Brooks Road Corridor Improvement Group

Another exciting step in the right direction for the revitalization of whitehaven

With an anticipated annual budget of $150,000, the Brooks Road Corridor Improvement group is running ads for an MBA-type executive director to run the corporation it formed to get the job done.

“The businesses that contribute will have the first seats on the board,” said Bill Griffin, a senior VP at Smith & Nephew who’s been out making solicitations himself.

“Medtronic agreed to donate office space, and we’ve agreed to donate HR help to get the person recruited,” Griffin said. “That person, with an administrative assistant, will be the organization.”

Griffin isn’t saying that only contributors will sit on the board. What he is saying is that the matter of cleaning up Brooks is so serious that the group is committed to finding the best talent and idea pools on the street, wherever they come from.

The group doesn’t say how much money it has raised. But the players include executives from FedEx Corp., Smith & Nephew, Medtronic, Elvis Presley Enterprises and the Memphis International Airport.

With Robert F.X. Sillerman’s $250 million plan to renovate the Graceland area and the city and county agreeing to fund a master plan for Brooks, there’s a feeling the stars may be aligning.

“The city always felt it was important, but sometimes you have to have a group that steps up,” said Robert Lipscomb, city chief financial officer.

“Sometimes citizen-led ideas are better than those from government. The sheer force of the personalities in this group and their importance as employers got them noticed.”

The city has agreed to pay the consulting fee to create a master plan of usage for Brooks, which could range from $50,000 to $100,000, Lipscomb said. It will include the most efficient uses of land, zoning improvements and perhaps a list of the kinds of businesses most suited for first-tier corridors.

“It will look at everything to make this thing work. But the whole issue is security,” he said.

The efforts make Brooks Road the first corridor to take shape under the far-reaching aerotropolis plan, the multifaceted program designed to develop Memphis as a global center of commerce organized around a powerful airport.

For Tom Schmitt, the FedEx Corp. executive leading the charge, it means looking at Memphis in concentric circles emanating from the airport and determining appropriate uses for each.

“We want to look at ways to bring as much goodness as we can,” he said.

Brooks Road executives have been pondering the plight of their thoroughfare for years, watching in despair as big players pulled out, including M.S. Carriers and FedEx when it moved its Express world headquarters to Collierville.

“When FedEx moved out, it really stripped this area of a lot of personnel who helped support the restaurants,” said Richard Sweebe, president and CEO of Diamond Companies, 1940 E. Brooks Road.

More than once, he said, customers have been approached by prostitutes willing to entertain on his property.

“We had clients out looking at trucks on our lot and found people staying in our trucks,” he said. “The motels degenerated to the point that I can’t have clients stay there any more.”

What persists is an array of strip clubs, including Black Tail Shake Joint at 1741 E. Brooks Road, which authorities closed for 10 months last winter after declaring it a public nuisance with the caveat that it may open Dec. 1 under a new name.

That is no consolation to Sweebe, whose corporate headquarters are right across the street.

“Invariably when they showed that place on the news at night, my sign was in the background.

“It certainly does not enhance my position. Yes, it lowers property values, and that affects me because I own my property. But my concern is the element that it attracts and the crime that comes with it.”

What feels different to organizers this time, they say, is they realize they can’t do it as volunteers.

“You have to have dedicated, wake-up-every-morning-working-on-that people, not part-time,” said Dexter Muller, senior vice president for community development at the Memphis Regional Chamber.

“Twenty people giving 5 percent doesn’t add up to 100 percent.

“You also have to have big vision, otherwise you end up just solving problems, not being as dynamic as you could be.”

For previous Brooks Road initiatives, he said, “We had great participation by companies, but we didn’t have as many of the CEOs involved. Now we do.”

By late summer, the Brooks Road Corridor Improvement group expects to have the corporation running. Smaller businesses will be gathered into the fold then and asked to contribute on a level commensurate to their size.

“We think it will take three years. Then we are going to sit down and see if we are making a difference,” Griffin said.

At first, he says, success would mean Smith & Nephew could take down its security fence, but then he interrupts himself with a new idea.

“When we start seeing the fast-food stores come back, and gas stations opening up and revitalizing, we’ll know.

“When businesses start returning and investing and painting their signs. When the clubs begin to disappear, we’ll know we’re making progress.”

But good for families

On the Urban Planet forums, I (Second Strangeness) opined that Memphis for the same reasons that it is not good for young professionals that it IS good for families. Memphis is good for affordable family formation.Cities are (increasingly) for unattached singles, young couples or “empty nesters”. Their interests are just different from that of families and there is very little overlap. I just don’t see much “middle ground”.

The city dwellers (many of whom as you mentioned don’t even like or want kids) want to be near “the scene”. They want to be able to walk or hop in a taxi to the next club or be on a lively street filled with people on a weekend night.

