Memphis City Council members delayed a final vote Tuesday, Nov. 21, on an ordinance that sets out options for the removal of statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis in city parks, but moved forward on a proposal to allow open alcohol containers and consumption on Main Street.

2. The Buying And Selling Of Memphis - Saturday, May 27, 2017

Even before he went to federal prison for 25 years on a racketeering conviction in 1995, Danny Owens had a real estate portfolio. The strip-club kingpin who defined the industry in Memphis across a 20-year period owned the old Memphian movie theater and made possible its 1986 sale to Playhouse on the Square by donating $160,000 toward its purchase.

3. 'War' on Blight - Friday, May 19, 2017

Attorney Steve Barlow has been working on blight issues for 20 years, which is to say he’s been working for two decades almost exclusively on the maze of rules, regulations and procedures that make blight possible and sustainable.

4. Blight Summit to Mark Progress, Challenges - Friday, May 12, 2017

When the leaders of the city’s anti-blight effort gather at Clayborn Temple for their second annual summit Wednesday, May 17, on the next block south of the church will be an example of work still to be done.

5. Events - Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Talk Shoppe will meet Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the University of Phoenix’s Memphis campus, 65 Germantown Court, first floor. Blight Authority of Memphis executive director Sheila Jordan Cunningham and Neighborhood Preservation Inc. president Steve Barlow will present “Fighting Blight in Memphis.” Cost is free. Visit talkshoppe.biz or call Jo Garner at 901-482-0354.

6. Events - Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Southwest Tennessee Community College and Arkansas State University Mid-South will hold a process technology career fair Tuesday, Nov. 29, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the Nabors Auditorium on STCC’s Macon Cove campus, 5983 Macon Cove. Employers including Hershey, Valero, Blues City Brewery and Lucite will be on hand. Visit southwest.tn.edu.

7. Frayser Landfill Owner Pulls Expansion Application, But Plans to Return - Monday, July 18, 2016

Amid public opposition, Memphis Wrecking Co. has withdrawn its application to expand its landfill near Whitney Elementary School in Frayser. This is the second consecutive time the company withdrawn its application with the Land Use Control Board before the board could consider the request.

8. Williams Hired for Memphis Blight-Fighting Fellowship - Wednesday, July 6, 2016

The city of Memphis and University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law recently hired Brittany J. Williams as the city’s first Neighborhood Preservation Fellow. In that role, Williams will represent the city in Environmental Court lawsuits against property owners who have vacant, abandoned or dilapidated properties that violate city codes.

9. Frayser Targeted as Pilot Area for Citywide Fight Against Blight - Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Last week, a wrecking team demolished a single-family home in the Washington Heights neighborhood in South Memphis. The effort, organized by United Housing Inc. and backed by the U.S. Department of Treasury, was the first of its kind to take place.

10. Time Running Out to Save Aretha Franklin’s Birth Home From Demolition - Monday, June 27, 2016

A local business owner has stepped up with $15,000 to save Aretha Franklin's birth home, but the effort may be too little too late.

The dilapidated house at 406 Lucy Ave. is headed for demolition unless a realistic and fully-funded plan emerges within the week, said Steve Barlow, an attorney with blight-fighting law firm Brewer & Barlow PLC.

11. Cleaning House - Saturday, March 26, 2016

Every neighborhood in Memphis and Shelby County has the right to be free from the negative effects of vacant, abandoned and blighted properties. That’s the battle cry of the Memphis Blight Elimination Charter, a 23-page pledge that will steer policy and programs dedicated to blight eradication.

12. Roadmap to Attacking Blight Awaits City and County Approval - Monday, March 21, 2016

Blighted properties, overgrown lots and abandoned buildings are not unique to Memphis. But Memphis is the only city with a blight elimination charter that affirms cross-sector commitment to uproot the causes of blight and prevent further decline.

13. The Week Ahead: March 14-20, 2016 - Monday, March 14, 2016

How was your weekend, Memphis? Here’s our weekly roundup of local happenings you need to know about, from the first look at the Greater Memphis Chamber’s proposed diversity program to a truly Irish celebration of St. Paddy’s Day.

14. Blight Authority of Memphis Convenes to Tackle Problem Properties - Monday, January 25, 2016

“This is historic,” attorney Steve Barlow said at the inaugural meeting of the Blight Authority of Memphis, held Thursday, Jan. 21, at the Downtown Memphis Commission’s office.

15. Historic Clayborn Temple to be Restored - Thursday, October 8, 2015

Clayborn Temple, the home base for the sanitation worker strikes of 1968, is on its way to restoration after decades of neglect and four years on the market. Nonprofit Neighborhood Preservation Inc. is taking over what is expected to be a multimillion-dollar project to return the church to religious, educational and community uses.

