One operative in the Tennessee Capitol frequently refers to the Legislature as the Land of Oz, and if that is so, Germantown Senator Paul Stanley is the tin man.
He needs to find a heart.
More to the point, he needs to go on a quest for his core Republican beliefs, because at this point, he has all the earmarks of being a “sound bite Republican” – one of those party apparatchniks who can always parrot the party line while failing to apply it in his legislation.
Flunking Civics 101
For example, we thought Republicans hated mandates, we thought they believed fervently in local self-determination, we thought they hated government interference and we thought they believed that the best government is the government closest to its people.
That’s why we just can’t fathom why Senator Stanley and 17 of his colleagues are trying to force their personal political beliefs on our local city and county governments. Apparently, they are under the impression that a certificate of election endows them with the omniscience to decide from Nashville what our decisions should be here at home.
But that’s precisely what Senator Stanley is doing with his legislation to prevent local government from doing what local government does – make decisions about how our local tax dollars are spent. And in this case, it’s making sure that our taxes are used to require that our fellow citizens are paid a living wage.
Getting Out Of The Cocoon
It may be easy in Senator Stanley’s well-to-do district to think that such things don’t matter. We hope that he’ll take the time to drive out of Germantown and get acquainted with the working poor who have two or three jobs to reach the living wage.
We dare him to look into the faces of poor Memphians – 75% of whom are women and children – and tell them that their local governments shouldn’t have the right to require its vendors and people seeking tax freezes to pay a living wage.
If Senator Stanley does not believe that every person is entitled to a living wage, he should pass legislation that prevents the government he’s part of – State of Tennessee – but his action to force his personal beliefs on the rest of us who are proud of our governments’ action on the living wage is equal parts arrogance and paternalism.
The $10 Outrage
Here’s the outrageous action taken by Memphis and Shelby County Governments that upsets Senator Stanley’s sensibilities: our local legislative bodies agreed to pay their workers and required their contractors to pay employees $10 an hour with benefits or $12 without benefits.
In other words, Senator Stanley’s sensibilities are bruised by the idea that these workers, if working 40 hours a week, are earning the king’s ransom of $20,800. God forbid that those of us in Memphis and Shelby County should aspire to apply the “love thy neighbor” admonition in a way that at least guarantees that we hit this modest threshold.
That’s the greatest irony of all. Senator Stanley proudly proclaims that he’s an evangelical Christian, but he seems to engage in selective reading of the Gospel. After all, the central message of his faith is that it is proven by his service to the least among us.
Living Wage, Living People
Here’s the thing. Fighting poverty is not a Democratic priority or a Republican priority. It requires all of us – from the left and from the right - to act on our values. That’s precisely why we were so proud of the Workers Interfaith Network campaign that led to passage of the living wage by Memphis and Shelby County Government.
It reflected our values as a community, and as the metro area with the highest poverty rate in the U.S., this isn’t about political gamesmanship. It’s about survival. It’s about attacking the problem with every tool that we can find.
Just imagine. At a time when our community needs to compete for the knowledge-based jobs of the global economy, we have legislators that can’t even support $20,800 a year. As Congressman Steve Cohen has aptly pointed out, there is an oligarchy in Memphis that has benefited from the poverty that grips too many of our people.
On The Same Boat
That said, if nothing is done to change the trajectory of our city, it won’t matter if we are in the oligarchy or in the majority. All of us will sink together. There’s no special class of people when a regional economy collapses. We’ve pointed out repeatedly that the indicators for Memphis are headed in the wrong direction, and most of them relate directly to the malignant poverty in our midst.
That’s why the votes on the living wage were so crucial. But equally important, it represented democracy at its best – grassroots groups joining hands to advocate for a change in the way we do business and the way that we treat the working poor. Now, people 210 miles away want to tell us that we don’t have that right.
In its 18-13 vote to prevent any government in Tennessee from passing living wage rules, the Tennessee Senate has written the most shameful chapter in its recent history. Spreading the mythology that higher minimum wage damages the economy and kill jobs, the state senators have majored in demagoguery and minored in fairness.
Long Arm Of The State
In the end, it’s just hard to understand why Senator Stanley believes that he has the right for the long arm of state government to reach down into the affairs of city and county government and erase some small measure of justice for the poor of our community.
If this bill passes the Tennessee Legislature, we urge for an act in kind. We urge Congressman Cohen to propose legislation in the U.S. Congress that prevents state legislatures from mandates that limit the self-determination of local government to set their own wage levels.
By then, the Legislature would not only have proven that in Oz, there are still tin men looking for hearts, but more to the point, there are tin-eared senators who put their personal political opportunism ahead of fundamental democratic values.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Single Source Funding May Follow Single-Minded Dedication
After 20 years of talking about it, it’s likely that there will soon be a single source funding plan for public education.
It’s a landmark moment for two reasons.
It is the first substantive action to inject fairness into a tax structure that punishes Memphians.
Equally important, it is a testament to the benefits of new leadership as exemplified by Shelby County Commissioner Mike Carpenter – who began the discussion about changes in school funding with his one-man crusade – and Chair Deidre Malone – who refused to accept predictions of failure when she convened her process to resolve the school funding question once and for all.
The New Guard
We’ve never embraced term limits for a variety of reasons, but there’s no denying that this breakthrough is fueled by the new energy, the new ideas and the new people on the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. In fact, it’s impossible to imagine that this could have happened with the former board of commissioners, which seemed at the end more focused on longevity than leading edge thinking.
This new group – like the revamped Memphis City Council – demonstrates convincingly that long-time elected officials who so often adopt the attitude that they’ve seen everything before and that nothing can be done to change things sometimes just need to get out of the way.
So often, while the old guard is being nabobs of negativity, our city slowly sinks under the weight of its troubling challenges. In this way, the new momentum for change could not come at a better time, because there’s no question that we have to shake up the status quo or our city will fall off a cliff.
That’s exactly what the special ad hoc committee on school funding has been doing. As it began its work, it was told that it couldn’t be done. After all, there had been repeated efforts to find a solution over the past 20 years and every time the end result was failure.
On The Verge
And yet, today, they stand on the verge of success. It is interesting to note that the past failed efforts were always begun by mayors, but this time around, it was commissioners and City Council members who decided to see if they could do anything about the double taxation that Memphians pay for public education.
This seems more and more to be accepted as a major public policy challenge in our community. When the Shelby County Board of Commissioners was presented with a variety of cost-cutting measures by the Wharton Administration, Commissioner Henri Brooks said they didn’t address the real problem of tax equity.
She was precisely right, and we’re encouraged by the fact that the interest in getting this right crosses all political, racial and geographic lines. In this way, perhaps, the most important outcome of the process may not be single source funding itself.
A draft of the plan said: “Shelby County Government is the logical local funding source for both the Memphis City Schools system and the Shelby County schools system. Having the County as the local single-source equalizes the tax burden, recognizes that every child in Shelby County has equal value and simplifies the local funding model. It can also avoid protracted and counterproductive litigation to determine the funding responsibilities of the City of Memphis.”
The First Cut Is The Hardest
This shift in school funding responsible would be transitioned from city government to county government over a three-year period. Best of all, the proposal contains a provision that ties the cut in funding to a cut in the Memphis property tax rate.
We learned last year that it’s hard to pass up the lure of new money. Although City Council courageously slashed funding for Memphis City Schools, it did not convert the entire amount into the tax cut that is needed if Memphis is to have a level playing field with suburban cities.
In this way, single source funding, or health department funding, or other services in which city taxpayers are paying twice isn’t just about making county government responsible. In truth, the end game has to be a reduction in the city tax rate so that this disincentive for Memphians to stay here is removed.
Several inducements should encourage the two school districts to cooperate in the process, chiefly that school funding will be tied to the property tax rather than being a fixed annual funding amount. To ensure that the school districts do not receive windfalls from surpluses in strong economic times as has taken place in the past.
Game Changers
An encouraging development in school accountability is that if county government becomes the only source for public education, both school districts must submit to the same budgetary oversight. This has not been the case in the past regarding Memphis City Schools.
As part of the shared agreement, all the parties – city government, county government, city school district and county school district – will pursue a lawsuit against state government about the level of funding for Shelby County. This follows up extensive research by Commissioner Mike Ritz that showed that county government has been shortchanged by almost $20 million a year. Finally, the parties to the agreement will agree to seek an amendment to Tennessee state law that requires for schools to be merged if the governments are.
At this point, we are told that the ad hoc committee on education funding is advancing two options for single source funding, apparently in response for the school districts’ interest in having taxing authority. While there appears to be little support among the public for giving yet another elected group the authority to tax them, all of us should be willing to engage in a public discussion of the idea.
It’s beginning to look like single source funding might actually take form about the 10th anniversary of the process inspired by local business leader Russell Gwatney, who became an expert in the arcania of school funding in his campaign for rational funding for better schools.
Knock On Wood
The ad hoc committee report embraced some of Mr. Gwatney’s concepts, and that’s good news. But the truth is that despite Chamber of Commerce and business support a decade ago, the campaign derailed, chiefly because of the lack of political will needed to change things.
That, most of all, is what makes the current process so impressive. We hope that it is just the first big step in a continuing journey toward tax equity so that finally Memphis will have a fair and logical tax structure.
It’s a landmark moment for two reasons.
It is the first substantive action to inject fairness into a tax structure that punishes Memphians.
Equally important, it is a testament to the benefits of new leadership as exemplified by Shelby County Commissioner Mike Carpenter – who began the discussion about changes in school funding with his one-man crusade – and Chair Deidre Malone – who refused to accept predictions of failure when she convened her process to resolve the school funding question once and for all.
The New Guard
We’ve never embraced term limits for a variety of reasons, but there’s no denying that this breakthrough is fueled by the new energy, the new ideas and the new people on the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. In fact, it’s impossible to imagine that this could have happened with the former board of commissioners, which seemed at the end more focused on longevity than leading edge thinking.
This new group – like the revamped Memphis City Council – demonstrates convincingly that long-time elected officials who so often adopt the attitude that they’ve seen everything before and that nothing can be done to change things sometimes just need to get out of the way.
So often, while the old guard is being nabobs of negativity, our city slowly sinks under the weight of its troubling challenges. In this way, the new momentum for change could not come at a better time, because there’s no question that we have to shake up the status quo or our city will fall off a cliff.
That’s exactly what the special ad hoc committee on school funding has been doing. As it began its work, it was told that it couldn’t be done. After all, there had been repeated efforts to find a solution over the past 20 years and every time the end result was failure.
On The Verge
And yet, today, they stand on the verge of success. It is interesting to note that the past failed efforts were always begun by mayors, but this time around, it was commissioners and City Council members who decided to see if they could do anything about the double taxation that Memphians pay for public education.
This seems more and more to be accepted as a major public policy challenge in our community. When the Shelby County Board of Commissioners was presented with a variety of cost-cutting measures by the Wharton Administration, Commissioner Henri Brooks said they didn’t address the real problem of tax equity.
She was precisely right, and we’re encouraged by the fact that the interest in getting this right crosses all political, racial and geographic lines. In this way, perhaps, the most important outcome of the process may not be single source funding itself.
A draft of the plan said: “Shelby County Government is the logical local funding source for both the Memphis City Schools system and the Shelby County schools system. Having the County as the local single-source equalizes the tax burden, recognizes that every child in Shelby County has equal value and simplifies the local funding model. It can also avoid protracted and counterproductive litigation to determine the funding responsibilities of the City of Memphis.”
The First Cut Is The Hardest
This shift in school funding responsible would be transitioned from city government to county government over a three-year period. Best of all, the proposal contains a provision that ties the cut in funding to a cut in the Memphis property tax rate.
We learned last year that it’s hard to pass up the lure of new money. Although City Council courageously slashed funding for Memphis City Schools, it did not convert the entire amount into the tax cut that is needed if Memphis is to have a level playing field with suburban cities.
In this way, single source funding, or health department funding, or other services in which city taxpayers are paying twice isn’t just about making county government responsible. In truth, the end game has to be a reduction in the city tax rate so that this disincentive for Memphians to stay here is removed.
Several inducements should encourage the two school districts to cooperate in the process, chiefly that school funding will be tied to the property tax rather than being a fixed annual funding amount. To ensure that the school districts do not receive windfalls from surpluses in strong economic times as has taken place in the past.
