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Memphis Image Problems


cdarr

Memphis Image Problems  

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  1. 1. Which factor hurts the statewide/national perception of Memphis the most?

    • Crime Rate
      14
    • History of Racial Tensions
      5
    • Large Black Population (people not liking Memphis because of its racial makeup)
      17
    • Skyline/Lack of Skyscrapers
      3
    • Topography/Flat Terrain
      0
    • Blighted Areas
      5
    • Slower Pace
      1
    • Political Figures/Corruption
      3
    • Poor City Schools
      2
    • Other
      3
  2. 2. What single thing do you think would improve Memphis' image the most?

    • Violent crime rate reduced by 50%
      22
    • Herenton replaced as city major
      8
    • Ford political machine dismantled
      5
    • New 700 foot skyscraper downtown
      3
    • Major auto plant built
      0
    • City and county goverments merge
      4
    • Grizzlies win NBA title
      4
    • UofM Tigers win the Final Four
      0
    • Nothing
      2
    • Other
      5


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Aside from that, I think replacing the governance of the public schools to make them more accountable and merging the governments would generate the most benefit to the region. Next on that list is to somehow eliminate the animosity that seems to be generated from Mississippi (where they seem to want to improve their status/economy at the expense of everyone else in the region instead of working in cooperation for the mutual benefit of all). The Mississippi issue seems to be reducing slightly, in part by cooperation generated by boxing pursuits, as well as probably other efforts as well. To this end, the best thing to do for Memphis would probably be to get some casinos. That would eliminate an issue of contention, and both sides can get over that aspect and settle down and cooperate on other issues. As it is, it looks like Mississippi is trying to raid Memphis instead of focusing on, say, raiding Alabama, or Oklahoma, or some other place.

IMO, Mississippi can't compete with Memphis. They get a few warehouses that would have otherwise come to Memphis, but who cares. The bio tech's and other large corporations still set up shop in Memphis and thats what counts! Mayor Herenton was right, north Mississippi and the suburbs would not exist without the city so it would make sense for total cooperation. Just look at the traffic along I-55, Airways, and Germantown Pkwy. during rush hour and its plain to see that most commuters make a living in or near the city. I think suburban mayors lack of cooperation in working with Memphis is causing more problems than anything.

As far as Memphians having a negative attitude towards the city, that isn't the case in younger circles. Most of the people I talk to that are in my age range (mid 20s) absolutely love Memphis, including myself! Memphis' nightlife is superb compared to other cities of similar size. People who attribute the large Black population to negatives about the city may as move to the Moon because diversity is America! I can honestly say that crime is out of control in the city, but thats the case in most large metros.

BTW, the new side walks with the red bricks on the corner should help the city's image! My street finally got ours last month! :D

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IMO, there is one obvious way to improve Memphis's image around the country, and especially within the city itself. The same fix could be applied to most any large city in America. What is it? It's improving the city schools. It doesn't take money to vastly improve the schools either. What it does take is a concerted effort by both politicians and and the courts (this is the hard part) to put discipline back into the schools. If a bold plan is sold to the people so that the people demand discipline in the schools, it will get done. Once discipline is established in the schools, the students will immediately start learning much more. Wherever discipline is applied schools will educate the students better, especially in the inner city schools where discipline is currently the least. All kinds of benefits will result from this such as:

1. People might want to move back into Memphis because the schools there are good.

2. Racial tensions will reduce because EVERYBODY will get a good education.

3. The crime rate will be reduced because everyone is getting a better education.

4. Businesses will want to relocate to Memphis because their schools are better and because Memphis will have a highly educated workforce.

5. Memphis will earn an even better reputation as a great place to live.

6. People living in Memphis will have a much higher opinion of their city.

7. The city will thrive like never before, with peoplw moving in, investmest, new buildings and the like. I bet that 700 ft skyscraper wouldn't be far from a reality too.

To me it's a no-brainer. I don't see why any city would make it their number one priority to do this.

