WMC-TV: News, Weather, Traffic, Radar, and Sports for Memphis, TN; WMCTV.com | 2 candidates hope to unseat Councilman Lowery

2 candidates hope to unseat Councilman Lowery

Two candidates are trying to win Memphis City Councilman Myron Lowery's seat but he's trying just as hard to hold onto it.

The City Council members over Super Districts are charged with the task of keeping the big picture in mind.

One candidate took a shot at Lowery over that very issue. Industrial engineer, Del Gill, has a bone to pick with the Memphis City Council.

"Memphis has been faced with the issues of corruption, the issues of conflicts of interest, council persons recusing themselves, having the 'I'll vote for your deal, I'll recuse myself on this deal' and the citizens have said, come to the conclusion that this town needs an enema," says Gill.

The longtime Democratic Party member also had a few words for incumbent Councilman Myron Lowery, claiming he doesn't keep the big picture in mind for District 8.

But Lowery notes he's always had a larger vision with his gun buyback campaigns and annual "Done with Guns" program for youth.

"I vote in the best interest of everyone in this city regardless of where anyone lives," says Lowery.

Community activist, Toni Strong, says her focus is on citizen involvement. "I think the plight of the grassroots residents in this city have been on the back burner and the concerns such past the crime and the blighted communities should take more precedence than it has in the past," says Strong.

The bookkeeper by profession has studied successful citizen involvement programs in other cities and wants to bring that to the Council.

Lowery says just as downtown has been revitalized, the rest of the city needs resources to clean up. "Not only in terms of physical appearance with the tall weeds, we need to do more with code enforcement and we need to do more to stop crime," Lowery adds.

Gill contends some cannot afford to comply with code enforcement and could lose their homes to eminent domain if the city takes it too far.

It seems all three candidates were greatly concerned with blight across District 8.

District 8 is a Super District. It covers the western half of Memphis. It includes Districts 6, 7 and most of districts 3 and 4.