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News News Blog

Wiseacre’s Downtown Brewery In GIFs

via GIPHY

Wiseacre’s Downtown Brewery In GIFs

If you don’t know yet, Wiseacre Brewing wants to build a brand new, 40,000-square-foot brewery and tasting room Downtown close to South Main. Check our previous story here.

The company sent renderings (really fancy concept drawings) of the proposed facility to the Downtown Memphis Commission’s (DMC) Design Review Board.

In Wiseacre’s application, they included shots of the site now and what it could look like in the future, if the brewery is approved.

The GIF above shows what it would look like looking east down Butler right by Central BBQ’s Downtown location.

The one below looks from the same direction but closer up on the corner of Butler and B.B. King.

via GIPHY

Wiseacre’s Downtown Brewery In GIFs (2)

Wiseacre’s proposal will be heard by the review board on Wednesday, January 9th, at the DMC headquarters at 114 N. Main.


That board will also have a look at One Beale’s Hyatt Centric hotel, the expansion of the Arcade restaurant, and the renovation of a Beale Street law firm.

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News News Blog

Cohen’s New Agenda: Marijuana, Trump, Cops, Voting

Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen outlined his legislative agenda for the new Congress Thursday in a torrent of proposals that take aim at everything from infant mortality rates, medical marijuana, and criminal justice reform, to abolishing the Electoral College and curtailing presidential pardon power.

Constitutional Amendments

• Cohen first proffered an amendment to cut the Electoral College in 2016.

He brought it back Thursday, seeking the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States.

“In two presidential elections since 2000, including the most recent one in which Hillary Clinton won 2.8 million more votes than her opponent, the winner of the popular vote did not win the election because of the distorting effect of the outdated Electoral College,” Cohen said in a statement. “Americans expect and deserve the winner of the popular vote to win office. More than a century ago, we amended our Constitution to provide for the direct election of U.S. Senators. It is past time to directly elect our President and Vice President.”
Palinchak | Dreamstime

Donald Trump

• Cohen’s second proposal would limit presidential pardon power, prohibiting presidents from pardoning themselves, members of their families, members of their administrations, and their campaign staff. The proposal seems aimed at President Donald Trump.

“Presidents should not pardon themselves, their families, their administration or campaign staff,” he said. “This constitutional amendment would expressly prohibit this and any future president, from abusing the pardon power.”


Criminal Justice Reform

• Cohen and congress member Lacy Clay (D-Missouri), whose district includes Ferguson, Mo., introduced the Police Training and Independent Review Act Thursday.

The law would give federal funding as an incentive for states to require sensitivity training on ethnic and racial bias, cultural diversity, and interactions with the disabled, mentally ill, and new immigrants. The bill would offer the same federal funding incentive for independent investigations and prosecution of incidents in which police use of deadly force results in a death or injury.

• Cohen also introduced the National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act. It would require recipients of federal law-enforcement funding to gather data — including race — on all instances the use of deadly force by law enforcement and report it to the Department of Justice.

• Another bill, the Police Creating Accountability by Making Effective Recording Available (CAMERA) Act, would establish a grant program to assist state and local law enforcement with the purchase and operation of body-worn police cameras.

• The Fresh Start Act would give some nonviolent former federal offenders a chance to have their nonviolent offenses expunged. It would also use federal funds to encourage states to pass similar expungement laws.

“These bills will help bring much needed reform to our criminal justice system, and help restore trust between police and the citizens they serve and protect,” said Cohen. “Asking the local prosecutors to investigate the same local police with whom they need to work so closely on a day-to-day basis creates a conflict of interest which we should be working to end.

“Better training, statistics, and video evidence will also help, as will an orderly process or enabling appropriate ex-offenders, who have completed their sentences, to re-enter society.”

