Also happening this week: A street is renamed for for the first Black athlete to join the Tigers.

The 33rd annual Freedom Awards went to Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Lee, Howard University professor and attorney Sherrilyn Ifill and civil rights activist Xernona Clayton.

The Memphis City Council is also taking a look at the new building code that requires some schools buildings to have storm shelters to see if there are less expensive ways to meet the standard.

Mayor Paul Young told council members in a Tuesday, Oct. 15, committee discussion that the immediate task is to find short-term funding for MATA to avoid a set of bus route cuts and employee layoffs the old MATA board approved that take effect Nov. 3.

“You cannot say that you are cleaning up the blight in your district if you are dumping it in mine,” said Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas.

Memphis Animal Services director Ty Coleman was first suspended in June.

Mayor Paul Young says the board will not replace MATA leadership at least for now. Council members also expect Tuesday to consider a Frayser landfill expansion that was rejected seven years ago.

Transpro’s draft report said ridership has declined 82% since 1991, the system needs 18 more buses to function properly and its current capital project plans are “financially unsustainable.” 

A DMC board approved bonds to loan Memphis the millions needed to buy and maintain the Sheraton Memphis Downtown hotel, renovate AutoZone Park and update the 100 N. Main parking garage.

What people don’t see is the blood on the floor. Bag after bag that’s used to save lives. They don’t see the doctors and nurses with soaked scrubs. They don’t see the gore left for janitors to clean up. 

Also happening this week: Riley Keough discusses her new book at Graceland, and the U of M breaks ground on new campus housing.

XAI is set to lease a site via CTC Property LLC, a California LLC affiliated with the Elon Musk company.

Congressman Steve Cohen of Memphis says he is “disheartened” by the bus system’s “operational and fiscal crisis” after he helped secure $140 million in federal transit funding for MATA in recent years.

“This flyway provides (an) opportunity to get closer to the river, to see a natural habitat and to enjoy the quietness of this area of the park,” Memphis River Parks Partnership COO Art Davis said.

A person familiar with the matter said the land would be used for future development for xAI and allow the company to build on its ongoing momentum in Memphis.

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The Memphis City Council’s other-action items Tuesday, Oct. 1, included more money for affordable housing and more cameras.

The financing is a switch from another type of bond the city wanted to use but couldn’t to bridge a $10 million gap in the renovation and reuse of the city’s tallest building.

The City Council toured the aging hotel to see dilapidated rooms that the current owners wouldn’t pay to fix.

Council members discuss the Sheraton convention center hotel deal in committees Tuesday, Oct. 1. They will also vote on new city-backed funding for the 100 N. Main mixed reuse project.

Also happening this week: The City Council may take up the Sheraton deal, and Coach Silverfield talks at the Touchdown Club.

“This bold action will help save lives and protect our neighborhoods from the devastating effects of gun violence,” Mayor Paul Young wrote in a post on Instagram.

The funding is for work on Elvis Presley Boulevard between Winchester and Craft roads, a stretch that takes in the segment of the state highway that borders Graceland and The Guest House at Graceland hotel.

Chase Carlisle said the council could use its rarely used subpoena power to seek financial records from MATA in the coming weeks. 

The Renasant Convention Center’s general manager said the convention center would be “like a racecar without wheels” without the hotel. 

Memphis Mayor Paul Young said he felt “very compelled” to purchase Downtown’s Sheraton because of the financial risks associated with not buying it. 

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