With modifications, the terms of Norris-Todd were approved by federal Judge Hardy Mays in adjudicating several overlapping litigations last summer. Mays still maintains effective jurisdiction over the terms of city-county school merger.
If I were you, I wouldnt start counting that eleven million from Grays Creek just yet. If Norris can get the legislation st-tracked (if that is possible) that would allow them to vote, the answer technical school memphiswill be a resounding no. What do you think, 100% against unless someone forgets to bring his reading glasses? The day people actually get to vote whether or not they are annexed by Memphis is the day Memphis has its boundaries involuntarily frozen forever. I hope that day is soon.
City of Memphis, Caught Off Guard by Legislative Effort to Curtail Annexation Rights, Moves to Catch Up.
If he wins re-election, he would have nothing to lose. Also, Tennessee is not that important to the democrats, so there would be no fear of long term harm to the party.
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City of Memphis, Caught Off Guard by Legislative Effort to Curtail Annexation Rights, Moves to Catch Up.
&8220;Last year, we saw these same legislators try to leapfrog over the will of our citizens to surrender the charter of Memphis City Schools and to establish a unified Shelby County school system.
Now would be a good time for the City to enact serious development fees on future MLGW/City owned services in the reserve areas--make em pay through their noses to poo and/or water their lawn jockeys.
Arent there two bills in the hopper? The one most complained of here and another giving the folks about to be annexed the right to a separate vote on the annexation? If either one survives then Memphis will have great difficulty annexing ever again.
Committee will rush Grays Creek ordinance to counter new Norris-Todd bills aimed at breaking countywide compact on annexation zones.
Reserved annexation areas were formally agreed by all parties and signed. A retrospective law nullifying what has already been agreed upon goes against the state constitution. This is akin to the tiny towns law passed and ruled unconstitutional by the state courts.
Excessive litigation is Whartons answer to every problem.
There are many tools in Memphis toolbox to fight with. As I mentioned in my last post, the big stick is President Obama having the department of education deny federal education funding if the msds are allowed to proceed. I think the conservatives have underestimated the strength of our president. He is well capable of bold decisions, ie, the Osama Bin Laden raid, the recent rescue of the hostages in Somalia.
&8220;This is a continued all-out assault on Memphis and its right to govern itself. We are calling upon all of our local leaders &8212; whether they be leaders in politics, business, or the philanthropic arena &8212; and the residents of Memphis to let their state representatives know that this will not stand.
Uhoh, I didnt say that Mark Norris was not smart, I just said he is stretching the law, hoping that it sticks. He knows that contracts, agreements, cant be undone by a retrogressive law. He just hopes to get a republican judge to get a vorable ruling.
The tiny towns law was ruled unconstitutional on a technicality, in that the title did not adequately describe the contents of the bill. The bill was an attempt to protect Hickory Wythe from annexation by Oakland.
In the meantime, though, there are sure to be efforts to expedite the Gray&8217;s Creek annexation ordinance. &8220;I am confident it will be approved out of committee tomorrow [Tuesday] and on the Council agenda for next Tuesday, the Council chair said.
That committee will consider &8220;an Ordinance to extend the boundaries of the City Limits of the City of Memphis by annexing the Gray&8217;s Creek Annexation Area and assigning said area to a Council District.&8221;
Memphis and the county&8217;s suburban municipalities had reached formal agreement on their respective annexation areas in 1998 as a result of the then volatile dispute over &8220;Toy Town legislation that, before being declared unconstitutional, would have hemmed Memphis in with a flood of newly incorporated &8220;cities.&8221;
Memphis is no longer a backwater town. It has plenty of brilliant lawyers, who will do whatever is necessary to allow the city to self govern within the boundaries of the state constitution.
460 Tennessee Street, 2nd Floor Memphis, TN 38103
Now his only solution to the problem is litigation. There will be more litigation and legal fees awarded to Whartons lawyer friends.
&8220;&8230;These proposals, put forth without even a courtesy call to local government, single out the City of Memphis at a time when other municipalities have recently used the&8230;1998 agreement &8212; without argument or interference &8212; to annex their reserve areas. It&8217;s a move that smacks of racism, classism, and schoolyard bullying.
You go, OTP! One day you will accomplish your dream of turning Memphis into a third-world ghetto. (You are pretty close to it now!)
