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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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
  

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

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"

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.

The Grand Old Party Can’t Find A Grand New Party

The national Republican Party seems loathe to learn the lessons of the past election.

Because of it, they are caught up in rhetoric that only makes it look either tone-deaf to the last election's message or simply ridiculous. After all, it doesn't seem to have dawned that the same old play book won't create the same old fault lines of race, income and geography that it has perpetuated and deepened for partisan advantage.

National leaders seem to be falling back into their old Rovian comfort zone, where the emphasis is on red herrings, rhetorical excesses and phony controversies aimed solely at getting 51% even it means discouraging people to stay away from the polls. It's not about creating a national vision or consensus. It's always about scorched earth policies that induce fear as a political philosophy.

There's something so cynical about this approach – regardless of which party does it – but the Republican Party went from majority party to minority party as a result of its own cynicism, but its national leadership can't shake free of the wishful thinking that it's all just cyclical.

It's No Joke

As a result, they can with straight faces chide the Obama Administration for the economic stimulus funding, calling it wasteful, expensive and too much spending. It's as if they expect a bout of national amnesia to have set, forgetting that the Republican Administration and the Republican Congress produced the largest deficits in history, presided over the largest expansion of the federal government and blurred the lines between government and capitalism so much that the former was seen as the instrument for the latter.

That said, if the Republican leaders inside the Beltway are tone deaf, Tennessee Republicans are just plain deaf. Here, the Tennessee Republican Party seems oblivious to the changes that the public wants in tone and in acting that compromise (the grease that oiled the democratic machinery in a simpler time) is unacceptable. As a result, they come off more often as dilettantes than elected leaders.

In moments of humorous insight, Democratic strategists joke that Democratic organization is a conflict in terms. They joke that Democrats can always find a way to screw up a two-car funeral, so the best Republican strategy is to stay patient until Democrats implode.

Meanwhile, Republican strategists joke that their party can always find a way to overplay its power and treat their election as a coronation that justifies their imperial thinking and strident policies, so Democrats' best strategy is to make Republicans as powerful as possible.

Wanted: Some Answers

Seemingly oblivious to the risk that they become mere parodies of themselves, Republican members of Congress gravely express their newfound concern about too much federal spending. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Republican mayors and governors are looking for ways that their federal taxes can flow back to their states in the form of money for new infrastructure, jobs and innovation.

As expected, the national media rarely ask the follow-up questions. What's their solution to the economic meltdown? If they are now so concerned about the disastrous effect of this nearly trillion dollar program, where was the concern when they blew a hole in the federal budget to send huge tax windfalls to the wealthiest five per cent of Americans and create the largest deficits in history?

Because of the national media's predilection to believe that the "inside baseball" of Washington politics matters more to us than the Main Street politics of U.S. cities, we rarely see the Republican leadership in the hinterland that is hailing the importance of the economic stimulus funding - the big city mayors (yes, there are some who are Republicans) who have seen urban issues virtually ignored for a decades.

It's no secret that legislators can make all these grand statements because they don't have to manage the fall-out that comes from their flights of political pandering, such as the ill-conceived ideas as the Tennessee Republican Party's idea to turn parks and bars and public places into potential shooting galleries. Meanwhile, those of us who aren't packing heat apparently don't deserve the right to even know who in the neighborhood or in our sphere of work and play is so in love with their weapons that they carry them with them.

An Air Ball

Frankly, we make it a general practice not to go to places where we need to carry firearms, but amazingly, in the combined couple of centuries of the people here, no one yet has wished for a handgun during an evening out on the town. Maybe, Republican state legislators like Rep. Curry Todd could support a "Dodge City" law. Every one can pack their favorite six-shooter, but they have to check them at the door. They can always pick them up again when they leave to go back out to the big, bad city.

To those who judge Mr. Todd by his regularly inane legislative positions, we hasten to point out that although he was a great basketball player, sometimes sports acumen just isn't the same as leader acumen. Even the small matter of the U.S. Constitution – something a number of Republicans have gotten used to ignoring in recent years – didn't dissuade state legislators from a silly amendment steamrolling through the Tennessee Legislature that would outlaw the posting online of people who have gun permits.