Shelby County Health Department


Infant Mortality Rates

• The Nationally Enhancing the Wellbeing of Babies through Outreach and Research Now (NEWBORN) Act would create pilot programs to reduce infant mortality rates in the highest-risk areas of the country. Cohen noted that Memphis ”continues to have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country.”

usatoday.com


Voter Protection

The Streamlined and Improved Methods at Polling Locations and Early Voting (SIMPLE) Act would require states to:

• allow early voting for federal elections for at least two weeks prior to election day

• ensure that polling locations are within walking distance of a stop on a public transportation route

• have sufficient voting systems, poll workers, and other election resources

• ensure wait times are fair and equitable for all voters across a state with no one required to wait longer than one hour to cast a ballot at a polling place.


Medical Marijuana

The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act would:

• allow states to set their own medical-marijuana policies

• allow doctors with the Department of Veterans Affairs to prescribe medical marijuana to veterans

• would not legalize medical marijuana in all 50 states but would respect the states’ decisions to legalize medical marijuana

• would prevent federal law enforcement from prosecuting patients, doctors, and caregivers in those states.

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We Recommend We Saw You

New Year’s Day Firsts. And Some Old and New Friends.

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

I ran into Chandler Parsons and Joakim Noah at Gibson’s Donuts. I shamelessly gave them a copy of the Memphis Flyer with my photo(s) on the front.


January 1, 2019 included a few firsts for me.

I took my first photos of Memphis Grizzlies players Chandler Parsons and Joakim Noah. I ran into them around 10 p.m. while I was getting coffee at Gibson’s Donuts. I unabashedly gave them a copy of the current issue of the Memphis Flyer, which features my profile in stereo on the cover.

Earlier that same day – around 12:30 a.m. – I took my first photos of Quintron and Miss Pussy Cat. And I saw my first show featuring the New Orleans duo at the Hi-Tone. It was fabulous. I stood near the stage, where I could see Quintron’s fingers flying across the keyboards and Miss Pussycat working those maracas.

That evening I viewed several episodes of “The Twilight Zone” I’d never seen before. I sat in front of the TV for hours watching Syfy’s annual “Twilight Zone” marathon. My plan was to stop watching when I got to an episode I’d seen before and couldn’t bear to watch one more time. I did sit through – once again – the one with the woman having bandages taken off her face for almost 30 minutes. And I did learn for the first time that Donna “Elly Mae Clampett” Douglas wasn’t the woman behind the bandages during most of the show.

I finally stopped watching when the episode with the little doll that says, “My name is Talky Tina and I’m going to kill you,” came on. The channel then was changed to one showing football.

Finally, I got a flat tire after driving into a sinkhole. I also bent the rim. It was the first flat I’d gotten on Shelby Drive.

So, if nobody said it yet, let me be the first to wish you “Happy New Year!”

Michael Donahue

Quintron and Miss Pussycat at the Hi Tone.

New Year’s Eve at the Hi Tone.
…………….

The following is a roundup of some of the people I ran across and places I visited over the holidays and earlier.

Michael Donahue

Elf Rage was practicing during Open Studios at Marshall Arts, which was held Dec. 13. Guests toured the space, viewed art and chatted with the artists.

Michael Donahue

Anthony Lee at Open Studios at Marshall Arts.

Michael Donahue

Davey Mann at Open Studios at Marshall Arts, which was held Dec. 13.

Michael Donahue

Marq and Brittany Cobb were among the guests at The Vault Influencer Dinner, which featured cuisine from executive chef Aaron Winters.

Michael Donahue

The Vault Influencer Dinner.

Michael Donahue

Lees Romano and Alden Knipe at Woodruff-Fontaine Victorian Open House. Both Woodruff-Fontaine and Mallory Neely held open houses on the same night, which was Dec. 2.

Michael Donahue

Mallory-Neely open house.

Michael Donahue

Jonah McDonnell at The Sheiks show on Christmas night at DKDC.

Michael Donahue

Black Lodge isn’t open yet, but the venue was the sight of a jam-packed New Year’s Eve party.

