News

(Note: The following was sent in an email to Management at Memphis Code Enforcement as well as to City Councilman Worth Morgan and members of Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration.  We eagerly await a response.)

Good Afternoon, Mr Dandridge,

My name is Brad Watkins and I am the Executive Director of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. For the past year we have been involved with the residents at the Warren Apartments and now with Serenity Towers.

We have been a long time advocate in the issues of blight, homelessness and the issues of quality affordable and accessible housing in Memphis.

We are encouraged by decisive action we have seen from HUD but also have a great many concerns about the relocation of residents from Warren and Tulane in addition to Foote Homes, We will also be reaching out to the Administration and others about those concerns and our research about best practices from other cities in similar situations.

However, I wanted to reach out to you, moving forward on our thoughts as to how Code can utilize it’s, what we agree are underfunded and stretched thin resources in this time when the city is looking to further reduce spending.

The following link is the City of Memphis RESERVE HOUSING AND CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS amendment to the code of ordinances.

http://www.memphistn.gov/Portals/0/pdf_forms/ordinances/5404_ReserveCodesOfficer.pdf

With the proper outreach, this tool could be used to promote greater accountability and give code extra eyes and ears within these properties.

What we are proposing is a partnership on two initiatives both using SERENITY TOWERS as a pilot program between MSPJC and CODE ENFORCEMENT.

1.This would entail the recruitment and training of tenant leaders in into building viable and HUD recognized Tenants Associations in all HUD subsidized Elderly and Multi-Family units in the City of Memphis. MSPJC would perform the initial outreach and contact with residents and provide our training in the skills of grassroots organizing with Code engaging the membership of these new organizations to recruit and train small teams of tenants as Reserve Code Officers under the current city ordinance.

From our view this would not only increase Code’s on the ground capacity in these troubled units but also build the capacity of the tenants themselves with the means to self advocate on their own behalf.

2. At Serenity and other Senior living HUD subsidized properties, MSPJC is currently in conversations with a local institution of higher learning to pursue a potential partnership where college interns trained by MSPJC and trained as RCO by CODE with required service hours would be able to perform these hours by being paired up with residents at Serenity who have mobility or physical disabilities. the students would check in on the residents regularly, as many have serious and multiple health issues. Students would also aid residents in keeping their rooms clean to avoid housekeeping evictions and aid residents in preparing their rooms to be sprayed for inspections. This also focuses on the fostering and building relationships between the tenants and the students which has an abstract but genuine quality of life benefit for the residents and aids management and residents in improving conditions for all.

We also feel that this option is a reasonable accommodation to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act for the quality of life of these residents.

In addition as these students would be trained in how to file complaints via a CODE Liaison, this would aid in preventing retaliations against residents as it would be witnessed by a recognized third party.

We feel that by using the case of Serenity Towers as a pilot, we can build a model for implementation for all of our Senior Living and Multi Family units in Memphis in a manner that builds both CODE and the communities capacity and is as revenue neutral as possible during these financially lean times.

We’d like to speak to you about both of these matters, when your schedule allows. Please do not hesitate to contact us at anytime about this matter.

1. No grant is going to fully pay for what we do. Our willingness to follow the needs and demands of the community and willingness to speak truth to power, no matter who holds that power, means that many foundation and traditional funders turn away from our important work.
2. You want a world where any person has the heart and skills will speak out and act up to make the future better for our community.
3. You want to support campaigns such as the Memphis Bus Riders Union, Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality andMemphis United.
4. You’ve been attending rallies, forums and marches for years and you know the value of organization such as the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. You want to support groups like us that are building long-term movements for change.
5. You want a radical local grassroots movement that is able to take the fight to the next issue and support the next person and community that is ready to act for justice in the interests of peace.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 713 and the Memphis Bus Riders Union have partnered in a new effort to promote the expansion and improvement of Memphis Area Transit Authority service.

“We have brought together the operators at ATU Local 713 and the MBRU in a campaign to reverse the decline of our bus system, protect good jobs for Memphis and prevent further service cuts and outsourcing.” said Sammie Hunter, Memphis Bus Riders Union Co-Chair. “We want to stop the service cuts planned for the spring, and make sure that operators are safe and comfortable, and not worried about loosing their jobs while getting us around.” he said. 

In a joint letter addressed to the Mayor-elect Jim Strickland, they lay out the shocking details of what MBRU has deemed a “#BusCrisis”.

