Tag: City Council

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Council Recap: Memphis 3.0, Pre-K, & Cannabis

Some Memphis City Council members raised questions Tuesday about the Memphis 3.0 plan, a comprehensive plan that will guide the city’s investments and developments for the next 20 years.

City officials presented the plan to a council committee Tuesday ahead of the first of three votes on an ordinance approving the plan in two weeks.

Councilwoman Cheyenne Johnson said she was “impressed” with the plan, but still had several lingering questions.

“What’s in here that might not be fully disclosed because of how people might interpret what’s actually written?” Johnson asked.

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Johnson also inquired about the 15,000 Memphis residents said to have participated in creating the 3.0 plan.

“Who were those 15,000 individuals?” she said. “How many of those were developers or builders? What are the classifications of the 15,000 which still represents less than 3 percent of the population?

”Do you think this is an adequate number to set out a plan that will be in place for the next 20 years?”

Ashley Cash, Memphis’ comprehensive planning administrator, said the city “made every effort” to have broad participation from the public, which meant developers, stakeholders, and residents were involved.

Johnson also wanted to know if the plan will guide equitable investments in the city and if the efforts will be balanced across all Memphis neighborhoods.

John Zeenah, who heads the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development said the anchors, or places identified in the plan for further development, are “evenly distributed” around the city.

Councilman Reid Hedgepeth expressed concerns about the unintentional consequences the plan could have.

“There’s a lot of things that I have heard from developers, from builders, and from people saying, ‘Wait, I’ve got to do what?’” Hedgepeth said. “These are things that I didn’t know. How can you assure us when we approve these 400 pages it’s not going to be similar to the UDC (Unified Development Code) and we had unintended consequences when we approved it.”

Josh Whitehead with the city/county Office of Planning and Development told Hedgepeth that the plan will be updated and amended frequently to keep it “relevant.”

Council members also asked for the “big bullet points” from the 400-page document, highlighting how things will change once the plan takes effect.

The council will take its first of three votes on an ordinance to adopt the plan in two weeks.

Memphis 3.0 planning meeting


The council also passed an ordinance that enables the city and county to appoint a fiscal agent to manage its pre-K fund.

This move comes as an $8 million grant that funds 1,000 pre-K seats in the county is set to run out in June. Now, the city and county are on track to fund those 1,000 seats plus an additional 1,000 beginning this fall.

The city/county joint ordinance paves the way for a fiscal agent to be appointed. The agent would be responsible for managing the fund, bringing in private dollars, and creating a high-quality pre-K program.

The Shelby County Commission will vote on a similar ordinance at its March 25th meeting.


The council also approved a resolution supporting three cannabis-related bills introduced by Tennessee lawmakers. The bills deal with decriminalization of certain amounts, medical marijuana, and taxation of cannabis.

The resolution, sponsored by council members Berlin Boyd and Martavius Jones, passed with a 5-4 vote.

Councilman J. Ford Canale, one of the members voting no, said he supports legalizing medical marijuana, but not decriminalization of the drug for other uses.

Boyd said that decriminalizing small amounts of cannabis would help the number of Memphians who have felony charges because of marijuana possession.


A vote to impose a plastic bag surcharge at certain retail stores was delayed until May, as state legislators are working on a bill to prohibit local governments from putting those types of fees in place.

The fee is meant to curb plastic bag usage to reduce litter, especially in the city’s waterways, Boyd, who is sponsoring the resolution, has said.

Tuesday Boyd said the fee would be 4 cents, instead of the 7 cents he first proposed last year. If approved, it would take effect January 2020.

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City, Elvis Presley Enterprises Announce Agreement on Graceland Expansion

An agreement between the city of Memphis and Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) to move forward with a Graceland expansion plan was announced Tuesday during the Memphis City Council executive session.

The agreement would allow EPE to move forward with the Graceland Tourism Development Zone Master Plan, with the exclusion of a controversial 6,200-seat arena.

