Month: May 2019

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

County Commission Backs Censure of Judge Lammey

CREDIT: JB

In a dramatic morning session, the Shelby County Commission on Wednesday voted 7-2 “in support of the public censure” of Criminal Court Judge James Lammey.

The move, a response to well-publicized Facebook posts by Lammey considered potentially anti-Semitic and racist and to courtroom actions and attitudes of his widely regarded as prejudicial to minorities, came via an add-on resolution from Democratic Commissioner Tami Sawyer.

Several representatives of established civic associations and religious and ethnic groups — Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Hispanic — spoke in support of the resolution, as did most of the Commissioners on hand for the body’s committee sessions.

JB

Dr. Nabil Bayakly, chairman of Muslims in Memphis, speaks for Sawyer resolution.

Speaking strongly on behalf of the resolution, Republican Commission and Commission vice chair Mark Billingsley made a point of emphasizing that the resolution should be regarded not as “political” or as either Dermocratic or Republican but as a generalized and necessary statement by the Commission as a whole.

Billingsley went on to successfully advocate for several
JB

Commissioner Sawyer

 amendments strengthening the tone of the resolution.

Two Republican Commissioners, Amber Mills and Brandon Morrison, would nevertheless end up abstaining from the vote — Mills on the ground that the Commission had not yet heard directly from Lammey, Morrison warning of entering upon a “slippery slope” and contending that the Commission as a legislative body should defer on judgmental matters to specifically judicial authorities; she recommended the state Board of Judicial Conduct.

Sawyer, who insisted on a Commission vote, would respond that the Commission could afterward ask its staff to contact the Board of Judicial Conduct for further action. She was clearly infuriated by Mills’ remarks regarding Lammey’s “side of the matter” and indicated she was put off as well by a suggestion from Billingsley that Lammey be invited to respond, either in person or in writing, at the Commission’s next regular public meeting on Monday.

JB

Billingsley speaking for resolution

In an extended and emotional speech, Sawyer recounted an online communication she personally had received two weeks earlier from a declared white supremacist, who vilified her, threatened her with physical harm, and announced his intention to make sure her body ended up in the Mississippi River. Comparing that communication with Lammey’s various online postings — which included links to Holocaust deniers and overt racists — and what she described as his overly punitive treatment of immigrants in court, Sawyer said if someone had dared to ask her to consider the “other side” of her would-be attacker’s point of view or had told her the Commission, similarly, would be interested in hearing out Lammey’s, “I would be offended.”

Sawyer received applause from attendees, as did Commissioner Eddie Jones subsequently as he choked up while describing being addressed by a white National Guardsman on the night of Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968. The man said “Little nigger boy, where are you going?” and said Jones, “I never forgot those words.”

Voting for the resolution were Republicans Billingsley and David Bradford, and Democrats Sawyer, Edmund Ford, Reginald Milton, Eddie Jones, and Michael Whaley.

A letter to Lammey announcing the results of Wednesdays’s action and confirming the Commission’s wish to give him opportunity to respond on Monday, when the action is scheduled to become official, was dispatched by email to the Judge. It can be seen below:

[pdf-1]

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Pets of the Week (May 9-15)

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.

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Categories
News News Blog

Memphis 3.0 Includes Items Opponents Say It Lacks

CREDIT: Facebook- Carnita Atwater

Facebook- Carnita Atwater

Atwater speaks against the Memphis 3.0 plan at a rally Saturday

A lawsuit filed by members of the community caused the Memphis City Council on Tuesday to again delay voting on the Memphis 3.0 plan.

Carnita Atwater, president of the New Chicago Community Development Corporation, told the council that they were being “disrespectful to the African-American community because the 3.0 plan is “blatant racism.”

Atwater and about a half a dozen more attendees at Tuesday’s meeting spoke in opposition of the plan, saying that it was not inclusive.

In a Wednesday press release, Atwater, who is African American said that the lawsuit was filed on behalf of the “impoverished African-American communities that have endured decades of disinvestment.”

“The Memphis 3.0 Comprehensive Plan fails to include any relevant or substantive financial investment in beleaguered African American Communities,” Atwater said. “The benefits of the plan are not inclusive, nor does it address racial equity in a city experiencing selective disinvestment, targeted gentrification, and low-income displacement.”

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The lawsuit was filed in federal court Tuesday against the council, the Shelby County Commission, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, and Gov. Bill Lee. The move is meant to stop the city council from voting on the plan.