This flurry of activities to pander to the gun lobby was triggered (excuse the pun) by the apparently treacherous decision by The Commercial Appeal to give the public access to public records by posting a searchable database of gun permit holders on its website. There's public information about all of us floating around on public websites and some private websites, but in an age when our privacy is regularly assaulted, the party faithful here decide that its gun owners who deserve all the attention, not any of us who may have had our phones tapped in recent years.

As for Mr. Todd, his response to whether this kind of ill-considered action conflicted with the First Amendment right to freedom of the press suggested too many dunks where his head hit the rim: "It's no concern of mine." As Commercial Appeal editor Chris Peck seemed to be trying to point out in one of his Sunday columns, while we have 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, somehow, we're supposed to believe that the Second Amendment trumps all the others.

The Old West (Tennessee)

In this issue, the difference between the pandering of Republican legislators and the responsibilities of Republican officials who are actually managers of public services was stark. To this end, Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy called the Tennessee gun slinger law "ill-advised" and suggested wisely that guns in parks just don't seem like good public policy. "We've worked hard to create an environment that feels safe."

The ways of the Tennessee Legislature are always baffling to us mere mortals, but this obsession with guns sounds like a case of castration anxiety run amok.

Not content to become just one of the minions in the headline-hunting department, East Memphis and Germantown State Representative Brian Kelsey advanced one of his regular outrageous ideas, this time asking his colleagues to urge the governor to turn down federal stimulus money. As one legislator on his side of the aisle said: "Is there nothing that he won't say to get in front of a TV camera? Sometimes, I think he thinks that he's still at Student Council meetings."

That sounds a little too unkind considering the need for fresh young faces in our political system. That's why we keep hoping that Rep. Kelsey will eventually find his way and his balance. He's too smart and too attractive a candidate to squander his opportunity to contribute to the progress of his state, becoming a punch line to many people in Nashville and running the risk of being so marginalized and so strident that he's one of those people who wander the halls of the legislature with little ability to create a voting bloc or to influence serious legislation.

All of these Republican antics might be humorous if they were not occurring in the midst of the worst economic crisis in 60 years. At a time when the unemployment rate is soaring, when foreclosures are climbing and jobs are being eliminated across all sectors, our legislators are actually spending their energy on gun bills and political theater.

All in all, it makes us nostalgic for Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.

This Week On Smart City: Getting Resilient And Getting Real In Our Cities

This week, we'll speak with two people with grand ideas for the future of city living.

First,there will be Tim Beatley, co-author of the book Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. He says it will take intelligent planning and visionary leadership for cities to respond to environmental and economic crises now and in the future.

And we'll speak with architect Bernard Zyscovich. Bernard has designed many buildings all over the U.S. but he's turned his eye to urban design in his new book, Getting Real About Urbanism: Contextual Design for Cities.

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.

City Council Still Right On School Funding

Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner cash says: “Arguing over who should fund schools is not good for children.”

Wrong.

Editorial writers say Memphis City Council acted rashly and as a result, it left the city schools in a precarious financial position.

Wrong again.

To the superintendent, we can only say that debating who should fund schools is precisely the right argument for this community to be having, because finally, it gets the focus where it belongs – on equitable taxes for Memphians.

To editorial writers, we can only say that City Council acted courageously, and because of them, we are finally, after 30 years of talk, talk, and more talk, having the right discussion. More to the point, precisely because of the gutsy members of the City Council, the first serious, actionable plan for single source funding of schools is taking shape and is likely to yield real results.

Fairness For The Future

Before school supporters narrowly define this as a “children are our future” rhetorical debate, let’s remember that this is about something even more fundamental. It’s about tax fairness and fair play.

No one is suggesting that it’s not in all of our best interests – not to mention our common humanity – to pay for the education of our children. It does in fact take a village and we all need to be villagers in that pursuit.

But the village doesn’t only have children. It has elderly people, especially the significant percentage here who live in poverty, it needs an economy that doesn’t play down to our low skill levels but helps to improve them, and it’s about neighborhoods that are connected, walkable and served by high-quality public transit.

