Pay to Park

Memphis drivers may be getting the boot.

City Court Clerk Thomas Long brought the City Council's economic development committee several recommendations this morning, among them electronic pay stations, doubled fines, and the dreaded "boot," which renders a car immobile.



Long told the council the city loses $1.5 to $2 million annually in unpaid parking tickets. Under state law, the statute of limitations for parking tickets is only one year. Because many residents know that fact, they choose not to pay city parking tickets.

"If I park my car downtown and get a ticket, then after that I'll take my car and hide it or do whatever I need to do," Long said. "After one year, why pay?"

Long asked the council to add changing the statute of limitations to its legislative agenda bound for Nashville.

"We need more than one year to collect non-moving violations. The city of New Orleans has 10 years," Long said.

Long was initially not supportive of booting cars but, after research on what other cities do, said he thinks automobiles ought to be subject to booting after 60 days of non-payment.

"Parking tickets are $20. If you don't pay within 30 days, I think it ought to go to $40. If you don't pay within 60 days, I think it should be $80," Long said.

After that time, the vehicle would get the boot for three days. If the owner didn't pay the fee in three days, the car would be taken to a downtown impound lot.

The only exception would be for vehicles that have more than $500 in fines attached to them. Those would get taken straight to impound.

"The 20, 40, 80 seems a little extreme to me," said councilmember Shea Flinn. "If it's too little, people are going to ignore it. If it's too much, people are going to ignore it. We've got to hit the sweet spot."

Long said he wasn't tied to the fee structure, but that he thinks it should be more than $20.

With budget season approaching, the committee asked Long to bring back his top three recommendations.

Fairgrounds Update UPDATE

Yesterday, I wrote that council members Barbara Swearengen Ware and Kemp Conrad had called the funding plan for the fairgrounds redevelopment project "pie in the sky" and "half-baked," respectively.

Conrad asked me to clarify his position on the fairgrounds proposal, saying he thought the plan half-baked because the process isn't working:

"I like the idea of private development paying for public improvements. I like the development team and their vision for the project, their track record and their diversity.

What is 'half baked' is a project totally predicated on $100 million in retail sales – yet we have just now receiving the retail study (which I recommended months ago) that

A) will confirm or not if this level of retail sales is even feasible – especially in this economy, and

B) where will these sales come from? I.e. Are we cannibalizing existing retail dollars that are being spent in Memphis? Or are they net new dollars that are currently being spent in Mississippi or Arkansas?

One has to look no further than the Winchester corridor – a carcass of once vibrant retail – now dead due in large part to retail spending migration to Wolfchase once it was built.

Also, if the majority of the $100 million are Memphis sales tax dollars now – the sales tax dollars these sales generate will then be diverted from the general fund (and we have a deficit as I’m sure you know) to be plowed into the public improvements."

The council is expected to hold a three-hour evening meeting in the near future to discuss the project.

Mitigating the Mortgage Crisis

The city is still pursing a lawsuit against national mortgage lenders as part of its response to area foreclosures, says city CFO Robert Lipscomb.

Lipscomb and a team of public/private partners went before the City Council yesterday to update them on local plans to mitigate the mortgage crisis.

Co-chairs of four committees presented several strategies to the council, including job fairs, a sort of monster.com for Memphis residents, and asking the Postal Service and MLGW for information on vacant homes.

(Inside baseball alert: My colleague John Branston and I talk a lot about how many foreclosures and vacant homes there are, exactly. County assessor Cheyenne Johnson, who is co-chair of the committee looking to MLGW, has one number. RealtyTrac and other data services have others, and it's very confusing, b/c it just doesn't seem like anyone really knows.

Johnson's committee, the IT and fiscal planning committee, says that the postal service knows when a house is vacant and MLGW knows when they get a cut-off notice and they're trying to collect as much data as they can.)

The city and county also are expected to receive a combined $14 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds from the federal government.

Housing and Community Development deputy director Beverly Goines said the city expects the neighborhood stabilization contract to come from HUD within the next 30 to 60 days. Within 30 days of getting the contract, the city will execute its program.

I think we might have talked about this program before. More than once.

Council member Barbara Swearengen Ware asked Goines if the program is going to help homeowners whose houses have been foreclosed on: "[If] they desire to be back in their homes, is that money available to them?"

"They would have to be able to qualify for a 30-year fixed-term loan and it would probably be difficult to do if you already had a foreclosure," Goines replied.

