As Shelby County Schools students gear up for in-person school Monday, Aug. 9, the district is revving up a new fleet of buses. 

The resolution is not binding and the council cannot enact a mask mandate as it did previously because the state has blocked the ability for local governments to do so.

The Memphis City Council members changed their minds about a used car lot in Raleigh. And, the council will vote on a pair of resolutions asking the TVA to avoid moving coal ash from the old Allen Fossil plant.

Council resolutions to call for no coal ash disposal within the city and over aquifers that supply the city’s drinking water will be voted on in two weeks.

The outline includes major funding for an expansion of broadband to parts of the city where connections were a problem as schools went to virtual learning last year.

Two resolutions come up in council committees Tuesday, Aug. 3. One urges TVA to keep coal ash from the old Allen Fossil plant out of the city, another seeks to have the ash taken outside the eight-state region where a system of aquifers provides water for Memphis and other cities.

The Hernando DeSoto Bridge reopened to all traffic — eastbound and westbound — 84 days after is was closed when Arkansas bridge inspectors noticed structural damage to a box beam on the north face of the span.

A week after welcoming the public back to its sessions at City Hall, the Memphis City Council is reinstituting pandemic measures starting with the Tuesday, Aug. 3, committee sessions and the full meeting of the council later in the day.

The first step would be a commission to draft a charter for a combined city of Memphis and Shelby County government covering Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County but not the six suburban towns and cities. 

Decision on masking mandate rests with the county mayor’s office. Aside from a tweet endorsing the CDC guidelines Wednesday, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris refused comment.

A comprehensive traffic study is planned for incorporated Cordova, but crime was the main topic of discussion Tuesday evening. 

The surprise announcement last week at City Hall of a plan to truck the waste to a landfill near Memphis International Airport drew immediate criticism from City Council members. TVA isn’t pulling the plan but says will seek more public input.

The initial estimate was a late July reopening for the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. TDOT officials also upped the number of replacement plates to be installed aside from the damage that prompted the closing of the interstate bridge from 16 to 17.

Car lots and gas stations are getting more scrutiny from the Memphis City Council. But the idea of a proposed used car lot on Old Austin Peay Highway becoming a bike and kayak rental business instead is a new twist. 

The precinct site sold for $3.5 million after being appraised at $6 million, setting up a council debate about whether to take the best offer now or wait for a better one.

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Council approves centerpiece of Downtown parking reconfiguration

Coal ash from old Allen plant would go to airport area

The council also gave final approval Tuesday to new historic overlay districts in Crosstown and Vollintine-Evergreen, took its first vote on a pipeline infrastructure review board and passed an ordinance banning landlords from putting the belongings of those they evict on city rights of way.

TVA officials outlined remediation plans that include trucking treated coal residue to a private landfill near Memphis International Airport.

The long awaited permit clears the way for the park’s redesign to begin moving dirt and creating new features in Tom Lee Park after a three-year planning process that has seen the plans change over time. 

The council also takes up the vote delayed two weeks ago on the sale of the old Union Avenue police station in Midtown, a car lot in Raleigh and takes the first of three votes on restrictions of future oil pipelines within the city.

A new monument on Beale Street honors the 19th century school teacher, journalist and anti-lynching figure. The recognition comes 130 years after Wells left the city just ahead of a mob that ransacked her newspaper office.

After gaining its moment in the spotlight with the Byhalia Connection Pipeline project, MCAP is now looking ahead and figuring out how to face future battles. 

The council’s discussion last week about a car lot in Raleigh could be about some larger changes in zoning. Normally the representative of a district gets final say on the zoning, but that’s not how this is going.

The city’s list of those allowed in City Hall only with a police escort grew to 81 in a wave of protests in 2016 and 2017.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division began the process Monday, July 12, of soliciting proposals for possibly cutting ties to the Tennessee Valley Authority, its electric power provider for the past 80 years.