The arena has been a point of tension between Graceland and both the city and the Memphis Grizziles. City officials expressed concerns when the plans were announced that granting financial incentives to Graceland to build the arena could violate a non-compete clause it holds with the Grizzlies.

The clause prohibits the city from financing any indoor arena with more than 5,000 seats.

The plan does include additions to the Guest House at Graceland Hotel, expansions to retail and exhibition spaces, as well as construction of 80,000 square feet of sound stages, aircraft hangers, and cabins. 

Under the agreement, EPE also agrees to invest a total of $750,000 in the Whitehaven community over a five-year period.

For every ticket sold at a Graceland performance that is booked through Live Nation, EPE will donate $1.50 to the community. This will happen on an annual basis for five years. 

Community groups will be selected to enter a Community Benefits Agreement with EPE, under which the groups will help decide how to disperse funds for the direct benefit of Whitehaven residents.

The allocation of the funds will be decided by the community group, along with EPE and the council members representing districts 6 and 3.

Under the agree, EPE will also form a company called Newco that will develop manufacturing and distribution facilities in Whitehaven. EPE plans to hire 1,000 full-time equivalent employees, who will make no less than $15.50 an hour. Whitehaven residents will get considered first for those jobs, according to the agreement.

This comes as Graceland waits for a final court ruling that would allow it to move forward with its 6,200-seat arena, which was originally introduced as a part of the master plan.

Councilwoman Patrice Robinson specified that the council’s resolution does not approve that development or settle the ongoing litigation.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Robinson said.


The city council will vote on the agreement in two weeks.

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Rule Change Discussion Sparks Tension Among City Council

CREDIT: City of Memphis

City of Memphis

Councilman Joe Brown was at the center of Tuesday’s heated conversation.

The Memphis City Council committee chambers heated up Tuesday as members debated proposed changes to council rules and procedures.

Chair Kemp Conrad proposed two weeks ago to appoint a second vice chair who could step in when either or both the chair and vice chair are not present.

Tuesday councilman Joe Brown opposed the idea, questioning the need for a second vice chair: “Never in the history of this council have we had a second vice chair.”

As Conrad tried to table the conversation for the full council meeting, Brown interjected: “Let me tell you something, nobody is afraid of anybody. You’re travelling in the wrong lane and you’re after something, Kemp. I know you and this looks like corruption.”

Brown said he advises his colleagues to vote against “something like this.”

Brown also raised concerns in the meeting about a change of council rules that councilwoman Patrice Robinson proposed in the wake of the recent controversies surrounding the District 1 vacancy.

One of the rule changes that Brown contested was a move to allow a majority of duly-appointed members rather than seven members to make a decision when the council has vacancies. Robinson explained that the change is to add clarity for the council and the public.

But, Brown said the change is irregular according to the rules that we did have, calling it “wrong.”.

“It never ceases to amaze me how people want to change processes,” Brown said. “I don’t know what this game is all about, but you try to change something to fit people’s needs and not the needs of the public.”

However, Robinson said her reasoning behind the change is motivated by the conflicting passages of council rules she discovered during the November and December attempts to fill the District 1 seat.

“I took the time to sit down and read it and highlight them so staff could get a legal opinion,” Robinson said. “It’s so we’re all on the same page. I’m not trying to change it just to change it. I’m trying to see to what we have here is clear.”

Brown continued to challenge the rule change, calling it “murder.” Brown said the council “not to long ago murdered Rhonda Logan,” one of the top candidates in the running for District 1.

“Now this is a double murder that you just came with,” Brown said. “Wrong is wrong and right is right.”

The tense debate led Conrad to read a passage from the council rules of decorum for meetings, encouraging his colleagues to “think about what we say and how we say it before we speak to each other.”

The full council will vote on whether or not to add a second vice chair at its full meeting this evening. In two weeks, the council will return to the discussion of changes to council rules and procedures.

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City Council Raises Questions About Banks’ Shooting, Body Cams

A representative with the Memphis Police Department (MPD) said Tuesday that the three 

officers involved in last week’s shooting of Martavious Banks either had malfunctioning cameras or they switched them off.