16. Problem Properties - Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Memphis has a crippling issue with blight, and one nonprofit is front and center with changing the culture that led to the city’s inundation of abandoned properties and lots.

Neighborhood Preservation Inc. was founded in 2012 as a court-appointed receiver of properties taken away from neglectful owners. Over the years, it has evolved to become a robust advocate for stronger legislation and development tools to deal with problem properties.

17. Blight Fight - Monday, June 15, 2015

Somer Smith and three colleagues were busy Thursday, June 11, cruising around the South End portion of Downtown on the lookout for neglected properties.

Smith, an associate at Brewer & Barlow PLC and a second-year student in the City and Regional Planning graduate program at the University of Memphis, was canvassing the area around Crump Boulevard and West Virginia Street as part of a volunteer force organized by the Downtown Memphis Commission to conduct a sweeping survey of property conditions.

18. Goodwill Games - Friday, April 24, 2015

When a group of elected leaders gathered a week ago at Goodwill Village apartments in North Memphis, they came to convey some sense of urgency about deteriorating conditions at the 47-year-old federally subsidized apartment complex.

19. City Blight Efforts Evolve Beyond Demolition - Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The Frayser Community Development Corp. knew the house it wanted on University Street. There were plenty to choose from with multiple abandoned houses on the block. But it wanted the worst one, at 3200 University St.

20. Engineers to Inspect Main Street Property - Saturday, April 4, 2015

Both sides in an Environmental Court lawsuit over a long-vacant property will hire their own structural engineers to inspect the building at 107 S. Main St.

21. Taking Action - Saturday, April 4, 2015

The windows on the old Executive Inn on Airways Boulevard where Brooks Road dead ends had been busted out for several years, leaving the curtains in its long-empty rooms fluttering in the wind.

But in January, demolition crews began ripping away at the blighted property at 3222 Airways, providing relief to residents and business owners whose own property values suffered because of the neglected property in that corner of Whitehaven.

22. Engineers to Inspect Main Street Property - Friday, April 3, 2015

Both sides in an Environmental Court lawsuit over a long-vacant property will hire their own structural engineers to inspect the building at 107 S. Main St.

23. Midtown Corner Could See Turnaround - Monday, August 11, 2014

While Midtown as a whole is experiencing a resurgence, two properties at the key intersection of Union Avenue and McLean Boulevard remain vacant, decaying eyesores.

But a real estate agent representing the owner of the vacant office building and hotel at the southwest corner of Union and McLean says both properties are under contract to be sold.

24. New Nonprofit Charts Role in Blight Fight - Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The bulldozer went straight for the leasing office of the former Spanish Oaks apartments on Cazassa Road near Memphis International Airport.

Meanwhile another bulldozer across the two-lane road was deep into demolishing a set of buildings in the old Winchester Park apartments.

25. Filling the Voids - Saturday, February 2, 2013

Last year was a banner year for adaptive reuse projects in Midtown and Downtown.

Developers announced plans for the Sears Crosstown building, Overton Square, Hotel Chisca, James Lee House and old United Warehouse in the South Main Historic Arts District. Construction began on The Pyramid, turning it into a 220,000-square-foot mega-Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World, and Memphis in May moved into its new headquarters at 56 S. Front St., a 14,600-square-foot building that’s on the National Register of Historic Places.

26. Battling Blight - Monday, January 7, 2013

The kickoff date to the Downtown Memphis Commission’s anti-blight initiative on April 1, 2011, is embedded in president Paul Morris’ memory.

27. City, D.A. File More Suits, Legal Action to Fight Blight - Friday, February 10, 2012

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s administration is keeping the gloves off in the city’s fight against blight.

On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the mayor and Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich jointly announced the filing of 86 lawsuits and 11 nuisance petitions against the owners of blighted property.

28. Bill Would Alter Foreclosure Notices - Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The judiciary committees in the House and Senate of the Tennessee General Assembly are scheduled to vote on companion bills Tuesday that would give homeowners less advance warning before their homes are foreclosed.

29. Tenn. Bill Would Reduce Foreclosure Notices - Monday, May 2, 2011

The judiciary committees in the House and Senate of the Tennessee General Assembly are scheduled to vote on companion bills Tuesday that would give homeowners less advance warning before their homes are foreclosed.

30. ‘Hundreds More’ Blight Suits on the Way - Thursday, December 23, 2010

A few hundred lawsuits targeting the owners of run-down properties are likely to be filed by the city of Memphis not long after 2011 rolls around, according to one estimate of the city’s timetable.