Families are obviously not going to want to be near bars and clubs and a lively night life. They want their street to be quiet at night. Everyone is asleep and you can hear a pin drop on a Friday night at 10:00PM.

Most people who have a growing family will eventually want to (and will with the ability to) move to a place with space and that is in close proximity to good schools and nice parks.

A friend of mine that has 5 children recently bought a 3,500 sf, 5 bedroom single family home with a huge (front and back) yard in unincorporated Shelby County for around $250K.

Theoretically, he could have bought a 1,500 sf, 3 bedroom condo downtown for about the same price but everyone would have thought that he was insane.

He and his wife (naturally) wanted a backyard for their family activities and wanted to be near family oriented things like large parks, little league baseball and large shopping complexes (Sam’s Club/Super Wal Mart) that you find in the suburbs. Most of all, they want to be amongst like minded people (i.e. that desire to raise their kids in the best environment possible) that will form strong PTAs at school and community/neighborhood organizations.

Suburban schools not only tend to be better for education but tend to have bigger campuses that include a football field, baseball field and a larger school complex.

Anyone taking a drive down to Desoto County along Getwell Road (for example) will see a massive park with lots of nicely manicured little league baseball fields and hundreds of kids playing organized baseball in different age groups.

Suburban dwellers want to be able to load up 2 sons and their 3 teammates in the SUV (“Suburban” hahaha) after their football game to take them to the McDonald’s that has plenty of parking space for them and the many others doing the same thing. Something nearly unimaginable in most inner cities where parking is nearly impossible to find in most places.

I just see very little “middle ground” between the lifestyle of the urban (“Sex in the City”?) type and the suburban (“soccer mom”?) type. The lifestyles are just too different.

As for Memphis, then much of it is – as you mentioned – like a giant suburb. We like it that way. We like Super Wal Mart, larger parking lots, big homes and wide streets.

And with yet another loop being planned for Memphis (I-269) and ever wider streets I don’t foresee Memphis having Atlanta or NYC style traffic problems for a looong loooong time…If ever.

Gentrification: How it works

This is a good video on gentrification of Roxbury in Boston. This is not related to Memphis per-se but good nonetheless.

There obviously nothing wrong with whites moving into a black community. The problem is when they push out the original occupants

I love this commercial

This gives me goosebumps

Is Memphis the forgotten city?

Came across another list of rankings of cities. This time it was Forbes Magazine’s “Best Cities for Young Professionals”

When I found it, I flipped through the slideshow wondering where Memphis was ranked. As I flipped through I saw St Louis (#14) Raleigh, NC (#17) Nashville (#22) New Orleans (#24) Sacramento (#28), Salt Lake City, UT (#30) Greensboro, NC (#31), Norfolk, VA (#34), Kansas City (#37) Indianapolis (#39), and ended with Tampa being #40

Is Memphis really worse for young professionals than Salt Lake City???

I often wonder if these people even remember to consider Memphis on these lists. I recently saw a poll of “what’s your favorite city” with several dozen cities listed in the poll, but no place for Memphis. I really would not be surprised if the people at Forbes magazine completely forgot to even consider Memphis in the rankings. My question is: Why is that?

Could THIS be it?!

Could Whitehaven about to be getting the break that we have been hoping for?

Mayor Wharton even mentions an “Aerotropolis Strategy”

You can read more the aerotropolis strategy here and here

The article below is from the Commercial Appeal

Elvis Presley’s Graceland kingdom would be totally transformed — the king’s mansion aside — in a $250 million improvement plan led by CKX Inc. chief executive Robert F.X. Sillerman.There would be a new boutique convention hotel, a potential second hotel, a new visitors center, new attractions and new shops within five years — provided local and state governments commit to an unidentified amount of funding, as Sillerman hopes will happen within the month.

“I think they recognize that we’re blessed with an attraction like Graceland. There’s really nothing like it in the world,” Sillerman said Friday, after it was announced that publicly traded CKX is being taken private in a buyout he’s leading.

“With the kind of investment we’re prepared to make, in partnership with the jurisdictions, we really could have a significant impact on the entire region.

“They recognize it and we’re thrilled about it.”

Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton also expressed optimism about the project, without specifically addressing the funding issue.

“This significant private investment will have a positive impact on the community as a whole, but it also dovetails into our existing efforts to further enhance the vitality of the Whitehaven community,” Wharton said in a statement. “The company’s commitment will facilitate our efforts to attract additional businesses and biomedical companies to the corridor and assist in the development of our aerotropolis strategy.

“We look forward to working with the company, other local officials and the people of the Whitehaven community to bring this plan to fruition.”

On the city side, chief financial officer Robert Lipscomb referred questions about public funding to Mayor Willie Herenton. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

There have been ongoing talks between EPE and public officials, including a March meeting attended by Sillerman, Wharton, Herenton, Lipscomb, members of the Memphis Regional Chamber and Priscilla Presley.

