Hollywood Cemetery Task Force and Team Meeting
October 19 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Monday, October 19th, at 6:00 PM CT/7P.M. ET
Meeting Details:
Zoom Meeting ID: 829 1597 3794
Time: 6:00 PM CT / 7:00 PM ET
Invite Link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82915973794
Dear Hollywood Task Force Members,
First and foremost, we need to kick off this week by giving ourselves a massive round of applause and a huge pat on the back! The grit, heart, and sheer physical effort everyone poured into the “One Kind Favor” benefit show and the grueling October 9–12 working weekend was nothing short of spectacular. We will start tomorrow night’s meeting by celebrating these victories and discussing the total funds raised.
As we catch our breath, the fight to permanently protect Hollywood Cemetery continues. We have a powerful agenda for tomorrow night’s meeting as we tackle long-term grant planning, municipal demands, and our legal strategy regarding the cemetery’s trust.
Meeting Agenda:
(Probably more than we can discuss in an hour!)
Celebrating the October 9–12 Weekend: Let’s recap the incredible weekend of fundraising, documentary filming, and on-the-ground volunteer work, and discuss the total funds raised.
Creating a 1-Year Project Schedule: To strengthen our upcoming grant applications, we need to map out a clear, at least one-year schedule of restoration phases that we can follow as closely as possible.
Legal & Financial Strategy (The Bank Trust): We need to thoroughly discuss the recent email outlining our strategic offensive regarding the cemetery’s trust fund. We will review the four key steps proposed:
Form a Legal Coalition: Establish a formal identity (like “The Friends of Hollywood Cemetery”) to gain immense public relations leverage.
Build a “Paper Trail of Blight”: Compile a dossier that directly contrasts the bank’s annual fee statements against time-stamped photographs of the unmanaged, overgrown land to prove they are profiting while the cemetery deteriorates.
Engage Local Legislative Allies: Present our dossier to state representatives, utilizing the recent Tennessee Public Chapter 119 (which overhauled cemetery trust rules) to pressure the TDCI to act on our petition.
Request a Structured Transition: Ensure our petition explicitly demands the bank transfer 100% of the remaining trust principal directly into our nominated Master Trust, completely bypassing any “account closing fees.”
Demanding the Cleanup of Cane Creek: Cane Creek runs directly through Hollywood Cemetery, polluted with sanitation and industrial waste, causing severe erosion and flooding, but it belongs to the City of Memphis! We need to identify the exact, full name of the City Council Representative for our district so we can start aggressively demanding a FULL municipal cleanup of the creek.
Website Updates: Review the latest digital progress and online outreach following our big weekend.
Documentary Updates: Check in with the film crew on how the interviews at Stax and the live concert footage turned out.
Rest your muscles, gather your notes, and I will see you all on the screen tomorrow evening at 6 PM!
Please forward this email to anyone you believe would be interested in joining the Task Force or who could help us out!
With immense gratitude and pride,
The Hollywood Cemetery Restoration Team
A Project of MUSE, Inc.