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Education in Tennessee generally isn't in good shape. The state has grown so fast that I believe that the school boards have started highering anyone with an associates degree in anything. Most teachers are great but some I wonder how they got out of 8th grade. Seriously, one teacher was teaching geology but he didn't know what that was, so he taught astronomy for the first few weeks. Another had no idea where world war 2 was fought. One of my old teachers complained about how the school system didn't even do a background check on him until 6 weeks into the school year!!!

Last I heard, Shelby County Schools were the 17th best in the state in terms of education but Memphis City was dead last. I believe Memphis City has gotten better with the new superintendent. They are in uniforms and JA has the Exchange City for the 5th graders. White Station is now a magnet school with 20 AP classes. Every school district offers somewhat of a good education, but sadly some students don't take advantage of it which makes the government consider it failing. So the question is, how do we get students to care?

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Every school district offers somewhat of a good education, but sadly some students don't take advantage of it which makes the government consider it failing. So the question is, how do we get students to care?

The Memphis school system, like most inner-city systems, is severely challenged by the inner-city culture. When so many of the kids are born to teenage parents, have no father or father-figure present, get most of their preschool enrichment from a TV set rather than concerned adults, are not properly nourished, and are likely to have witnessed sex acts, drug use, domestic violence and all sorts of other things, it's hard to imagine the city school system ever being able to produce the results everyone expects.

I'm not letting the Memphis schools off the hook completely, but it's just so hard to figure out how good or bad the schools really are when they are forced to contend with so many children from problem backgrounds. There's only so much a school can do for 35 hours a week when the other 133 don't reinforce the skills and values they're trying to teach.

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Hmm, this one's a toughie, but I'll cover the small areas of retail and dining.

My wife and I work at 2 of our 3 local Fortune 500 firms, and our respective offices both have a large number of transplants. At social gatherings, these people do tend to complain that they don't like living in Memphis, but when we ask them specific questions about why they don't like it here, they cannot provide a real answer.

For example, a common complaint is shopping. They say Memphis does not have enough high-end retail. Our workgroups are solidly middle to upper-middle class, but it's not like we can throw our money around blindly. We have asked these people whether they shop at Nordstrom or Saks on a regular basis. They answer no. What's wrong with Macy's, Dillard's, or JC Penney/Sears/Target (more in our price range)? Nothing they reply. When asked, they have rarely been to the retailers on South Main, Union, Madison, Cooper-Young, or East Memphis. In the end, I think it's a combination of unfamiliarity and greener grass syndrome.

Dining options are the same deal. These same people have complained about the lack of a Palm, Morton's, Smith and Wollensky, McCormick and Schmick, and other similar restaurants. When asked what's wrong with Erling Jensen, Folk's Folly, Paulette's, Capriccio, and Felicia Suzanne's, they reply they haven't heard of most of them. I say those local establishments are as good or better than the national upscale chains, and besides, we non-CEO types don't eat at such places on a regular basis. Bottom line, you can get just about any food at any price level in Memphis.

In my 26 years in Memphis, I have moved from Collierville to Germantown to Downtown. I have had chances to move to all the usual "better" places (Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, DC) and for me the best deal is still Memphis. I'll see you at the Fleming's Steakhouse after my trip to Macy's.

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Education in Tennessee generally isn't in good shape. The state has grown so fast that I believe that the school boards have started highering anyone with an associates degree in anything. Most teachers are great but some I wonder how they got out of 8th grade. Seriously, one teacher was teaching geology but he didn't know what that was, so he taught astronomy for the first few weeks. Another had no idea where world war 2 was fought. One of my old teachers complained about how the school system didn't even do a background check on him until 6 weeks into the school year!!!

Last I heard, Shelby County Schools were the 17th best in the state in terms of education but Memphis City was dead last. I believe Memphis City has gotten better with the new superintendent. They are in uniforms and JA has the Exchange City for the 5th graders. White Station is now a magnet school with 20 AP classes. Every school district offers somewhat of a good education, but sadly some students don't take advantage of it which makes the government consider it failing. So the question is, how do we get students to care?