From the letter:

“Daily breakdowns on some of MATA’s most heavily used routes have resulted in loss of revenue, worsening on time performance leading to poor morale among riders and operators, and increased operating costs. Local 713 members regularly express concerns of dangerous overcrowding on popular routes such as the 42. Averaging reports from the past 6 months, we believe that at least 17 buses breakdown weekly. The weekly average of buses operating with malfunctioning digital displays, broken wheelchair ramps, broken intercoms and dispatch radios, broken mirrors and poorly functioning or non-functioning AC is likely almost 50%.”

The letter also counters the popular narrative that MATA’s trolleys are the most important priority, warning that preventing service cuts and privatization should be the main focus of the new administration. 

Civilian Oversight of Police Efforts Stalled

A recent poll conducted by the Commercial Appeal, asked,“Do you feel the Memphis Police Department does or does not need stronger citizen oversight?”

60 percent of those surveyed said MPD does need stronger oversight, while only 28 percent said no, and 12 percentweren’t sure.

So, if this issue has already been decided in the minds of the public, what’s the hold up on the City Council’s vote on the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) all about? We believe it is a simple matter of political cowardice and pandering on the part of Council Candidates that don’t want to have to clarify their position with a vote, out of fear of losing endorsements and campaign contributions.

On Tuesday, August 4th, against the backdrop of the fatalshooting of Officer Sean Bolton, Memphis Police Department Director, Toney Armstrong urged the City Council to delay the vote on the distinctly unrelated issue of police accountability and transparency, “out of respect for the family” of the fallen officer who was to be buried the following Thursday. This came after a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation by Super District 9 Councilman, Kemp Conrad, where he attempted to smear members of the Memphis United Coalition and other supporters of strengthening CLERB as “anti-police” and “law-breakers at heart.”

Following Armstrong’s plea and these baseless claims by Conrad, District 7 Councilman, Berlin “The Wall” Boyd, made a motion for a delay which was approved, pushing the vote back, not for the next Council meeting in two weeks, but until after the election runoffs in November! 

Councilpersons who voted for the delay were BerlinBoyd, William Boyd, Joe Brown, Kemp Conrad, Edmund Ford Jr, Reid Hedgepeth and Bill Morrison.

CouncilpersonsHarold Collins, Alan Crone, Janis Fullilove, Wanda Halbert, Jim Strickland, and Myron Lowery voted against the delays.

Bring Down the Wall!

The Memphis City Council still has an opportunity to do the right thing, by bringing back the vote to strengthen CLERB at the October 6th Council Meeting, however, it will take a member from the prevailing side of the delay to make that motion.

Since it was Councilman Boyd who made the motion, and since he has continued to defend his position to delay claiming, that it was not wrongly-motivated, we’d like to give him the opportunity to prove it!
 
Contact Councilman Berlin Boyd and tell him to tear down the wall preventing stronger Civilian Oversight of the Memphis Police Department!

Berlin.Boyd@memphistn.gov
Ph: 901-636-7010
www.facebook.com/berlin.boyd

On August 4th, in a show of political pandering, The City Council postponed the final vote on important common sense legislation to strengthen the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) until after the elections! This is simply unacceptable!

This motion was sponsored by Berlin Boyd and supported by the votes of William Boyd, Joe Brown, Kemp Conrad, Edmund Ford Jr, Reid Hedgepeth and Bill Morrison.

Harold Collins, Alan Crone, Janis Fullilove, Wanda Halbert, Jim Strickland, and Myron Lowery voted against the delays, and we thank them. However, we hope they are urging their colleagues to bring the vote back before elections as well.

PLEASE Call your Councilperson at (901) 636-6786 or email them and urge them to take the vote before the elections! Transparency & Accountability shouldn’t have to wait on political agendas. Our elected officials have failed to address these issues seriously and it’s now up to uto make sure police accountability is a priority!

“As we enter the final stretch of this campaign, we need your support more than ever!”

Following a string of incidents in 2012 and 2013 involving police harassment, excessive force, and arrests made while people were filming police, Memphis United assisted individuals involved with filing complaints through Internal Affairs and used this opportunity to document the process for filing complaints against officers, a process which presented numerous barriers that prevent average civilians from filing or seeing the investigation through to the end. Once an Internal Affairs investigation has been completed, unsatisfied complainants are supposed to be able to appeal to the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board, created by ordinance of the City Council in 1994 after MPD officers shot and killed a 68 year old resident of Orange Mound.

The board was created as “an independent, non-police Mayoral Agency with…the power to receive, investigate, hear cases, make findings and recommend action on complaints,” but from the start, it was clear that there were obstacles to the board being able to function as intended. Before passage, elments critical to CLERB’s success were removed from the ordinance. Without the power to subpoena documents, records, or additional testimony from officers, and without dedicated staff to conduct dedicated investigations, it quickly became apparent that CLERB ability to investigate complaints was entirely dependent upon the willful cooperation of MPD. Officers would be summoned and without consequence, would refuse to participate. CLERB had trouble obtaining relavant documents and policies to inform their work from the department.