Deputy Director James Ryall told a Memphis City Council committee that before each shift, officers are supposed to test their body cameras to ensure they are functioning properly, and if not, then they are required to swap it for a camera that works.

Council member Jamita Swearengen said this means that officers should never be on duty with cameras that aren’t working, but Ryall said a fight or tussle could have occurred, switching the cameras off before the Banks’ shooting. This situation “could be the outlier,” he said.

Still, Swearengen said both the body cameras and the car dash cameras of all three officers shouldn’t have been malfunctioning at the same time.

Chairman Berlin Boyd agreed, saying that it seems unlikely for multiple officers to have equipment that didn’t work.

“I’m just curious as to what transpired,” Boyd asked. “What could have happened? I could see if it was one officer, but I can’t see how it would happen to several officers. That’s kind of puzzling to me that all of the officers cameras weren’t working.”

Boyd said the city spent nearly $7 million dollars on cameras and $4.5 million for video storage in order to move toward transparency.

“Let me speak from the banker’s perspective,” Boyd said. “We gave you guys taxpayers’ dollars and if the system is malfunctioning, we need to have a real hard, robust discussion.”

Boyd suggested that MPD might need to implement a system that doesn’t allow officers to control their own cameras. Instead, the cameras would remain on throughout the officers’ shifts.

To date, MPD reports that 53 incidents of officers turning off their cameras have occured since the system was instituted about two years ago. Answering a question posed by several council members, Ryall said the disciplinary actions for those officers can range from a verbal warning to termination, depending on the situation.

Swearengen raised the question of why the department’s policy allows officers under investigation to be paid. Ryall said there was a due process that must take place, and that before any infraction is discovered officers “get the benefit of the doubt.”

Councilwoman Patrice Robinson echoed Swearengen’s sentiment, saying that there needs to be a policy in place that involves disciplinary actions toward officers during the investigation.

This discussion followed Councilman Edmund Ford’s introduction of a resolution requiring the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to immediately investigate all serious injuries resulting from an officer-involved shooting and not just fatal shootings.

The legislation would be a joint resolution of the council and Shelby County Commission. Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who was present at the meeting, said the legislation would “make sure that justice and equality exists in our policies” and that “investigations are handled with swift justice.”

Ford said the legislation should be drafted when the council meets again in two weeks.

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MATA Official Says Rapid Bus Route Would Improve Whole System

A Memphis City Council committee Tuesday approved the closure of one lane on Second Street and one on BB King Boulevard as part of the city’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.

John Lancaster, director of planning and Title VI officer at the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) said that bringing a BRT route to the city would be a “slam dunk.”

The area that the route would serve links the key corridors in the city, Lancaster said. “It would benefit everybody in the city from a transit perspective.”

“This improves the whole network,” Lancaster said. “Of the heart, Poplar and Union are like the main arteries. You improve that and you improve the whole system.” Poplar and Union would be part of the BRT but would not get lane closures. 

John Zeanah, director of the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning & Development told the council committee that buses would come every three to four minutes on the route, which would run north and south on Second and BB King, and east and west on Union and Poplar, connecting Downtown to the University of Memphis. 

Zeanah said the buses would use the far-right lanes southbound on Second and and northbound BB King between Union and A.W. Willis.

Councilman Worth Morgan asked how the dedicated lanes would affect traffic, parking, and unloading on the two streets. Zeanah said the transit-only lanes wouldn’t inhibit the on-street parking area and curb parking for unloading on either street.

Morgan also asked how the rules for the new configuration would be enforced in order to keep automobile drivers out of the bus lanes. Zeanah said there would signage and striping on the street signifying the bus-only lanes.

Manny Belen, director of the city’s engineering office, said the locations of the stops along the route haven’t been defined yet and that the city will work with stakeholders along the streets to determine the best place to position stops so that they won’t interfere with business deliveries along the corridor.

Belen adds because the current traffic volume on Second and BB King is below capacity, he doesn’t foresee traffic issues arising with the proposed plan.

