Author: Toby Sells

Dumpsters in Downtown alleys and on Downtown sidewalks became illegal at the beginning of November and even though businesses there knew the change in policy was coming, many did nothing to prepare for it.

Each dumpster was to come with a fine of $500 for each month they remained. But those fines were reduced by a Memphis City Council committee Tuesday to $200. It is expected that council members, city staff and Downtown merchants will work together to devise a more-permanent solution to what could become a stinking, rodent-infested problem.

If Downtown merchants, especially restaurants, have to get rid of their dumpsters, city leaders said Tuesday they would pile their trash in alleys between buildings or other out of the way places, which will create health hazards.

A proposal from council member Lee Harris would have used $300,000 in city funds to build six concrete pads for trash compactors, which would have been built by private companies and the merchants they serve. But the proposal died in committee as members the money would have had to come from city reserves and go to private entities.

Bianca Phillips

Downtown Memphis dumpsters

“We just don’t have the money,” said council member Jim Strickland. “(Tennessee State Comptroller Justin Wilson) is already upset at us about not having enough money in reserves. We don’t have a money tree on Mud Island that we can just pull from.”

Harris said he was more interested in protecting Downtown stakeholders than in spending reserve funds. Jerome Rubin, former council member and vice president of operation for the Downtown Memphis Commission, said the $300,000 investment was vital to protect health concerns and that the funds could be recouped by the city through a new fee on Downtown businesses and residents.

The council will vote on building the compactor pads in its meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Leaders of the various Memphis City Council committees will rotate each year if the full council approves a proposal from the ad hoc group of council members looking to change the rules and procedures of the city’s legislative body.

The proposal was approved by the committee created last month to rein in some behaviors from council members and change how the council conducts business. Councilman Myron Lowery brought the proposal to the table in the committee’s meeting Thursday afternoon.

“Some people believe they own a committee because they have chaired them for two or three years,” Lowery said.

Councilman Bill Boyd countered that the years spent chairing a committee bring an expertise on a topic which “serves the whole council.” But that expertise can be problematic, said Councilwoman Wanda Halbert, as some “start acting like members of the administration and not legislators.”

The committee also approved a “fiscal consent” category for the council’s agenda that will allow some routine spending items to pass more quickly through the council approval process.

The committee said it will also enforce the Thursday deadline for submitting agenda items for the following Tuesday’s council meeting. Halbert said she is “uncomfortable” voting on items that she has not time to consider and said the rule is frequently broken by members of A C Wharton’s administration.

The committee also discussed creating uniform procedures for limiting speaking times for council members and members of the public and discussed policies on council members leaving meetings early.

While neither meeting of the committee have yet produced the fireworks some expected, Halbert said she wanted the committee to deal with “the easy stuff” first.

“We have stuff coming that might be a little funny looking and a little sensitive,” she said.

Projects to repair and maintain Memphis roads and bridges will soon get big cash injections if the Memphis City Council approves them during their meeting Tuesday night.

The council will consider:

– Accepting more than $5.5 million in state and federal dollars to fund the next phase of the project to clean up and revitalize the area around Elvis Presley Boulevard and Brooks Road. The $40.9 million project will include improvements to roads, sidewalks, signage, traffic lights, and more and is expected to be complete by 2016.

– Accepting $5.3 million in state and federal funds to repair 14 bridges on Sam Cooper Boulevard.

– Accepting $11.6 million in funds to pave some Memphis roads.

– Accepting nearly $9 million in funds to improve traffic signals around the city.

• From DearCity.org

Attention all complainers, curmudgeons, haters, know-it-all-suburbanites, too-cool Midtowners, worry-wart East Siders, defensive Dowtowners and anyone else with a my-way-or-the-highway opinion about Memphis: there’s a new place to ply your trade online.

Dearcity.org launched an expanded site for many major metro cities earlier this month. The first Dear City site launched four years ago in Copenhagen, Denmark by two friends, Mikael Staer and Philip Battin. They then opened sites for New York, London, and Berlin.

Dear City site users search for their city and leave an anonymous message or read messages left by others. The site is billed as a tool for change, a “social cluster of opinions that express the thoughts of the man on the street.”

“Dear City becomes a documentation of contemporary life and its ups and downs,” the site says. “We believe change is achieved through all levels of communication.”

So far, only two messages have been on the Dear City Memphis page. One pleads for (someone?) to clean up Elvis Presley Boulevard and save historic buildings. Another says the current public transportation system makes it tough to visit the city’s neighborhoods.

Comments don’t have to be negative, of course. But a quick look at the comments sections of Memphis media outlets, Topix, or local social media predicts the Dear City Memphis site won’t likely tout the city’s rainbows and sunshine.