Once complainants were notified of the completion of Internal Affairs’ investigations, members of Memphis United attempted to contact the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board. Calls were made to a number listed on the description of CLERB posted to the City of Memphis website. Voicemails seeking appeal of the complaints before CLERB went unreturned. Open records requests filed to obtain CLERB’s minutes from the past several years revealed something even more troubling-the board hadn’t met to review a complaint since 2011. The board had been quietly disbanded uner the Wharton administration without notice to the public or City Council, a violation of City Ordinance. Once this was brought to the attention of the public by the Memphis United Coalition, the Mayor’s office quickly scrambled to make new appointments, while sending mixed messages to the public, clamining the board was still in existance. While the Mayor’s office was busy making new appointments, Memphis United drafteda resolution which passed unanimously through council, empowering MU to do reseach on national best practices and hold a series of townhalls in each council district to gather public input.

Memphis United spent the next year surveying the public and researching review boards in other cities, and recently delivered their findings to the City Council in the form of a detailed report which was delivered to the full council in February 2015. Based on these findings Memphis United proceeded in drafting an ordinance to amend and strengthen the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board, and finally givie the board subpoena power and dedicated staff, among other things. Despite public oposition from MPD and the Police Uniion leadership, In April 2015, MU’s ordinance made it before committee, and was passed to go before the full Council . As with any ordinance, three readings are required before the final vote and ther must be at least 7 votes in favor for it to pass.

CALL TO ACTION

We have recently learned that our final reading is set for Tuesday, July 7th. While we are working hard to nail down the seven votes needed, we have reached a moment in this campaign where public support is more critical than ever. During final reading, the ordinance will be discussed by council, amendments will be taken, etc. The public is invited to pull comment cards, and given two minutes to speak on any issue up for discussion. We need YOU to join and support us at City Hall (125 N Main Street), July 7th, at 3:30PM and help insure the safe passage of an important piece of legislation with more than 20 years in the making.

Individuals can make a big difference NOW by contacting their City Councilpersons and urging them to support Memphis United’s recommendations for a stronger, more just Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board. We have created a simple webased tool at memphisunited.org that allows you to quickly contact all of your City Council people at once–check it out, then get your friends and family to do the same!

Organizations can help support these efforts by drafting formal letters of support to the full Council. You can also assist by encouraging your members to attend Council with us on Tues, July 7th.

For more information, please contact Organizing Coordinator, Paul Garner, paul@midsouthpeace.org or (901) 725-4990.
facebook.com/memphisunited  @Memphis_United

For the past year, the Memphis Bus Riders Union has worked with riders and MATA staff to develop a vision for improving the Will Hudson Transit Center downtown, commonly known as the North End Terminal. This vision has been collected into a 16-page report that outlines a list of concrete recommendations, spanning five issue areas: Safety, Sanitary Conditions, Customer Service, Public Engagement, and Quality of Life. MBRU will present this report to the MATA board during their June board meeting, and ideally they will set aside funding specifically for renovating the terminal. For more information and to see the full report, click here.

While gathering material for this report, it’s become obvious that the conditions at the terminal promote a separate and unequal system that has favored trolleys for tourism, while neglecting the needs of daily bus riders. Conditions inside and outside the terminal are not only unsanitary, but also unwelcoming. For example, there are 19 signs inside and outside of the station that say “No panhandling, no loitering, no soliciting” but not a single sign on the side of the station that faces the trolley stop. The trolley side of the building also has nice trash cans and landscaping. Moreover, contracted security guards are enforcing a “no sagging” rule which is not a law or a MATA policy. One white guard has even been accused of shouting racial slurs.

Since the report was drafted, we’ve seen it covered by WREG 3, the Commercial Appeal, and the Memphis Flyer. A MATA spokesperson’s response to WREG’s recent report on the unsanitary conditions was that “people who use the facility need to treat it better,” which is laughable when millions of dollars have been poured into Central Station and the trolleys and no substantial renovations have been recently done to the North End Terminal. As a matter of fact, MATA knows that improvements are needed; MATA board member Chooch Pickard said about the bathrooms, “It’s horrible. It’s like third-world conditions.” We’ve also seen some changes happen already: the bathrooms have new floors and have been repainted, and a mop bucket of old bleach water that was next to the vending machines has been conspicuously moved from its usual spot.

But there’s still an uphill battle left: presenting the report to MATA at their June board meeting and getting it adopted. Be on the lookout for more updates from MBRU, and come out to our meeting on June 13!