Atwater’s key argument is that the Memphis 3.0 does not include plans for the New Chicago neighborhood and other African-American communities in the city.

However, the 465-page document does detail improvements for New Chicago, the surrounding North Memphis neighborhood, and other predominantly African-American areas in the city.

Within New Chicago itself, the plan outlines two anchors to be nurtured. The document says nurturing means providing stability to areas not experiencing growth.

Atwater has said that the plan does not give funding to the most “dis-invested in neighborhood in the city.”

But, based on the 3.0 document, anchors to be nurtured will see investments by the city and philanthropies to support improvements.

The first anchor is the intersection of Chelsea and Ayers, where the document suggests creating a garden district with the vacant land there and conducting an urban farming feasibility study.

At the intersection of Breedlove and Firestone, just a half a mile away from the New Chicago CDC headquarters, the plan lists 11 action items.

Some of them include improving the aesthetics of the area, supporting small businesses and community-based organizations and initiatives, identifying funding sources for facade improvements, and conducting an environmental assessment.

Near New Chicago, the crossing of Watkins and Brown is another anchor where the plan looks to support affordable housing, create adaptive reuses for abandoned buildings, and identify alternate uses for vacant land such as urban agriculture and parks.

The other anchors in North Memphis include Jackson and Watkins, Chelsea and Hollywood, Jackson and Hastings, and the Douglass Park Area.

Finally, for the entire North Memphis district, the plan indicates a slew of issues that need to be addressed, such as the need for a full-service grocery store or other ways to access fresh foods, improved sidewalks, additional bike lanes, and other infrastructure improvements.

In South Memphis, another area of the city largely populated with African Americans, the plan lists six anchors to be nurtured and two to be accelerated, or boost existing changes in the community.

Those anchors include Mississippi and Walker, Third and Belz, Elvis Presley and Alcy, and Soulsville.

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Actions for this district touch on affordable housing, neighborhood beautification, as well as improved public parks, sidewalks, and accessibility. Like North Memphis, accessible fresh foods is also a priority in the plan.

Read the priorities for each district here beginning on page 243. 

Atwater also expressed concern Tuesday about how the plan will gentrify African-American communities, while displacing communities of color and “forcing them out of the city of Memphis.”

Beverly Clay, who is African American, is another opponent of the plan. She said Tuesday that the 3.0 plan has “obvious omissions of our areas” and that it is “inexcusable.”

Supporting the plan Tuesday, Roshun Austin, president of The Works CDC in South Memphis, said the plan is a “map and a guide, because it provides us with what’s here today and suggestions for a brighter future. “

“It does not dictate the route we will take to get to our destination,” Austin said. “It does not detail all of the opportunities or encumbrances.”

Gary Rosenfeld, president and CEO of the Memphis Area Transit Authority, also spoke in support of the plan Tuesday, saying that the plan has “already demonstrated its ability to have a positive effect on our community.”

Ultimately, the council decided to delay the first of the three votes on the plan for two weeks to allow the council attorney Allan Wade and city of Memphis attorney Bruce McMullen to review the lawsuit.


Categories
Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

Fantasy Island: Watch 1990’s Great American Pyramid Investor Video

Stop whatever you’re doing right now, Memphis, and watch this video from 1990 pitching “The Great American Pyramid,” to potential investment partners. It’s a bombastic, adjective-laden journey to the Memphis of imagination where a sprawling theme park on the Mississippi fabricated crumbling communities in rich detail, transforming the region’s crushing poverty into an exciting ride for tourists! Yeah, that totally almost happened. And the language used to sell the boondoggle wasn’t subtle:

“5000 years ago the world trembled before the might of Cheops Pyramid. Soon there will be another occasion for awe. Soon mankind will be dazzled by a new wonder of the world. From the banks of the Mississippi, across the oceans and continents, and up to the heavens, a vibrant message will ring out: Feel the power of The Great American Pyramid!”

 Did you know The Great American Pyramid AKA “the Pyramid,” AKA Bass Pro, was intended to be a “21st-century treasure trove of multiple attractions,” connected to the Music Island theme park? There were going to be rides like “Hot Rod Lincoln,” and novelties like the worlds greatest jukebox, and music events and sports. This “thrilling montage of entertainment” was also to include a “breathtaking attraction known as, The Rapper: An exciting ride along the river of music.” Instead of a crystal skull, the very top of the Pyramid was to house a short wave radio station that, according to the pitch, would reach 500,000,000 short wave radios around the world. Planners projected more than 697,800,000 visitors annually

“Rarely has a sponsor had the opportunity to pioneer a venture of this magnitude from day one,” a voice that sounds a lot like Casey Kasem says. “An opportunity to add a trademark to its company’s assets with an international landmark that will be known by people around the globe as The Great American Pyramid.”