Make the schools better and they'll get all the highly qualified teachers they want. Teachers want to teach in good schools, not bad ones. As I said earlier, discipline, starting all the way back to 1st grade is the best way way to start. Everything gets a little easier once that in instituted. It's true that the inner city Memphis kids for the most part don't get proper guidance when there not in school. Most are probably living with single parents who work. It's a tough problem. Still, discipline in the schools will overcome much of this. If this is done over a long time period, the next generation that's better educated will take better care of their kids, and will have a lower divorce rate, etc....just like the families living in the Shelby County school districts. By then, there won't be much difference between the educations received in the city and county.

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Disiplining students is certainly important, but how is it suppose to be admistered? Uniforms, suspensions, corporal punishment, and even legal action is used. Most inner city students are good, however the three or four bad students hurt the entire class and distract the teachers from teaching. OSS (out of school suspension), and expulsion gets kids out of school and into the streets. However we can't keep them in class. Thats why alternative schools are avalible but I'm unsure if schools in Memphis have this or not.

Corporal punishment is used until the end of middle school (7th-8th grade) but there's always the risk school may get into legal trouble. Truancy officers search the city for skippers and the parents of these students who do it constatly face legal action. I know at Shelby County Schools, parents are welcome to sit in class/eat lunch with their kids (embarrassing lol) but in the inner city, the parents may be to busy working or sleeping after working double/triple shifts to check on thier kids. Disipline needs to be taught at home while the children are young and inner city parents don't have the time. The Head Start Program may help disipline kids while their young, and help lower class parents find free quality childcare. Even if there is disipline and parenting, there will always be a few who fall through the cracks.

Every school now has SROs (Student Resource Officers) and i've even seen a couple of squad cars and police officers patroling the high schools on a regular basis even here in rural Michigan. In elementary school, kids no longer play cops and robber because making the gun hand gesture leads to expulsion, and some schools have begun to charge $50+ "profanity fines."

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In defense of inner-city public school teachers----

I taught in the New Orleans Public Schools system, as well as in a private, parochial New Orleans school. Most teachers I taught with in the private school wouldn't have lasted long in the public system due to the discipline problems. They would have either been fired or left due to their inability to control a classroom.

In the private school, they could get away with paying teachers $10,000/yr less than the public schools because of that. Of course, in the private schools you had parental involvement. In the public schools, you had almost none.

BTW--Memphis public schools abolished corporal punishment a year or so ago, not that I think it made any difference one way or the other.

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Every school now has SROs (Student Resource Officers) and i've even seen a couple of squad cars and police officers patroling the high schools on a regular basis even here in rural Michigan. In elementary school, kids no longer play cops and robber because making the gun hand gesture leads to expulsion, and some schools have begun to charge $50+ "profanity fines."

Yeah, it's hard to believe that even up here in the small towns of Mason City IA and Albert Lea and Austin MN, cops are on duty full-time at the public high schools. And there are gangs, but the police keep a lid on it. A year ago, my 14 yr. old started up a "club" called the "vermin", and it was immediately pounced upon as a "gang" and all references were banned.

Unlike New Orleans or Memphis, though, the only guns students have are used on animals--deer, pheasant and rabbit and not on each other.

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Let's certainly hope it stays that way. Gun incidents certainly aren't the sole province of large cities. I still can't quite understand all this. Not long ago, a student killed his well-liked, female school bus driver, kids in small towns across the country are turning the guns on teachers, principals, and fellow students. I don't know what can stop this. But as long as there are kids, and the cruelty that some seem to bestow on those they see as different, this will probably happen again and again. Minnesota, Iowa, Tennessee, Arkansas, or wherever... I know this is somewhat different than gang vs. gang, or drug related, but guns kill people, no matter what the stated intent of the weapon is. Even the innocent die when hit by stray bullets.

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That was actually Harold Ford, Sr. who said that, on election night, after he brought a mob of folks into the Election Commission to "ensure things were done fairly". "We're not going to let some white devils and white Republicans come down here and take this election from us."

You can fault Herenton for lots of things, but playing the racial politics isn't one of them. I can't ever remember him saying or doing anything to specifically offend whites. In fact, about a year after he was elected, he parted company with the Ford machine and basically supported Jim Rout against their hand-picked candidate. It's one reason he actually got more white votes in the '95 and '99 elections than any of the white candidates.