"So this program will not help a person who has lost their home?" Ware persisted.

"It might help them in terms of a rental property, but not home ownership," said Goines.

The money is really intended to shore up neighborhoods (thus the name). It's not going to help Joe Schmoe who just got kicked out of his house.

I'm not sure this was the way to go. It seems it might be a good idea to try to keep people in their own houses instead of letting them get kicked out under a foreclosure procedure, buying the house, renovating it, and reselling it. I mean, first question: Reselling it to who?

But under the federal guidelines, the city and county are only allowed to use the money in very specific ways. They're allowed to use the funding to acquire land for a land bank, for instance, but they're not allowed to use it to maintain the land in the land bank.

The city plans to acquire and rehab about 145 vacant homes with help from local community development corporations.

Herenton's Response to MCS Suit Ruling

Today Chancellor Kenny Armstrong ruled in favor of the Memphis City Schools in the city/MCS lawsuit.

Mayor Willie Herenton told the council this afternoon that he had a sense of urgency about the decision:

"I think this particular ruling that we received today, one of my expectations was the court would really define what governmental body had the responsibility for maintenance of effort. I'm not a lawyer but I don't think that designation has been made.

"Your administrative staff are heavily involved in making a budget for next year. I've got to now direct my staff to develop a budget that potentially would be required to absorb an additional $57 million, in addition to what we were planning to present to you.

"I know CAO Keith McGee and [finance director] Roland [McElrath] have worked with you and told you the upcoming budget is challenging. Hopefully you've looked at other municipalities, the state, the corporate sector. All of those entities are facing significant layoffs, facing significant diminution of benefits. Obviously, we've got to make some deep cuts in our budget.

"We cannot be all things to all people. ...

"As we trim personnel costs down, we want to have the flexibility to impact some managerial positions so that the overwhelming burden of balancing budget don't fall on the employees that are traditionally in the lowest quartile.

"This administration needs flexibility and we'll have to curtail services like never before."

Fairgrounds Update

Mayor Willie Herenton is in front of the city council's economic development committee right now, talking about the Fairgrounds development project.

"I'm growing weary of getting all of these innuendos. The press has gotten involved. I keep hearing there are councilmembers ... concerned about development fees," said Herenton. "At the end of the day we're going to do this project or we're not.

"What are your issues?"

Under the proposal, the developer, Henry Turley (full disclosure: Turley is one of Contemporary Media's stockholders) is set to get $9.5 million in development fees.

Council member Shea Flinn asked that the mayor take the focus off the stadium and onto the Children's Museum of Memphis.

"It needs to stop being about a stadium. People in this city are worn out about stadiums and sports authorities," he said. "The guiding light has to be the children's museum. ... It already brings disparate parts of our community together right there."

Herenton said he heard what Flinn was saying but that the Liberty Bowl Stadium is "a horrendous challenge" because of the ADA requirements that haven't yet been met.

"We're not going to build a new one, but we've got to improve that stadium and we've got to do it in concert with the ADA requirements," Herenton said.

Under the current proposal for the fairgrounds redevelopment, $50 million in funding will be generated by the developer from retail sales.

Council members Barbara Swearengen Ware and Kemp Conrad both called that plan into question:

"I hate to use the terminology, but it sounds a little pie in the sky," said Ware.

"It's predicated on $100 million in retail sales, but the economy is not good right now. People are not spending money," Conrad said, calling the proposal "half-baked."

Herenton then said that based on what he was hearing from the council, the project was not ready to be moved forward and that he would instead focus on the stadium upgrades required by the department of justice.

The council plans to schedule a three-hour meeting to discuss the fairgrounds proposal in detail.

Parking Review

Looks like the city of Memphis is looking closely at its parkland.

The City Council heard from Parks Services Director Cindy Buchanan today about an upcoming city parks master plan.

"The purpose for this project is to provide recreational activities in the best fiscal manner," she said. "We will not bring any major construction projects to the council for various facilities until the master plan is complete."

Buchanan said they would be looking at all facets of the city's parks, including whether there was property the city could "divest ourselves of."

A group of citizens will be helping the city with the master plan.

"They are members of the public, and we expect them to bring with them their desires, passions, and concerns," Buchanan said. "They will discuss things and hopefully come to a consensus for park services. Once that happens, we'll create a document and bring it to the City Council."

The master plan is expected to be complete within 6 months.

