Ballot Basics: Memphis' three city charter referendums
Here are the three city charter amendment referendums on the Nov. 6 ballot in Memphis in the order that they appear on the ballot.
Bill Dries
Reporter
38 recent articles by Bill Dries:
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October 2018
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Glitches, suspicion overshadow heavy start of early voting
When the first day of early voting in advance of the Nov. 6 election day had ended Wednesday, Shelby County election commissioner Norma Lester offered her verdict on how it went with a brief Facebook post. “Don’t know any other way to say it except the first day of Early Voting was absolute HELL!” she wrote. “Hoping for a better Second day.”
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City panel begins closer look at economic development fees
The city committee trying to build a better way of pursuing economic development will meet later this month with the two organizations that play the major roles in the existing system – the Greater Memphis Chamber and the Economic Development Growth Engine.
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Chamber leaders talk public policy and private competition
Public policy and competition in the business world can co-exist with business taking the lead in creating new jobs, says one of the new set of leaders of the Greater Memphis Chamber.
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Fairgrounds TDZ plan goes to Nashville next month
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland's administration will take its Tourism Development Zone plan for the Fairgrounds to the Tennessee Building Commission for approval next month.
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'Drafting error' in term limits question draws fire from Herenton
A “drafting error” in the city referendum that would extend city council and mayoral term limits from two consecutive terms to three would bar former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton from running for mayor again in 2019.
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Freedom Awards match turbulence of 1968 with today
Former Vice President Joe Biden told several thousand people at the National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Awards Wednesday, Oct. 17, that the gains made by the movement honored in the museum are “under siege.” “Once again, we need your energy,” Biden said as he accepted the award at the Orpheum theater.
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Shelby County Election Commission sifts through incomplete voter forms
The Shelby County Election Commission won’t finish entering a flood of approximately 24,000 voter registration applications onto voter rolls by the time early voting starts Wednesday, Oct. 17.
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Early voting in Shelby County opens in midterm elections
Shelby County voters begin casting ballots in the last election of 2018 Wednesday, Oct. 17, as early voting opens before the Nov. 6 election day. The 27 early voting sites across Shelby County are all open from Wednesday through Nov. 1. The midterm general election cycle typically sees a higher turnout than the August county general and state and federal primary elections.
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Riverfront survey finds support for Riverside Drive lane closures
Additional parking along Riverside Drive, better access to the riverfront and improved safety are more important than keeping the Downtown thoroughfare at four lanes, a new survey for the Memphis River Parks Partnership shows.
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Memphis firehouses start pilot foster dog program
Two Memphis fire stations are fostering dogs in a pilot program with Memphis Animal Services that is drawing inquiries from other fire departments and requests from other firehouses in the city. The stay at the fire stations could be two to three weeks before the dogs are transported to other cities for adoption there.
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Sierra Club rips Bellefonte Nuclear proposal
The Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club says a proposal to end Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division’s ties to the Tennessee Valley Authority and instead buy electricity from a renovated Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Alabama is “pie in the sky.”
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Kyle rules charter referendums stay on November ballot
Questions on three city charter changes will stay on the Nov. 6 ballot. Shelby County Chancellor Jim Kyle denied Thursday a legal motion by critics of the referendums to remove them from the ballot as misleading and in violation of state law.
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City Council approves New Bellevue development by Hein Park
Memphis City Council members approved a New Bellevue Baptist Church sanctuary and set of 17 single-family homes Tuesday, Oct. 9, on 4.6 acres of land on the border of the Hein Park subdivision.
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Kavanaugh protest mirrors ongoing national debate
A group of 50 protesters and a few dissenters outside the Peabody Place office building Downtown Monday evening played out the ongoing national debate over the Senate confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. And it came with a brief tug of war over a megaphone at the rally organized by Ama Ehrmann that drew leaders of the Indivisible Memphis organization.
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Council to discuss pending vacancies, rapid bus route, TBI investigations
Memphis City Council members could discuss the process of filling three upcoming vacancies on the body when they meet Tuesday, Oct. 9.
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Morrison gives notice of council resignation
Memphis City Council member and Shelby County Probate Court Clerk Bill Morrison will resign his seat on the council effective Nov. 1.
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Mississippi River Park nears November re-opening
Treehouses taking shape in Mississippi River Park by the Wolf River Harbor will get signs before the park’s Nov. 9 opening saying they are suitable for children ages 5-12.
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SafeWays partners with MHA
The crime prevention nonprofit group SafeWays is partnering with the Memphis Housing Authority to work in eight public housing high rises and communities as well as mixed-income communities on what were once MHA developments.