Michael Donahue

Black Lodge New Year’s Eve party.

Michael Donahue

Edge Alley owner/chef Tim Baker held a series of parties before Christmas. They included one for the media and a neighbor party.

MIchael Donahue

Pints for a Purpose to benefit Wolf River Conservancy was held Dec. 11 at Outdoors Inc. on Union.

Michael Donahue

Pints for a Purpose

Michael Donahue

Dylan Thomas and August Stevens at Pints for a Purpose.

Michael Donahue

Pints for a Purpoes

Michael Donahue

Wok’n in Memphis chef/owner Spencer Coplan and Jordan Ayers hosted their ‘Black, Silver, & Gold’ New Year’s Eve party. Guests were encouraged to dress in the party colors. Hog & Hominy sous chef Josh Hunt wore gold shoes. Cooks, bartenders and severs showed up around 12:30 to 1 a.m., Coplan says.

Michael Donahue

Not pictured is son, Austin, who was celebrating elsewhere with friends.

Michael Donahue

Lee, Audrey, Ethan, Josh and Christian Stewart were at the Williams’ New Year’s Eve gathering.

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Music Music Features

The Year’s Best Memphis Albums

Yes, some incredible archival compilations were released this year, such as Robert Gordon’s Memphis Rent Party, the lost Zuider Zee demos of Zeenith, or Stax ’68 and The Stax/Volt Singles, Vol. 4 from the Soulsville archives. But Memphis is a city of innovators.

Blocboy JB – Simi (Bloc Nation) Riding the words “901 Shelby Drive, look alive!” to global dominance, this is an encyclopedia of innovative sounds. Producer Tay Keith is all over it, from the Drake hit to the hallucinatory sci-fi thug opera “Shoot.” Rife with the N-word, the B-word, and other words whose initials we can’t even print, Blocboy’s rhymes conjure visions of thug life both uproariously fun and surreal.

Harlan T. Bobo – A History of Violence (Goner)

Lyrics and chord changes that are unsettling but so right for the melodies, a band chomping at the bit to release industrial-strength noise, unexpected tender flourishes: This is classic Bobo and more, as he surveys human venality and the brooding legacy our children will inherit.

Stephen Chopek – Begin the Glimmer (Self-released) With one well-crafted tune after another, there’s a shimmering quality to Chopek’s strummed acoustic guitar, nestled in punchy grooves with his drum, bass, keyboards, and minimal lead guitar. Chopek’s plainspoken voice floats over it with slightly skewed or historical lyrics worth puzzling over.

Faux Killas – Chiquita (Self-released) If you like early Roxy Music and the Damned, well-crafted songs with spirited vocal harmonies, and atonal synth squeals over Memphis-rocking guitar riffs — and you should — this is for you. Though the production/mastering is muted, that’s easy to fix: Just add volume.

Impala – In the Late Hours (Electraphonic) The band’s postmodern view of the surf-and-crime jazz universe contains multitudes: surf/crime hybrids (“Prime Directive”), Cuban (“En Las Altas Horas”), R&B bar brawl music, and classical (“Hall of the Mountain King”). Much comes down to John Stivers’ guitar work, but the ensemble’s contributions, including tasty horn parts, are perfect.

Jonathan Kirkscey – Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Back Lot) This soundtrack to the Mr. Rogers film of the same name is technically by “various artists,” but, aside from three tunes by Rogers himself, this is all Kirkscey. Much here expands on the minimalist, hypnotic territory Kirkscey’s mined earlier, but newly lyrical lands are explored as well. “Koko,” with its tender, tentative harp, will get you tearing up over a gorilla.

Lucero – Among the Ghosts (Thirty Tigers) The band frames noirish vignettes with their mighty rural-route rock. Each song unfolds like a short story, mixing foreboding and regret with a longing for home. Musically, it’s like minimalist Springsteen, stripped of ornamentation, leaving a multi-textured, propulsive drive, as characters fight for survival.