The full city council, along with the Tennessee Department of Transportation commissioner must approve the dedicated lane before the plan is implemented.

Don’t forget to tell us what you think.

Does Memphis need a rapid transit service from Downtown to the University of Memphis?

Yes, that’s a great idea.
Maybe, I’m on the fence.
No, funding for it could go to more vital routes.

MATA Official Says Rapid Bus Route Would Improve Whole System

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City Council Brings Back Beale Street Entrance Fee

Beale Street

The Memphis City Council voted Tuesday to reinstate the fee to enter Beale Street based on “needs-based determination.”

Bringing back the entrance fee was one of the 24 recommendations made by the group, Event Risk Management Solutions (ERMS), which was hired by the Beale Street Task Force earlier this year to assess crowd control and safety on Beale.

After a long debate between the council Tuesday evening, they approved the fee 7-4, but on a temporary, needs-based basis that is to be determined by the Downtown Memphis Commission and the Memphis Police Department.

The original resolution, sponsored by Councilman Kemp Conrad, called for implementing an attendance-based entrance fee when the crowd is expected to exceed 10,000.

But, Council Chairman Berlin Boyd, who chaired the Beale Street Task Force said even an attendance-based charge could “look discriminatory.”

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“Hypothetically, what if we have 10,000 African-American male and females on the street and you put Beale Street Bucks in place, what does that look like?” Boyd asked. “ What if we have 10,000 African Americans on Saturday and 10,000 African Americans on Sunday night and we put Beale Street Bucks in place? If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck.”

Boyd said public safety is important, but “we cannot have something that looks sketchy. I’m not voting for anything that’s going to looks like it’s discriminatory toward any person in the city of Memphis or any tourist.”

Councilman Worth Morgan told Boyd and colleagues that public safety shouldn’t be compromised for optics. Morgan also emphasized the importance of taking action, after an early morning shooting at the Purple Haze night club Monday.

To that, Boyd, joined by Councilman Martavius Jones, said an entrance fee would not have prevented that situation, as the night club is outside of the Beale Street Entertainment district. 

Continuing, Boyd reiterated that the program “has to be fair and equitable” for those who patronize and visit Beale Street. He said he wants to make sure that the city isn’t putting itself in the position to get sued.

Council attorney Allan Wade agreed, saying that there may be some risks with setting the number at 10,000, as the study found there was no correlation between crowd size and incidents on Beale. In the case of ligation, he said the court could see the number as “arbitrary.” He suggests adopting some “further objective criteria” for determining the number.

“I do believe that a court would look at MPD’s determination as being needs-based on safety and could be more defensible in court,” Wade said. “That’s just my humble opinion.”

So, Councilman Bill Morrison proposed the idea of allowing MPD and the DMC decide what elements call for implementing a fee or other security measures like wanding patrons.

“Let’s let the experts have this conversation,” Morrison said. “Let’s let the folks that get paid to protect and manage decide.”


The council concurred that the Beale Street Merchants Association should have an input on determining safety precautions as well.

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The $5 fee to enter the street on Saturday nights during peak seasons was eliminated by the council last November. Looking for an alternative to the fee, the Beale Street Task Force hired the crowd control consultant, ERMS earlier this year to study ways to keep the crowds on Beale orderly.

The group produced 24 recommendations in all. Some of which include setting the maximum capacity on the street to 20,000 people, restricting Beale Street to pedestrian traffic only, and redesigning the street’s entry points.

The study also concluded that there wasn’t enough regulation and monitoring of those entering the street.

Two weeks ago, the council made the first move toward new safety precautions, voting to spend a little under $800,000 for bollards — barriers keeping cars from driving onto the street. The bollards will be placed alongside Second protecting people lining up to enter the street, as well as at the ends of the entertainment portion of the street at Beale and Second and at Beale and Fourth.

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Transportation Fee Could Yield $60M a Year


A new transportation utility fee could generate up to $60 million a year, an expert told Memphis City Council members Tuesday.

