Jessica Miller

Person

Speaking turns

Special Meeting: Memphis City Council: April 21, 2026 44:34
Jessica Miller. And then LJ Abraham. Thank y'all. My name is Jessica Miller. Budgets are moral documents. They tell us who you protect, who you invest in, and what you're willing to ignore. And this budget is very clear. Memphis is choosing to invest in control and legal defense instead of compliance, prevention, and accountability. You are increasing funding for the city attorney's office by 16%. At the same time, this city is under a federal consent decree, the Kendrick decree, because Memphis police have already been found to violate people's rights. So, the question becomes, why are we increasing funding for the lawyers who defend the city from misconduct instead of ensuring that misconduct doesn't happen in the first place? Because right now, it looks like the city is preparing to defend itself in court, not fix the problem. And this isn't happening in a vacuum. We are also seeing serious concerns in this community about how immigration enforcement is being handled. Concerns about transparency, about what policies are actually being followed, and about whether people feel safe interacting with local government at all. When people are afraid to report crime, to seek help, or to show up for basic services, that doesn't make us safer. It creates instability and deepens harm. So again, the question is about priorities. Why are we increasing funding for legal defense while cutting housing, cutting fire services, and underinvesting in the systems that prevent harm in the first place? That is not a balanced budget. That the budget reflects a city that is willing to spend more defending harm than preventing it. If you're serious about safety, then fund compliance with the Kendrick decree. fund transparency, fund community trust, because right now this budget doesn't reflect accountability. It reflects anticipation of liability and the people of Memphis deserve better than that.

Mentions

No mentions logged yet.

Roll Call

No roll call entries logged yet.

Votes

Meeting	Motion	Vote
No votes logged yet.