Game Changers
An encouraging development in school accountability is that if county government becomes the only source for public education, both school districts must submit to the same budgetary oversight. This has not been the case in the past regarding Memphis City Schools.
As part of the shared agreement, all the parties – city government, county government, city school district and county school district – will pursue a lawsuit against state government about the level of funding for Shelby County. This follows up extensive research by Commissioner Mike Ritz that showed that county government has been shortchanged by almost $20 million a year. Finally, the parties to the agreement will agree to seek an amendment to Tennessee state law that requires for schools to be merged if the governments are.
At this point, we are told that the ad hoc committee on education funding is advancing two options for single source funding, apparently in response for the school districts’ interest in having taxing authority. While there appears to be little support among the public for giving yet another elected group the authority to tax them, all of us should be willing to engage in a public discussion of the idea.
It’s beginning to look like single source funding might actually take form about the 10th anniversary of the process inspired by local business leader Russell Gwatney, who became an expert in the arcania of school funding in his campaign for rational funding for better schools.
Knock On Wood
The ad hoc committee report embraced some of Mr. Gwatney’s concepts, and that’s good news. But the truth is that despite Chamber of Commerce and business support a decade ago, the campaign derailed, chiefly because of the lack of political will needed to change things.
That, most of all, is what makes the current process so impressive. We hope that it is just the first big step in a continuing journey toward tax equity so that finally Memphis will have a fair and logical tax structure.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Majoring In Minors At Shelby County Schools
From the “we’re supposed to believe this is a coincidence” department:
Faced with the pressing business of hiring a new superintendent, with addressing the concerns of a federal judge that it’s engaged in separate but equal decisions and with the glaring priority to improve a very average school district, Shelby County School board is spending its time renaming the February holiday for its students.
Like many public agencies, local governments and state governments, Shelby County Schools has been calling the holiday “Presidents’ Day,” but suddenly less than one month after an African-American Democrat took office, the county school district is obsessed with a newfound passion to call the holiday Washington’s Birthday.
Majoring In Minors
Shelby County Schools Board Chairman David Pickler is of course leading the fight for the honor of the father of our country. It’s just so characteristic of his persistent efforts at political cleverness and self-righteous manipulations that even if his motivations are pure, it’s just so hard to believe it.
That alone says volumes.
Mr. Pickler says that he was surprised to learn that the official name of the holiday isn’t Presidents Day, and after researching the issue, he’s learned that officially, the federal and state governments still call it Washington’s Birthday.
Left unsaid is why he devoted this much effort to this distraction and why it’s not acceptable for Shelby County Schools to call the holiday whatever it desires.
Left unmistakable are the political factors that fuel the change.
Being Inclusive
Over the years, because various states wanted to honor their own favorite sons in the White House and individuals wanted to honor the presidents that meant most to them personally, the widely-used term, Presidents Day, has gained common usage.
Meanwhile, the day was still officially named for the first president, but Presidents Day became so widely used that it’s even listed on the State of Tennessee website as the name of the holiday on the third Monday in February.
In other words, in a big tent country that feels more inclusive now than in recent history, it would seem that Shelby County Schools would want to err on the side of inclusivity. But that’s never been it’s strong suit.
The Beltone Board
There’s one condition that never changes for the county board -- tone deafness.
Once again, given a chance to show that it’s not some weirdly parochial parallel university and that it wants to educate young people who are prepared for a world where diversity is a fact and tolerance is a virtue, it engages in the kind of partisan, my way or the highway posturing that in the end is nothing short of silly.
In an age when public agencies talk a good game about transparency, the only thing transparent in Shelby County Schools is the way that the interests of the kids is always secondary to using them for personal political gain.
So, instead, the games continue, and as usual, the folks playing them aren’t on school basketball courts.
Faced with the pressing business of hiring a new superintendent, with addressing the concerns of a federal judge that it’s engaged in separate but equal decisions and with the glaring priority to improve a very average school district, Shelby County School board is spending its time renaming the February holiday for its students.
Like many public agencies, local governments and state governments, Shelby County Schools has been calling the holiday “Presidents’ Day,” but suddenly less than one month after an African-American Democrat took office, the county school district is obsessed with a newfound passion to call the holiday Washington’s Birthday.
Majoring In Minors
Shelby County Schools Board Chairman David Pickler is of course leading the fight for the honor of the father of our country. It’s just so characteristic of his persistent efforts at political cleverness and self-righteous manipulations that even if his motivations are pure, it’s just so hard to believe it.
That alone says volumes.
Mr. Pickler says that he was surprised to learn that the official name of the holiday isn’t Presidents Day, and after researching the issue, he’s learned that officially, the federal and state governments still call it Washington’s Birthday.
Left unsaid is why he devoted this much effort to this distraction and why it’s not acceptable for Shelby County Schools to call the holiday whatever it desires.
Left unmistakable are the political factors that fuel the change.
Being Inclusive
Over the years, because various states wanted to honor their own favorite sons in the White House and individuals wanted to honor the presidents that meant most to them personally, the widely-used term, Presidents Day, has gained common usage.
Meanwhile, the day was still officially named for the first president, but Presidents Day became so widely used that it’s even listed on the State of Tennessee website as the name of the holiday on the third Monday in February.
In other words, in a big tent country that feels more inclusive now than in recent history, it would seem that Shelby County Schools would want to err on the side of inclusivity. But that’s never been it’s strong suit.
The Beltone Board
There’s one condition that never changes for the county board -- tone deafness.
Once again, given a chance to show that it’s not some weirdly parochial parallel university and that it wants to educate young people who are prepared for a world where diversity is a fact and tolerance is a virtue, it engages in the kind of partisan, my way or the highway posturing that in the end is nothing short of silly.
In an age when public agencies talk a good game about transparency, the only thing transparent in Shelby County Schools is the way that the interests of the kids is always secondary to using them for personal political gain.
So, instead, the games continue, and as usual, the folks playing them aren’t on school basketball courts.
This Week On Smart City: Designing Conversations And Cities
The Urban Omnibus is a multi-media collection of insights from journalists, scholars, architects, artists and citizens on the built environment of New York City. We'll speak with Cassim Shepard, who is the project director, about creating an online conversation that reveals the choices that shape the city.
We'll also speak with Dr. Richard Farson. His book, The Power of Design: A Force for Transforming Everything, says that designers can make a whopping impact on social dilemmas including poverty, prison overcrowding and educational failure.
Smart City is a syndicated, weekly hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life: the people, places, ideas and trends that affect us all. Host Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, talks with national and international public policy experts, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others on the pulse of city life for a penetrating discussion on urban issues.
Smart City is broadcast at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sundays on WKNO-FM, but it is also webcast and podcast so you can listen to it anytime you like. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
We'll also speak with Dr. Richard Farson. His book, The Power of Design: A Force for Transforming Everything, says that designers can make a whopping impact on social dilemmas including poverty, prison overcrowding and educational failure.
Smart City is a syndicated, weekly hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life: the people, places, ideas and trends that affect us all. Host Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, talks with national and international public policy experts, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others on the pulse of city life for a penetrating discussion on urban issues.
Smart City is broadcast at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sundays on WKNO-FM, but it is also webcast and podcast so you can listen to it anytime you like. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
City Schools: County's Second-Class Citizen
Old myths just won’t die.
There’s the one that says that suburban sprawl is growth.
The one that says that the state ADA (Average Daily Attendance) results in windfalls to Memphis City Schools.
That the smaller towns have more efficient governments than Memphis and Shelby County Governments.
Or that annexation is the wisest strategy for Memphis, and that the county wheel tax was only supposed to be for one year.
Finally, there’s the persistent idea that surfaced again this week that Shelby County Schools builds superior schools, especially when compared to Memphis City Schools.
Student Warehouses
“I have a real problem swallowing that we’re spending so much more there,” said Shelby County Commissioner Wyatt Bunker, who seems to more accurately swallow hard anytime city schools ask for anything. Specifically, he was comparing the $151.80 per square foot price of the city’s Douglas High School and the $136.10 per square foot price of the county’s new Southwind High School.
If cost was the overriding factor, we’d agree with him. But judging the value of schools is about more than price, and thankfully, unlike the Shelby County Schools, Memphis City Schools actually builds schools that act as hubs for community, that have a sense of place, that have a sense of arrival and that have public art.
Meanwhile, Shelby County Schools builds warehouses for students like Southwind High School – the wrong-sized school at the wrong place for the wrong reason – that has all the charm of a prison (see photo).
As Memphis City Schools Commissioner Betty Mallott accurately pointed out, city schools are often located in urban settings where land assembly can be tricky and because they are in neighborhoods, they have the responsibility to be forces for community pride and spirit. In addition, the city district thankfully pays the living wage and benefits package.
At Their Expense
Commissioners say they are concerned about getting school costs under control. Unfortunately, these always seem to come at the expense of Memphis City Schools. As for us, we’d like to know how much of the $480 million in facility renovations and construction needed by Memphis City Schools and documented five years ago remain to be addressed.
These kinds of repetitive conversations over the past 30 years have largely been “tail wagging the dog” attitudes of Shelby County Government, which has the tendency to think that any request for Memphis City Schools is worthy, less well-thought-out and less important.
It’s been evident time and time again over the years whenever the county schools district came in for money for a new school. There was always immediate loud gnashing of teeth and cries of outrage that the ADA law required that every time $1 is given to the county district, about $3 has to be given to the city district.
Listening to it, you would have thought that Memphis City Schools’ classrooms were lavishly decorated, there were computers for every pupil and that the surroundings were gold-plated. Of course, the truth was far different. On one occasion as county government moaned about having to send Memphis City Schools money just because Shelby County Schools needed new schools, one television station was reporting how ceilings in some schools were falling in, paint was chipping and teaching conditions were abysmal.
More Of The Same
But such are the racial undertow that has always characterized school issues in county government. Even after Memphis City Schools had meticulously inventoried about half a billion dollars in needed improvements, it was the county district’s requests for funding that prompted action – and money.
We think that the problems with construction of Manassas and Douglas High Schools aren’t related to square foot costs. More to the point, both schools were built twice as large as needed, and as a result, they will on their best days be operating at 50% capacity. Unfortunately, good old-fashioned politics resulted in the schools being built as tributes to a city council member and to a former school administration, and so it never received the serious planning evaluation that it was needed.
Meanwhile, the poster child for the county district's style of management is the Southwind High School, the hulking warehouse for 2,000 students - predominately African-American and many of them moved out of Germantown schools – that has all the charm of a new state prison.
The $36 million bunker is built on land for which Shelby County Schools paid significantly too much (about 50 percent more than comparable land in the same general area), it's built at the wrong location, and it's the wrong size and it was the wrong price.
Here's the thing about the new county schools. They are the educational equivalent of big box retail, and like the big boxes themselves, these schools have done nothing so much as feed sprawl and fuel our car-dependent society. For 30 years, Shelby County Schools has regularly built schools far from the center of communities, fueling sprawl, traffic and pollution. (Considering that most of them were selected by developers who were enriched by their projects near the schools, we guess this shouldn’t be surprising.)
Fuel For Sprawl
And while Shelby County Government seemed willing to move heaven and earth to pay for these mega-schools, it was content to let urban schools deteriorate into places unfit for their use as centers of learning.
Nationally, between 1995 and 2004, about $253 billion was spent on public school construction and renovation, but the bulk of the funding went for new schools. And make no mistake about it, were it not for the much-maligned ADA (Average Daily Attendance) requirements of state law, that would surely have been the case here. Some public officials regularly wring their hands about the growing county debt, but left unsaid is the fact that the needs of city schools were every bit as important and critical as new county schools.
The director of town planning for the New Urbanist architecture firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. could have been talking about Shelby County when he said: "Most school systems are building in new growth areas. They're remote and overcrowded, and kids can't walk to them. The mentality is about quantity versus quality."
And 10 More Reasons
From Chris Johnston:
1. Greater Memphis Greenline, 13 miles of Rails to trails project work in progress!!!! Can't wait.
2. The fact that Memphis is NOT on everyones got to Live there List. WE have lots of room for improvement, but the original soul and decaying original edginess are nice, like a fine ole patina on a beautiful work of art.