In other words, the village is about more than one special interest or one group of people. It’s about serving the interests and needs of all of them and in ways that keeps one group from disproportionately paying the price for every one else or that provides fair play for all needs of the group.

Lewis Carroll Financing

As for us, we think single source funding of schools would be a major step in eliminating the “we versus they” approach that grips too many issues in our village. In other words, it’s time for our village not to be Memphis or Germantown or Bartlett. It’s time for our village to be all of Shelby County, a place with one future, one voice and one commitment to educating our children (even though 75% of us do not have children in school).

O.K., we’ve belabored the village analogy to the breaking point, but what we are suggesting is that there is no logical argument to justify why Memphians have to pay twice for public education while every one else in Shelby County pays once.

Let’s say it again just to make sure every one gets it. No property tax money from the City of Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Millington and Arlington go to fund schools. Meanwhile, Memphians not only pay for schools in their county property tax bill, but they pay for it again with their city taxes. No one else in this county does that – or has ever done that – except Memphians.

Meanwhile, those same small cities use their lower tax rates and their schools as lures to pull people out of Memphis. And Memphians are forced to help make it possible. Or put another way, Memphians not only pay twice for schools, but they are being forced to participate in a tax structure that encourages people to move out of their city, which in turn exacerbates the tax burden on them.

It’s enough to make Alice feel that the Mad Hatter made good sense.

Can You Spell F-A-I-R?

The questions that every one, particularly Superintendent Cash and the ever-naïve School Commissioner Jeff Warren, should answer are these: What is fair about Memphians paying twice for public services that every one else gets with one tax payment? What is fair about those whose median incomes are less to pay twice for public services when those who make more pay once?

Even a sixth grade math student can tell that it doesn’t add up. Even a sixth grade spelling student knows how to spell U-N-F-A-I-R.

In this way, Shelby County Chancellor Kenny Armstrong’s ruling that City of Memphis cannot reduce its funding to schools was not only unexpected by most observers, but if allowed to stand, it creates a tax disparity that is nothing less than quicksand for Memphis as it tries to become a city of choice to middle-class families and young families.

Perhaps, Memphians will be forced by the courts to pay twice for schools forever, but let’s make no mistake about what the consequences would be. It will create a future where fewer and fewer taxpayers will pay higher and higher taxes for schools and other services in a city more and more economically polarized.

Appealing For Fairness

Hopefully, appellate courts will give Memphis a ruling that won’t dramatically limit Memphis’ ability to succeed. In point of fact, Chancellor Armstrong’s ruling is likely to accelerate the troubling trajectory of our city. Chancery Court has always been the court where public opinion and local political dynamics seems to hold sway, so a favorable ruling on appeal for City of Memphis is not only justifiable but a necessity.

The irony of all this gnashing of teeth is that the Memphis City Schools’ operating budget is as large – if not larger – than City of Memphis. It’s always strange at the double standard in the intergovernmental family. Every issue involving schools is destined to take on the dimensions of a calamitous disaster, while any other part of government has its services treated as dispensable and always ripe for cuts.

So, it’s no surprise that some predict educational disaster if $57.4 million is cut from Memphis City Schools' almost $1 billion budget.

The notion – legal or logical – that Memphis is mandated to simply continue to pay the money to city schools as its tax base constricts, as consumption taxes dry up and more middle-income families leave is not just absurd public finance. It’s absurd law.

Being Punished Bad For Being Good

It paints a scenario in which Memphians – with their array of social and human service needs – see those programs shrink because of the stranglehold of school funding as a result of a state mandate.

It wasn’t too many years ago that City of Memphis provided significantly less funding for schools. Also, there was a widely held opinion – in both city and county mayors’ offices and in both city and county legal departments – that Memphis’ funding was discretionary. It could stop it whenever it liked, and as a result, City of Memphis increased school funding to higher and higher levels, but rather than getting a thank you note from city schools, they instead get served with a lawsuit.

