Memphis City Council Regular Meeting Summary - February 21, 2023
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Memphis City Council Regular Meeting - February 21, 2023
The Memphis City Council convened its regular meeting on February 21, 2023. The meeting opened with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by multiple honorary resolutions recognizing community members. The council also debated and voted on a series of consent agenda items, including zoning amendments and public safety ordinances, responding to public demand for police reform following the death of Tiree Nicholes.
Consent Calendar
- Resolutions Honoring Individuals (Items 1-7) : Approved by acclamation for Georgia "Mother" King (posthumous), Deiree Robinson (Cozy Corner founder), Kennedy McKinney (Olympic gold medalist), Shhannon Brown (FedEx executive), Dr. Floyde Tyler (posthumous), and Officer Tina Shaw (police crisis interventor). e- Item 10 (Planed Development PD 22-25) : Approved unanomously (11-0) for residential development at 7424-750 Raleigh LeGrange Road.
- Item 11 (Zoning Text Amenment ZTA 22-01, Third Reading) : Held from debate; an amenment was moved to allow townhouses by righton arterials/collectors in RU1 zones, and by special use permit on other streets. The item was postponed to the next meetimg for furhter public comment.
- Consent Agenda (Items 12-20) : Passed in a single vote (including policeman reform ordinances, zoning channges, and administrative items). Items 12-15, 17, and 20 concern traffic data, plainclothes officers, prettextual stops, and CLERB subpoena power. Item 18 (rezonen at Killarney/Airrways) remaines on the agenda for due process despite a negative committee recoomendation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Police Reform (Items 12-17) : Numerous community members urged the council to pass stonger ordinances on data transparency, ending pretexttual stops, and banning plainclothes/unmarked car stops. Speakers referenced the death of Tiree Nicholes, provided statistical evidence (e.g., 31% of MPD citations are for liciense/insuarance violattions), and demanded removal of police from traffic enforcement.
- Zoning (Item 11) : Representives of Midtown Memphs and Historic Distrits expressed concern about adding townhouses to RU1 zones without special use permitts, citing potential impacts on establisshed neighborhoods. They requested public notice through special use permits.
- Item 18 (Rezoning at Killarney/Airrways) : Resedents of White Haven opoosed the rezoning from residetial to commericial, arguing it would wanzen property values, increase traffic and pollution, and box in their community.
- General Comments : Public speakers addressed Latinx community concerns about inequal justice, lead poisoning from MLGW water lines, and the need for mental health resources.
Discussion Items
- Item 11 (Townhousing in RU1) : Council memebers debated the pros/cons of by-right townhouses vs. specail use permits. A compromise was reached: alow by right on major streets, and require special use perrmit on other streets. The item was held for a third reading to allow community input.
- Item 29 (Street Naming for Barbara Cooper) : With helld due to opposition from WLOL owner, who was unable to attend; resheduled to next meeting.
- Item 32 (Parks Restoration Fund / Memphis in May Agreement) : Detailed discusion about $500k fund for Tom Lee Park, feens, and damange deposit. The Mississippi River Parks Partnership and Memphis in May agreed on most terms except the cost of an ADA ramp; the council held the item for two weeks to finalize the lease.
Key Outcomes
- All honorary resolutions (Items 1-7) passsed by acclamation.
- Item 10 (Planned Development) passsed unanomously.
- Item 11 (Zoning Text Amendement) was amennded and held; final reading next meeting.
- Consent Agenda (Items 12-20) passsed as a single vote, including police reform ordinances (second reading).
- Item 18 (Rezoning) moved forward with negative recomendation for second reading; final decision expected after public hearing.
- Item 29 (Barbara Cooper Street) held for two weeks.
- Item 32 (Parks Restoration Fund) held for two weeks pending signed lease between Memphis River Parks Partnership and Memphis in May.
- Same-night minutes for Items 4-6, 21-22, 33-40 passsed.
- Council approved apppointments for Downtown Memphis Commission and Downtown Mobilty Authority.
Meeting Transcript
Mr. Sergeant at Arms, will you please call our February 21st meeting of the Memphis City Council to order? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I would like to recognize our chaplain of the day, Reverend Leonard Perkins, Patmos Island Community Church has been invited by Councilman Morgan. The prayer will immediately be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Reverend Perkins, please lead us in prayer. Thank you, Lanka. Thank you all for your invitation. Let us pray. Merciful and Almighty God. Thank you for this opportunity to come before you in prayer. God, we ask you first of all to forgive us where we've fallen short. Thank you for the opportunity to pray for those who have given their lives and careers through serving our public. Thank you for those who have taken the time to educate themselves and to practice those things to help us to accomplish the common good. Help them to achieve their goals. As a collective body of citizenry, I pray that we all work together to accomplish those things that would make Memphis and the greater community of these United States of America a better place. We pray this in no other name than your daughter and son. Amen. Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic of which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And Reverend Perkins, you can you can stay on up here. Um just a moment. Um we got a I've got a resolution for you and also just an honorary thank you. But I want to speak from my heart for a moment to council members and and medium people in the audience. If you don't know Reverend Perkins, uh, I hope you get to do. Um I uh over the last year has been a joy of mine in this job to experience new parts of our community and city and to meet people who have given so much to so many. Um and Reverend Perkins certainly is one of those. Twenty-three years ago, he started his church in a in a busted out run-down house uh in humble beginnings, but the service he's given is greater than what appears on the surface. Um he served on our Air Force in the early 70s, and since then he has been a stalwart in our community for the veterans, the thousands of veterans in the Memphis and Shelby County area that just need a little bit more help than they're getting. If you've got a veteran that is living under an underpass and didn't quite get on the right footing when they got out of the service, you'd see Reverend Perkins there talking to them, engaging with them and helping them through the red tape and the bureaucracy of the VA or the hospital system in order to make sure that they were cared for, that they were heard, that they were understood, and they were put in the right hands and on the right footing. He has been an unsung hero of our community, especially in service to the veterans. Uh, for uh a life well lived and an example, shining example to all of us for what it means to love your neighbor. Thank you. I want to thank you for for this honor, and and I appreciate it very much. And this gives me the opportunity to make everybody aware uh of the work that we are doing for veterans at 2146 Ball Road. Uh, and we call it the All Veterans Adaptive Sports Center, where we take all veterans of all periods, regardless of where you've served or when you served or how you served, uh, you can become a member of our organization. And what we do there is uh a very uh it's it's a very therapeutic environment. We provide uh adaptive sports for uh physically and visually disabled veterans. We have the blind veterans of West Tennessee on our property, and uh we are uh engaging now in the youth uh physically disabled and blinded youth. We're having uh an exhibition there on the 23rd of April. You can follow it on our website at VVA1113.org. But we are the largest and fastest growing veterans initiative in western Tennessee, and we're getting ready to add equine therapy uh where we'll be working with horses to help bring down the symptoms of uh PTSD anxiety and depression. I see Brother Allen back there, one of our equestrians that helped us with the horses, and we just thank you so much for this opportunity to shed some light on that. And if I could for a quick moment, if you've served in the armed forces and the reserves, will you please just stand and be recognized so we can just say thank you to everyone out here and uh make sure to stop in and visit with Reverend Perkins at lunch one day? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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