3. Harbor Town/Riverwalk/Greenbelt park
4. The Pyramid, what a jewel, for a place called MEMPHIS, any other city would be falling over itsel. With great ideas for repurposing it, and not trying to PAY some corporation/group to take if off its hands!
5. High Point Terrace and Hedgemoor neighborhoods.
6. Overton Park, Save the Greensward!
7. Goldsmith Botanical Gardens and The Pink Palace. Have you been there lately?
8. Central Ave between Buntyn and Highland St. in the Spring/Summer, Gotta love our TREES!
9. Memphis Heritage Association, Helping to preserve our originality.
10. Shelby Farms Park and all the great things in the works there.
Thanks for a great Memphis website.
1. Greater Memphis Greenline, 13 miles of Rails to trails project work in progress!!!! Can't wait.
2. The fact that Memphis is NOT on everyones got to Live there List. WE have lots of room for improvement, but the original soul and decaying original edginess are nice, like a fine ole patina on a beautiful work of art.
3. Harbor Town/Riverwalk/Greenbelt park
4. The Pyramid, what a jewel, for a place called MEMPHIS, any other city would be falling over itsel. With great ideas for repurposing it, and not trying to PAY some corporation/group to take if off its hands!
5. High Point Terrace and Hedgemoor neighborhoods.
6. Overton Park, Save the Greensward!
7. Goldsmith Botanical Gardens and The Pink Palace. Have you been there lately?
8. Central Ave between Buntyn and Highland St. in the Spring/Summer, Gotta love our TREES!
9. Memphis Heritage Association, Helping to preserve our originality.
10. Shelby Farms Park and all the great things in the works there.
Thanks for a great Memphis website.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Another 10 Reasons Why I Love Memphis
Here's the latest in our continuing conversation about the things we love most about Memphis. Send in any lists that you have and we'll post them here. Eventually, we'll post a master list of everyone's favorites. Here's Jeff Cozzens' list:
1. Approaching Memphis from the Arkansas side late at night and seeing the beautifully lit "M" bridge.
2. Being a proud graduate of a division one University, the University of Memphis.
3. Overton Park.
4. The beautiful old oak trees, how our city fathers from long ago decided not to cut down the trees to build an interstate through Overton Park.
5. Real "soul food."
6. Real BBQ, often imitated but never duplicated.
7. My integrated church.
8. Our rich civil rights heritage.
9. If you need it, high-quality medical care.
10. A sense that Memphis can always improve and become a better place to live and work.
1. Approaching Memphis from the Arkansas side late at night and seeing the beautifully lit "M" bridge.
2. Being a proud graduate of a division one University, the University of Memphis.
3. Overton Park.
4. The beautiful old oak trees, how our city fathers from long ago decided not to cut down the trees to build an interstate through Overton Park.
5. Real "soul food."
6. Real BBQ, often imitated but never duplicated.
7. My integrated church.
8. Our rich civil rights heritage.
9. If you need it, high-quality medical care.
10. A sense that Memphis can always improve and become a better place to live and work.
Tonight: A Chance To Speak Out About Overton Park
Here's part of a message from Park Friends regarding City Engineering's plan to scar Overton Park:
The city plans to destroy the Greensward in Overton Park, and we need your voices to speak up to defend it.
The city engineers want to improve drainage in the nearby creek by digging out the entire field by Rainbow Lake and making it a bowl 18' deep (as deep as a two story building sunk into the field). This the ONLY field in the park that is not part of the golf course, zoo, or other organized, paid-for activity. We need this gathering place for picnics, kite-flying, dog walking, game playing, and general hanging out. That's what parks are for, and this one is constantly in use by the people.
The engineering maps and more information are posted at overtonparkforever.com. This project is typical of the way that the some city agencies look at irreplacible park land as targets of opportunity for projects which they would not consider worthwhile if park land were not available.
Since there is no organized lobby for the park, we need the citizens to speak up to protect it. The Vollentine-Evergreen Community Association will host a public meeting at their headquarters, 1680 Jackson Avenue, at 6:30pm Wednesday, March 11, to discuss the issue of Lick Creek flood control. Representatives from the City of Memphis will be on hand to answer questions.
Whether you can attend the meeting or not, your written comments may be sent to Hugh Teaford at the City of Memphis Engineering division. His email is hugh.Teaford@memphistn.gov and his address is 125 N. Main, Room 644, Memphis TN 38103.
Please copy:
Mayor Willie W. Herenton mayor@memphistn.gov
Director Wain Gaskins City of Memphis Engineering 125 N. Main St. Room 644 Memphis, TN 38103 Email: wain.gaskins@memphistn.gov 901-576-6700
Director Cindy Buchanan City of Memphis Park Services 2599 Avery Avenue Memphis, TN 38112 Email: cindy.buchanan@memphistn.gov
Councilman Jim Strickland Memphis City Council, District 5 125 N. Main, Room 514
Memphis, TN 38103 Email: jim.strickland@memphistn.gov
Email and addresses for other City Council Members are on line at http://www.cityofmemphis.org/framework.aspx?page=689*
The city plans to destroy the Greensward in Overton Park, and we need your voices to speak up to defend it.
The city engineers want to improve drainage in the nearby creek by digging out the entire field by Rainbow Lake and making it a bowl 18' deep (as deep as a two story building sunk into the field). This the ONLY field in the park that is not part of the golf course, zoo, or other organized, paid-for activity. We need this gathering place for picnics, kite-flying, dog walking, game playing, and general hanging out. That's what parks are for, and this one is constantly in use by the people.
The engineering maps and more information are posted at overtonparkforever.com. This project is typical of the way that the some city agencies look at irreplacible park land as targets of opportunity for projects which they would not consider worthwhile if park land were not available.
Since there is no organized lobby for the park, we need the citizens to speak up to protect it. The Vollentine-Evergreen Community Association will host a public meeting at their headquarters, 1680 Jackson Avenue, at 6:30pm Wednesday, March 11, to discuss the issue of Lick Creek flood control. Representatives from the City of Memphis will be on hand to answer questions.
Whether you can attend the meeting or not, your written comments may be sent to Hugh Teaford at the City of Memphis Engineering division. His email is hugh.Teaford@memphistn.gov and his address is 125 N. Main, Room 644, Memphis TN 38103.
Please copy:
Mayor Willie W. Herenton mayor@memphistn.gov
Director Wain Gaskins City of Memphis Engineering 125 N. Main St. Room 644 Memphis, TN 38103 Email: wain.gaskins@memphistn.gov 901-576-6700
Director Cindy Buchanan City of Memphis Park Services 2599 Avery Avenue Memphis, TN 38112 Email: cindy.buchanan@memphistn.gov
Councilman Jim Strickland Memphis City Council, District 5 125 N. Main, Room 514
Memphis, TN 38103 Email: jim.strickland@memphistn.gov
Email and addresses for other City Council Members are on line at http://www.cityofmemphis.org/framework.aspx?page=689*
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
No Greenprint Bruises Our Image Black And Blue
This commentary was posted in October, 2005, and we post it again in light of the controversy of the mistreatment of Overton Park's Greensward. In a time of economic crisis and fiscal stresses in local government, it would seem that it would be the perfect time to protect what we have:
There is an aphorism in local government that goes like this: “There’s always money for anything the mayor wants to do.”
It doesn’t matter if the deficit is growing, it doesn’t matter if the budget is out of balance and it doesn’t matter which way the winds of controversy are blowing. If a mayor wants money for a special interest or a personal priority, it’s always found.
That’s why it’s unfortunate that parkland remains a low priority in local government.
Greening Cities
Never mind that 5,387 acres of parkland in Memphis is meager when compared to our so-called peer cities.
Never mind that the Research Triangle area is launching a GreenPrint program to increase green space by 158,000 acres in the next 25 years.
Never mind that Nashville is embarking on a $151 million park expansion program.
Never mind that Atlanta is beginning development of a spectacular 22-mile linear park.
Never mind that Memphis is in a race with these cities for jobs, workers and economic growth. And never mind that parkland is one of the wisest investments that can be made by a community.
Doing Better
At a time when Memphis should be pulling out all the stops to lure people back to city neighborhoods, we send the message that we place little value on green spaces and their connection with healthy neighborhoods.
Just for the record, let’s do the numbers: Memphis spends about $32 per citizen on parks. It’s hard to find a major city that does less, and we are topped by cities ranging from Seattle to Oakland, Denver to Oklahoma City, Cincinnati to Virginia Beach. In fact, most of these spend from two to seven times more per resident.
As for parkland per 1,000 residents, Memphis is in a race to the bottom. As for parkland as a percentage of the city total area, Memphis (including Shelby Farms Park’s 4,500 acres) rate is 6 percent. By the way, the plan for the Research Triangle will raise its percentage from 8 percent to 15 percent.
While politicians look for quick fixes to budget problems, citizens are looking for long-range commitment to park improvements. And they’re willing to pay for it. In the most recent reporting year, voters in 23 states approved three-fourths of the referenda for parks – to the tune of about $1.8 billion. Since 1995, more than $25 billion in new capital funding for parks has been approved by voters.
Just The Facts
There's no reason that we can't do the same here. The Division of Parks operates on essentially the same budget that it had 30 years ago, and the public needs to create a mandate for our parks, and as we do, let's remember a few things:
• Some people are concerned that parks foster crime.
Actually, the reverse is true. According to scientists at the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, parks create neighborhoods with fewer violent and property crimes and where neighbors watch out and support one another. Research found that residents near parks expressed feelings of safety more than residents lacking parkland. That’s because parks are places where the social bonds of the neighborhood are forged and a spirit of community is incubated through the social contacts on common ground. In addition, researchers compared the crime rates for apartment buildings with little or no vegetation to buildings that had just the opposite. The buildings with vegetation had roughly half as many crimes. These findings were consistent with prior studies that indicate fewer quality of life crimes occur in neighborhoods near parkland.
• Parks increase property values and produce more taxes for local government.
Chattanooga saw property values grow by 128 percent when it embarked on a parks and open space plan, producing an increase of 99 per cent in city and county property taxes. Similar increases were reported in Atlanta, Boulder, San Antonio and Philadelphia.
• Quality of life is a major factor in the decisions of Knowledge Workers on where to live and work.
A survey of 1,200 technology workers showed that a high quality of life increased the attractiveness of a city by 33 percent. Other surveys, including this firm’s Memphis Talent Magnet Report and the Young and Restless Series on the movement of 25-34 year-old workers (which can be read on our website, www.smartcityconsulting.com), show that these young professional workers prefer places with diverse outdoor recreational options.
• Parks are lures to homebuyers, and Memphis needs all the weapons in its arsenal to attract people back to its neighborhoods.
A survey by the National Association of Realtors reported that 65 percent of home shoppers felt that parks would seriously influence them to move to a community; 57 percent would choose a home close to a park and open space over one that is not; and homebuyers would pay 10 percent more for the privilege of living near parkland.
• Families living near parks are fitter and healthier.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports an epidemic in obesity. Access to parks increases the percentage of people exercising on three or more days per week by 26 percent, the CDC says, adding that 15 percent of children are overweight. That percentage is much higher in Memphis. Children need parks now more than ever -- as alternatives to video games, television and computers.
What is the main lesson Memphis can learn from cities with excellent park systems? Leadership matters.
Visionary elected officials understand that the green infrastructure is just as important as the public works infrastructure. They understand that the natural ecosystem is critical to the health and well-being of their citizens. They insist on “green plans” that create an interconnected system of parks that produce all of the economic, quality of life, environmental and sense of community benefits that are found in vibrant cities.
Here’s hoping someone will take out a civics book that reminds them how Memphis’ once dynamic system of parks was not only a source of pride but a selling point during the city’s growth years. It can be again.
There is an aphorism in local government that goes like this: “There’s always money for anything the mayor wants to do.”
It doesn’t matter if the deficit is growing, it doesn’t matter if the budget is out of balance and it doesn’t matter which way the winds of controversy are blowing. If a mayor wants money for a special interest or a personal priority, it’s always found.
That’s why it’s unfortunate that parkland remains a low priority in local government.
Greening Cities
Never mind that 5,387 acres of parkland in Memphis is meager when compared to our so-called peer cities.