The City Council's parks and environment committee also discussed ADA upgrades for the Liberty Bowl stadium.

Lee-gal Bills

The City Council's MLGW committee voted down a resolution approving the release of more than $426K in legal bills for former MLGW head Joseph Lee this morning.

The full council already voted against the measure in October, but then the minutes of that meeting were pulled after chairman Myron Lowery suggested a compromise of a lesser amount.

"[MLGW] President [Jerry] Collins has been working with Mr. Lee and his attorneys to work out a different or the same compromise and they have been unsuccessful," councilperson Barbara Swearengen Ware told the MLGW committee she chairs.

"We have the option to approve this or deny it. If it is denied, then we could possibly spend a lot more in attorney fees, because it will go to court."

Council members Wanda Halbert and Janis Fullilove wondered why the council was second-guessing the MLGW board, which already approved the full amount. The council has to approve any MLGW expenditures above $25,000.

"We are stepping all the way outside our responsibility," said councilperson Wanda Halbert. "Why are we talking about this? Are we trying to overrule their body? is that what we're trying to accomplish?"

Ware responded: "I think so, because the compromise offered a lesser amount. ... This body thought it had the authority to supersede what was recommended by the MLGW board."

Committee members Jim Strickland, Shea Flinn, Bill Boyd, and Bill Morrison voted against paying Lee's legal fees. Ware voted to do so.

"It's not like we haven't paid more [before]," Ware said. "It's just this case that has become the issue."

The measure will now be taken up in full council.

Young Politicos

After bringing Newark, New Jersey, mayor Cory Booker to Memphis to speak, the Leadership Academy felt like it needed a special event to follow the energetic young mayor.

The result was one of the group's Celebrate What's Right luncheons, this one with a panel of "young politicos."

During the luncheon — held today at the FedEx Institute of Technology — city school board members Martavius Jones and Tomeka Hart, County Commissioner Wyatt Bunker, and City Council members Shea Flinn and Kemp Conrad (as of yesterday) talked about how they decided to run for office, what their youth brought to their respective bodies, and how people could get involved.

"The average age of your district nine reps, now that we got rid of Ol' Man [Scott] McCormick, is 33," Flinn joked.

Moderator Darrell Cobbins went through a list of what he called Memphis' "rich history of young leaders" — which, if we're to be honest, made me sort of think that it's time to get on the stick:

Harold Ford Senior first got elected when he was 29, Fred Smith founded FedEx when he was 27, Dick Hackett became mayor of Memphis when he was 33, and Henry Turley founded his company when he was 36.

The Leadership Academy also played clips of last month's luncheon with Booker.

But the most important message from the young leaders seemed to be about getting involved, whether on a board or commission or just by showing up at meetings. Jones, for instance, began his public service as a member of the the Memphis Alcohol Commission.

(I can also personally vouch that he was a faithful attendee of the school board meetings. He told the crowd he attended them because, at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays, they were most convenient than the County Commission's 1:30 p.m. Monday meetings or the City Council's 3:30 p.m. Tuesday meetings.)

"The power does not lie in the elected official. You're only one in 9 or one in 13. It's the people's government, " Hart said. "We gauge the public's reaction on something by the 100 people who show up at a meeting in a city of 600,000."

When asked what issues Memphis needs to move on, the responses centered around education, crime, taxes, and, what Hart called the "umbrella of the issues," poverty.

"More immediately is lowering the crime rate," Flinn said. "That will allow us to get more economic development. ... In a more abstract way, we need to look at who we are as a community. We need to look at consolidation. We need to look at how we see race."

Addressing Police, Another Folo

UPDATE from the previous post: The council split along racial lines to vote down the 20-miles-from-the-county-line residency proposal, mostly due, it seems, to the belief that the police department is not hiring enough African-American officers.

A few months ago — and unfortunately this is all from memory — director Larry Godwin and a police academy representative were before the council. They were quick to point out that the racial split of officers follows the racial split of the city, meaning roughly 60 percent of officers are African American.

However, when they looked at the data on the applicants, the council noticed that the department had more African Americans applying than whites and the department was thus disproportionately turning away African American applicants.

Courting Cops

City Council is going to be interesting tonight.

In a some times heated executive session earlier this afternoon, the council discussed the recommendations that the police hiring task force presented a few weeks ago. One, based upon evidence that a previous group of applicants would not have applied if they had to live within the city limits, centered around the police department's residency requirement.