31. Shadows of Doubt - Monday, November 29, 2010

As the housing market continues to improve, a significant backlog of foreclosed and distressed properties that have not been put on the market could bring the recovery to a screeching halt.

Many lenders across the nation – mostly banks – are struggling to keep up with the overwhelming number of borrowers who have stopped making their mortgage payments. And with the fledgling recovery in housing still weak, banks, institutional investors and even some homeowners who want to sell their homes are waiting until the market shows marked improvement.

32. Opening Move - Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The owners of 138 run-down properties sued by the city on the recommendation of code enforcement officials will soon be due in court for a series of hearings that start later this month.

The targets of those lawsuits own everything from a collection of townhouses east of Memphis International Airport to Southern Funeral Home at 440 Vance Ave. The trait they share is the public nuisance the city believes they present.

33. Wharton Files Blight Suits - Wednesday, October 27, 2010

For months, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. has been standing outside old homes and warning owners of the vacant decaying properties that the city is coming with attorneys and legal papers.

On Tuesday he launched the first wave of lawsuits under the state’s Neighborhood Preservation Act.

34. Wharton to File Neighborhood Preservation Act Lawsuits - Monday, October 25, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. will mark his first year in office by filing 135 lawsuits Tuesday against owners of blighted and neglected properties under the Neighborhood Preservation Act.

Wharton will file the lawsuits in Shelby County Environmental Court as the “first wave” of what he has said will be a two-year effort to target property owners who don’t keep houses and other structures up to the standards of the local construction code.

35. Wharton to File Neighborhood Preservation Act Lawsuits - Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. will mark his first year in office by filing 135 lawsuits Tuesday against owners of blighted and neglected properties under the Neighborhood Preservation Act.

Wharton will file the lawsuits in Shelby County Environmental Court as the “first wave” of what he has said will be a two-year effort to target property owners who don’t keep houses and other structures up to the standards of the local construction code.

36. Alabama Avenue Could Become Residential Corridor - Thursday, October 14, 2010

For years, the stretch of Alabama Avenue between Danny Thomas Boulevard and Poplar Avenue has been both a traffic shortcut and a hotspot for illegal drug sales and violent crime.

For the last year, there has been some very different activity.

37. Memphis Heritage Lawyers Research 1912 Church Deed - Monday, September 27, 2010

Attorneys representing Memphis Heritage believe they have found wording in a 1912 deed for Union Avenue Methodist Church that might preserve the church.

The site of the church was approved by the Memphis City Council last month for development as a new CVS pharmacy, one of several the national chain is building across the city at key intersections.

38. Memphis Heritage Cites 1912 Church Lease In CVS Dispute - Friday, September 24, 2010

Attorneys representing Memphis Heritage believe they have found wording in a 1912 deed for Union Avenue Methodist Church that might preserve the church.

The site of the church was approved by the Memphis City Council last month for development as a new CVS pharmacy, one of several the national chain is building across the city at key intersections.

39. Baltimore’s Wells Fargo Suit Could Affect Memphis - Thursday, September 23, 2010

Lawyers for the city of Baltimore are preparing to reload in their two-year court fight against Wells Fargo over its lending practices in the city.

Baltimore is planning to file a new complaint against the lender after a federal judge last week dismissed the city’s second amended complaint. The city was given until Oct. 22 to try again in its effort to prove Wells broadly discriminated against black borrowers in its mortgage lending.

40. Attorney Takes On Urban Blight - Thursday, July 1, 2010

Down a side road in the Medical Center neighborhood, past tire piles, trash-strewn lots and a makeshift sign announcing a church “coming soon to save souls,” there’s an empty, slightly overgrown field.

41. Wells Fargo Case Illuminates Brewer’s Passion for Public Interest - Thursday, June 24, 2010

Attorneys often hope for the one big case that sets their practices in motion, but for Webb Brewer the big one has refined the mission of a long, distinguished career.

Brewer of Brewer and Barlow PLC is taking on one of the goliaths of the banking industry, Wells Fargo, with allegations of predatory lending practices aimed at African-Americans in Memphis and Shelby County.

42. Tennessee Earns ‘F’ on Consumer Protections Scorecard - Thursday, May 20, 2010

A nonprofit consumer law agency gives Tennessee poor marks for laws governing interest charges on certain loan products.

In its just-released Small Dollar Loan Products Scorecard, the National Consumer Law Center gives Tennessee a grade of “F” for the consumer protections it offers debtors who take out any of four loan products.

43. UofM-Area Residents Work to Salvage 38111 - Wednesday, February 17, 2010

For Tk Buchanan, community development specialist for the University of Memphis Center for Community Building and Neighborhood Action (CBANA), the 587 foreclosures last year in the 38111 ZIP code are more than a statistic.