Never mind that the Research Triangle area is launching a GreenPrint program to increase green space by 158,000 acres in the next 25 years.
Never mind that Nashville is embarking on a $151 million park expansion program.
Never mind that Atlanta is beginning development of a spectacular 22-mile linear park.
Never mind that Memphis is in a race with these cities for jobs, workers and economic growth. And never mind that parkland is one of the wisest investments that can be made by a community.
Doing Better
At a time when Memphis should be pulling out all the stops to lure people back to city neighborhoods, we send the message that we place little value on green spaces and their connection with healthy neighborhoods.
Just for the record, let’s do the numbers: Memphis spends about $32 per citizen on parks. It’s hard to find a major city that does less, and we are topped by cities ranging from Seattle to Oakland, Denver to Oklahoma City, Cincinnati to Virginia Beach. In fact, most of these spend from two to seven times more per resident.
As for parkland per 1,000 residents, Memphis is in a race to the bottom. As for parkland as a percentage of the city total area, Memphis (including Shelby Farms Park’s 4,500 acres) rate is 6 percent. By the way, the plan for the Research Triangle will raise its percentage from 8 percent to 15 percent.
While politicians look for quick fixes to budget problems, citizens are looking for long-range commitment to park improvements. And they’re willing to pay for it. In the most recent reporting year, voters in 23 states approved three-fourths of the referenda for parks – to the tune of about $1.8 billion. Since 1995, more than $25 billion in new capital funding for parks has been approved by voters.
Just The Facts
There's no reason that we can't do the same here. The Division of Parks operates on essentially the same budget that it had 30 years ago, and the public needs to create a mandate for our parks, and as we do, let's remember a few things:
• Some people are concerned that parks foster crime.
Actually, the reverse is true. According to scientists at the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, parks create neighborhoods with fewer violent and property crimes and where neighbors watch out and support one another. Research found that residents near parks expressed feelings of safety more than residents lacking parkland. That’s because parks are places where the social bonds of the neighborhood are forged and a spirit of community is incubated through the social contacts on common ground. In addition, researchers compared the crime rates for apartment buildings with little or no vegetation to buildings that had just the opposite. The buildings with vegetation had roughly half as many crimes. These findings were consistent with prior studies that indicate fewer quality of life crimes occur in neighborhoods near parkland.
• Parks increase property values and produce more taxes for local government.
Chattanooga saw property values grow by 128 percent when it embarked on a parks and open space plan, producing an increase of 99 per cent in city and county property taxes. Similar increases were reported in Atlanta, Boulder, San Antonio and Philadelphia.
• Quality of life is a major factor in the decisions of Knowledge Workers on where to live and work.
A survey of 1,200 technology workers showed that a high quality of life increased the attractiveness of a city by 33 percent. Other surveys, including this firm’s Memphis Talent Magnet Report and the Young and Restless Series on the movement of 25-34 year-old workers (which can be read on our website, www.smartcityconsulting.com), show that these young professional workers prefer places with diverse outdoor recreational options.
• Parks are lures to homebuyers, and Memphis needs all the weapons in its arsenal to attract people back to its neighborhoods.
A survey by the National Association of Realtors reported that 65 percent of home shoppers felt that parks would seriously influence them to move to a community; 57 percent would choose a home close to a park and open space over one that is not; and homebuyers would pay 10 percent more for the privilege of living near parkland.
• Families living near parks are fitter and healthier.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports an epidemic in obesity. Access to parks increases the percentage of people exercising on three or more days per week by 26 percent, the CDC says, adding that 15 percent of children are overweight. That percentage is much higher in Memphis. Children need parks now more than ever -- as alternatives to video games, television and computers.
What is the main lesson Memphis can learn from cities with excellent park systems? Leadership matters.
Visionary elected officials understand that the green infrastructure is just as important as the public works infrastructure. They understand that the natural ecosystem is critical to the health and well-being of their citizens. They insist on “green plans” that create an interconnected system of parks that produce all of the economic, quality of life, environmental and sense of community benefits that are found in vibrant cities.
Here’s hoping someone will take out a civics book that reminds them how Memphis’ once dynamic system of parks was not only a source of pride but a selling point during the city’s growth years. It can be again.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
City Engineering Consistent, If Nothing Else
The #1 priority of the public, according to Sustainable Shelby, is for local government to create a great public realm for our community.
Memphis’ large parks are some of city government’s most elite services, according to the City of Memphis Poll.
Overton Park is a 342-acre monument to the late 19th century “Greater Memphis Movement,” when our city was the national leader of the Progressive Era with the design of Memphis’ landmark parks and parkways system.
So, in light of these facts, what does city engineering do?
Scarplace
It is proceeding on a plan that could permanently scar Overton Park, some of Memphis’ most precious common ground, its living room and home to some of its most prized cultural icons. In this way, City Engineering rivals Jack the Ripper’s ability to slash his victims, which, in our case, seems always to be our city’s quality of life.
The words of Jeff Speck, former National Endowment for the Arts director of design and co-author of Suburban Nation, ring in our ears. In his presentation in Memphis last year, he said: “Don’t leave the design of your city to highway engineers.”
Sometimes, we just can’t help asking yourself, “What in the hell are they thinking?” With an approval rating that hovers in the same atmosphere as George W. Bush, it would seem logical and reasonable that City Engineering would tread lightly on projects that have the potential of marring special public spaces. But such is not the philosophy of that division of city government.
It bruises the civic psyche with a dependable lack of sensitivity to the palpable feeling that traffic engineers are willing to trample over our ambitions to do something as ambitious as creating a world-class park at Shelby Farms or as seemingly simple as putting bike lanes in our neighborhoods.
At Least They’re Consistent
Of course, when it comes to Overton Park, this recent episode feeds into a history when traffic engineers treated this special parkland as “free land” where asphalt could be laid with impunity. That was until a grassroots movement fought to protect the park from an interstate running through it and won.
That same disregard seemed to play out when Engineering was essentially dragged into the process to design a road through Shelby Farms Park that was “context sensitive,” and even today, some park enthusiasts are unconvinced that the boulevard approved by the broad-based group convened by Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton will be built. Others think the garishly massive bridge entering Shelby Farms Park from the west more accurately reflects the attitude of City Engineering to the park, because of the bridge’s lack of consideration for bike and pedestrian access.
We’ve written regularly about the guilt-free attitude our public engineers (incredibly, we’re paying them to do these things to us) have about the devastating impact they have on our city’s livability. Worst of all, it comes just at the time when quality of life is the single most crucial factor in attracting and retaining young, college-educated talent.
To an outpouring of concern from Overton Park lovers and environmentalists, City Engineering essentially responds, “Trust us,” suggesting that the football-sized retention basin at Overton Park won’t be a problem at all. The fact that the opposition only intensified with this response indicates as much about the lack of confidence in City Engineering as about the love for our Central Park.
We All Know It
When City of Memphis bought Lea’s Woods, which would become Overton Park, it hired the same Kansas City firm that was designing the Louisiana Purchase World Fairgrounds in St. Louis in 1903. Based on Central Park in New York City, Overton Park was known for its open spaces, lakes, pavilion and drives when it opened in 1902.
One of those grand and special open spaces was the Greensward which City Engineering has now targeted for the expansive stormwater retention basin. City Engineering defends itself by saying that the project has been in the works for three years, which makes it interesting that it’s next to impossible to find anyone – including Citizens to Preserve Overton Park – who knew about it, much less asked their opinions and advice.
We all know the Greensward in Overton Park. We just may not know it by that name. It’s that glorious open space just across the street from the Memphis College of Art where we’ve all thrown Frisbees, played with our children, exercised our dogs, strolled with our significant others or just soaked up the always interesting people watching.
Overton Park represents 10% of the total parkland managed by the Division of Park Services, according to Naomi Van Tol, president of Citizens to Preserve Overton Park. Knowing the green ethos of Parks Director Cynthia Buchanan, it’s hard to imagine that she concurs in the misappropriation of a place where the spirit of community is strengthened and nurtured every day.
Digging Disaster
Ms. Van Tol said City Engineering’s plans call for the digging of a trench from Poplar Avenue northward across the golf course and Greensward in order to install a 4 x 6 box culvert. The engineers will then have a sloped detention basin that could lower the surface of the Greensward by about 20 feet and it would be filled by floodwater seven times a year. City Engineering is less clear about how many weeks a year it will be simply off limits, a mucky, unappealing mess.
It’s said that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. The Greensward was saved three decades ago from an interstate through the park, and it needs us just as much today. As Obama online campaign guru Ben Self said in Memphis last week, there are now unprecedented digital tools that passionate people can use to self-organize. We think this is a perfect cause to test them out.
This greenspace is irreplaceable. The damage is irreparable. The need to oppose this project so City Engineering will look for a more appropriate place for this detention basin is reason enough for aggressive action.
Otherwise, in the future, when young families push their baby buggies across the Greensward, they will descend 18 feet to the bottom of the basin and then climb 18 feet out. Apparently, it’s an area that will be off limits to seniors out for exercise.
Public Opinion
When Mayor Wharton rolled out his Sustainable Shelby recommendations last year, he said that six conclusions from the public were unmistakable:
1. There is strong sentiment for an emphasis on revitalization of neighborhoods.
2. People care deeply about the public realm, and they want to have parks, streets, and plazas that are special in their individuality.
3. There is unequivocal concern about protecting our natural environment – our parks and our green spaces.
4. There is strong support for greater emphasis on walkable neighborhoods and a bikable community.
5. There is an unmistakable call for better planning and more public input into the planning and development process.
6. The public wants government to quit talking about sustainability and lead by example with government fleets using alternative fuels, buildings built to green standards, and adaptive reuse of former public buildings.
Amazingly, City Engineering managed to violate all of them. And along with it, the public trust.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
This Week On Smart City: Fighting Crime And Bad Times
On Smart City, we're digging into the issue of urban crime
with our guest David Kennedy. David is a criminologist and professor at the John Jay College in New York, but his field work in troubled neighborhoods has revolutionized law enforcement, and made cities safer.
And, with the economy tanking and retail especially taking a hit,
we'll find out how one neighborhood is working to bring small business to its main street. Yavocka Young of Main Street Anacostia is our guest.
Smart City is a syndicated, weekly hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life: the people, places, ideas and trends that affect us all. Host Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, talks with national and international public policy experts, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others on the pulse of city life for a penetrating discussion on urban issues.
Smart City is broadcast at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sundays on WKNO-FM, but it is also webcast and podcast so you can listen to it anytime you like. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
with our guest David Kennedy. David is a criminologist and professor at the John Jay College in New York, but his field work in troubled neighborhoods has revolutionized law enforcement, and made cities safer.
And, with the economy tanking and retail especially taking a hit,
we'll find out how one neighborhood is working to bring small business to its main street. Yavocka Young of Main Street Anacostia is our guest.
Smart City is a syndicated, weekly hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life: the people, places, ideas and trends that affect us all. Host Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, talks with national and international public policy experts, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others on the pulse of city life for a penetrating discussion on urban issues.
Smart City is broadcast at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sundays on WKNO-FM, but it is also webcast and podcast so you can listen to it anytime you like. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Tapping Into Technology For A Better Future
Today, Ben Self, co-founder of the company that invented the technology for the Obama campaign that transformed political campaigns as we have known them, laid out a glimpse into Memphis if it becomes the first city to apply the tools to city-building.
It was a provocative presentation for the Lexington, KY, native who commutes to his firm’s home base in Washington, and the unmistakable take-away was that the tools that Blue State Digital has pioneered will irrevocably change our world.
Whether it will change Memphis is another question altogether. But we’re hoping that his presentation was the spark.
Our World Is Flat
God knows, there were an awful lot of really smart people and really technologically savvy people among the 520 people who heard him speak at University of Memphis. Based on the enthusiasm after his speech, we hope that someone will take up the mantel and make something happen.
That’s the most wonderful thing about Memphis. Long before Tom Friedman discovered that it is a flat world, we already had a flat city.
Here, there’s no Brahmins who have to sign off before you can launch a new movement. In fact, any one can stake out a position and announce something
new and people will generally rally to support them.