Marcella & Her Lovers – Got You Found (Self-released) In an earlier era, this album would have gone gold, perhaps mistaken as another single from the Staple Singers. That’s literally true on “Where You Are” — but only after a heartfelt intro of Louisiana accordion and voice. Indeed, Marcella Simien’s singing propels the whole thing through Afro-pop, funk, and soul.

Motel Mirrors – In the Meantime (Last Chance) With a creative grasp of rootsy grooves, respect for telling lyrics, and fine duet harmonies, this record could have been made in the ’50s. If there are telling details of more modern attitudes, as in Amy LaVere’s defiant-yet-affectionate “Things I Learned,” most sentiments here are timeless. And their rocked-up cover of the Western Swing classic “The Man Who Comes Around” proves it.

Unapologetic – Stuntarious, Vol. 3 (Unapologetic) This collective strikes again with all its ingenuity, humor, and groove intact. The beats, crazy samples, electronic textures, and occasional jazz changes keep your ears alert; and the lyrics go to unexpected places: self doubt, the vagaries of time, eliminating waste in triumph over one’s foes. Cameron Bethany’s voice takes his tracks to hair-raising high points, like “There.”

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News News Blog

UPDATED: TBI Investigating Fatal Officer Shooting in Whitehaven

A man who police say was armed with a knife was fatally shot by Memphis Police Department (MPD) officers Wednesday night shortly after 8 in Whitehaven.



Special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) are investigating the shooting, according to a tweet by the agency. MPD’s Violent Crime Response Team is also responding to the incident. TBI identified the deceased man as 20-year-old Abdoulaye Thiam Thursday morning. 

UPDATED: TBI Investigating Fatal Officer Shooting in Whitehaven


The shooting took place in the 1300th block of Timothy near Hermitage after MPD responded to a domestic disturbance call at 1317 Timothy. Once on the scene, Thiam allegedly confronted the officers with a knife, prompting the officers to fire shots fatally injuring the man, according to MPD. None of the officers were injured.   


The three MPD officers involved have been relieved of duty pending the ongoing investigation. TBI nor MPD have released any additional information about the incident, including the names of the officers involved in the shooting. TBI said it does not “identify officers involved in these types of incidents,” but instead “refers questions of that nature to the respective agency.”

TBI was able to recover all three officers’ body cam footage during the time of the shooting, MPD said Thursday. As the investigation is still ongoing, the footage has not been released to the public. 

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Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

Memphis is Funny, 2018: The Year in Parody

It’s been a great year for Fly on the Wall’s fake news team Davis Christopher and Peripheral Gibson. Together our parodists covered everything from Senator-elect Marsha Blackburn’s hair being identified as a brain-eating alien parasite, to riverfront development. Here are the top 5 Fly on the Wall parodies of 2018, in no particular order.

1.Tom Lee Park Redesign ‘Totally Unrelated To Atlantis’ New Riverfront Chief Says
POSTED BY PERIPHERAL GIBSON
At a press conference in their Front Street headquarters on Tuesday, Carol Coletta, head of the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP), previously called the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC), told reporters that her organization’s plans to dramatically alter the landscape of Tom Lee Park have nothing to do with her predecessor’s ambitious project to raise the lost, subaquatic city-state of Atlantis from the depths of the Mississippi River.

“Our plan will activate the park space for all Memphians, and make it more attractive to Memphis In May festival goers,” said Coletta. “It’s totally unrelated to the RDC’s plans to raise Atlantis.”