Like I said up top. Just watch the whole thing. All things considered, Bass Pro may be the less embarrassing outcome.

Fantasy Island: Watch 1990’s Great American Pyramid Investor Video

 

Categories
News News Blog

Beale Street Cover Charge Returns

Beale Street


After two shootings and two stampedes on or near Beale Street took place over the weekend, the Memphis City Council narrowly voted Tuesday to implement a temporary fee to enter the street.


The resolution to instate a $5 entrance fee was sponsored by Councilman Berlin Boyd and council Chair Kemp Conrad. The measure was approved with a 7-5 vote after a lengthy debate.

Boyd said the council members all needs to work together to figure out “how to police the crowd” and “mitigate possible litigation” that could result from incidents like the ones that occurred over the weekend.


“For the general public, I want you guys to know that this is temporary for the month of May,” Boyd said. “We will come back after the month of May because we need to help the MPD officers on Beale Street.”

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Boyd said at the end of May the council needs to re-evaluate and have a “robust” discussion to come up with a permanent solution that doesn’t entail a fee.

Memphis Police Department director Michael Rallings said early on Sunday morning there was a shooting at Fourth and Gayoso followed by a stampede caused by false reports of gunshots. Sunday night, there was a second shooting at Fourth and Beale that led to another stampede.

Rallings said that a common suggestion is adding additional officers to patrol Beale Street, but added that might not be the solution. He said one of the weekend shootings happened right in front of officers who could not prevent it from occurring.

“We have plenty of security there,” Rallings said. “But it’s an issue of crowd control, trying to manage less people, and making the environment more safe.”

Boyd said that during one of the incidents on Sunday, the hired Beale Street security walked away instead of de-escalating the situation.

“That’s the reality that we’re dealing with a dangerous situation,” Boyd said. “We don’t want those coming down to Beale Street to be in harm’s way. I just want everyone to know how severe it was to cause us to do this.”

Councilwoman Cheyenne Johnson questioned how a $5 charge would work to reduce stampedes and other incidents from occurring on the street.

Rallings said the fee will help with crowd control, and that during his time with the department, the only solution that’s worked consistently to reduce the number of incidents on the street is Beale Street Bucks.

Jennifer Oswalt, president of the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) added that since 2014, there have been 24 stampedes on a non-charging night and one on a night when there was a charge.

Beale Street Merchants Association

Beale Street

Councilwoman Jamita Swearengen also raised concerns about bringing the fee back, questioning the need for crowd control.

“We want a number of people to attend Beale Street,” Swearengen said. “We want individuals that come in for Beale Street Music Festival and other festivals to come on Beale Street…. You got to pay for parking, pay to get on Beale Street, pay for this, pay for that. That doesn’t make any sense.

“If police get out of their cars and stop eating and sleeping, we could control the crowd.”

Swearengen said she would not support the move and that the council was “shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Swearengen, along with council members Joe Brown, Patrice Robinson, Jones, and Johnson, voted against the fee. Council members Boyd, Conrad, Frank Colvett Jr., Worth Morgan, Reid Hedgepeth, Gerre Currie, and Ford Canale supported it.

The fee will be in place on the remaining Saturdays in May, as well as a handful of other days that officials expect large crowds. Conrad said 100 percent of the proceeds from the cover charge will go toward security on the street.

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An entrance fee is one of the 24 recommendations made by the crowd control consultant, Event Risk Management Solutions, last year. Conrad said 20 of the 24 recommendations are in place or in the process of being implemented.

The fee is one of the four that had not been implemented until Tuesday. The other recommendations not in place are asking the state to close the street as a public street, replacing the trash bins on Beale with clear liners, and forming a joint command post center where officers can monitor the area live and dispatch when necessary.

The council voted in 2017 to end the Beale Street Bucks program, which charged a $5 fee on Saturday nights during peak season. Then in 2018, the council voted to implement the fee on a needs basis.

What do you think?

Should there be a cover charge for Beale Street?