It makes no sense (and surely there ought to be some layer of good sense in the law) that local taxpayers, through a Memphis City Council courageous enough to tackle this tax equity problem head-on, lose all rights to determine its priorities, its ability to pay for services and to align priorities to funding and ultimately, to have the ultimate flexibility to move around money in its budgets in times of crisis.

Here’s the problem: because of our state’s regressive tax structure and our anomalous bulge in children, all public services are fighting over a pie whose size is fixed and so every agency feels compelled to fight for its share. It’s a system destined to breed conflict and produce political dogfights over the crumbs falling off the table.

Leveling The Playing Field

As a result, we appreciate Memphis City Schools’ feeling that it has to fight for its share, but what could happen if its leaders told state government that it agrees with City of Memphis and that tax fairness to Memphians is of paramount importance. It’s a dream that will never occur, but at the least, school officials should become vehicles for a new understanding that education is not a municipal service. If it were otherwise, all other cities in Shelby County would be paying for schools, too.

It seems to us that rather than complicating the issue of tax equity with testy negotiations and discussions about global issues, couldn’t we just start with a simple premise: City of Memphis should fund the same services that the other towns do. It should not subsidize services outside of Memphis and its taxpayers should never pay twice for the same public service.

The state law that forbids local government from reducing its previous year’s school funding may sound on the surface like a commitment to kids, but in the end, it’s a prescription that erodes the kind of self-determination that every government deserves. After all, the law would require government to keep the same level of funding even as enrollment drops.

Said more precisely, Chancellor Armstrong is saying that despite the declining enrollment at Memphis City Schools, Memphians should never have the option of reducing its funding even if there are fewer students. In the end, perhaps all of us should be paying more for our schools, but neither district has made a convincing case that more money will cure what ails the two districts where students in both underperform.

Bredesen Administration Reminds Us Of Our Place

Even paranoiacs have enemies.

And while we fight the birthright to regard Nashville as the evil empire, we can’t summon the same attitude toward State of Tennessee government.

As witnesses for the prosecution, we call on the heads of three state departments – Economic and Community Development, Department of Human Services and Department of Education. Each of them is charged with benign neglect toward our city and possession of a Nashville-centric view of the world.

Distressed Logic

Case in point is the absurdity of the designation by state economic development bureaucrats of Nashville as an economically-distressed county. Meanwhile, we are treated as if there are no similar economic challenges here.

More to the point, this preferential treatment gives Nashville a serious advantage when our cities go head-to-head in recruiting and responding to the same business prospects. In point of fact, this simple designation means that Nashville gets twice as much in economic incentives as Memphis, or put another way, it means that Memphis gets about $2,000 from the state in incentives per job while Nashville gets more than $4,000.

Apparently, state officials think that our math skills are so weak that we can’t crack this simple equation -- when it comes to Nashville, there are rules and then there are rules for the rest of us. When this incentive-based program was created, it was actually aimed at helping out the limping economies of Tennessee’s rural counties.

Different Strokes For Different Folks

But when it comes to Nashville, all things are possible, so when the center of the universe experienced a couple of plant closings, Economic and Community Development acted as if Western Civilization hung n the balanced and classified Nashville as economically disadvantaged.

Unfortunately, this double standard exacerbates local government’s overreliance on tax freezes, which results in large part to the lack of a coherent, effective toolkit of economic incentives by state government. Because of this special treatment for Nashville, even more pressure is put on our economic development officials to cough up even more tax freezes.

A University of Memphis economist tells us that the unemployment rate here is likely to rise to 12% before things improve, and it’s worth remembering that a significant number of people aren’t even counted anymore because they don’t even look for work anymore.

Blowing Up The System

Nashville’s not the only place that’s losing jobs. And yet, somehow, it’s the only big city that seems to deserve the concern of state officials. But that theme has been relatively consistent for a Democratic Administration that acts like the homecoming queen that only speaks to us when it’s time for her election.

Strike One.

Meanwhile, Tennessee Department of Human Services cavalierly ended a 45-year program in which our Juvenile Court collected child support payments. While papering their justification with buzzwords like “performance-based,” “collection goals” and “competitive process,” the decision to cut ties with our local court felt most like the extension of the partisan dispute about whether a second Juvenile Court judgeship should be created.