Memphis’ Special Gift
It’s what Geoff Calkins, the talented Commercial Appeal sports columnist, called “Memphis’ gift” in eloquent comments to Leadership Memphis a few months ago. “People here care and look out for each other.
Sometimes in the midst of the drumbeat of fear and negativism here, I have to stop and remind myself what I love about Memphis: the opportunity is there for all of us to shape Memphis.
“Every one of us can make a difference. It’s not that we have an obligation. It’s a gift. It’s an opportunity that doesn’t exist in other places. You can easily get involved in what gives your life purpose and meaning.”
Well-said. We know cities that do just the opposite. Before you can really proceed with a certain project or program, you need the blessings of the handful of people who have life and death control over the funding and influence that you need for success.
Letting It Happen
In other words, if Memphis is a flat city, imagine the impact that could come from technology that encourages and connects us as a group of self-organizing citizens. But, it requires more than the hardware. More to the point, it requires a new approach to community. It requires people, organizations and companies to relinquish control, because at its heart, the “community” being created has to be authentic and personal at its core.
As evidence for this, he pointed out how tens of thousands of Obama supporters actually used the tools on his website to band together and oppose his position against investigating the Bush Administration for possible violations of the law.
However, Obama supporters used his website to organize 200,000 offline events of their own without campaign direction. “What you want to do, whether it is for a campaign or a business or a nonprofit is to build relationships online with technology so people can do great things.”
Blasting Barriers
Best of all, the technology flattens the election process so that the new president is beholden to 13 million people on his email list rather than a group of fundraisers. In the end, 65% of the Obama campaign’s $770 million was raised online, redefining what campaigns will be like in the future.
“We knew we had to do something different to win,” said Mr. Self, and clearly they did that. More than 14 million hours of videos were watched on youtube and more than 65 million voters were talked to as part of the strategy of “money, message and mobilization.”
“Technology can break down traditional barriers” and connect people from one end of the country to the other in a conversation about policies and issues. For example, contributors to the campaign were connected to other regular contributors to talk about shared concerns and to develop a community in which people felt ownership.
New Expectations
“Because of new technology and new tools, people to expect to interact with organizations differently,” he said. “You can adapt now or adapt later, but sooner or later, you will adapt, because you can empower people to do more than they ever thought possible.”
To those who would suggest that government websites shouldn’t give citizens a platform to trash their city or go on company websites to criticize a company. “They are going to say the same things about you,” said Mr. Self. “You can invite them in where you can have a conversation or you can keep them out, but then, you never have a chance to tell them the other side or explain a position.”
But, and it’s a big but, the website has to provide the focal point, but allow for things to develop organically. For example, he pointed to a website in New York that was set up because Mayor Bloomberg wanted to plant one million trees; however, rather than the city pay and plant all the trees, a website was set up to allow people to self-organize and do it themselves.
Already, people have planted 173,000 trees, and on the site, they have the chance to donate, to ask for a tree on a street, to report that a tree was planted, and to volunteer.
7 Suggestions
So, what was Mr. Self’s advice to people who want to use the new tools and technology to create a community?
• Build a relationship by talking to people regularly about something they care about. That doesn’t mean to send press releases or emails from organizations. Make it personal and authentic.
• Be relevant. Talk to people where they live.
• Be authentic. Talk to people like they’re people, not an email address, and have a voice.
• Be transparent. Pull the curtain back so people don’t have questions about your motives or your purpose.
• Lower barriers to entry. Raise your expectations.
• Measure everything. Technology adds a whole level of accountability not there before.
• Focus passion. It can be about an issue, a candidate, a business or a nonprofit. You may not think of your group or organization as passionate, but you have to build an organization that is. You can’t hide your lack of passion with technology.
Yes, We Can
Here’s why it matters to Memphis. Our colleague, Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, summed it, saying that the first city that can apply this technology to the problems of cities is the one that wins.
With Memphis’ rich vein of entrepreneurship and innovation, it’s hard to see why it can’t be us.
It was a provocative presentation for the Lexington, KY, native who commutes to his firm’s home base in Washington, and the unmistakable take-away was that the tools that Blue State Digital has pioneered will irrevocably change our world.
Whether it will change Memphis is another question altogether. But we’re hoping that his presentation was the spark.
Our World Is Flat
God knows, there were an awful lot of really smart people and really technologically savvy people among the 520 people who heard him speak at University of Memphis. Based on the enthusiasm after his speech, we hope that someone will take up the mantel and make something happen.
That’s the most wonderful thing about Memphis. Long before Tom Friedman discovered that it is a flat world, we already had a flat city.
Here, there’s no Brahmins who have to sign off before you can launch a new movement. In fact, any one can stake out a position and announce something
new and people will generally rally to support them.
Memphis’ Special Gift
It’s what Geoff Calkins, the talented Commercial Appeal sports columnist, called “Memphis’ gift” in eloquent comments to Leadership Memphis a few months ago. “People here care and look out for each other.
Sometimes in the midst of the drumbeat of fear and negativism here, I have to stop and remind myself what I love about Memphis: the opportunity is there for all of us to shape Memphis.
“Every one of us can make a difference. It’s not that we have an obligation. It’s a gift. It’s an opportunity that doesn’t exist in other places. You can easily get involved in what gives your life purpose and meaning.”
Well-said. We know cities that do just the opposite. Before you can really proceed with a certain project or program, you need the blessings of the handful of people who have life and death control over the funding and influence that you need for success.
Letting It Happen
In other words, if Memphis is a flat city, imagine the impact that could come from technology that encourages and connects us as a group of self-organizing citizens. But, it requires more than the hardware. More to the point, it requires a new approach to community. It requires people, organizations and companies to relinquish control, because at its heart, the “community” being created has to be authentic and personal at its core.
As evidence for this, he pointed out how tens of thousands of Obama supporters actually used the tools on his website to band together and oppose his position against investigating the Bush Administration for possible violations of the law.
However, Obama supporters used his website to organize 200,000 offline events of their own without campaign direction. “What you want to do, whether it is for a campaign or a business or a nonprofit is to build relationships online with technology so people can do great things.”
Blasting Barriers
Best of all, the technology flattens the election process so that the new president is beholden to 13 million people on his email list rather than a group of fundraisers. In the end, 65% of the Obama campaign’s $770 million was raised online, redefining what campaigns will be like in the future.
“We knew we had to do something different to win,” said Mr. Self, and clearly they did that. More than 14 million hours of videos were watched on youtube and more than 65 million voters were talked to as part of the strategy of “money, message and mobilization.”
“Technology can break down traditional barriers” and connect people from one end of the country to the other in a conversation about policies and issues. For example, contributors to the campaign were connected to other regular contributors to talk about shared concerns and to develop a community in which people felt ownership.
New Expectations
“Because of new technology and new tools, people to expect to interact with organizations differently,” he said. “You can adapt now or adapt later, but sooner or later, you will adapt, because you can empower people to do more than they ever thought possible.”
To those who would suggest that government websites shouldn’t give citizens a platform to trash their city or go on company websites to criticize a company. “They are going to say the same things about you,” said Mr. Self. “You can invite them in where you can have a conversation or you can keep them out, but then, you never have a chance to tell them the other side or explain a position.”
But, and it’s a big but, the website has to provide the focal point, but allow for things to develop organically. For example, he pointed to a website in New York that was set up because Mayor Bloomberg wanted to plant one million trees; however, rather than the city pay and plant all the trees, a website was set up to allow people to self-organize and do it themselves.
Already, people have planted 173,000 trees, and on the site, they have the chance to donate, to ask for a tree on a street, to report that a tree was planted, and to volunteer.
7 Suggestions
So, what was Mr. Self’s advice to people who want to use the new tools and technology to create a community?
• Build a relationship by talking to people regularly about something they care about. That doesn’t mean to send press releases or emails from organizations. Make it personal and authentic.
• Be relevant. Talk to people where they live.
• Be authentic. Talk to people like they’re people, not an email address, and have a voice.
• Be transparent. Pull the curtain back so people don’t have questions about your motives or your purpose.
• Lower barriers to entry. Raise your expectations.
• Measure everything. Technology adds a whole level of accountability not there before.
• Focus passion. It can be about an issue, a candidate, a business or a nonprofit. You may not think of your group or organization as passionate, but you have to build an organization that is. You can’t hide your lack of passion with technology.
Yes, We Can
Here’s why it matters to Memphis. Our colleague, Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, summed it, saying that the first city that can apply this technology to the problems of cities is the one that wins.
With Memphis’ rich vein of entrepreneurship and innovation, it’s hard to see why it can’t be us.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Pedalling Our Way To Progress
Overheard in a Midtown restaurant: “Do you play ‘World of Warcraft?’” The reply: “Yes, I ride my bike in Memphis.”
It was humorous, but also symptomatic of how far Memphis has to go to get the fundamentals right, the kind that attracts new talent, new jobs, and new investments in other cities.
Not too long ago, bicyclists suggested a bucolic lifestyle not too far removed from the past. Today, the bike-friendliness of a city is a “marker” for college-educated, 25-34 year-old professionals as they decide where to live and work.
Pedaling For Progress
From 2000-2006, Memphis lost 14,508 people in this demographic, speeding up a skid that began in the 1990’s with a decrease of 6,814. This is the age group determining if cities succeed in the knowledge economy. They are the most educated, the most entrepreneurial, and the most mobile generation in history, and every city wants them.
Because jobs follow them, they are the gold standard for cities. In a CEOs for Cities poll, they said they want to live in a city that is clean, green, safe, and a place where they can live the life they want to live (translation: a city that is tolerant and with options).
In Portland, Oregon, the new mayor, Sam Adams, literally rode into office on a bicycle and a platform of sustainability that was pioneered by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who transformed his city into a world leader of “green” policies. He added a lattice of bike paths as he moved toward his goal of making “Chicago the most bicycle-friendly city in the U.S.”
Engineering Danger
If Portland and Chicago are setting the pace in the marathon for talent (as their mayors commute to work), Memphis brings up the rear as the irresistible force of cycling runs headlong into the immovable object that is the city engineer’s office.
The monument to its myopia is the new Walnut Grove Road bridge over Wolf River entering Shelby Farms Park, whose destiny, according to its supporters, is to become “America’s great 21st century park.” Cyclists – not to mention pedestrians – engage in one of the most harrowing experiences of their lives if they dare to peddle or walk into the park.
Amazingly, the $36 million project at the front door of the park is a cars only project. Long-time Shelby Farms Park activist Art Wolff – who was instrumental in saving the park from commercial development three decades ago - filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice as a result of “an engineering arrogance that builds a city for cars, not people.”
From A Hobby To A Movement
It’s the public works version of the police residency controversy, because they raise basic questions. If Memphis can’t find 200 people to work as police officers, how can it find several hundred people to work in the UT-Baptist Research Park soon to come out of the ground? If Memphis can’t get bike lanes right, how can it create the quality of life needed to attract and retain talent?
Bicycling magazine already calls Memphis one of the three worst cities for cycling in the U.S. and cites the Walnut Grove bridge as the poster child for a “bureaucracy (that) has repeatedly ignored or rejected requests from bike clubs, shops, and other organizations for facilities.”
And yet, despite frustrations and against all odds, cycling is moving quickly from being a group of enthusiasts to becoming a community of activists, and in doing so, it is becoming the active, vocal force for change in Memphis as it is in other cities.
Bikes: A Measure Of Livability
One leader of the new movement, the ebullient Anthony Siracusa of Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop, grasps the significance of bicycles as vehicles for community change. In his view, cycling is a key indicator of a city’s livability and democracy, and he is encouraged about the new momentum.
He said that there is a “new shift in leadership opinion,” citing Sustainable Shelby as a catalyst and pointing to its new biking strategies, the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s growing understanding that its job is about more than cars, and yes, even city engineering’s intentions to add a budget line item for biking improvements.
“Cities that promote cycling also are cities that seem to take care of their people and have great quality of life,” Siracusa said. “People are moving out of Memphis. We have to reconsider business as usual. It’s no longer a matter of whether cycling is a priority. It’s now a necessity. There’s not an option anymore, because this is about more than cycling. It’s about making Memphis a livable city.”
And that, in the end, will determine if Memphis’ future is as a successful talent and job magnet.
This was previously published as Memphis magazine's City Journal column.
