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Commission backs residents: New Chicago/North Memphis removed from consideration for jail site
Summary
An add-on resolution pushed by Commissioner Henry E. Brooks to remove New Chicago/North Memphis from consideration as a site for the Walter L. Bailey Criminal Justice Center passed the committee after community leaders spoke against siting a jail in the neighborhood.
Commissioner Henry E. Brooks offered an add-on resolution asking the commission to remove New Chicago/North Memphis from consideration as the site for a relocated Walter L. Bailey Criminal Justice Center, saying he had heard residents' opposition firsthand and sponsored a prior community-engagement resolution.
Community leaders testified in support. Dr. Carnita Atwater, executive director of the New Chicago CDC, said she had reviewed the project's needs assessment and found few neighborhood stakeholders identified and that residents had not been represented on the stakeholder list. "None of the people that was on that stakeholder list live in New Chicago nor North Memphis," she said, and asked the commission to remove the site from consideration.
Andrea Bell, a resident, urged commissioners to consider renovating the existing downtown jail instead of relocating it to a majority-Black community and said moving a jail had not brought expected economic benefits to downtown.
After a brief amendment to correct a caption and assurances of procedural handling, the committee voted with recorded ayes from Commissioners Sugarman and Brooks and an abstention from Vice Chair Bradford; the resolution goes forward with a favorable recommendation.