"There were a couple of issues that this council had discussed," said Council member Wanda Halbert. "One of them was the residency requirement. The media has inappropriately and incorrectly said that this group said to only relax the residency requirement."

The full council is expected to vote tonight on a resolution to allow police officers to live within 20 miles of the Shelby County line.

Longtime member Barbara Swearengen Ware has been against the measure from the beginning. She, along with Halbert, have implied the police department is turning candidates away unnecessarily.

"We don't have a lack of folk applying. We have folk who are being disqualified systematically," Ware said. "That's something we should be concerned about."

After Council Chair Myron Lowery said they had all been contacted by constituents about applicants being unfairly disqualified, Councilmember Bill Boyd said that he represented a wide area of the city and had not received "one piece of mail, one e-mail, one telephone call about anything being unfair" with MPD, and that when the chair said they all had, "we all haven't."

Halbert returned that she had a number of families contact her.

"Their boys have been wrongfully arrested; the tickets have been dismissed; and then that's used against them in police hiring," she said.

The executive session also included discussions of the fairgrounds redevelopment plan and the city's foreclosure crisis plan.

Addressing Police, Update

The City Council's public safety and homeland security committee voted today to send a police residency resolution to the full council.

The resolution would allow police officers to live within 20 miles of the Shelby County line.

"The police department has said that one third of the new hires have said that if they were required to live in the city of Memphis, they would not have applied," said Council member Jim Strickland. "I think crime is important enough to make this exception. That's why I'm voting for it."

Barbara Swearengen Ware and Harold Collins were against the resolution. Collins said he thought the council should wait and see how effective the MPD's new marketing campaign is before changing the residency requirement.

Ware has long been a vocal supporter of police officers living within the city limits.

"As we speak, [the police department] has 1,000 applications," she said. "Are you not willing to allow the process to work? Or are you just determined to get folk that don't live in Memphis to work and go back home to Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri?"

But council member Shea Flinn said the current restriction puts the city at a competitive disadvantage.

"If you go back to the task force, only one out of seven [applicants] gets hired. Out of 1,000, that's 140, and with our attrition, it's not enough," Flinn said. "Either we're going to address this need or we're not. ... Either you want your pride or you want your safety."

Addressing Police

(Getting a late start on things this morning ... erm, afternoon, whatever, sorry.)

Tuesday, while Memphis voters are deciding whether division directors, legal department employees, and chief administrative staff should reside within the city limits, the City Council's public safety committee will take up a resolution to allow police officers to reside within 20 miles of the Shelby County line.

Hiring a full complement of police officers has been both a mandate from and a challenge for "the new council." (Sorry, that's what I still call the bumper crop of new council members from the last municipal election.)

In May, I wrote about Councilman Harold Collins' idea to levy a $1,200 a year fee on police officers who lived outside the city. Collins decided on that amount because of the average property tax bill.

At the time, Collins had this to say:

"How hard is it to move to Memphis? The best idea is for everybody who wants to work for the city to move into the city and then we could be happily ever after. We're a long way from Camelot. This is the next best thing."

He also said that the pay difference between Memphis and its surrounding jurisdictions would more than make up for the fee.

If you're interested in reading the rest of that story, you can find it here, but the Memphis Police Association was not in favor of Collins' plan.

"I live in Memphis. If I call the fire department, I don't care where they live," said police association president James Sewell. "I just want them to come quickly and put out the fire."

The council's public safety committee will also discuss the recommendations from the police hiring task force Tuesday.

Once Upon A Time ...

This is my favorite quote from today's joint City Council/County Commission meeting about the future of the Pyramid.

"Give us the building, let us sign a deal with Bass Pro and live happily ever after," said Councilwoman Barbara Swearengen Ware.

The County Commission recently rejected a proposal to sell its share of the Pyramid (along with the coliseum and land under the Liberty Bowl) to the city. For the Bass Pro development deal to move forward, both the City Council and County Commission have to approve it.

The development agreement gives the retailer a year to sign a lease on the Pyramid.

This quote from City Council member Shea Flinn, who advocated blowing up the Pyramid if the two elected bodies don't agree to the proposal, was a close second:

"We had the Big Dig. Let's have the Big Boom," he said.

Rehab

Is Janis Fullilove our Amy Winehouse?
































They both have a strong sense of personal style. (And for a time, similar hair.)


































