How members of the Council voted on the 'Grinch kills Christmas bill' to ban Christmas lighting

On December 5th 2017 the council passed BILL BL2017-903 to ban  decorative "rope lighting" on any building, sign, or property with non-residential zoning located adjacent to an arterial or collector street except those in the downtown area. A previous version of this would have banned it everywhere on all property. Rope lighting is that lighting that you have probably seen that outlines a tree or structure. It is often used as Christmas decorations but sometimes is used year-round. Why one would want to ban this I have no idea.. The sponsor said it is for the safety of the motoring public and to protect people with epilepsy. I do not buy that explanation for a minute. This is an overreach of government. There was no discussion on third and final reading and it passed by a machine vote of YES:24. NO:12, ABSTAIN:1, and NOT VOTING:3.  Below is how the members of the Council voted.

                                   Voting "YES" to approve the ban

John Cooper, At-large                                                 Sharon Hurt, A-large
Jim Shulman, At-large                                                Nick Leonardo, District 1
DeCosta Hastings, District 2                                       Brenda Haywood, District 3
Robert Swope, District 4                                             Scott Davis, District 5
Bret Withers, District 6                                               Anthony Davis, District 7
Nancy VanReece, District 8                                        Bill Pridemore, District 9
Larry Hagar, District 11                                              Holly Huezo, District 13
Jeff Syracuse, District 15                                            Burkeley Allen, District 18
Ed Kindall, District 21                                                Russ Pulley, District 25
Davette Blalock, District  27                                      Tanaka Vercher, District 28
Karen Johnson, District  29                                        Jason Potts, District  30
Jacobia Dowell, District 32                                        Antionette Lee, District  22

                                   Voting "NO," opposing the ban

Keven Rhoten, District 14                                       Mike Freeman, District  16
Colby Sledge, District 17                                        Freddie O'Connell, District 19
Mary Carolyn Roberts, District 20                          Sheri Weiner, District  22
Mina Johnson, District  23                                       Kathleen Murphy, District 24 
Jeremy Elrod, District 26                                         Fabian Bedne, District 31
Angie Henderson, District  34                                 Dave Rosenberg, District 35

Voting "ABSTAIN:"  Bob Mendes, At-large

NOT VOTING:  Erica Gilmore, At-large    Doug Pardue, District 10     Steve Glover, District  12
Please note that those not voting may have been absent, out of the room, not paying attention or simply not voting.

If any member of the Council would like to explain their vote, they may leave a comment.
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