I too felt that Mays would rule the other way. Although I see Mays ruling more in terms of a mediation. He gave a bit to each side, but also struck down a bit from each side as well. A very crafty, middle of the road ruling (IMHO). So, I am going to agree with you about the rest of what you said Marty, in the hope that I will be proven wrong.
My sympathies go out to those who live in the Grays Creek area. That said, Im glad it wasnt me.
I cant find the actual wording of the Norris bill requiring a vote by those annexed, but it would be easy to amend the population limits in TCA 6-51-102 (a) (2) to include Shelby County. That would not be considered special legislation by the courts, or at least using population limits has been upheld numerous times in the past.
There is always more than one way to skin a cat.
If need be, we will meet this challenge in court.&8221;
And someone said that Mark Norris is a lawyer and he knows what he is doing. LOL
Assuming both bills il, what is Memphis going to do when all of Shelby County is annexed? Sooner or later you folks in Memphis are going to bump up against the county line. Then what? If the only way you can grow your population is by annexation then maybe you have some underlying problems that arent being addressed.
Another foolish piece of special, unconstitutional legislation, directed at Memphis. It wont work.
The resource to legal remedies is one believed in by Strickland and Flinn as well as by the Mayor and chair. &8220;It&8217;s really not all that important who wins a race to the finish line &8212; us or the Legislature,&8221; Strickland said. &8220;We&8217;ll win in the end.&8221;
&8220;They don&8217;t have enough students to pay for the school districts tCity of Memphis, Caught Off Guard by Legislative Effort to Curtail Annexation Rights, Moves to Catch Up. technical school memphishey&8216;re trying to set up, so they&8217;re going to try to go out and annex some more students,&8221; said Strickland, who says that the proposed legislation in Nashville will be found unconstitutional, even should it win a race with the Council and get the new Norris-Todd bills passed before the Council can act on annexation.
As I recall, many (mea culpa--et tu, OTP?) predicted that Judge Mays would invalidate the original Norris-Todd bill whose purpose was to throw a monkey wrench into the charter surrender/consolidation process. How wrong we were.
OTP: This is akin to the tiny towns law passed and ruled unconstitutional by the state courts.
City of Memphis, Caught Off Guard by Legislative Effort to Curtail Annexation Rights, Moves to Catch Up. technical school memphis,Committee will rush Grays Creek ordinance to counter new Norris-Todd bills aimed at breaking countywide compact on annexation zones.
The action, in response to two new bills introduced by Republican legislators Mark Norris and Curry Todd curtailing Memphis&8217; powers of annexation, will begin with a meeting of the Council&8217;s personnel, intergovernmental, and annexation committee at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
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OTP, Ill be the first to acknowledge there are a lot of tools in Memphis government. During the battle over the schools I seriously thought AJ Wharton was dead until I saw him on a televised debate. Surprisingly, he didnt have much to say, other than the state could always exercise the nuclear option if it so desired.
And there, as they say, is the rub. While Mays may yet invalidate the use of the Norris bill as the basis for the formation of separate school districts, something he reserved the right to do, but only when that issue becomes ripe, which by no means presages what his ruling will be at that time, there is absolutely no assurance a judge---any judge---will invalidate this latest attempt to run Memphis government from Nashville.
New state Senate, state House, and congressional maps are released and will be taken up by the legislature next week.
Strickland said the new legislation would &8220;interfere with a parties contract,&8221; and it improperly would be attempting to apply a major change in the law to one county and one county only.
As for the portion of SB 25 that lifts the ban on municipal school districts, I would hope that he takes the middle ground again. He doesnt have to rule on the constitutionality of the law, federal judges, without prior mandates from the supremes, are loathe to invalidate state laws. Judge Mays could just rule that the law was passed after MCS had surrendered the charter; the process, of course. Of course the legislature can again pass the law, but, it will be also open to litigation.
This is, maybe a stretch, however, the thing that could throw a monkey wrench into this whole process is, if President is Obama re-elected, is the denial of federal funding for Tennessee. This could be based on the ct, that the agreements made to the states stress diversity, and even allocates money to maintain it, meaning that if munis are allowed separate school districts, it would dramatically reverse diversity, that money could be withheld. Would he do it? At this point in time, no; he has to worry about the election. After, should he be re-elected, a good chance, because, then, he is in his last term and has nothing to lose. Notice how he went after SC for their voting ID laws.. President Obama is not a timid man.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if it is possible to change your username here? I want to do that, but I really dont want to open up multiple accounts to do so.