And yes, Hackett did a very noble thing by not contesting that election.

It's good to know it wasn't Herenton, but Ford who said that. Based on what I've read about Herenton, I thought that comment was out of character.

I haven't lived in Memphis in decades, so just follow things from afar. I had heard that Herenton got majority white support in his last two or three elections against white candidates. Also, I believe county mayor Wharton got majority white support as well. So I think the old tune that Memphis is somehow politically racially polarized is a bit off.

Memphis politics: I've read scenarios that Wharton could run for city mayor against Herenton. I think he'd win too. And that Carol Chumney could run for county mayor. Again, I think she'd win.

About Harold Ford, Sr.----as crooked, and as undeserving of holding office as he was, he was actually very responsive to constituents. I've always read that if you had a problem, he'd bend over backwards to fix it. Of course, if you had money, he'd want some. :lol: But for the ordinary Joe, he'd still do his best.

I know that Harold Ford and Steve Cohen--together with a state senator from Nashville--were the only 3 to vote against the bill to outlaw gay marriage. Cohen I could see, considering he represents midtown, but Ford had an awful lot of conservative black church backers who probably saw that vote as evil.

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^ I'm pretty sure you mean Sen. John Ford voted against the "Gay Marriage" amendment.

Sen. Cohen is a very outspoken politician and is one of the only elected official really in the state legislature that could be labeled a true "liberal" by national standards. I only hear good things about him though, even if lots of folks don't agree with his stands on many issues.

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^ I'm pretty sure you mean Sen. John Ford voted against the "Gay Marriage" amendment.

Sen. Cohen is a very outspoken politician and is one of the only elected official really in the state legislature that could be labeled a true "liberal" by national standards. I only hear good things about him though, even if lots of folks don't agree with his stands on many issues.

Oh, yeah, John Ford, the one who was arrested. Difficult to keep the Ford family straight. One or the other's on the city council, county commission, you name it. :P

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Let's certainly hope it stays that way. Gun incidents certainly aren't the sole province of large cities. I still can't quite understand all this. Not long ago, a student killed his well-liked, female school bus driver, kids in small towns across the country are turning the guns on teachers, principals, and fellow students. I don't know what can stop this. But as long as there are kids, and the cruelty that some seem to bestow on those they see as different, this will probably happen again and again. Minnesota, Iowa, Tennessee, Arkansas, or wherever... I know this is somewhat different than gang vs. gang, or drug related, but guns kill people, no matter what the stated intent of the weapon is. Even the innocent die when hit by stray bullets.

Yeah, I was going to say that that sort of random school violence doesn't happen up here, but you've got the example of the shooting last spring on the Ojibwe Indian reservation school in rural Minnesota.

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Sen. Cohen is a very outspoken politician and is one of the only elected official really in the state legislature that could be labeled a true "liberal" by national standards. I only hear good things about him though, even if lots of folks don't agree with his stands on many issues.

Nothing wrong with keeping 1 liberal in the legislature. Just as long as it is just 1. :D

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  • 2 months later...

http://commercialappeal.com/mca/business/a...4534423,00.html

here's an article from today's CA that's pretty relevant to this topic. Politics, crime, blah blah blah. Memphis has overwhelming potential and I believe the idea of Memphis as an "unfinished city" is quite fitting. So many cities in the south right now are trying to define themselves, but I really think a lack of exposure is Memphis' problem. Outsiders just don't know what the city has to offer and overall they don't know what to expect upon their first visit. IF everyone were given the grand Memphis tour they deserve things might be different. I just can't wait to see Memphis in 10 years and how local and outside opinions as well have evolved.

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I think more national exposure will help. We got to share the stlight during the "Rumble on the River" but I think the CVB should try to attract MTVs Real World. They filmed Real world/road rules here and MTV considered Memphis for the VMAs and promised to televise the 50th aniversery of Rock & Roll concert which never happened.

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I had a guy visiting me in Nashville, and he asked who played in the Coliseum???? He thought the Titans played in Memhis!!!! That's an image problem for Nashville (should have been the Nashville Titans from the start), but that's another thread.

