‘Low point:’ Memphis City Council finishes Tuesday’s meeting, councilman addresses incident
The Memphis City Council continued discussing a proposed data center moratorium after a chaotic meeting delayed action on the measure. Council members are weighing five separate ordinances, with supporters seeking a pause on new data centers and expansions while officials urge a deliberate process.
Memphis City Councilman Chase Carlisle called Tuesday’s disrupted council meeting an unacceptable low point during a Thursday press conference. He said public advocacy is important but argued that threats, intimidation and disorder cannot determine the council’s decisions.
The council held a committee session to discuss a proposed data center moratorium, but members still had not consolidated five separate ordinances introduced by council members including JB Smiley and Philip Spinosa. Smiley said his proposal would pause development rather than ban data centers, while Councilwoman Janika White said any moratorium would apply only to new facilities and expansions of existing ones.
Community members attended the session and offered public comments as the council continued trying to reach consensus. Carlisle and other members said the ordinances needed to be reduced to one or two proposals before a vote, and warned that rushing the process could cause the moratorium to fail.