MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An Environmental Court judge Tuesday gave the group in control of Aretha Franklin’s Memphis birthplace 45 days to come up with a plan to restore it.
Jeffrey Higgs, executive director of the South Memphis Renewal Community Development Cooperation, said he would get together with other interested parties and present a plan to the court.
Higgs represents LeMoyne-Owen College, which was appointed by a judge two years to act as the receiver on the home as a condition to keep the home from being destroyed.
The home’s owner, Vera House, also told the court that she’s working to pay about $1,200 in taxes and fees owed on the property with community support.
House has raised money to take care of a good portion of that but Higgs claims that’s the least of his worries because the city is on board with the project and no one is in danger of losing the home.
But House, who raised her family at 406 Lucy, said she feels like she’s being left out of the planning process.
“When I moved in I was 27 years old and I raised a dozen kids in that house, and I’ve been the one really taking care of that house,” House said.
Higgs said he and all the interested parties, including House, would be working toward the same goal — getting the house where the Queen of Soul was born — restored and in use.
“There’s no controversy,” Higgs said. “I want to say that very clear in that we all have the same goal.”
He said House’s interests would always be protected because she is the owner of the house. He said there’s some confusion but no controversy, and he thinks once everything is cleared up, everyone should make it to the same page.
“There’s no reason for dissent,” Higgs said. “We all love Aretha. She’s loved globally.”