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Beale Street Cover Charge Returns

Categories
News News Blog

Lawmakers Want a More Transparent TVA

Lawmakers Want a More Transparent TVA

The Tennessee General Assembly and Governor Bill Lee added their voices to the chorus of lawmakers who think the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) should make all of its meetings open to the public.

TVA conducts its four, quarterly meetings in public. But committees meet in secret before those public meetings to discuss issues on the TVA’s upcoming agenda. A TVA spokesman said, though, committee meetings “are not decision-making meetings and a quorum of board directors is not present.”

In January, two Tennessee Congressmen — U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) — introduced the Tennessee Valley Authority Transparency Act of 2019. That bill ”would require meetings of the TVA Board to be held in public, properly noticed, and make available minutes and summaries of each meeting.”

State lawmakers in both houses passed a resolution this year signing on to the idea that TVA’s meetings should be public. It was passed unanimously in the Senate. It received only one “present not voting” action from one of the House’s 94 members present the day of the vote. Speakers in the House and Senate signed the resolution last Monday. Lee signed it the next day.

The resolution says all the lawmakers ”strongly support the passage of the Tennessee Valley Authority Transparency Act of 2019.”

“…it is vitally important to the citizens of Tennessee that TVA, as an entity created and protected by Congress, should conduct their business in the open and be as transparent as possible…,” it reads.

The state resolution was filed by Sen. Ken Yager (R-Kingston). He said he “could not agree more with what” Burchett was “trying to do” with his bill.

”We all know…that the TVA is the steward of billions of dollars of ratepayers’ money,” Yager said. “But they also make rules that govern the lives and effect the lives of everybody else in Tennessee, not the least of which are the property owners of this state.

“I just think in the spirit of transparency, and open government, these meetings — all their meetings — should be open. When Congressmen Burchett filed the bill, I wanted to give the legislature the opportunity to show their support with a resolution.”
[pdf-1]
When asked about the resolution Tuesday, TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said, “TVA is a federal agency and follows direction and guidance provided by Congress.”

Brooks also gave a list of details ”about our current efforts to remain open and transparent.” Here it is:
• TVA is one of very few government agencies that file detailed financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

• Significant decisions are preceded by various assessments according to the National Environmental Policy Act, which include public comment periods.
[pullquote-1] • TVA routinely posts detailed information through public channels, including public meetings, webcasts, our website and social media.

• TVA responds thoughtfully to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests that come in from members of the public.

• TVA board meetings have been, and remain, open to the public.

• Board meetings are streamed live on TVA’s website and videos are available for viewing after each meeting.

• The board hosts public listening sessions prior to each board meeting.

• TVA Board committee meetings are not decision-making meetings and a quorum of board directors is not present.

• Confidential and sensitive information is shared in committee meetings to allow directors to provide better oversight.

• Committee meetings are often held in TVA operation areas that contain unique safety and security considerations.

When Burchett filed the bill in January he said, “I had a good, informative meeting with (former) TVA CEO Bill Johnson this week, and while I understand that TVA has reasons for not wanting to open all meetings to the public, as an entity created and protected by Congress, the public deserves to know the Authority’s business is as open and transparent as possible.”
[pullquote-2] Lindsay Pace, Tennessee regional organizer on the Renew TN campaign, wrote Monday that TVA’s board meetings are “highly scripted” with ”the real discussion between board members happening behind closed doors in committee meetings.” But the lack of transparency does not end there, Pace wrote on the blog for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE). 
SACE

Cynthia Brown delivers public comments at one of the last TVA board meetings in which public comment was allowed to happen the same day as the board meeting. The public is no longer allowed to provide comment during the actual TVA board meetings.

“Currently, there are very few opportunities for the public to engage with TVA and what little interaction the public had has severely diminished with the change in structure to the board meetings,” Pace wrote. “Last fall, TVA made the decision to split the public listening session from the board meetings, with the listening session now being held the day prior to the board meeting and not live streamed online like the rest of the board meeting.

“Both the listening session and board meeting are held during typical workday hours, which has resulted in forcing many of those who want to attend to choose between the two, since taking consecutive days off work is not feasible for the majority of working people.”

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Steven McMahon Named Artistic Director Of Ballet Memphis

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Steven McMahon and Dorothy Gunther Pugh at grand opening of new Ballet Memphis headquarters.