I don't think race has anything to do with Memphis problems. Look at Atlanta, the prod home fof sosodef records as announced by a billboard as you enter the city. I would consider it the unofficial "Black" Capital of America, and it is exploding with growth. I think Memphis falls more into the Birmingham category, but I don't know what is wrong with Birmingham either.

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I had a guy visiting me in Nashville, and he asked who played in the Coliseum???? He thought the Titans played in Memhis!!!! That's an image problem for Nashville (should have been the Nashville Titans from the start), but that's another thread.

I don't think race has anything to do with Memphis problems. Look at Atlanta, the prod home fof sosodef records as announced by a billboard as you enter the city. I would consider it the unofficial "Black" Capital of America, and it is exploding with growth. I think Memphis falls more into the Birmingham category, but I don't know what is wrong with Birmingham either.

As cdarr said, Memphis has a much larger black percentage ...

Atlanta MSA:

2.6m white, 1.2m black

(64% white vs 28% black)

Memphis MSA:

601k white, 493k black

(53% white vs 43% black)

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Memphis may be considered more of a "black" city than Atlanta because the city of Atlanta, which is mostly black, is such a tiny proportion of the whole metro Atlanta area. Memphis, on the other hand, makes up about half of metro Memphis.

Also, if part of Memphis' image problem comes from racial sterotypes/prejudice, I think that's a bigger factor regionally than nationally. People in Tennessee, especially, seem to have the picture in their mind of the whole Memphis area as 90% black, living in poverty-stricken and gang-infested neighborhoods that would make Baghdad seem desirable by comparison. The absolute worst things I hear people say about Memphis, though, seem to come from the people who live in the Memphis suburbs!

By contrast, I'm not sure that people in New York or California know enough about Memphis' demographics to consider it a "black ghetto". They probably still think of it as a "backwater river town" like Time Magazine described it after the King assasination in 1968. Or, funny enough, a bunch of hillbillies. I always love explaining to some loser that we have no hills, nor hillbillies, in Memphis.

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Just to follow up on what the folks in New York and California think...

Being as nearly all my friends are in SF, LA, NY, or Boston, and I'm about to move to Memphis, the reaction has been interesting - but, for the most part, not terribly negative. Maybe people are just being nice to me because they don't want to discourage me before the big move (I've been in SF for 7 years). It seems like Memphis' reputation as a musical capital of the world has endured, even if this is largely a thing of the past (?). And I don't just mean Elvis and Graceland, but Stax and Sun Records and Beale Street and all of that. Nearly all of my friends have some limited familiarity with this musical history, though at the same time everyone seems hard-pressed to think of anything coming out of Memphis now, and the general impression is that Beale Street today is mostly a playground for tourists. I have no idea if that's true - just seems to be the hip young outsiders' view.

I've heard some speculation, and this is no doubt crass and insensitive, that in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Memphis is a logical place to look for the "next" New Orleans. I mention this not to endorse it, especially since it's terribly dismissive of the future possibilies of New Orleans itself, but only to observe that it actually bespeaks a fairly positive image for Memphis that people would look to it as carrying on the torch that New Orleans once carried (and will hopefully carry again!)

I really didn't know that Memphis had such "image problems" until I got on the net and started looking up random memphis discussions. From my friends, it just seemed like a mythical place with a vibrant (and often sad) history. But then I started reading ranom commentary on memphis online and realized that a startling number of people associate it almost exclusively with racial strife and violent crime. I've said this before but I was really excited to find this forum to get a different, more positive take on the city from native memphians themselves!

Cheers,

S

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They probably still think of it as a "backwater river town" like Time Magazine described it after the King assasination in 1968. Or, funny enough, a bunch of hillbillies. I always love explaining to some loser that we have no hills, nor hillbillies, in Memphis.

I agree w/ fearless when she says Memphis is still alien in the minds of outsiders. People know Nashville=CMT but Memphis doesn't really have a clear impression these days. Some don't even know about Beale, but the question I get asked most when I say I'm from Memphis is "is the Mississippi River beautiful?"

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