44. Adversarial - Monday, February 8, 2010

Both sides in the federal lawsuit Memphis and Shelby County have filed against Wells Fargo are beginning to strap on their armor.

The San Francisco-based financial services giant – one of the largest U.S. banks by assets – has hired Memphis attorney Jef Feibelman of Burch, Porter & Johnson PLLC.

45. Attorneys Unite Against Social Ills - Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Two Memphis lawyers who have claimed the scalps of predatory lenders and slipshod property owners are combining their efforts in a new law practice.

Begun by Memphis Area Legal Services director of advocacy Webb Brewer and private attorney Steve Barlow, Brewer & Barlow PLC is built around the partners’ mutual interest in what they call “social justice” legal issues. The new practice will focus on everything from the rights of tenants to untangling borrowers from the trap of predatory lending.

46. Barlow Leaves UNDC To Build Law Practice - Thursday, September 3, 2009

Memphis attorney Steve Barlow has left his full-time position as executive director of the neighborhood group that promotes revitalization around the University of Memphis.

47. Lawsuit Filed to Clean Up Medical District Property - Thursday, August 13, 2009

A state public nuisance law is being used to force the owners of a dilapidated, two-story apartment complex at 267 Ayers St. in the Medical Center District to clean it up.

48. Legislature Works to Bolster Anti-Blight Law - Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Two Memphis-area lawmakers are proposing amendments to Tennessee’s Neighborhood Preservation Act, which allows homeowners to sue owners of nearby rental properties that fall into disrepair and cause home values to decline.

49. U of M Area Zoning Plan to be Presented Next Week - Friday, February 6, 2009

Supporters of an effort to remake the area around the University of Memphis into a more attractive, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood will take their vision before a local planning body next week.

U of M stakeholders have come up with a new multipronged zoning plan that will be presented to the Memphis-Shelby County Land Use Control Board at the group’s Feb. 12 meeting.

50. Eastview Blight Lawsuit Could Be Settled - Thursday, July 24, 2008

A relatively obscure Tennessee state statute is being used to put some legal muscle behind an effort to reverse one Memphis neighborhood’s decline.

Settlement discussions are under way in a Shelby County Chancery Court lawsuit filed by a property owner in April who lives near the blighted Eastview neighborhood. Jan Rowe, a homeowner who lives a few streets over from Eastview Drive, filed the suit to argue that the neighborhood’s public scars – which include blighted homes and duplexes, trash-strewn lots and unkempt properties owned by out-of-town investors – are creating negative ripple effects in her own neighborhood.

51. Eastview Neighbor Tries to Sue Blight Away - Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Memphis neighborhood known as Eastview gives the appearance of lacking many things. Some of those things include lawnmowers, fix-it men and the occasional visit of a code enforcement officer.

Most of the homes in Eastview, which sits directly north of East High School and an upscale shopping center, are more than 60 years old. Trash is scattered here and there in the street and in many of the yards. Some of the yards are overgrown. Cars are parked in a few of them. One of the area's vacant houses is so dilapidated it looks like it's recently been used as a giant punching bag.

52. Two Developments Take Center Stage in Highland-Area Renewal - Thursday, December 20, 2007

Some very significant construction is taking place along the Highland Street corridor near the University of Memphis, a sight that is to many area residents the beginning of a drastic transformation for the neighborhood.

53. New UNDC Director Aims High for University Neighborhood - Monday, September 17, 2007

The University of Memphis area revitalization effort took a big step forward last month with the addition of its first full-time staff member.

Attorney Steve Barlow was named executive director of the University Neighborhood Development Corp. (UNDC) in August. He said he has big plans for the young organization and the neighborhood.

54. Baptist Names Baker Nursing Research Coordinator - Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Nursing professor Diana Baker has been named Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp.'s new coordinator for nursing research. Baker is the first person to hold the position. She has been in nursing for more than 40 years and most recently served on the faculty of the Baptist College of Health Sciences.

55. Archived Article: Seedco (lead) - Wednesday, May 2, 2001
By: JENNIFER MURLEY Community developers get seed money By JENNIFER MURLEY The Daily News Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton announced Tuesday the creation of a $1.1 million affordable housing fund resulting from a collaboration between the public and pr...

56. Archived Article: Lucb (lead) - Thursday, March 8, 2001
The burgeoning Lemoyne Gardens district dominates Thursdays Land Use Control Board Meeting with application requests pending LUCB projects highlight LeMoyne-Owen area By JENNIFER MURLEY The Daily News The burgeoning LeMoyne Gardens district is takin...