendishly called The Lannisters Send Their Regards (if the Red Wedding doesn’t ring a bell, watch “The Rains of Castamere,” episode nine in season three, for the reference), and the rum-based Dothraquiri, which is named, of course, for the nomadic horse lords led by Targaryen.

Alas, we do not have such a bar in Memphis — but fortunately, there are enough online recipes for GoT-inspired cocktails to float Tyrion Lannister from King’s Landing all the way to the Shivering Sea.

The perfect antidote to Memphis in July, the White Walker, which I found on the food blog A Heaping Spoonful, would make a great way to kick off season seven next Sunday night. It’ll require a trip to the liquor store, but the layered milkshake-like concoction of white chocolate liqueur, cream soda, and curaçao looks utterly delicious.

Also found on A Heaping Spoonful: the bracing Kingslayer, which combines one ounce each of bourbon and Goldschlager with one-and-a-half ounces of Grand Marnier and lemon juice in an ice-filled old fashioned glass. Another take on the Kingslayer, found at Paste Magazine‘s website, combines Jameson, cranberry juice, and sour mix.

Vanity Fair offers a recipe for Mother of Dragons, a blend of tequila, sherry, agave syrup, and fresh berries, topped with 10 drops of the mysterious-sounding Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub cocktail bitters, available on Amazon.com. The Cocktail Hunter website uses tequila as a base for a ginger liqueur-flavored drink, King of the North, which is elegantly strained into a martini glass. And Apartment Therapy‘s foodie blog the Kitchn gets into the game with a variety of drinks named for each “house,” or clan, represented in the series.

Not that any real 15th-century people — the late medieval period is most comparable to the fictional GoT universe — drank such elaborate cocktails. Those fortunate enough to live in the Mediterranean region drank traditional wine; to the north, ciders, mulberry gin and berry-based wines were readily available. Mead, the preferred beverage of today’s Society for Creative Anachronism sword wielders, was considered more of a special treat than a daily drink.

According to most accounts, even serfs bypassed water and milk for fresh ale, brewed either at home or in a monastery. Maybe Tyrion was onto something — records show that in 15th-century England, the per capita annual consumption of beer was between 73 and 79 gallons. Sailors were allotted an astonishing gallon a day.

Should you want to drink like a ruling-class GoT character, rather than make a toast to one of them, historians recommend you cozy up to a bottle of Slivovitz. The fermented plum brandy, which is bottled in the Slavic countries of Eastern Europe, dates to circa 14th-century Bulgaria. Best served warm, it’s reminiscent of a particularly potent mulled wine. I wouldn’t drink it by choice, though, unless I was in desperate need of a hot toddy.

Categories
News News Blog

MLGW: Saturday’s Glitch Resolved, Pay Kiosks to Reopen ‘Hopefully’ by Week’s End

After a network glitch on Saturday, causing thousands of Memphians to fruitlessly stand in line for hours with hopes of paying a significantly reduced Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) bill, the utility had to temporarily disable customers from paying their bills at the nearly 100 pay kiosks across the city that were affected by the glitch.

However, MLGW officials told a Memphis City Council committee today that the utility expects to enable its customers to begin paying their bills on the kiosks again by the end of the week.

The glitch in the system, according to a statement released Monday by CEO and President of MLGW Jerry Collins Jr., was caused by a software problem with the independent utility payment processor, TIO Networks which owns and operates the pay kiosks— not a glitch or breech in MLGW’s systems.

Representatives from TIO Networks also spoke to the council committee today and told them that the software glitch— an issue they say the company has never experienced before— had been resolved on Saturday.

Additionally, the company’s representatives say TIO has put measures in place to avoid the same problem in the future.

On an average Saturday, about 800 customers will make payments at these TIO-owned kiosks, but MLGW officials say once the rumor spread on this particular Saturday, 23,000 individuals ended up making payments at the kiosks that day.

However, officials say most payments were in the $1 to $10 range, with a $2 convenience fee charged to the majority of the customers.

TIO officials say “the right things to do” is to reimburse those customers who paid a convenience fee, having credited the money back to their MLGW accounts on Monday.