Coletta joined the RDC in March, replacing Benny Lendermon, who had announced the public-private partnership’s multimillion dollar plan to spend millions of dollars on targeted nuclear explosives that would trigger powerful earthquakes bringing the long hidden city/state of Atlantis back to the Above World, presumably to rule over a golden age of peace and prosperity for Memphis and the Mid-South region. *CLICK TO CONTINUE READING*


2. Men at War
Old Friends Won’t Let Women Bring Them Down
POSTED BY DAVIS CHRISTOPHER

Gunner Armstrong shakes his head, and digs into his backpack to retrieve a freshly purchased bottle of pepper spray. “I don’t know how effective this stuff is,” he mumbles, pulling on his reading glasses and skimming the directions. “I had a friend in college who would get a couple of beers in him and squirt it in his mouth like it was breath freshener.”

Like many manly men today, Armstrong lives in abject terror. “You never can be too careful with women being what they are,” he says, expressing an increasingly common, and deeply masculine sentiment. At least twice a week Armstrong says he finds himself walking a block or more past his house, keys clenched firmly in his fist like claws, because he’s convinced a woman is following him home, possibly to accuse him of harassment. “At some point I’ll find a nice bright street light and stop there to pretend like I’m taking a phone call or something. I’ll just let them walk on past, you know?” Armstrong says. “It’s probably all in my imagination. But like dad always said: better safe than hungover and accused of some bullshit you totally don’t remember doing.” CLICK TO CONTINUE READING.

3. Great Works of Literature as Written by the Shelby Co. Election Commission
With Help from The Memphis City Council
POSTED BY DAVIS CHRISTOPHER

Emboldened by national attention resulting from the careful and creative wording of current ballot amendments, the Shelby County Election Commission has committed considerable time and evident talent to improving the greatest works of world literature. While Fly on the Wall has yet to see a completed text, 5 first line samples were leaked this morning, revealing the epic scope of the Commission’s City Council-aided writing project.

Moby- Dick
Herman Melville with the Shelby Co. Election Commission

“Shall Ishmael serve as a common spoken or chirographic signifier not expressly for greeting, but sometimes for gaining the narrator’s attention?” CLICK TO CONTINUE READING


4. Consultants Plan Monument To Consultants On Memphis Riverfront
POSTED BY PERIPHERAL GIBSON

Claiming they have “bridged the gap between perception and reality,” a group of consultants has proposed Consultants’ Park, which will be dedicated to the many consultants hired to determine what Memphis should do with its riverfront.

“Since 1924, the city of Memphis has been trying to figure out what to do with this unique space, which overlooks one of the largest, brownest bodies of water in the world, and also Arkansas,” says the Preamble to the Executive Summary of the 2,667-page report issued by the Memphis Riverfront Consultants’ Coalition (MRCC). “Like the hundreds of consultants who came before us, we puzzled about how to polish Mud Island into a Mud Diamond. Then, three days into our recent ayahuasca trance charette, it suddenly hit us. What is more dependable and integral to the Memphis Riverfront experience than the Big Muddy? For the last century, the answer has been, consultants. That’s why we are executing Consultants’ Park, a reminder to all Memphis and the world that consultants matter, and that they must be paid.” CLICK TO CONTINUE READING

5. Citizens Organize to Protect Neighborhood Bar With Wall, Moat
POSTED BY DAVIS CHRISTOPHER
Community organizer Bing Hampton knows his audience. “Big Development’s not gonna get their grubby paws on Alex’s Tavern,” he shouts into his trusty bullhorn. There’s no reason to believe developers of any size are looking to acquire the Jackson Avenue institution, but that did not allay the concerns of roughly two-dozen Midtowners who waved signs with all-cap messages like “THE DIVE MUST SURVIVE,” and answered back, “Hell no.” CLICK TO CONTINUE READING

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Myron Lowery for City Council (Again)?

CREDIT: JB

JB

FATHER-SON COMBO: Once and possibly future City Councilman Myron Lowery (l) with current County Commissioner Mickell Lowery, his son, at the Lowerys’ annual New Year’s prayer breakfast.