They both have rather husky voices.

And then there's the incriminating paparazzi shots ...














At least Fullilove has reportedly checked into a rehab program. I wish her the best. Now if only we could get Winehouse there.

City's Hickory Ridge Plans Delayed Again

A joint City Council public works and CIP budget committee decided today to postpone taking action on the proposed Hickory Ridge Mall sale.

The city administration wants to buy the concourse of the Hickory Ridge Mall — damaged in a tornado last February — for the new fire and police dispatch center. The facility could also house other municipal services and community groups, as well as pre-tornado mall vendors.

The purchase price would be $1.25 million, and the administration is asking for an additional $4.23 million this year for engineering and architecture.

Like two weeks ago, the committee was still troubled that it didn't know the true, total price of the project. City CAO Keith McGee estimates it somewhere between $60 million and $64 million in all.

Council members Reid Hedgepeth and Shea Flinn were also concerned about the city renting space out to mall vendors. Before the tornado, the mall had 33 vendors — 13 of those have expressed an interest in returning. The mall's Sears store is still open.

"It's certainly not a good time to be getting into retail," Flinn said. "I have reservations about the government competing with private developers in this market. That is a cause for great concern."

Councilman Jim Strickland also wanted to know why the city did not partner with the 911 board and tap into $18 million in phone fees the board has earmarked for a dispatch building.

"That money can only be used to construct a building and, obviously, the $18 million would increase as we keep paying those charges," he said. "The 911 board said, lets put the dispatch offices together. The county was going to give up some land out by the penal farm and they were going to construct this building for $35 to $40 million. The 911 board cannot issue bonds themselves."

But after the county balked at issuing more bonds, the city pulled out of the partnership, as well.

"My thought is, that's not the smartest use of money. There's $18 million sitting there," Strickland said. "Instead of issuing bonds for the difference between $40 million and $18 million and use this revenue stream, we're going to issue bonds for $60 million and have to pay for it out of our own pocket."

"I must be missing something," he said.

The committee is expected to review the proposal at its next meeting.

Mayor/Council Relations

No time to chat, but this morning, council chair Myron Lowery sent the following to the mayor, the CAO, and all the division directors:

"The City Administration needs to be more forthright in sharing information with members of the City Council. Too often the Council becomes aware of issues involving the City through the media. We are receiving calls and demands for answers from citizens when we have little or no information regarding these issues. Recent examples are the removal of furniture and equipment from the Pyramid, the proposed purchase of the Hickory Ridge Mall and the Convention Center Task Force. These are items that are in the public domain and the Council has had little or no information regarding these plans and on-going negotiations. It’s embarrassing when the Council has no information about important issues the Administration is discussing privately. As the legislative body of this city, we should be informed about such important City business. This is common courtesy and it is the right thing to do."

Bottled Water Ban at City Hall?

Even the City Council is trying to get a little greener.

During a parks committee meeting this morning, City Council members provisionally voted to reestablish the City Hall recycling committee.

"This started from a conversation about how can we, as a city, be more green?" said parks committee head Jim Strickland. "This is an easy first step."

Strickland also floated the idea of prohibiting city funds from being used to buy bottled water.

"Why are we buying bottled water when we have the best water in the world?" he asked. "Not only is it wasteful but a lot of green folks think it's heresy."

The idea didn't get much traction — the convenience of bottled water won out — but council members did seem to recognize that Memphis could be more ecologically friendly.

"I see now, after spending a few days in Denver, we don't have a big emphasis on recycling," said council member Barbara Swearengen Ware. "Everywhere you go, on the streets, everywhere, there are recycling bins. It's obvious to me that we have not done a comprehensive job on recycling."

What's the Plan?

One of my readers — and a Snowden School parent — asked me to post a letter she sent to the City Council. Here it is, in its entirety:

"The children will not suffer. These words were spoken by Councilman [Harold] Collins when he spoke in favor of slashing the city funding of the Memphis City Schools by approximately 70 percent. Councilman [Edmund] Ford Jr. said to 'cut a little' when he also spoke in favor of slashing the funding. Councilman [Shea] Flinn said 'the children will not be hurt by this,' when he spoke in favor of slashing school funding. Councilwoman [Wanda] Halbert said the funding cuts to Memphis City Schools "will not hurt the children." Councilman [Myron] Lowery said that a 'day of opportunity' has come, that we need a fundamental change in the operation of the city government and the school system.