That Certain Smell

While we’ve agreed with Juvenile Court Judge Curtis Person on occasion and agreed with Shelby County Commissioners at other times, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that the Bredesen Administration is more intent on weakening the Republican incumbent than on strengthening the collection of child support payments.

There’s several things about this one that has a certain odor rising from it. First, if Juvenile Court was such a failure in hitting the benchmarks set by the state, why wasn’t it eliminated from even submitting a proposal?

Second, Maximus, the Virginia-based company, got the five-year contract, although the out-of-state firm lost its contract in five other West Tennessee counties for inefficiency and customer complaints.

The Lowest Of All

Third, state government touted the fact that Maximus was the lowest bid, while we’d be more interested in knowing that they represented the “lowest and best” bid, because some clear judgment is missing if the evaluation was essentially based on price.

Finally, DHS Commissioner Virginia Lodge’s letters and messages about a possible change have the heavy ring of a decision that was already made and then a justification was developed for it. In her op-ed column in The Commercial Appeal this week, she expressed a lot of opinions, but never offered a single statistic to back them up.

For us, because of the importance of child support payments to a significant number of Memphis mothers and because of the imposing impact of a now fractured system, the state owes Memphis more than political platitudes and justifications. DHS officials owe all of us a detailed, rational explanation of why it nuked a program that really didn’t need fixing.

Strike Two.

Failing All Round

Then, there’s the Tennessee Department of Education, which continues to show a special commitment to the Nashville school district that’s never been shown here although students in the capital’s schools are actually outperforming ours.

The actions of DOE reaffirm one thing that we’ve always suspected: there is no longer any question that Nashville schools receive preferential treatment. It’s been answered conclusively by the DOE’s actions in Nashville and its inaction in Memphis. When Memphis City Schools found itself on the state’s high-priority list, the same as Nashville today, there was the unmistakable feeling that DOE couldn’t wait to get out of here.

It was only a few years ago that the Department of Education, given a chance to force transformative change in our district, accepted the so-called and aptly named “Proposal for Expenditures of Additional State Revenues,” largely a list of everybody’s favorite ideas with no thread of academic philosophy underpinning them.

K-K-K

Compare that to Nashville. There, the DOE mobilized into action and focused its considerable influence and resources on turning things around, taking unprecedented action to change the organizational structure of the Nashville district. State officials even appointed three associate superintendents to oversee instruction, along with new leaders for the district’s federal, gifted and special ed programs.

The state replaced 60 principles and assistant principals who were considered ineffective and the curriculum was changed to emphasize literacy and numeracy. Small learning academies were opened at some high schools along with more career and technical programs.

Strike Three. Unfortunately, it’s Memphis that’s out. In the cold.

Creating A Check List For The Future

Rather than selling themselves at a discount -- cheap land and cheap labor and tax giveaways – cities that are succeeding are investing in better workers, high-quality universities, quality of life and efficient public services.

So, what should we start doing right now to get ahead? We welcome your suggestions.

• Investments in Universities. Universities are seedbeds for the Knowledge Economy. Cities with research universities have a head start in this economy, because they create the innovation and the intellectual capital needed today. At the exact time when universities are crucial to success, state government is slashing budgets of higher education, and we must start thinking now about what we will do to elevate and improve our universities.

• Redevelopment in the Urban Core. Memphis has significant underdeveloped and vacant land. The infrastructure in these older areas has been paid for and their reuse makes the wisest investment of scarce public funds. If incentives should be given to anybody, it should be for the redevelopment of our neighborhoods, which are, after all, the backbone of our city's health.

• Balanced Transportation Policy. Memphis should lobby federal and state government to revamp its allocation regulations for urban areas. Too often, federal funding has continued traditional patterns of spending on new roads in suburban areas while neglecting the importance of investing in urban redevelopment and mass transit. Local government should encourage maximum flexibility for the use of these federal funds.