The Memphis City Council took some serious licks Tuesday at the annual New Year’s prayer breakfast, presided over for a quarter-century by former Councilman Myron Lowery, and this year, by County Commissioner Mickell Lowery, his son.

The upshot was that several of the event’s principal speakers — 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, and finally former Councilman Lowery himself — expressed some of the negative views that have been circulating in the community at large during weeks of gridlock over the appointment of new council members, following months of other questionable actions by the council.

Part of the fallout was the suggestion by the senior Lowery at the event’s conclusion that he had given thought to putting his name up for appointment to the “fractured” council, now three members short. Lowry went on to say he had discarded the idea, but added, as a parting tease: “I am giving consideration perhaps to another run this year.”

Earlier, Cohen had included a dig at the council amid kudos for County Mayor Harris and members of the Shelby County Commission in attendance: “The county commission seems to be doing a little better than the city council,” the Congressman said.

When it came his time to speak, Harris extolled both Lowerys for their service and quipped, “Some of y’all remember when we had a city council in Memphis.”

All of which led to the piece de resistance, Myron Lowery’s floated idea of another council run.
[jump]

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News News Blog

Memphis Animal Services Hits Record Save Rate in 2018

CREDIT: MAS

Facebook- MAS

With the adoption of brother kittens, Rudy and Ricco, last week Memphis Animal Services (MAS) reached its goal of processing more than 7,000 adoptions and rescue transfers in 2018.

The agency also ended the year with an all-time high save rate of 88 percent, officials announced Wednesday.

“7,000 was a stretch goal, and we honestly weren’t sure if we would hit it this year, but we wanted to try anyway and see if we could save more lives than we thought possible,” MAS director, Alexis Pugh, said in a statement. “But thanks to so much wonderful support from our community, we hit the goal on December 28th and still had several days to add to it.”

MAS

The 7,000th and 7,001st adoptions of 2018 were brother kittens who were adopted by the Miles family.

During December, the shelter offered adoption specials “in order to place as many pets as possible in homes for the holidays.” Adoptions of all cats and dogs were $18 compared to the regular fee that ranges from $40 to $80. MAS officials said the promotion led to 16 percent more public adoptions than during same time period last year.

Though intakes increased by 8 percent over 2018, the agency’s year-end save rate was 88.2 percent — compared to 84.8 percent in 2017.

MAS saved 7,712 pets in 2018, as it processed 3,911 public adoptions, 3,172 rescue transfers, and reunited 629 lost pets. Euthanasia was down 21 percent as a result.

Offering a wide range of programs and services, including sheltering lost or homeless animals, pet adoption and placement, handling animal control reports, dog licensing, cruelty investigations, and humane education, MAS is working toward saving every healthy, adoptable pet.


Interested in adopting from MAS? Visit their website for more info.

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News News Blog

Coalition Hopes for 2019 Events ‘Under the Dome’

CREDIT: Brandon Dill

Brandon Dill

The main floor of the MidSouth Coliseum.

The group advocating for a re-opened MidSouth Coliseum hopes to host events inside the now-shuttered building sometime this year.

The grassroots Coliseum Coalition began work to save the building in 2015. Last year, they proclaimed the Coliseum to be officially saved after state officials approved a city plan for the Fairgrounds, which included the building’s preservation. In between, the group led tours through the building to show that the building is in “excellent shape,” they said.

“Our VIP tours have been packed and are drawing people who’ve shied away in the past,” said Coliseum Coalition spokesman Marvin Stockwell. “A lot of people are realizing that the building’s issues are solvable, and that the opportunities that the Coliseum presents are too good to be held back by old narratives.”

This year, the Coliseum Coalition plans to continue the tours and is planning another Roundhouse Revival event. So far, the group has hosted three of the Revival events, all of them outside the Coliseum.

Coalition president Roy Barnes said that with the city’s Fairgrounds plan approved, he hopes this fall’s Revival event will be inside the building. Further he said that this year’s bicentennial celebration’s for Memphis and Shelby County “represent a great opportunity to celebrate a place that has brought so many Mid-Southerners together for decades.”