“I long ago recognized that I needed to groom the right person to guard what we have built and what we value at Ballet Memphis,” Ballet Memphis’s founding CEO Dorothy Gunther Pugh was quoted as saying in a prepared statement about the dancer and choreographer who will succeed her as artistic director. The person in question is Ballet Memphis’s 34-year-old Associate Artistic Director Steven McMahon.

“Steven has come up through this organization and grown as a dancer and dance-maker; he’s the best choice as well as the right choice,” Pugh concluded.

McMahon, who has choreographed more than 30 works for Ballet Memphis including, favorites like The Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan, officially assumes his new position July 1st. Pugh will continue her work at Ballet Memphis as CEO.

Video: McMahon discussed choreographing a past production of Romeo & Juliet for Ballet Memphis:

Steven McMahon Named Artistic Director Of Ballet Memphis

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Vishwesh Bhatt Wins James Beard Award

Vishwesh Bhatt of Snackbar in Oxford, MS, has been nominated six times for a James Beard Award for Best Chef South. As it turns out, the sixth time is the charm. Last night, in Chicago, Bhatt took home the medal.

Tell me how the evening went down?
I’ve gotten pretty used to not hearing my name. And then I heard a name that clearly wasn’t one of the four [other chefs].

You didn’t have any inkling that this was your year?
I felt pretty good about it. I mean, you know, I felt good about it every year.

You’re one of five people, so the odds are always good. But it’s really hard to tell whose name will be called because they are all really good chefs and we’re all friends.

Do you have any pre-ceremony rituals?
No, no.

We traveled with a group of people wanting to come up. They had more of a feeling than I did. So I had a nice, nice group of coworkers and friends who came up from Oxford.

And so we don’t really have a ritual. We went and had a really nice meal as a group, as family. Then everybody kind of just took it easy in the morning. We all met
before the awards and had a couple of cocktails across the street. I mean, that’s sort of a tradition because there’s this restaurant that’s across the street from
the Opera House. It’s nice and quiet, right? That time of the day. And so we just go and have a couple of cocktails and then we walk across the street. So that’s what we did.

How do you establish an identity within the John Currence empire?
A lot of the credit goes to John for letting me express myself and letting me experiment with recipes or ingredients. If I had an idea, he was always encouraged me. Always.

Yeah, so that gave me confidence to try more stuff.

In the beginning, I would run it by him. And, finally, after doing this for a while, now we both have enough confidence. We’ve been working together for 20 years.

How do you describe what you make?
What I make is Southern food. At first glance, it may appear to be [something] you would not have seen in grandma’s kitchen or church picnics, but those are the influences. That’s sharing food with friends and family. That’s what I grew up with.

How do you remain challenged and excited about what you do?
This is my passion. This is what I do for a living. So every day, you want to make people happy. You want to make sure that what you’re putting on a plate in front of somebody is going to make them happy because, you know, otherwise, you don’t have a job. So that in and of itself is a challenge and especially when, you know, we’re talking about a restaurant where two or 300 people come through, you’re trying to make them all happy. It’s a challenge.

Oxford’s is a small enough pond where I run into folks that come in to eat. If they didn’t like something there, they tell me that.

When you were a kid and first arrived in Austin at age 17 from India, was this sort of the vision you had for yourself?
I did not. I didn’t really know I was going to be cooking for living until I started working at City Grocery

I wanted to be a bureaucrat. I thought that was the greatest thing in the world.

Vishwesh Bhatt will cook at the Oxford Bourbon Festival and Auction, set for May 24th and 25th at the Vaught Hemingway Stadium. The event is a fund-raiser for Move On Up Mississippi.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Best Bets: Chicken Salad

I was in a restaurant once and ordered “chicken salad,” which was what was listed on the menu. What I got was a green salad with some strips of chicken on top. I was very disappointed.

Chicken salad has to be that mixture of chicken and mayonnaise and other ingredients. It can be served on a lettuce leaf, but chicken salad has to be something you can eat with a spoon.

So, I was pleased when I found an outstanding chicken salad right across the street from my office. It’s the one served at Front Street Deli. Tons of chicken chunks. Grapes, which add a little sweetness, are another ingredient. I love sweet-and-savory cuisine, so this is perfect for me. Because of the grapes, it’s reminiscent of the chicken salad served at the old Brushmark restaurant at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

Front Street Deli general manager Mike Jones says he makes a pound and a half of the chicken salad every other day. You can buy it in a cup, but most people buy the chicken salad on the “Born on the Fourth of July” sandwich.