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September 2018
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Foote Homes to South City continues story of change
The path to end the city’s large public housing projects was a 20-year journey that brought city leaders to a tent last week near the corner of Vance and Lauderdale.
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Report finds broader economic development plan needed
The city-county Economic Development Growth Engine organization known primarily for granting tax incentives to businesses coming to or expanding in Memphis should be empowered to pursue a broader economic development strategy, according to a new report that compares EDGE to efforts in four other cities.
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Police shooting reaction goes beyond call for TBI investigations
Memphis police brass were about four minutes into Power Point slides at a Tuesday, Sept. 25, City Council committee session before council members shut down the presentation that tallied the hours of police camera recordings and number of cameras in patrol cars.
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Dulberger says EDGE small part of economic development
The leader of the city-county Economic Development Growth Engine says EDGE is willing to change, but Reid Dulberger was quick to add that changes to the formal approach to growing the Memphis economy won’t address the dominant challenges.
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Early-voting sites, hours set
All of Shelby County’s 27 early-voting sites will open on Oct. 17, the first day of the early-voting period before the Nov. 6 election. Early voting runs through Nov. 1.
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City working group looks for direction on EDGE
The city’s working group on economic development is about to compare notes on the attributes of a “perfect” economic development organization.
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Burt named new SCS chief academic officer
Antonio Burt, principal at one of Shelby County Schools’ first Innovation Zone schools and leader of priority and I-Zone schools, is the new chief academic officer for SCS.
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Facebook finds, removes more fake Memphis Police Department accounts
Facebook has deactivated six fake accounts connected to the Memphis Police Department, according to the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, and sent a letter to police brass last week warning them that the fake accounts violate Facebook's terms of service.
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City ready to re-institute Beale Street Bucks cover charge for security
The first weekend the Downtown Memphis Commission and Memphis Police Department considered reinstituting a cover charge on Beale Street did not occur.
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Four potential new voting systems for Shelby County get road test
Three of the four voting systems certified by the state of Tennessee for use in elections would enable voters to get a printed copy of their choices and then complete the voting process by running that printed copy through a scanner.
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Second convention hotel set for Civic Center Plaza
The city’s second convention center hotel will be constructed on Civic Center Plaza across from City Hall and next to the Downtown Memphis Commission offices, Jonathan Tisch, the chairman and CEO of Loews Hotel & Co., said Friday.
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Strickland pledges to get to bottom of officer-involved shooting
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland addressed the city Friday morning, saying there have been 40 incidents in which the Memphis Police Department investigated and disciplined officers for violating policies surrounding the use of body and vehicle cameras, vowing to get “to the bottom of this” shooting of 25-year-old Martavious Banks.
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Suburban school system leaders say students must go beyond academics
Two months into his job as superintendent of Millington Municipal Schools, James “Bo” Griffin goes into all four schools in the system at least once a week.
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Airways Middle School zoning change leads with billboard
Few items to be voted on at City Hall kindle controversy like the prospect of a new billboard. The controversy usually pits council members who see billboards as blight and oppose any proliferation of them against members who see them as a money-maker for property owners who lease their land for billboard use.
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Summers out, Morris in as new Juvenile Court coordinator
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris is making a change in who runs the county’s memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Justice Department for changes in Memphis-Shelby County Juvenile Court.
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Blackburn removes photo with U of M spirit squad after request from athletics officials
Republican Senate nominee Marsha Blackburn removed a picture Monday, Sept. 17, of her with the University of Memphis Spirit Squad posted on her campaign Facebook page.
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Bredesen defends his wait-and-see stance on Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh
Democratic U.S. Senate contender Phil Bredesen met a crowd of 500 at Rhodes College Thursday, Sept. 13, that consisted mostly of supporters on what was originally planned as a debate with Republican rival Marsha Blackburn. Blackburn would not commit to the debate.
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The Daily Memphian Q&A: Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Memphian, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland recently discussed a variety of topics, including police surveillance of protesters, economic development and his “brilliant at the basics” strategy.
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The Chickasaw Nation’s role in the founding of Memphis
As the city of Memphis prepares to mark its 200th anniversary, the Chickasaw Nation is finding the story of its origins in a part of the city Native Americans left 500 years ago.
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Longtime Beale Street property owner invests in historic building
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Telling police officers to keep silent undermines investigations and cripples justice
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After 5 years, social networking event Undercurrent to end
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Court orders state to stop suspending licenses of people too poor to pay debt
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Seeds of poisonous court fights planted 50 years ago when Memphian Abe Fortas’ nomination went down