It was humorous, but also symptomatic of how far Memphis has to go to get the fundamentals right, the kind that attracts new talent, new jobs, and new investments in other cities.
Not too long ago, bicyclists suggested a bucolic lifestyle not too far removed from the past. Today, the bike-friendliness of a city is a “marker” for college-educated, 25-34 year-old professionals as they decide where to live and work.
Pedaling For Progress
From 2000-2006, Memphis lost 14,508 people in this demographic, speeding up a skid that began in the 1990’s with a decrease of 6,814. This is the age group determining if cities succeed in the knowledge economy. They are the most educated, the most entrepreneurial, and the most mobile generation in history, and every city wants them.
Because jobs follow them, they are the gold standard for cities. In a CEOs for Cities poll, they said they want to live in a city that is clean, green, safe, and a place where they can live the life they want to live (translation: a city that is tolerant and with options).
In Portland, Oregon, the new mayor, Sam Adams, literally rode into office on a bicycle and a platform of sustainability that was pioneered by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who transformed his city into a world leader of “green” policies. He added a lattice of bike paths as he moved toward his goal of making “Chicago the most bicycle-friendly city in the U.S.”
Engineering Danger
If Portland and Chicago are setting the pace in the marathon for talent (as their mayors commute to work), Memphis brings up the rear as the irresistible force of cycling runs headlong into the immovable object that is the city engineer’s office.
The monument to its myopia is the new Walnut Grove Road bridge over Wolf River entering Shelby Farms Park, whose destiny, according to its supporters, is to become “America’s great 21st century park.” Cyclists – not to mention pedestrians – engage in one of the most harrowing experiences of their lives if they dare to peddle or walk into the park.
Amazingly, the $36 million project at the front door of the park is a cars only project. Long-time Shelby Farms Park activist Art Wolff – who was instrumental in saving the park from commercial development three decades ago - filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice as a result of “an engineering arrogance that builds a city for cars, not people.”
From A Hobby To A Movement
It’s the public works version of the police residency controversy, because they raise basic questions. If Memphis can’t find 200 people to work as police officers, how can it find several hundred people to work in the UT-Baptist Research Park soon to come out of the ground? If Memphis can’t get bike lanes right, how can it create the quality of life needed to attract and retain talent?
Bicycling magazine already calls Memphis one of the three worst cities for cycling in the U.S. and cites the Walnut Grove bridge as the poster child for a “bureaucracy (that) has repeatedly ignored or rejected requests from bike clubs, shops, and other organizations for facilities.”
And yet, despite frustrations and against all odds, cycling is moving quickly from being a group of enthusiasts to becoming a community of activists, and in doing so, it is becoming the active, vocal force for change in Memphis as it is in other cities.
Bikes: A Measure Of Livability
One leader of the new movement, the ebullient Anthony Siracusa of Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop, grasps the significance of bicycles as vehicles for community change. In his view, cycling is a key indicator of a city’s livability and democracy, and he is encouraged about the new momentum.
He said that there is a “new shift in leadership opinion,” citing Sustainable Shelby as a catalyst and pointing to its new biking strategies, the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s growing understanding that its job is about more than cars, and yes, even city engineering’s intentions to add a budget line item for biking improvements.
“Cities that promote cycling also are cities that seem to take care of their people and have great quality of life,” Siracusa said. “People are moving out of Memphis. We have to reconsider business as usual. It’s no longer a matter of whether cycling is a priority. It’s now a necessity. There’s not an option anymore, because this is about more than cycling. It’s about making Memphis a livable city.”
And that, in the end, will determine if Memphis’ future is as a successful talent and job magnet.
This was previously published as Memphis magazine's City Journal column.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Job Posting: Shelby County School Superintendent
JOB OPENING
Superintendent of Suburban School District with Delusions of Grandeur
The Shelby County (TN) Board of Education invites you to apply, if you are someone who can follow orders, for superintendent of a district where high-quality schools is our overall objective (after politics and religion).
Join us in a school system where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the kids are above average, as long as we only compare ourselves to the adjacent urban district.
Salary: Negotiable: we know how to jack it up even if our major funding source doesn't want us to.
Requirements: All applicable Tennessee certifications. Previous experience as a lackey in an educational setting crucial. If you are a woman or African-American, you can apply if you just don't have anything better to do, but it's just not that kind of place. If you are gay, you need to find God. Southern accent required.
Send letter, resume, and credentials to School Board Chairman David Pickler.
Reason for vacancy: Previous occupant decided these weren't the kind of people he wanted to be in a foxhole with.
Closing date for applications: March 13 (ok, we admit it, it's not really a search).
Our Motto: Preparing Students for Tomorrow…Today. (As long as it's a world of white Christians.)
Preferred Traits and Applicable Experience:
- Straight face: Ability to justify construction projects that just happen to create separate but equal schools – like a big white high school way up north and a black one down south.
- Lip syncing: Milli Vanilli should envy your ability to move your mouth when the school board chairman's speaks.
- Biblical: Ability to repeat the 10 Commandments (we're not so much concerned about the Beatitudes; they sound too liberal to really be Jesus' words).
- Pedigree: Extra points if you've ever been called "Bubba" at some point in your life.
- Warehousing: We like to build schools that stack thousands of students in them.
- Corrections Industry: We love to watch students pee and to test students' pee, particularly if they want to play sports.
- Myopia: Only compare student performance to urban districts.
- Eye control: Ability to not bat an eye even when you claim that a special school district is in Memphis' best interests.
- Ambition: We strive to be a world-class school system (as long as the world is West Tennessee).
- References: Please list any developers who can vouch for you.
Wrapping Up 10 Things We Love About Memphis
Here's one more list of 10 Things You Love About Memphis, and a final comment by Charlie Santo, whose "Live Where You Live" movement started it all. Thanks to all of you for your contributions.
From Aaron:
1. Trees everywhere
2. Central BBQ
3. Being anywhere in 30 minutes
4. Being 3 blocks from Cafe Eclectic
5. The music at the Levitt Shell
6. Snowden Elementary
7. Slower pace of life- watching my plants grow in the spring with a fresh cup of coffee each morning
8. Memphis inner city kids and the organizations that work with them
9. Memphis blogging community
10. Watching the Mississippi M-bridge sunset.
A Word from Charlie Santo:
Thanks for giving so much time to this dialogue. It has been very encouraging. We started the Live Where You Live campaign in part out of frustration with the tired, but overwhelming negativity, that pervades here. So this concentration of positivity has been refreshing.
I recognize now that our affection for Memphis is not rare -- and it’s not only there when we ask for it. Memphians love Memphis all the time. And even those who complain loudly often do so only because they are so affected by what is wrong with the place they love. We’re just hoping that when we face challenges, rather than letting negativity take over, we focus on why Memphis is worth fighting for.
On Saturday, I took my daughter to a friend’s birthday party at the Happy Mexican restaurant near South Main. While she played with friends from her class at Downtown Elementary (which should have been on my list), I chatted with a few of the other dads. Unprompted, the conversation turned to the virtues of Memphis: diversity (we were white, black, and Indian), authenticity, friendliness, etc. All of us in the conversation had spent significant parts of our lives in other places – New Delhi, New York, Richmond, Portland, etc. – but none of us had ever felt more at home than we do in Memphis.
If anyone wants to share more, please check out Live Where You Live and click on the icon in the upper left or join our Facebook group.
From Aaron:
1. Trees everywhere
2. Central BBQ
3. Being anywhere in 30 minutes
4. Being 3 blocks from Cafe Eclectic
5. The music at the Levitt Shell
6. Snowden Elementary
7. Slower pace of life- watching my plants grow in the spring with a fresh cup of coffee each morning
8. Memphis inner city kids and the organizations that work with them
9. Memphis blogging community
10. Watching the Mississippi M-bridge sunset.
A Word from Charlie Santo:
Thanks for giving so much time to this dialogue. It has been very encouraging. We started the Live Where You Live campaign in part out of frustration with the tired, but overwhelming negativity, that pervades here. So this concentration of positivity has been refreshing.
I recognize now that our affection for Memphis is not rare -- and it’s not only there when we ask for it. Memphians love Memphis all the time. And even those who complain loudly often do so only because they are so affected by what is wrong with the place they love. We’re just hoping that when we face challenges, rather than letting negativity take over, we focus on why Memphis is worth fighting for.
On Saturday, I took my daughter to a friend’s birthday party at the Happy Mexican restaurant near South Main. While she played with friends from her class at Downtown Elementary (which should have been on my list), I chatted with a few of the other dads. Unprompted, the conversation turned to the virtues of Memphis: diversity (we were white, black, and Indian), authenticity, friendliness, etc. All of us in the conversation had spent significant parts of our lives in other places – New Delhi, New York, Richmond, Portland, etc. – but none of us had ever felt more at home than we do in Memphis.
If anyone wants to share more, please check out Live Where You Live and click on the icon in the upper left or join our Facebook group.
Monday, March 02, 2009
10 Things I Love About Memphis
As we wrap up our “10 Things I Like About Memphis,” thanks to all of you who sent in your personal lists. Tomorrow, we get back to our regular blogging here, but we always invite you to send in a list whenever you feel a burst of civic pride.
From Mike Carpenter:
Here are 10, but could easily do more:
1. Our Civil Rights heritage
2. Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken
3. The Orpheum
4. Shelby Farms now and what it will be
5. The Wolf River
6. Memphis International Airport
7. Amenities of a large city, but I still know someone almost everywhere I go
8. 8th Best City in America to make movies and film
9. Memphis music of yesterday and today
10. Our yet unrealized potential to be one of the greatest cities in America -- herein lies the hope
From B:
1. The fact that I-40 stops at Overton Park. Someone once rolled down their window at Broad and Parkway and said, "Excuse me, could you tell me where the interstate went?"
2. The Zoo
3. Overton Park
4. The River
5. Shelby Farms
6. Downtown revival
7. Local musicians
8. Midtown
9. The weather
10. Memphis Roller Derby
11. Memphis films and filmmakers
12. Museums - They're all great
13. BBQ, especially Central, Neely's and Cozy Corner
14. Live at the Gardens
15. The Memphis Symphony
From Smart City Memphis:
1. Smelling creativity, as well as seeing it, at Memphis College of Art
2. The Judaica Collection at Temple Israel
3. The bands of my sons-in-law, Matt Timberlake’s Rind Stars and Jeremy Shrader’s Memphis Hepcats
4. Eating lunch on a weekday on Beale Street
5. Getting a hug from Suhair Lauck with the food at her downtown landmark, Little Tea Shop
6. Knowing there’s great catfish filets within easy reach regardless of where we are
7. Looking north up the river atop The Pyramid
8. The one-of-a-kind sunset every night over the Mississippi River
9. Standing in front of Martin Luther King’s room at the Lorraine Motel, now National Civil Rights Museum
10. WEVL, especially Wednesday
11. Eating lunch with my daughter Adrienne downtown anywhere
12. The hidden gem that is National Ornamental Metal Museum
13. Projects of the UrbanArt Commission
14. Eating at a restaurant in a traditionally African-American neighborhood
15. The sassy waitresses at Saigon Le
16. Paintings by Freida Hamm
17. Jim Dickinson
18. Rhodes College architecture
19. The many young people determined to change things by having the right conversations about the future
20. Martyrs Park
21. Outsiders who continue to find this place home
22. Elvis Presley’s cars at Graceland
23. The brilliant Ben Shahn’s mosaic mural at Lemoyne-Owen College
24. The First Tennessee Heritage Collection with those remarkable Ted Faiers
25. Bridges
26. Living in a city of second chances.
And we’re just getting started…
From Mike Carpenter:
Here are 10, but could easily do more:
1. Our Civil Rights heritage
2. Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken
3. The Orpheum
4. Shelby Farms now and what it will be
5. The Wolf River
6. Memphis International Airport
7. Amenities of a large city, but I still know someone almost everywhere I go
8. 8th Best City in America to make movies and film
9. Memphis music of yesterday and today
10. Our yet unrealized potential to be one of the greatest cities in America -- herein lies the hope
From B:
1. The fact that I-40 stops at Overton Park. Someone once rolled down their window at Broad and Parkway and said, "Excuse me, could you tell me where the interstate went?"