I asked owner Jon Hodge the chicken salad’s history.

Hodge and chef Rob Ray, who now is with Venice Kitchen, created the chicken salad in 2017 after Hodge bought Front Street Deli. ‘He and I got in the kitchen and did a lot of different tastings and strategy on how to cook the chicken and season it and everything else,” Hodge says. “So, it was kind of a trial-and-error thing.”

The “turning point” was when they sous vide the chicken. “That sous vide-ing allows us to flavor lock all the chicken we use and allows it to stay moist throughout the cooking process.”

The ingredients include a mayonnaise and sour cream mix, Hodge says.

As for the grapes, he says, “We were looking for something that was going to be kind of refreshing.”

Hodge associates chicken salad with “nicer days,” so, he says, “My palate is ready for something somewhat refreshing. Light but hearty. That’s the reason we go with that.”

No nuts are in Front Street Deli’s chicken salad, but Hodge says, “We do use a celery to provide a little bit of crunchy texture. And then the aromatics from that also help add the freshness.”

The chicken salad sandwich is named “Born on the Fourth of July” because all of Front Street Deli’s sandwiches are named after Tom Cruise movies. The Firm, the 1993 Cruise movie, was filmed at Front Street Deli. The film runs continuously at the restaurant. And you can sit where Cruise sat in the movie, Hodge says.

A photo on the front page of the New York Times on one July 4th is of Cruise at the counter with a newspaper at Front Street Deli, Hodge says. He’s pleased and flattered the photo made the front page. “I would expect they had a lot of important stories to run.”

Cruise doesn’t eat a chicken salad sandwich in The Firm. What he had was an egg salad sandwich in the movie.”

In one scene, someone says they have an egg salad sandwich from Front Street Deli, Hodge says.

Front Street Deli hasn’t served the egg salad sandwich since he took over ownership, Hodge says. “We haven’t sold that yet,” he says.

But, that doesn’t mean it won’t show up on the menu some day. “If we can get the demand for it.”

Front Street Deli is at 77 South Front at Union. Call: (901) 522-4824

Categories
News News Blog

City Council Revives Public Art Discussion, Considers Set of Guidelines

CREDIT: Facebook- Paint Memphis

Facebook- Paint Memphis

A Paint Memphis mural

The Memphis City Council is looking to streamline the public art process here, ending what one councilman calls a “public art debacle.”

Tuesday, a council committee recommended approval of a set of guidelines that would place regulations on the art projects that go up in the city on public property.

The effort, spearheaded by Councilman Berlin Boyd, city officials, and the UrbanArts Commission (UAC), has been in the works for about a year.

There has been a moratorium on public art projects since March of last year. The city council voted then to place a 120-day moratorium on art projects going up on public right-of-ways, and then re-approved that measure again late last year.

The moratorium exempted projects funded by the city’s Percent-for-Art program, as well as certain ongoing projects by the Downtown Memphis Commission and the Memphis Medical District Collaborative.

Paint Memphis

Controversial Elvis Presley mural by a Paint Memphis-commissioned artist

It was first put in place after the council publicly criticized one organization’s murals. The council deemed a handful of murals sanctioned by the nonprofit Paint Memphis as offensive and, in some cases, “satanic.”

Some of the less popular murals featured Elvis Presley with a snake coming from his orifices, a cow skull, a dancing skeleton, and a zombie.

Tuesday, the council discussed extending that moratorium for another 120 days until the council is able to finalize and approve the new guidelines.

The draft of the new rules includes guidelines such as no political or religious images, as well as no profanity, obscenity, sexual imagery, nudity, or violence.

“One-of-a-kind artwork” with themes that promote community, civic pride, or other “general positive messages are preferred.”

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Additionally, notifications about projects must be posted at the proposed sites, as well as given to adjacent property owners and churches or schools within 500 feet or a 250-foot radius of the site.

Proposed artwork will be evaluated based on its context, structural soundness, public safety, diversity, feasibility, and community support.

A five-member review committee, consisting of a representative from the city’s legal, Public Works, engineering, and parks divisions, as well as a legislative representative, will make the final decision on all new projects.

The committee will hold monthly meetings at which applicants can present project proposals and members of the public can give feedback.

Lauren Kennedy, director of the UAC, said she supports the council’s efforts to get the public more involved in the public art process.