PAUL LOWRY HIGHWAY PETITION

Southwest Memphis is under continuous assault of environmental degradation and a continued denial of our human right to clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment. The announcement of a 5 lane highway that would increase planned for Southwest Memphis is rooted in environmental injustice.

The historic disinvestment segregating Black communities like Boxtown & Westwood in Southwest Memphis can be traced to the introduction of the Federal Highways Act of 1956. The built environment through urban planning of roads has been an instrument of allocating benefits to businesses while creating a substantial burden to majority Black communities. 

The proposal includes new options for roads. Option #1: Describes the widening of Shelby Dr into a 5 lane highway. Option #2: Describes the destruction of our environment by building a 5 lane highway that would destroy our beautiful Robco Lake. Option #3: We stop the incessant expansion of corporate infrastructure that entrenches environmental racism and additional pollution in our beautiful community.

As a community we demand better!

Demand #1 

Our community demands transparency. We demand that our City of Memphis officials meet with the community to publicly discuss this project.

Demand #2 

Community voice is not a box to check off, it is the deciding vote to determine the type of environment our families will live, work, play and grow in. We demand decision making authority remain with the people.

Demand #3

We demand the cancellation of this project as it follows an insidious pattern of targeting environmentally racist projects in Southwest Memphis.

This petition is a call to action for the City of Memphis, Mayor Paul Young and his administration to include the community and support their decision to protect their peaceful environment. The Paul Lowry Highway project pose an unacceptable threat to the public health and public safety of Memphis.