Council member Edmund Ford Jr. introduced the idea of such a fee during a meeting two weeks ago. The fees could generate revenue to be used to fund the underfunded Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) and road infrastructure projects, Ford said.


The transportation fee would be tacked on to utility bills and would be based on the number of trips on Memphis roads generated by individual properties. The rate would differ for commercial and residential properties.

When council members returned to the discussion Tuesday, they heard from Wayne Gaskin, a former city of Memphis engineer. He said there are many different ways to structure the rates, and said different options could produce revenues ranging from $30 to $60 million a year.

[pullquote-1] Based on the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ national standards, Gaskin said each month a large church could generate up to $6,300 in additional revenue, a sit-down restaurant up to $500, and a fast food restaurant anywhere from $125 to $1,000.

The council could opt to base the rates on types of commercial properties, as well as allow some residents to only pay a portion of the fee based on factors like income.

“There will be a lot of give and take when it comes to setting the rates,” Gaskin said. “I can’t emphasize that enough.”

Gaskin said the council, with community input, will have to hash out the specific details and amounts of the fees implemented in Memphis.

“It has to be something that is developed jointly,” he said.

Councilman Worth Morgan said he still has some “major questions” about the fee, such as how the funds will be dispersed. 

Ford said the council will continue the conversation at its meeting in two weeks.

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City Council Looks to Implement Transportation Utility Fee

The Memphis City Council is looking to implement a transportation utility fee to fund roadway and transit projects.

Councilman Edmund Ford Jr. said the fee would be used to fund roadway improvement projects, such repairing curb and gutters, as well as support the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA)’s new transit plan.

“I think it’s time for us to look at ways that we can garner enough funds that we don’t rely so much on property taxes,” Ford said. “I know we’re not in the phase of putting the ordinance together, but I think the discussion is important if we’re serious about funding MATA, as well as making sure public works has what it needs.”

The fee would be tacked on to Memphis Light, Gas and Water bills and would be similar to the stormwater fee, Wayne Gaskin, former city of Memphis engineer told the council. The residential and non-residential rates would be based on the amount of trips a property generates and could range from $4.75 to $15. Gaskin said the fee could generate more than $30 million in revenue each year.

This revenue will be used to offset the costs of road projects and create a dedicated source of funding for MATA, Ford said.

Last month, Robert Knecht, director of Public Works, told the council that the city doesn’t have dedicated funding for street improvement projects, such as fixing sidewalks. With more funding, other improvements such as switching to LED traffic signals could take place. To implement all of the roadway improvements currently needed citywide, Knecht said it would cost $60 to $80 million.

To upkeep sidewalks only, it would cost an additional $19 million a year.

The city is currently on an approximate 25-year street paving cycle, Knecht said. This means on average all 8,816 lane miles of street will get re-surfaced at least once every 25 years. Knecht proposes a 20-year cycle, which would cost another $8 million a year. A 10-year cycle hikes the cost up by another $50 million.

Ford plans to draft a resolution for the transportation fee and present it to the council in two weeks.

“I think it’s a true example of finding a way to be creative, while making sure that people are paying their fair share,” Ford said. “About 310,000 cars come through the city of Memphis every single day.”

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Historic District Ordinance Tabled Over “Threatening” Letter from State

CREDIT: Facebook- Cooper-Young Community Association

Facebook- Cooper-Young Community Association

Cooper-Young

The Memphis City Council was set to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would provide more structure to historic overlay districts here, but the vote was tabled due to last minute concerns by the Tennessee Historic Preservation Office.

The decision to hold the vote was due largely in part to a “threatening” letter the council received Friday from the historic preservation office, Councilman Kemp Conrad, the sponsor of the ordinance, said. The letter said that passing the ordinance could negatively affect the city’s historic status with the state and the associated funding — $300,000 over the past 12 years.

“I didn’t know how this thing was going to go down tonight, but I felt really good about it,” Conrad said. “I’m truly sad.”

