The Early Word: Council puts brakes on gas stations, says MATA is ‘lying’
Morning, Shelby County. It’s Wednesday, Sept. 11, and this Patriot Day marks 23 years since the 9/11 attacks. There are commemorations all over the region, including a clean-up of veterans’ headstones at Memphis National Cemetery this morning.
Also today, the Southern Heritage Classic festivities kick off with an exhibition on the football game’s 35-year history opening at the National Civil Rights Museum.
The Memphis City Council voted down two gas stations on Tuesday, one proposed for Outland Road in Southeast Memphis and another proposed for South Third Street in Westwood. Both projects have drawn opposition from neighbors, and at Tuesday’s meeting, even two rival gas station owners claimed the Outland station would attract more crime to the area. Memphis City Council member Yolanda Cooper-Sutton agreed, claiming the “gas stations that are in our Black communities” sell more “dope papers” for rolling joints than gas. In other council news, Midtowners will have to wait to learn whether a Whataburger will come to Union Avenue.
“No one knew that there was a deficiency coming down the pipeline? ... Someone is lying ...,” said Cooper-Sutton. On Tuesday, MATA’s interim CFO told the Memphis City Council that the agency grew the city’s bus system during the pandemic with one-time federal funding. And when that funding ran out, the city’s bus system couldn’t sustain itself financially. And that apparently led to MATA’s recent staff and route cuts. MATA Interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin claimed she and the board had no idea how bad things were under former CEO Gary Rosenfeld.
Plus, Memphis-Shelby County Schools could lose preschool funding, the jury is selected in the Tyre Nichols trial and Smith & Nephew’s campus is up for grabs.
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. In her days as a reporter, she covered everything from local government and crime to LGBTQ issues and the arts. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South,” a cookbook of vegan Southern recipes.
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