2. The Zoo
3. Overton Park
4. The River
5. Shelby Farms
6. Downtown revival
7. Local musicians
8. Midtown
9. The weather
10. Memphis Roller Derby
11. Memphis films and filmmakers
12. Museums - They're all great
13. BBQ, especially Central, Neely's and Cozy Corner
14. Live at the Gardens
15. The Memphis Symphony
From Smart City Memphis:
1. Smelling creativity, as well as seeing it, at Memphis College of Art
2. The Judaica Collection at Temple Israel
3. The bands of my sons-in-law, Matt Timberlake’s Rind Stars and Jeremy Shrader’s Memphis Hepcats
4. Eating lunch on a weekday on Beale Street
5. Getting a hug from Suhair Lauck with the food at her downtown landmark, Little Tea Shop
6. Knowing there’s great catfish filets within easy reach regardless of where we are
7. Looking north up the river atop The Pyramid
8. The one-of-a-kind sunset every night over the Mississippi River
9. Standing in front of Martin Luther King’s room at the Lorraine Motel, now National Civil Rights Museum
10. WEVL, especially Wednesday
11. Eating lunch with my daughter Adrienne downtown anywhere
12. The hidden gem that is National Ornamental Metal Museum
13. Projects of the UrbanArt Commission
14. Eating at a restaurant in a traditionally African-American neighborhood
15. The sassy waitresses at Saigon Le
16. Paintings by Freida Hamm
17. Jim Dickinson
18. Rhodes College architecture
19. The many young people determined to change things by having the right conversations about the future
20. Martyrs Park
21. Outsiders who continue to find this place home
22. Elvis Presley’s cars at Graceland
23. The brilliant Ben Shahn’s mosaic mural at Lemoyne-Owen College
24. The First Tennessee Heritage Collection with those remarkable Ted Faiers
25. Bridges
26. Living in a city of second chances.
And we’re just getting started…
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Send Us Your List Of 10 Things You Love About Memphis
Thanks to every one who has sent in their personal list of 10 things they love about Memphis. We invite you to send in yours so we can post it here.
Friday, February 27, 2009
What I Love About Memphis…More
From Steve Steffens:
Well, I might as well get in on this, I've only lived here 36 years.
1. Memphis Music & Heritage Festival
2. Center for Southern Folklore (full disclosure - I'm on the board, but I would say it anyway
3. The gazebo in back of the Ornamental Metal Museum - there's not a better place to watch the River.
4. WEVL
5. The greatest ribs on earth at Central BBQ
6. The remarkable people
7. The Folk Alliance Conference each February
8. Great food of every cuisine you can imagine and a few you can't.
9. Riverside Drive - day or night
10. The skyline as you enter from the west over the Desoto Bridge.
From Joe Spake:
At least 10 Things I like about Memphis:
- Payne's Barbecue
- Memphis Roller Derby
- Center for Southern Folklore
- Memphis Music and Heritage Festival
- Fino's
- The Riverwalk
- Otherlands
- Huey's Midtown
- Overton Park
- Local Music
- Cooper-Young
From Amy Fortenberry:
I am not a native Memphian, but I am proud to call it home. And while I admit that there are times I get scared, angry, discouraged, critical and even embarrassed about what goes on in this city – it is still my home, it is where I voluntarily chose to move and to live, and therefore it is my duty (and right) to defend it and do what I can to make it a better place for all. So, for my list:
1) The sheer number of churches - there's something for everyone, regardless of who/what/why you choose to worship (or not worship). AND the open mindedness of most people, which makes this possible.
2) The Mississippi River in all its majesty. I'm lucky enough to see it almost every day because I work downtown, and it never ceases to take my breath away. (Speaking of the river, I have to include the fireworks show on the 4th of July.)
3) Trees, trees, trees, and more trees. In all seasons, they are beautiful, from first buds in spring to the starkness of the bare branches in winter. I'm excited now for all the green to start poking through - but I love being able to actually see all of the bird nests tucked away in the branches right now, before the leaves hide them.
4) The fact that you can get anywhere - be it Millington to Southaven, downtown to Collierville - in about thirty minutes. For that matter, the fact that you could actually hit three STATES in less than thirty minutes.
5) The Farmer's Markets - both the one downtown at the train station, and the one out east at the Agri-center.
6) All the open, green areas, right in the middle of urban development. Shelby Farms, Audubon Park, Overton Park, etc.
7) The fact that I-40 doesn't go straight through Memphis, but around - because of the zoo! (Some people might not think this is a good thing, but I do - the beauty of the zoo and the surrounding area more than makes up for the minor inconvenience of having to switch to 240 temporarily. I once heard that this is the only place in the nation where I-40 doesn't go straight through. I don't know if that is actually true or not, but I get a kick out of it anyway.)
8) The medical facilities, such as the Med, Baptist East, Le Bonheur, and St. Jude's. While I pray that neither my family or yours will ever need them - I'm thankful to know they are here and available for those inevitable times when we do.
9) The opportunity to further your education at any number of institutions, from Crichton to Southwest to Memphis to Rhodes.
10) Fed-Ex and AutoZone! Two world class organizations that make their home here, and do great things for the community.
From Donald Anthony:
A few things I like about Memphis –
1. The people. Cliche as it may be, I've lived in many other places, and I've never met such friendly people.
2. The spirit. Memphis rallies -- be it around the Tigers or the riverfront or the old growth forest or distressed friends in faraway places. I will never forget venturing to the Wal-Mart on Germantown Parkway late one night in September 2005 and seeing a line of people as far as I could see waiting to place bags of goods--bought with their own hard-earned money--in the back of a truck for delivery to people they had never met. I was compelled to do the same.
3. The Zoo. My family held a membership there for three years and visited well over 100 times. It never gets old.
4. The Brooks Gallery. Same as above.
5. The University of Memphis, which has decided to be a trend-setter in university-neighborhood relations.
6. All of the colleges and universities in Memphis, which bring diversity and keep Memphis interesting.
7. Community-engaged faculty of above-cited universities and colleges. I live in a college town now, and I have yet to meet another Phyllis Betts, Richard Janikowski, or David Ciscel.
8. The food. I miss Central and Cozy Corner and Leonard's. I even miss Tops.
9. The Pink Palace and The Children's Museum. Both supply endless hours of fun.
10. On a personal note, St. Mary's Cathedral. Besides being my church home, it has some of the most fascinating architecture (inside and out) of any structure in the area.
These are the first ten that come to mind.
And from anonymous:
- BRIDGES
- Common Ground
- Lakes in Raleigh
- Stax
- MS River Front
- Memphis Zoo
- Ballet Memphis
- Flowers along the Parkways
- Food!
- The ways Memphians can laugh and tell it like it is!
- Trees in Memphis!
- Our history of non violent protest
- Tiger Basketball
- High Point Grocery
- Dr. Cash
- GREAT sanitation workers in my neighborhood!!! THANK YOU!
- How easy it is to get anywhere
- National Civil Rights Museum
- Peabody Ducks
Thursday, February 26, 2009
10 Things I Like About Memphis…Continued
This post continues the discussion that began with our last one.
To recap, following a recent post about thoughts for the new year, someone challenged Charlie Santo to name 10 things he liked about Memphis. He replied with more than three times that many, and he said he was just getting started. We said that we'd post our 10 things today, but we'd rather post yours. They're a lot better.
Thanks, and we hope you'll keep them coming in.
Here they are:
From antisocialist:
- Payne's BBQ
- Pink Palace
- MEM Terminal exterior
- FedEx planes flying overhead at night
- Tom Lee Park
- Playhouse on the Square
- Young Avenue Deli's Fries
- Cooper-Young Development Corporation
- Silky's goats (are they still there?)
- Pirtle's
- Top's BBQ sauce
From Michael Hughes
- The culture of food in this city. From the wealth of independent restaurants to the hordes of individuals who enjoy dining out, cooking at home or simply just discussing food. This is a great city for those who like to eat.
- Many factors contribute to the ability to "find" oneself or at least a good career path. I moved here almost 9 years ago & held a number of jobs in different industries until I found what I was truly passionate about. The cost of living & connectedness of the city (everyone knows everyone else) allowed me to afford to find what I was not only good at but loved doing. If I would have stayed in San Francisco I don't think that would have been possible or affordable.
- People love to give back here. We've held two benefit parties at our house alone in the past 9 months that were very well attended & everyone opened their checkbooks.
- The arts community is so vibrant & varied. It's amazing to me that we have such an incredible talent pool of creative, artistic individuals here.
- Most people that I have come across here are eco-conscious in some way. There seems to be an overall desire to "green" this city.
- Project Greenfork. With the abundance of restaurants comes an abundance of waste. PG is helping restaurants do something about that.
- The enormous immigrant population. There is nothing more fantastic than walking into the Vietnamese market on Cleveland. It's as if I've gone to a foreign country.
- Everyone has a story. People come here from all over & bring with them many stories to tell. All you have to do is listen, most of the time its pretty interesting.
- This is a city for independent businesses. We love to support the small guy, the start-up, the passionate believer. Our small businesses are our soul & personality. They speak volumes about us.
- Filmmakers. According to MovieMaker magazine, we are the #8 best city for filmmaking. That's something to be proud of.
From Jenny Sharpe:
1. The countless opportunities to do something meaningful in a big way that impacts the entire community.
2. We're not too small for a project to be insignificant and not too large to have too many barriers or red tape to get it done.
3. The ability to feel a great sense of community due to having so many groups with every interest possible.
4. We're real. We're honest. We're authentic. We got soul.
5. We know how to have a good time!! We're not as stodgy or snooty as other cities.
6. There's a major upsurge of organizations starting to work on elevating and cultivating Memphis' amazing cultural assets.
7. We're gritty and resilient. We've been through hell and back numerous times - from the Yellow Fever Epidemic to the MLK assassination - and we rise up to fight our way back up every time.
8. You can get around the greater Memphis area so easily! People who complain about the distance from "out east" to "all the way downtown" are so spoiled.
9. Our many talented entrepreneurs, as we have always had.
10. Being a part of the community during its upswing is a thrill.
From Louise:
- Overton Park West Redevelopment Corridor
- Broad Avenue Arts District
- Wolf River Trail System
- Memphis Heritage
- Stewart Brothers and Gate City Hardware Stores
- South Main
- Shelby Forest
- Shelby Farms before being discovered
- The Parkway System and Overton Park
- Memphis Botanic Gardens
- Snowden Elementary School
- Belvedere Boulevard
- Highpoint Grocery
- The Urban Arts Commission
- Methodist/Le Bonheur Medical Center-Memphis Bio-works Redevelopment including St. Jude and Uptown
- Collierville Town Square
- Humphreys Boulevard
- Neon
From Courtney:
A few things that weren't on Charlie's list ...
- New Ballet Ensemble
- The dental school and eye school that bring hundreds of students into the area ... now only if we could convince more of them to stay.
- Lots of places for a lazy runner to stretch her legs ... especially if you start at my front door.
- Downtown Elementary
- The community of writers living here and Memphis Magazine for running an annual fiction contest
- Stacey Greenberg--basically everything she does, but most especially dining with monkeys.
- Autozone
- Shelby Forest
- The Mississippi River
- University of Memphis--for employing my husband and letting me go back to school.
I know sort of a personal list, but it's mine. (Note: That's o.k., Courtney. That's what Memphis is – personal.)
From Zippy:
1. Central BBQ when they cut the meat right.
2. Peabody Hotel
3. The People
4. Shelby Buffaloes
5. The Zoo
6. Sun Studio Shakes (and tour)
7. HiTone
8. Music Foundation
9. Common Ground Memphis
10. The new effort to curb crime, Blue Crush and all it's ancillaries, Cyberwatch
11. Town Hall Meetings
12. MidTown North Community Assoc.
13. Tomeka Hart
14. Dr. Kriner Cash
15. Bridges and Tarrin McGhee
16. Pink Palace
17. Independent Filmmakers and Theaters
18. Staxx/Soulsville and the school
19. Police and Fire Department
20. Sanitation workers do a great job
21. The Landscaping, Stringer's
22. Mud Island Park
23. The Flea Markets and antique shops
24. Summer Ave from Knox East
25. Cooper Young Burke's Books
26. Golden Palace Indian Food
27. Memphis Drum Shop
28. Church Health Cntr
29. Bangkok Alley
30. Coach Cal and the boys!
31. Smart City blog!
32. City Champs Band
33. Opera Memphis,
34. Symphony
I could go on all day!
