Council members split over blight priorities
Meanwhile, the council delayed for two weeks a first reading vote on historic overlay district status for the Crosstown area.
Topic: JB Smiley Jr.
RSSThere are 125 article(s) tagged JB Smiley Jr.:
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April 2021
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March 2021
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Ban on retail sale of dogs and cats voted down by City Council
The final vote Tuesday shifted dramatically after the owner of a Petland store in Wolfchase that prompted the ban ordinance complained he had been harassed by city inspectors who cited him for three violations last Friday.
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Petland store debate goes to the math of pet sales
During this week’s council discussion, sponsor Worth Morgan asked for a list of pet breeders used by the Wolfchase store franchisee. When he didn’t get it but an offer of a guided tour, Morgan compared it to inspecting a nuclear facility in Iran.
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Council members make case for exempting city from state residency bill
Council member J.B. Smiley argues that if the city accepts police and fire applications from outside the city, more effort will have to be put into screening candidates.
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February 2021
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‘We have to be intentional’ about getting vaccines to all, councilman says
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, City Council member JB Smiley Jr. says the Health Department needs “boots on the ground” in Black communities to remedy a racial disparity in who is getting the COVID-19 vaccines.
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December 2020
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Decorum guide gets modest tweaking as council discovers limits of disciplining one of its own
Council Chairwoman Patrice Robinson said council members who behave badly, as council member Edmund Ford Sr. did two weeks ago, can’t be removed or suspended. And restoring order is “a question of judgment” by the chairperson.
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Council ethics complaint against Ford to be dropped
The outburst by City Council member Edmund Ford Sr. two weeks ago still raises questions about how to apply rules of conduct to elected council members. And it’s a discussion past councils have had about Ford and others on the body.
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November 2020
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Smiley files ethics complaint over Ford outburst at council meeting
Council member JB Smiley is also seeking a change in council rules that would allow the chairman of the body to bar a council member who does what Ford did twice during Tuesday’s council meetings.
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Differences emerge in police reform
Two conversations about police reform show the more detailed the proposed reforms become, the more differences they reveal.
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July 2020
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Smiley says look for more City Council moves on police reform
On “Behind The Headlines,” the first-term council member said the proposals to come will push further on changing the Memphis Police Department beyond nonbinding resolutions approved last month.
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June 2020
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George Floyd’s death leaves police and fire residency ballot question in new light
A city task force on public safety started its work this week with several calls for hiring local in the police and fire ranks. Meanwhile, an effort to remove from the Nov. 3 election ballot a proposal for allowing the city to hire police and firefighters who live outside the county may be picking up momentum.
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Council asks Strickland to hold up valet parking contract with Flight
The action came with word that owners of the restaurant were buying out their partner in the business venture. The council also passed three resolutions on law enforcement that are the first acts by the group in the discussion about the role of police and use of force policies.
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Police reforms on City Council agenda Tuesday
The Memphis City Council has three resolutions on its Tuesday, June 16, agenda dealing with law enforcement.
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Daily Memphian records request inspires resolution to improve MPD transparency
Memphis City Council member JB Smiley is pushing a resolution to urge Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration to put data, complaints and other information regarding police misconduct and use of force on the city’s website.
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Introduction of police reforms encounters little resistance
The first reception to the council resolutions presented Tuesday comes with a record of past resistance that indicates it probably won't be as easy as a council vote. The resolutions are advisory.
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March 2020
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Maybe easing grooming standards would help police recruitment
Three of the six new Memphis City Council members talked about the larger issues on "Behind The Headlines." They are the latest council members in more than a decade to take up the topic of residency.
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Behind the Headlines Podcast: Trio of new Memphis City Council members
Memphis City Council members Rhonda Logan, Chase Carlisle and JB Smiley Jr. discuss their first impressions after four city council meetings and the residency referendum with host Eric Barnes and Bill Dries of The Daily Memphian.
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January 2020
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Council moves on MLGW reflect skepticism utility is moving fast enough
The city council voted last week to seek a legal opinion key to the question of Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division cutting ties with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
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‘A new day dawning’ with a diverse, younger City Council
'We must be a unified and united body. If we are not, we run the risks of watering down our legislative authority and allowing outside entities comprised of individuals not elected by the citizens of Memphis, essentially, to make legislative and budgetary decisions.'
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November 2019
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Smiley emerges from campaign to new role as one of 13 on new City Council
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, incoming City Council member J.B. Smiley Jr. said he would like to have a voice in the current council's decision about residency requirements. But he said he accepts if the referendum on the matter is approved by the current council before members leave office. He also said concerns about reliability if MLGW breaks ties with TVA might be a "scare tactic."
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October 2019
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Campaigns move to city election day as voters decide
As Memphis voters put to rest another season of campaigns for a place at City Hall, there are several last-minute dramas unfolding in a city where election night is the same night as Memphis Madness.
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September 2019
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Early voting in city elections picks up pace
The numbers for early voting in the Oct. 3 Memphis elections show Friday's total was the first this year that exceeded the same day four years ago.
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August 2019
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Calvo and Smiley council campaigns reflect unique setting for council races
Mauricio Calvo, on the Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, said last year's council deadlock on filling a council vacancy prompted him to run on the Oct. 3 ballot. J.B. Smiley Jr. is making his bid for a different council seat after a bid last year for the Shelby County Commission.
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April 2019
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Politics Podcast: Memphis City Council contender J.B. Smiley Jr.
Memphis City Council candidate J.B. Smiley Jr. talks about his bid for a council seat a year after his inaugural run for County Commission.
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Smiley comes to quest for council with lessons learned from 2018 run
Making his second bid for elected office in a year, J.B. Smiley Jr. says his city council campaign this year is a mix of millennials and local political veterans.
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