“What a tremendous opportunity to welcome Memphians back into their building,” Barnes said. “We look forward to putting on another great community event that celebrates the authentic talent, creativity, and athleticism that put Memphis on the map. But this time, wouldn’t it be cool if we were under the dome!”

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Opinion Viewpoint

Time For Council Action on IRV

We can all agree the City Council is going through a rough patch right now — in fact, a rough year. From unpopular charter amendments to unpopular refusals to resign to unpopular (and potentially illegal) public expenditures on the recent referenda to an inability to appoint a successor to Bill Morrison, I must admit I have some sympathy for the remaining 10 members of the council.

It’s still our duly elected and sworn municipal government, however, and it has plenty of work to do. Voters spoke loudly and clearly in the last election: We want instant runoff voting (IRV). Voters have run the gauntlet twice on the issue, but there are certain members of the council who would prefer to drag their feet rather than enact policy to provide for a smooth transition.  

The 2008 IRV charter amendment directs the Shelby County Election Commission to “adopt regulations consistent with the procedure above to facilitate implementation of instant runoff voting.” Still, elections administrator Linda Phillips has indicated that there are some issues on which she’d like official guidance from the city council. Whether that’s really a legal requirement, it would still be good to get the council to weigh in on these issues, rather than letting the Election Commission, or a judge, make the call.  

These issues are all merely technical, and none are complex. They include how many candidate rankings are allowed; what to do in the case of a tie; and how to handle such obscure technical matters as “batch elimination.”

None of these issues is terribly complex. Both the 2008 and 2018 IRV campaigns described the voting process as including only three rankings, instead of allowing as many rankings as there are candidates. Indeed, that’s all that’s technically feasible using the current machines. So we can conclude that the voters contemplated the choice of ranking up to three candidates. This will save time and money while still giving voters greater choice than is currently available in the traditional runoff system.

Tie-breaks, thankfully, are incredibly rare. In fact, we’re not aware of any instance in the last few decades where an American IRV election resulted in an exact tie. But just in case, the city council can decide what to do. The options can be grouped under two category headings: random and non-random. Many municipalities draw lots or flip coins in order to determine who can proceed from a tied position.

Tennessee law, however, directs municipal governing bodies, here the city council, to cast deciding votes in the event of a tie. IRV allows for other methods, as well, including counting the votes those candidates received in prior rounds to determine which is most preferred.

Batch elimination simply describes the process where candidates who have no mathematical chance of winning are, in the event of a second round of counting, eliminated all at once rather than one at a time, with all of the ballots for those candidates automatically assigned to the voters’ second choice. This is merely a procedural decision; it would not actually affect the outcome of any election. But until we have voting machines that will do the counting for us, the city council may wish to err on the side of too much transparency and require that, in hand-counted IRV elections, candidates are eliminated one at a time, according to the IRV formula. (By the next council election in 2023, we will have new machines and could choose to opt out of hand-counting ballots.)

These are some of the biggest issues that the council must address. Save IRV Memphis stands ready to assist the Election Commission and the council by connecting them with experts on best practices that have served municipalities using this voting method. There is no need to reinvent the wheel: We have the option of adopting policies that have proven successful nationwide.

In the past year, we learned that the city council used our tax dollars to pay for, among other things, a lobbyist to try to get IRV outlawed statewide. They also granted themselves nearly $40,000 to engage in a directed and biased political campaign masquerading as a public education effort.

It doesn’t matter. The people have spoken. Now is the time to put past campaign acrimony behind us and proceed with the people’s business. The Memphis City Council should provide any necessary guidance. Please call the council at (901) 636-6786 and demand they implement instant runoff voting for the next council election, and commit at least $40,000 to educating voters about IRV in the 2019 election.

Aaron Fowles is the president of Save IRV, Inc.