We must now hold these council members accountable for their decision to drastically slash the city's funding of the Memphis City Schools, specifically Councilman [Bill] Morrison, the 'brains' behind these cuts and this entire fiasco.

In the August 27th issue, The Commercial Appeal reported the following:

The $42 million in cuts at Memphis City Schools threatens the city's 'most vulnerable' groups, educators say, including immigrants and children needing mental health services.

So I now ask, Councilman Collins, Councilman Ford, Councilman Flinn, Councilwoman Halbert, Councilman Lowery, and most of all, Councilman Morrison, how can you now ensure that with these cuts, the children will not suffer?

Of course, these elected officials will argue that the Memphis City School administration made the decision to cut these particular services and that they could have cut dollars elsewhere. In response, I then ask these elected officials this: Please tell me where these dollars should have been cut, because if you're going to make a statement that the children will not suffer, you better be able to stand behind it. And you better be able to develop a plan to resolve the funding issues going forward. A plan is needed with the Memphis City School Board, Shelby County, and the State of Tennessee.

I, like many other Memphis City Schools parents, appeared before the council and asked for a plan. Instead, what we got was a blanket statement from these certain council members that 'the children will not suffer.' So now please tell me, Councilman Collins, Councilman Ford, Councilman Flinn, Councilwoman Halbert , Councilman Lowery and Councilman Morrison, where should these cuts be made? And where and what is the plan?

Sincerely,

Martha Burkhead
Memphis City School Parent"

A Compromised Position

In the ongoing tussle over more than $57 million in city funding, the City Council's budget committee this morning approved a compromise.

Under the terms of the compromise, the city schools would give the city $57.5 million from its reserve fund. The city would then allocate that money back to the school system to meet a state maintenance of effort clause and save the city schools from staring down the gun barrel of a $423 million state funding cut in October.

"The ball will be in MCS' court to fund it," council attorney Allan Wade said. "If they do not fund it, it will be their choice to not fund it."

But when council member Barbara Swearengen Ware asked if the school system was in agreement with the compromise, there seemed to be some reluctance from the district.

"The $57.5 million would satisfy the maintenance of effort test," said Irving Hamer, the district's deputy superintendent of academic operations. "The amount under dispute is how much the district will send the city."

Hamer later said that the committee meeting was the first time he had seen the proposed resolution in writing and that "neither I nor my colleagues are in a position to say that we accept."

"I've read it enough to know it doesn't really solve our financial problem," Hamer concluded.

But committee members decided to go ahead and approve the resolution, sending it on to the full council.

"This will allow them to get their full $423 million from the state," Wade said. "It is not intended to solve every problem MCS has. That's what the lawsuit is about."

The city, the charter, the schools

With a Memphis City Schools budget presentation to the City Council scheduled for this evening, school board and charter commission member Sharon Webb proposed — and then withdrew — a charter change that would have required the city to fund the school district.

In today's Charter Commission meeting, Webb presented a charter amendment that would have guaranteed Memphis City Schools at least 75 cents on every one hundred dollars of assessed property value.

After the City Council cut $66 million in funding to the school system in June, the district sued the city, arguing that it has a mandate to fund education under a state maintenance of effort clause. The city has argued that the maintenance of effort clause relates to the official local funding body, the county.

Webb said she wanted to give the citizens of Memphis the choice to fund Memphis City Schools.

"My rationale is that the children of the Memphis City Schools belong to Memphis city," Webb said. "From the abrupt decision made by the City Council, I really don't believe everybody understood the full impact of what happened."

In addition to Webb, charter commission members Willie Brooks and George Brown Jr. have both served on the school board.

Charter commission members Myron Lowery and Janis Fullilove, however, are currently members of the City Council.

"From what I understand, it's the responsibility of the county to fund education," Fullilove said. "I would vote no."

Brooks and Brown both mentioned how complex the issue of school funding was, Brown pointing out that today's meeting was the charter commission's second to last. Both seemed prepared to vote the measure down.

"As citizens of Memphis, we are providing tax support [for education], but its going through the county," Brooks pointed out.

"The last place we need to be talking abut school funding at this juncture is a charter commission meeting," Brown said.

After a brief recess, Webb withdrew her amendment, saying she would "just pray for the best."

The school board is scheduled to present budget information to the members of the City Council, the County Commission, and other elected officials tonight, 7 p.m., at Bridges.