Jane Cottone, a representative from the state office, told the council that certain procedural provisions of the ordinance could compromise the city’s standing in the Certified Local Government program, which Memphis has been a part of since 1986.

“Our office has determined that parts of this ordinance contain certain inconsistencies with state law,” Cottone said.

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But, Conrad questioned why Memphis isn’t receiving the same treatment as other cities.

“You’re trying to treat Memphis differently than you treat other cities. This is the same group that would not allow us to do what we wanted to do with our Confederate statues. There’s a snake in the grass somewhere.”

Council Chairman Berlin Boyd called the state’s letter “extremely threatening and disrespectful.”

“Every time we get ready to do something in Shelby County, it’s always a problem with Nashville,” Boyd said. “We don’t like the state getting in our business.”

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Community stakeholders who have been worked with Conrad to draft the ordinance expressed frustration also over the delay.

One of them, Neil Prosser, a member of the Memphis Landmarks Commission called the state’s interference “unfortunate, ill-timed, and ill-advised.”

“I hope this compromise can be revived and salvaged,” Prosser said.

Cottone said the state is willing to work with the city on resolving the issues in the ordinance following its passing.

“The ball’s in you all’s court now,” Conrad said of the state. “It’s out of my control.”

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Editorial Opinion

Art Attack

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

City Council Chair Berlin Boyd has described UrbanArt as a “quasi governmental” and failed organization. It’s a harsh, and not entirely accurate, assessment of a 20-year-old independently managed not-for-profit group that made Memphis a “percent for art” city, transforming the landscape and public expectations in ways that can only be understood by juxtaposing what was with what is now so ubiquitous it’s easily taken for granted.

Greg Cravens

Twenty years ago, public art in Memphis meant statues. More specifically, it meant bronze statues of “great men” like slave trader and KKK leader Nathan Bedford Forrest and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. There were other, not entirely regrettable examples, of course. Elvis Presley and W.C. Handy were both immortalized on Beale Street. Overton Park had its Doughboy, and the downtown waterfront had an obelisk dedicated to the selfless heroism of Tom Lee, “a worthy negro.” There were even a couple of modern works isolated on the North end of an entirely desolate Main Street mall, hidden from a majority of Memphians who’d been fleeing the decaying urban core for decades. But once you accounted for the musicians, heroes, war memorials, and idols to white supremacy, there wasn’t much else to brag about. Today, by comparison, a drive down James Road includes painter Jeffrey Unthank’s impressive, epically scaled history of Frayser. A visit to Overton Square brings drinkers, diners, and shoppers into contact with multimedia artist Kong Wee Pang’s sparkling bird mural and sculptures by Yvonne Bobo, in addition to all the actors and musicians populating Memphis’ once-empty, now-prospering music and theater district. The Benjamin L. Hooks branch of Memphis’ public library is an enchanted forest of ideas. Kindergarten students entering Downtown Elementary are greeted by Lurlynn Franklyn’s fine mosaic floor. These are just a few examples of what a “failed” organization has accomplished in two decades. The successful revitalization of abandoned neighborhoods like South Main, Broad, and Crosstown, are almost impossible to imagine uncoupled from the influence of UrbanArt and work by local, regional, and international artists.

UrbanArt, which is funded in part by ArtsMemphis, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and by private donations, developed Memphis’ Percent for Art program with a complete awareness of just how easy it has always been for politicians to look serious and frugal by cutting apparent luxuries like art. That’s why percent for art funding was tied to a mere 1 percent of money already budgeted for capital improvements — money that would have been spent anyway, and without the transparency, community access, and public monitoring UrbanArt already brings to the table. Whether or not one loves every piece of public art that gets installed, the organization has repeatedly made its motivating point that artists are creative problem solvers and that makes public art a tremendous bargain.

In every case, public art requires political will because everybody’s a critic. And, to give Boyd his due, more can always be done to create opportunities for local and minority artists while hedging against provincialism and cultivating a healthy mix of national and international influences. But in a relatively short amount of time UrbanArt has made Memphis better. That’s no fail.