From Michelle Shafer:
- The Memphis Zoo
- Beautiful Rhodes College Campus
- Downtown YMCA - diverse and full of people how are trying to live healthy lives
- Ms. Cordelia's Deli
- Harbor Town green belt
- Snowden school
- Central BBQ on Central
- Trolley rides
- Not having to wait in line to ride the trolleys!
- Our beautiful antique midtown bungalow
- All the antique and beautiful buildings in Memphis
- The Orpheum
- Being able to actually drive my car down town
- Walking to Cafe Eclectic
- Memphis Tigers
- Springtime in Memphis
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Name 10 Things You Like About Memphis
There is a clear line between self-analysis and self-loathing.
Often, in Memphis, we don't just step over it, but we run past it.
We were reminded of this a few ago when a guest post of this blog urged us to think about what we like most about Memphis and to build a community on our shared values. It became the springboard for a screed in response that blamed Memphis for everything short of kidnapping the Lindbergh baby.
Such is the energy that we will put into trashing our city – no, in trashing ourselves. We often are like the guys who spend their energies thinking up viruses to corrupt our computers. Every one of us has at one time or another said, "What if they would put all that expertise and energy into doing something productive?" The same goes for us.
Yes, we have serious challenges. Formidable challenges.
But that doesn't mean that we don't look for the distinctive assets and shared values so that we can join hands to tackle these tough challenges.
That was what our friend Charlie Santo was doing in his post about Live Where You Live whose central objective is to encourage us to be advocates willing to fight for our city's future. As Live Where You Live says, there is "strength in numbers" and "if we expect anyone to work hard enough to come up with lasting solutions, we need to let people know that Memphis is worth fighting for."
To that, our immediate response was, "Amen."
And yet, Mr. Santo was pilloried for taking this attitude and challenged to name 10 things that give you hope for or that you like about Memphis. To follow up, we asked him for his list, and he gave us 33 things in a matter of minutes. We are printing it here, but we are asking that you take the time to name your 10.
We'd enjoying hearing them here if you're willing to share.
Here's Mr. Santo's list (we'll post ours tomorrow):
* Current Memphis music, including the long list of artists who will be representing Memphis at Austin's South by Southwest festival (Lucero, Jack O & the Tearjerkers, River City Tanlines, Lord T and Eloise, Eightball & MJG, Al Kapone, Free Sol, Amy Lavere, etc.)
* Cost of living
* Memphis Zoo (one of only 4 in the nation with pandas)
* Civil rights heritage that when understood can inspire our future. (e.g., Robert Church Park)
* AutoZone Park – a world class stadium built in the right place with almost entirely private money (how many of those can you name?)
* Memphis Tigers – not just the team, but the way the city rallied around them together
* Harbor town – one of the best examples of new urbanist development in the nation
* V&E Greenline
* Greenbelt Park
* Greening Greater Memphis / the Greater Memphis Greenline / Sustainable Shelby
* SkateLife Memphis
* Memphis Arts Park
* Brooks Museum
* Central Library
* Campus School (an MCS/UofM collaboration and the best elementary school in the state)
* St. Jude
* Le Bonheur
* Church Health Center
* Streets ministries
* Bridges
* Goner Records
* The Big Scoop ice cream festival
* Cooper Young Parents Network
* Cooper Young festival
* Caritas Village
* Indie Memphis
* Halloween in High Point Terrace
* Peabody-Vance Christmas tree lighting
* Soulsville underpass murals on Bellevue
* The Shell at Overton Park
* Memphis Rock-n-Romp
* Willingness to be different
* The fact that my kids don't know the terms "black people" and "white people"
Monday, February 23, 2009
Hard Ball Vote Makes It Tough To Play Ball
Matt Kuhn deserves better.
He’s smart, attractive and has an impeccable pedigree, his mother a long-time Democratic activist and his father the Shelby County attorney on and off for a couple of decades.
However, the decision by the Democratic majority of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners to name Mr. Kuhn to a vacant set formerly held by Republican David Lillard does him no favors.
Political Marker Or Marked Man
He is now a marked man in expansive District 4, where he is likely to be a pariah among the people he has been elected to serve.
In this demonstration of hard-ball politics by the “D” side of the board of commissioners, they’ve hardened the lines for compromise – always tenuous these days – and sacrificed fair play on the altar of opportunism.
Sadly, it’s Mr. Kuhn who will now pay the price.
Thrown Into The Well
To give the Democratic commissioners the benefit of a doubt, perhaps they have heard so much for so long about the Shelby County Republican Party reaching out to African-American voters that they decided to try their own twist on the strategy – trying to reach out to the solidly Republican district outside of Memphis in Shelby County by proving that Democrats don’t have horns.
It will make little difference. The Democratic commissioners have sent Mr. Kuhn into a district that is so solidly Republican that normally no Democratic candidates even file for District 4 positions.
Meanwhile, the power in District 4 lies with the five town mayors, who have solidly Republican roots, meaning that they are likely to give him lip service but they aren’t going to give him any results that he can then use sell in a future election.
Post Patterns
While we have indeed entered a post-Republican era in Shelby County, it’s still years before that will be happen in District 4. That’s why someone like Tommy Hart would have made more sense for the district. First, he has been a county commissioner for that district before and there would be no time lost figuring out how things work. Second, he took the oath that he would not run for election when his partial term ended.
We’re not sure if Mr. Kuhn took such a vow, but he might as well have. The chances of his being elected by the voters of District 4 are akin to one of us here hitting the lottery.
In the end, the action by the seven Democratic commissioners suggests that they have not reached the maturity of the former Republican majority, which did in fact appoint Democrats when seats held by Democrats became vacant. In fact, on those occasions, there was never any consideration of doing otherwise.
About Winning Or Governing?
Perhaps, that was in a time when there was a stronger air of civility and stronger emphasis on consensus at the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. Ironically, those were the days when Vasco Smith and Jesse Turner Sr., firebrands for the civil rights movement, were members.
They could at times vociferously express their disagreements with the white majority, but because they knew how to skillfully negotiate and compromise in ways in which they could guide the ultimate outcome, the board of commissioners could still maintain the respect between its members that was necessary for the effective governing of Shelby County.
Today, the currency for the commission appears to be all about power and a brand of “stick it to them” political philosophy. Some say that it reflects the same level of understanding by African-Americans of Caucasian voters as is so often the reverse. These observers suggest that a motivating factor was the naivete that just being white is the primary qualification outside of Memphis.
Powerful Temptation
It’s hard for us to embrace such a theory, because of the deep experience possessed by some of the long-time Democratic Party leaders now on the board of commissioners. To us, it seems that they simply could not resist the political temptation to engage in political oneupsmanship.
While it is tempting to say that the Republican push for partisan county elections 15 years or so ago has finally come home to roost, it’s more concerning that Democrats’ years of promising that they would be fairer and more egalitarian than Republicans has quickly fallen prey to the lure of majority power.
Most ironically of all, there is the chance that the vote may in the end be the equivalent of the Democratic members shooting themselves in the foot. There have been plenty of issues in the past couple of years where each member had the power to influence an issue because every vote was necessary for the 7-6 majority.
A Possible Miscalculation
Now, there is a margin for error, and if one Democrat holds out, there is the chance to put the seven votes together without the need for every Democrat to be on board. It will prove interesting to see who’s vote is now devalued as a result of Mr. Kuhn’s election.
In brushing aside Republicans pleas for District 4 to be served by the same party that the voters there have supported in every election for 20 years, the Democrats also sent the message that the environment in county government is likely to be more adversarial and decidedly less civil.
The hard-ball vote may have left members of the majority party smiling at their cleverness, but it was ultimately a shallow victory. The real win would have been if the Democratic majority had demonstrated in a dramatic and powerful way that they are about healing the divisions between us and about proving that they are intent to be a vehicle for a community bound together by a common respect and a mutual commitment to a shared future.
He’s smart, attractive and has an impeccable pedigree, his mother a long-time Democratic activist and his father the Shelby County attorney on and off for a couple of decades.
However, the decision by the Democratic majority of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners to name Mr. Kuhn to a vacant set formerly held by Republican David Lillard does him no favors.
Political Marker Or Marked Man
He is now a marked man in expansive District 4, where he is likely to be a pariah among the people he has been elected to serve.
In this demonstration of hard-ball politics by the “D” side of the board of commissioners, they’ve hardened the lines for compromise – always tenuous these days – and sacrificed fair play on the altar of opportunism.
Sadly, it’s Mr. Kuhn who will now pay the price.
Thrown Into The Well
To give the Democratic commissioners the benefit of a doubt, perhaps they have heard so much for so long about the Shelby County Republican Party reaching out to African-American voters that they decided to try their own twist on the strategy – trying to reach out to the solidly Republican district outside of Memphis in Shelby County by proving that Democrats don’t have horns.
It will make little difference. The Democratic commissioners have sent Mr. Kuhn into a district that is so solidly Republican that normally no Democratic candidates even file for District 4 positions.
Meanwhile, the power in District 4 lies with the five town mayors, who have solidly Republican roots, meaning that they are likely to give him lip service but they aren’t going to give him any results that he can then use sell in a future election.
Post Patterns
While we have indeed entered a post-Republican era in Shelby County, it’s still years before that will be happen in District 4. That’s why someone like Tommy Hart would have made more sense for the district. First, he has been a county commissioner for that district before and there would be no time lost figuring out how things work. Second, he took the oath that he would not run for election when his partial term ended.
We’re not sure if Mr. Kuhn took such a vow, but he might as well have. The chances of his being elected by the voters of District 4 are akin to one of us here hitting the lottery.
In the end, the action by the seven Democratic commissioners suggests that they have not reached the maturity of the former Republican majority, which did in fact appoint Democrats when seats held by Democrats became vacant. In fact, on those occasions, there was never any consideration of doing otherwise.
About Winning Or Governing?
Perhaps, that was in a time when there was a stronger air of civility and stronger emphasis on consensus at the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. Ironically, those were the days when Vasco Smith and Jesse Turner Sr., firebrands for the civil rights movement, were members.
They could at times vociferously express their disagreements with the white majority, but because they knew how to skillfully negotiate and compromise in ways in which they could guide the ultimate outcome, the board of commissioners could still maintain the respect between its members that was necessary for the effective governing of Shelby County.
Today, the currency for the commission appears to be all about power and a brand of “stick it to them” political philosophy. Some say that it reflects the same level of understanding by African-Americans of Caucasian voters as is so often the reverse. These observers suggest that a motivating factor was the naivete that just being white is the primary qualification outside of Memphis.
Powerful Temptation
It’s hard for us to embrace such a theory, because of the deep experience possessed by some of the long-time Democratic Party leaders now on the board of commissioners. To us, it seems that they simply could not resist the political temptation to engage in political oneupsmanship.
While it is tempting to say that the Republican push for partisan county elections 15 years or so ago has finally come home to roost, it’s more concerning that Democrats’ years of promising that they would be fairer and more egalitarian than Republicans has quickly fallen prey to the lure of majority power.
Most ironically of all, there is the chance that the vote may in the end be the equivalent of the Democratic members shooting themselves in the foot. There have been plenty of issues in the past couple of years where each member had the power to influence an issue because every vote was necessary for the 7-6 majority.
A Possible Miscalculation
Now, there is a margin for error, and if one Democrat holds out, there is the chance to put the seven votes together without the need for every Democrat to be on board. It will prove interesting to see who’s vote is now devalued as a result of Mr. Kuhn’s election.
In brushing aside Republicans pleas for District 4 to be served by the same party that the voters there have supported in every election for 20 years, the Democrats also sent the message that the environment in county government is likely to be more adversarial and decidedly less civil.
The hard-ball vote may have left members of the majority party smiling at their cleverness, but it was ultimately a shallow victory. The real win would have been if the Democratic majority had demonstrated in a dramatic and powerful way that they are about healing the divisions between us and about proving that they are intent to be a vehicle for a community bound together by a common respect and a mutual commitment to a shared future.
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