• Technology Clusters. Wise cities develop an area of specialization within the technology field based upon university research, biomedical assets, etc. Clusters provide a competitive edge and a critical mass that are important to economic growth. That’s why when we want to see the future, we need to look toward the Bioworks Foundation.

• Local Innovation. The best answers to the future begin on our own Main Street today. Solutions from another city transplanted or replicated are less successful because they are artificial. Our best answers are our own, authentic answers produced organically from a reservoir of innovation and creativity that is embedded in Memphis.

• Understanding Our Competitive Context. Memphis starts by understanding its competitive context, including market and demographic trends in the region and its strengths and weaknesses. Most of all, we need to use new measures that matter in the knowledge economy rather than on the indicators from old-style economic development. Memphis can find its distinctive niche to leap frog ahead of other cities, but it must be equally based on solid research and imaginative strategies.

• Fixing the Basics. Local government needs to concentrate on fixing the basics, such as safety, public services, land use, infrastructure and schools. Governments must look for ways to streamline their structure and improve public services. A foundation of efficient, effective public services is what successful economic growth is built on.

• Acting (As Well As Talking) Regionally. Memphis talks a good game of regionalism, but we’ve never truly engrained regional thinking into our plans and actions. Too often, we lapse into “we versus them” and “if you’re winning, we must be losing” attitudes. Economic activity and innovation occur in a regional context, and we ignore this at our peril. It is increasingly clear that Memphis and its suburbs are inextricably linked into a single economic unit, and Memphis shouldn't be the only city in the region saying this.

• Vibrant Culture and Entertainment Centers. To compete, Memphis must be an attractive, dynamic place. Vibrant arts and culture are powerful ways of creating the appealing, enjoyable quality of life needed to attract and retain the best and brightest young workers. Too often, we treat our distinctive culture as tourist amenities, but in truth, its value can be much broader since mining this special quality of life can be a chief determinant in workforce growth.

• Thinking and Acting Collaboratively. This requires a shift in leadership styles from traditional authoritarian models to a new environment of inclusion, mutual influence and community building. Opening the door wider to all segments of the community and inviting new voices to engage in decision-making is the mark of a mature and competitive city. Most of all, we must rid the halls of government with their "it's not your time yet" responses to any initiative shown by young leaders.

• A 21st Century Workforce. For Memphis to win in the race for economic prosperity, it needs smart and skilled workers producing goods and services characterized by innovation, knowledge and quality. If we are content to compete in the global economy by offering cheap wages, cheap land and cheap taxes, we are fighting for the bottom rungs of the economy. What’s needed is a team of public and private sector partners dedicated to building the skills needed for quality knowledge-based jobs, providing lifelong learning opportunities, improving the competitiveness of all workers and employers, connecting workforce development to economic needs and building a stronger education pipeline to produce skilled workers in the global economy.

• Competition on a Global Scale. To succeed, Memphis needs to develop cooperative networks and more sophisticated strategies for the global marketplace. Too often, international business is treated as an extension of traditional domestic economic development, and as a result, they often fail. Memphis needs a strategic plan of action tailored for the new world marketplace, and this includes helping business clusters gain access to global markets, finding opportunities for trade, investment and international partnerships and lobbying for federal policies that protect workers at high-risk for dislocation.

• Developing a Powerful Brand. Cities are no different from business. They need an authentic brand that tells the world who they are and what they stand for. Memphis needs a powerful brand, and it is not a slogan or a bumper sticker. A “real” city brand tells the rest of the country what we singularly stand for.

• High-Quality Eco-Assets. Preserved and protected open spaces, safe and attractive public spaces, better quality public sphere, greenbelts, clean air and water and outdoor recreation are not just wonderful public assets. More precisely, they are competitive advantages. Most of all, neighborhood parks must be treated as the heart and soul of our green assets.

• A Reputation for Tolerance. Today, new workers are recruited just as often from India as Indiana. Memphis is competing as much with the country of Georgia as the state of Georgia. In order to compete, Memphis must have a well-founded reputation for tolerance and respect for various cultures, races and religions. Cities known for their low levels of tolerance also become known for their low levels of economic growth.