The Memphis City Council Chair's Recap for May 8, 2018

Good evening,

The Council had a full day. To see what happened today, click here.

 

Super District 9, Position 2 Vacancy – With the departure of now former Councilmember Philip Spinosa, the Council is seeking qualified candidates to fill this District 9, Position 2 vacancy. Interested citizens residing in District 9, Position 2 may pick up a qualifying petition in the Council office, 125 N. Main Street, Room 514 or download the application from the Council website. The deadline to apply is noon on Thursday, May 17^th. Members will vote on the interim member on Tuesday, May 22^nd. A permanent replacement will be selected in a special election to be conducted by the Shelby County Election commission at the time of the General Election of County Offices on Thursday, August 2^nd.

 

Downtown Memphis Commission Budget Approved – The Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) is subsidized by an assessment on commercial properties within the Central Business Improvement District. The DMC’s main goals are to increase the number of people working and playing downtown and to increase downtown commercial property values. All of Memphis and Shelby County benefit from the work done by the DMC, but citizens and property owners outside of Downtown do not contribute to the DMC's operations or incentives. If you want to learn more about their programs – check out their website.

 

MATAplus Presentation – To address concerns regarding MATAplus’ service, MATA is planning service improvements. Some of these improvements include a free fixed route fare for MATAplus certified clients, procuring 40 new vehicles, additional staff training on customer service, reviewing the policy to allow same day services, and reviewing a software upgrade which will allow customers the option of scheduling their services online and the same day.

 

MLG&W’s Emergency Response Plan – MLGW provided information about their emergency response plan. The plan is comprised of 10 separate plans used to respond in different instances of natural disaster or major system incident. As part of the Plan, MLGW is committed to providing an equitable response while maximizing the number of customers being restored. Thus, MLGW’s first focus is on speedily restoring services to the most critical facilities, such as hospitals, before restoring services to other customers. For more information, please visit MLGW’s website.

 

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Improvements – Tonight, Council approved $2.5 million for improvements to the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. This expenditure will be used to upgrade the locker rooms, enhance the sound system, and other support areas of the stadium. The renovations and enhancements will make our facilities comparable to other collegiate football stadiums.

 

Sea Isle Dog Park – Council voted to repurpose a portion of the Sea Isle Park into a dog park. The improvements to the park will be performed by the Sea Isle Park Neighborhood Association. The park enhancements will be completely funded by Hollywood Feed.

 

Speedway Terrace Historic Overlay District – Speedway Terrace is close to becoming a historic district. The decision will be final upon approval of the minutes in two weeks.

 

Youth Council – Youth Council attended the full Council meeting. During the meeting, Youth Council made a presentation to Council. City Council resolved to consider all of Youth Council’s recommendations. Thank you to these wonderful young people for your work and interest in Memphis City Government!

 

Have a great week and thanks for reading.

 

Take care.

 

B.B.