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Morrison, who posited the goal of getting at new sales tax revenue as yet another reason for the proposed state legislation, said at first he thought it might be hypothetically possible to hold the required three readings of the city ordinance within a single week. Upon checking on procedure, he modified that estimate. &8220;We can do it from beginning to end in 15 days, and that includes the required plans of service,&8221; he said.
Im also wonder what happened to Tomeka Hart. Did that city employee/ex-con who stole the dog Kapone get her, too? Is she in someones back yard in Mississippi?
Within 14 more days the city of Memphis will annex that area and probably began annexing all of the areas in their reserves. That has already been agreed to, signed, sealed and delivered.
And yes, Norris knows EXACTLY what hes doing. He was right once (as opposed to the rest of us), which obviously emboldened him, and has given him every reason to believe he will be right once again. Also, please remember: one way or another, it will probably be one or more Republican judges who rule on this latest issue, and if you dont believe that will make a difference, I have one thing to say to you: Citizens United.
Contemporary Media
Indeed flyhigh, all by himself, the great and powerful omnipotent OTP has singlehandedly turned Memphis from a paradise of uppoer middle class white people into a third world ghetto. Didnt have anything with white people not wanting to share political or economic power with black people and running away.
In an uncanny echo of the situation a year ago, when City of Memphis officials, threatened with state action to overpower local options on school merger, unified in opposition, Mayor A C Wharton and the City Council stand ready on Tuesday to expedite the emergency annexation of the still unincorporated Gray&8217;s Creek suburban area.
That was me who said Mark Norris was a smart lawyer. You of all people should know it is true, or are you still embracing the ex post cto argument? Do you really think he didnt anticipate something like this from Memphis? I did, as soon as I read the article yesterday. I just didnt know which part of the county they would select for destruction. It looks to be right in the area that Norris/Todd planned to protect. So, well just have to wait and see what Norris/Todd do next.
Awesomeberg, I understand what you are saying. I thought that Judge Mays would invalidate SB 25, but I was right on the central issue. That issue was, Pickler wanted to, in the least, be the controlling, through the old SCS Board, authority for the merger, all of the decisions, etc. To me, that was the most imprtant part of the decision and not givi9ng the transition team plenary power.
Council chairman Bill Morrison and Mayor A C Wharton issued a joint press release Monday that said in part:
&8220;I hope the people in the suburbs who think their interests are being served by the bills proposed up there realize that this annexation is being forced, not by Memphis, but by Nashville,&8221; said Strickland, who said further he saw the battle over school merger to be the proximate cause of the new Norris-Todd bills &8212; one of which would require a referendum of affected residents in a proposed annexation area and another which would specifically remove Gray&8217;s Creek from Memphis&8217; assigned annexation areas.
It was at this point last year that the original Norris-Todd bill was introduced by state Senator Norris and state Representative Todd, both of Collierville, and pushed through a compliant Republican-dominated Legislature on what amounted to a party &8212;line vote. The bill in theory accepted the it accompli of Memphis City School&8217;s surrendered charter &8212; a move that would force merger of MCS with Shelby County Schools, but it imposed a two-year delay on that merger and enabled the creation of new school districts within suburban Shelby County at the time, in August 2013, when the merger was scheduled to take place.
Councilman Shea Flinn, who learned of the proposed legislation upon arriving back in Memphis Monday after being out of town, noted, &8220;This should put an end to all those protestations from Republicans that they believe in local government.&8221; Flinn said last year&8217;s legislative session and this one so r have made it obvious that the GOP-dominated state government will run roughshod over local interests whenever it chooses.
I could be wrong about this so please correct me, but from a cursory reading of annexation law it appears that a municipality can annex across county lines as long as the annexation doesnt span time zones.
If AC Wharton had only paid the 57 million dollar judgment to schools, we would not have to deal with these other problems from the Republicans in Nashville. But AC Wharton likes to pander to the Republicans in Nashville all the time.
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The proposed annexation of the Gray &8216;s Creek area would never have come up in the absence of the state action, said Councilman Jim Strickland, who had been leery of any further immediate annexations by Memphis but sees the City now having little choice.
This would be the perfect carrot and stick move. This keeps it out of court and if, I believe, Tennessee is threatened with loss of a great percentage of education funding, from the feds, Tennessee will cave. What do you think?
