Recently in County Government Category

Just in case anyone out there hasn't had a chance to jump into our Comments fray or email me or just tell me straight to my face (as District Attorney Bill Gibbons did this morning) their opinion on my Sunday piece on race and voting, feel free to take advantage of this forum. Basically, we asked whether Thursday's election results really did prove voters have ushered the area into some kind of post-racial colorblind political utopia. Steve Cohen, after his victory in the 9th Congressional District battle over former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton, told us "no more elections decided by race" and it sure sounded nice.

Here's the story. One of the things I tried to do was confront the notion that the burden of colorblind voting was falling almost entirely on black voters, because of Herenton's decision to make race an issue in the battle with Cohen. That seemed unfair to me, especially given the history of black voters supporting white candidates, often over black candidates. It is also true that many Democrats and Republicans felt the countywide races would come down to whether white Democrats stayed loyal to Democratic candidates (all but one of whom was black) or crossed over to vote for Republican candidates (all but one of whom was white). This is not to say a voter was somehow "racist" for deciding to cross party lines and vote for what he/she felt was a better candidate for whatever reason, but the point was the focus should not just be on black voting solidarity.

As you might expect, the comments were heated. Several people pointed out to me, as if I didn't know, that white voters supported A C Wharton and, in earlier runs, Willie Herenton. Obviously, President Obama could not have won the largest popular-vote victory ever by a non-incumbent without white support. One more thing to add -- Mark Luttrell receiving support from black voters and Paul Boyd becoming the first black Republican elected in Shelby County can also be seen as evidence of progress.

Bottom line, Thursday's vote in the 9th Congressional race does seem to be another indication that race is diminishing as an issue in elections, but it's also fair to point out that the burden of moving past race should not fall only on the shoulders of black voters.

There may be no more important public policy decisions made by the County Commission and the City Council than the votes this week expected to approve a new zoning code that aims to create denser mixed-use neighborhoods that emphasize walkability, biking and neighborly interactions. Daniel Connolly writes about it previewing today's Commission meetings, pointing out it will change the face of the city. Proponents say it will greatly improve the quality of life and provides a longterm blueprint for creating neighborhoods that can make Memphis a more attractive place to live and work.

Daniel also previews the vote on a possible 1.5 percent raise for county firefighters -- with the money not accounted for in the budget the Commission passed using increased property-tax revenue. Interestingly, the proposal to merge the Memphis and Shelby County fire departments would included moving county firefighters to full pay parity with those in Memphis -- but interim mayor Joe Ford killed the idea and moved forward with plans to spend more county money on county-only fire department infrastructure.

Finally, Amos Maki pens a lede as if he's spent some quality time maneuvering a skateboard around Memphis. The city announces it will build a new $440,000 skatepark at Tobey Park near the Board of Education and caddycorner from the Liberty Bowl.

We've got several important public policy stories in today's newspaper, including my story talking to county mayor-elect Mark Luttrell about his transition from Shelby County sheriff's office at the Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar to his new office on Main Street at the Vasco Smith Administration Building. When I asked Luttrell about how he's going about getting a grasp of his top priorities, the very first thing he mentioned was a visit with Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, who of course occupied that office across the street for seven years.

Check out the story to see Luttrell's thoughts on transition task forces. Some items we did not include in the story that Luttrell also emphasized were The Regional Medical Center at Memphis and single-source school funding for Memphis City Schools.

"I don't think The Med is saved," Lutrell said, repeating his assertion on the campaign trail that his Democratic opponent, Joe Ford, was overstating the extent to which The Med's future had been secured. "I still think The Med has some real problems facing it. ... We still have some real problems with the revenue stream of The Med."

Lutrell said he believes one key is convincing state and federal legislators and administrators that Memphis and Shelby County can be relied upon to manage The Med with efficiency, fiscal discipline and innovation. He would not commit to pushing to build a new Med, although the Republican nominee for governor, Bill Haslam, has given strong indications that he would support of finding longterm cost savings by replacing the public hospital's patchwork of disintegrating infastructure with a more modern, more efficient facility replacement. Said Luttrell: "Before talking about a new Med, we need to talk about getting our business act together here and show we can efficiently use the funds we have. Let's make what we have work before we go out and start building something else."

On city schools funding, Luttrell said the county could well face an immediate funding crisis depending on how the state Supreme Court rules on the lawsuits seeking to determine where city taxpayers should be obligated to provide some portion of MCS funding. If a ruling comes down saying the county must absorb the city funding of approximately $57 million, that would create a challenge; however, if a ruling came down saying the county not only must absorb that $57 million but must then fund county schools at the same per-pupil rate, county taxpayers would be looking at huge tax increases.

Luttrell said he and Wharton breifly discussed school funding "as the big elephant in the room." Luttrell wants to immediately create contingency plans for funding. "We have to start planning for that eventuality right now," Luttrell said. "From the campaign I picked up the current administration has not put a great deal of thought into it."

Due to a weaker-than-expected computer battery, and a lost signal, we had to shut down the blog on the Mayoral debate for the last 25 minutes or so. Just one of those things that happens as we try to bring you flavor and information as quickly as possible.

Read the full story on the debate on commercialappeal.com.

There are a series of questions from the panel on consolidation. Ford continues to take his stand against the merger, saying he doesn't see anything the City of Memphis can provide to the county. He said there are plenty of services from hospital to the health department that county government funds, so there already is some consolidation.

Luttrell, for the first time, says he is opposed to consolidation because, after seeing a draft of the proposed charter, he sees it as too big, and doesn't like the direction it took on law enforcement. Mainly, Luttrell said law enforcement should be under the sheriff.

He said Ford not only voted on establishing the Charter Commission, but dedicates some of the county administration staff to the Charter Commission.

Ford said Luttrell has "flip-flopped" on consolidation.

While not talking specifically about consolidation, there is a question about combining the police and sheriff's office to handle law enforcement countywide. Ford uses the opportunity to say he has oppposed consolidation all along, including fire and police

Luttrell also says he opposes combining law enforcement, but if they are combined, they should be under the sheriff, and not a police director or other appointed position.

FOrd said that while he is a Democrat, he is representing citizens across the county. He notes work all thorugh the suburbs, the balanced budget and the success of the Med.

He says he has not opposed his Democratic party.

Luttrell says there are partisan politics, but he hasn't seen issues that break down on party lines. He can't give any example of such a politcal party breakdown on any issues.

Ford deals with the question of whether he double-crossed citizens and county commissioners by running after he said he would not run if he was appointed seven months ago.

Questioner Jackson Baker says Commissioner Mike Ritz says he wouldn't have voted on Ford if he knew the interim mayor would run.

Ford said he doesn't feel like he misled anyone, and was not aware of RItz's position. He heard from voters who wanted him to run, and he had unfinished business. He mentions the funding of the Regional Medical Center as one of those accomplishments.

 

 

Both candidates appear stern and stone-faced as Joe Birch and Ursula Madden  introduces everyone.

 

Ford promotes his work with the Regional Medical Center, including millions of dollars in federal funds for the hospital announced earlier today. He notes that he presented a balanced budget.

Luttrell talks about turning around the SHelby County Sheriff's Department, once considered among the worst around.

On several occasions, during the pre-debate discussions, it is noted that the studio is the same location that hosted professional wrestling on Saturday mornings. Anchor Joe Birch has noted that combatants, such as Jerry Lawler, 'Handsome' Jimmy Valiant, Terry Funk and The Rock before he was the Rock , and went by the ring name Flex Kavana, performed on the set.

There is some hope that the verbal jousting between the two candidates will have the same spirit as some of the promos by the grapplers who formerly worked in the studio.