Council asks to wait on Flight contract
The Memphis City Council would like the city of Memphis to hold off on renewing Flight Restaurant & Wine Bar’s ability to use curbside parking spaces for its valet parking service. The move follows allegations of racist and discriminatory behavior at the restaurant.
The city council asked Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland not to renew Flight’s contract with the city until the restaurant group completes an internal investigation into the allegations that the restaurant and a sister restaurant, Southern Social, intentionally sat Black patrons away from the street. The restaurants were also accused of discriminatory hiring practices.
The resolution passed.
After the accusations surfaced, one of the restaurant’s owners, Russ Graham pledged to investigate the matter. Protesters have stood outside the restaurant group’s locations over the past week since the allegations surfaced.
On Tuesday, after the resolution passed in committee, the restaurant put out a statement that Graham would be bought out and would not be associated with any of the four properties in any capacity moving forward.
“We are not infringing on any due process. All we are asking the mayor to do is to hold the contract another day ... This is not an indictment of the organization,” said JB Smiley, the city councilman who sponsored the resolution, ahead of the announcement about Graham.
He said the resolution did not assert the restaurant was guilty of what its management has been accused. It just asked Strickland to hold off renewing the contract.
The contract between Flight and city of Memphis is a common one for restaurants. Flight pays the city to use curbside parking near its restaurant as a valet parking area in what is called a ramping agreement. The restaurant paid the city $2,964 for the use of the street last year, according to the one-year contract it had with the city.
In Memphis, the mayor has sole contracting authority for the city. The council’s resolution is just a recommendation and is not binding.
The contract has a date of June 5, 2019 and had a one-year term from date of execution. However, its unclear if it was executed on June 5 or June 18, 2019.
Strickland said in an interview Wednesday that Flight had not asked the contract be renewed and said he would involve Smiley in the administration’s decision on the contract if the restaurant asked for it to be renewed.