Also, the City Council asked the Herenton administration to develop a plan for a Center City Commission-like board to oversee the redevelopment of the area, which includes Memphis International Airport and Brooks Road.

Although plagued by decay, the area also is home to three of the city’s key industries — distribution and logistics, medical device manufacturing and tourism and entertainment.

“We need a lot of help from the community,” said Jack Soden, Elvis Presley Enterprises CEO. “It wouldn’t work to think in terms of this 100-acre campus and pouring a tremendous investment in here and just hoping things work out OK for Elvis Presley Boulevard and Whitehaven.

“It all has to be integrated — the Brooks Road initiative, Elvis Presley Boulevard, the whole community. We want to be the catalyst for just a huge rebirth, redevelopment of the whole Whitehaven area.”

Sillerman, asked if government funding is essential to his plan, said, “That’s exactly right.”

Sillerman paid $100 million for an 85-percent stake in EPE in a deal announced in December 2004. He vowed to transform what had been run as a “family business,” using a “risk-oriented and expansive approach.”

During a February 2006 visit to Memphis, Sillerman talked of doubling Graceland’s total of 600,000 annual visitors and said the late King of Rock and Roll’s home should “take its logical place as one of the great attractions in America, like Disneyland or Universal theme parks.”

Toward that goal, EPE and affiliated companies have been gobbling up real estate, and now own or control more than 100 acres around the mansion.

The companies have spent more than $13 million on property since January 2006, including a 182-unit apartment complex and former car dealership.

Friday’s announcement that CKX — which also owns rights to the Muhammad Ali name and the “American Idol” TV show — is going private could speed up the Memphis project.

That’s because while CKX goes private, an affiliated company, FX Luxury Realty LLC, would pursue the Elvis-related real estate projects around Graceland — as well a hotel and casino development in Las Vegas.

“It was frankly too big a project for a company like CKX,” said Sillerman, who built billion-dollar entertainment empires with radio stations and concert promotions. “What we have created is an opportunity for the real estate development company to do that. Assuming we have appropriate cooperation from the city, county and state, this actually should speed up the regeneration, if you will, of the area surrounding Graceland.”

Memphians don’t trust one another

In these times, everyone lives in their own little sphere and does not want to come out of it.

We live in a highly personalized era where people can all be gathered in the same place and not even so much as say “hi” to the next person. In public places, everyone has their own music on their ipods and are working on their laptop. Then at home, we want to lock the doors and not come out of our ultra private shells.

I mentioned in an earlier post of mine that Memphians these days are especially introverted because we move around the city a lot. We just don’t want to be bothered about the next person anymore.We also don’t trust the next person. We don’t trust the mayor, they don’t trust the newspaper, we don’t trust our neighbors and we don’t trust institutions.

Long term Memphians, ask yourselves why “Love Thy Neighbor” fell apart?

We are extreme introverts. We do less with friends and are less involved in community affairs or politics. This is why the state of Memphis politics is in such sorry shape. Anyone who’s ever been involved in Memphis civic activity in the inner city knows how remarkably difficult it is to get people involved.

Nothing brings a community together like a tragedy. During those times, we see that good ‘ol American spirit of helping out in droves come out of us, but after that dies down, we go back into our shells even deeper. There are billions of dollars given in charity each year (especially right after tragedy) and not enough charity workers to carry out the work. So billions of dollars go unspent.

This is because we sit in front of our TVs outraged or heartbroken at the tragedy we see, get on the computer and donate some money, but are unwilling to go out and do something. As Americans, our trust level has sunk, but in Memphis it is particularly bad.

Memphis’ major shortcomings are our corrupt and feckless large organizations and lack of community organizations. Memphians just don’t seem to team up well.

Those Filthy Strip Clubs

Excerpts from today’s (05/27/07) Commercial Appeal

An ordinance that would dry out Memphis strip clubs — ending the sale and consumption of alcohol inside the smoky, dimly lit businesses — is set to hit the Shelby County Commission’s agenda next month.

Applying to sexually themed bookstores, movie theaters, escort services and massage parlors, the proposed law would strictly regulate the local adult industry and could make it difficult for Memphis’ notoriously naughty strip clubs to keep raking in dollar bills.

In addition to a prohibition on alcohol sales, the proposed ordinance’s requirements include:

Existing and future adult-oriented businesses would have to obtain licenses from a new five-member citizen board, to be appointed by the county mayor.

All employees of the establishments, including dancers, would be required to obtain an annual permit, subjecting them to criminal background checks.

Certain criminal convictions, such as for prostitution, would keep women off stripper poles. Club owners convicted of crimes potentially could lose their license to operate in the county.

Approving the ordinance would require a two-thirds vote of the 13-member County Commission as mandated by a special state law. The commission is scheduled to hear it on the first of three readings on June 11.

LET US  work as a community to make sure this gets passed. These strip clubs bring riff raff and prostitution to our communities and ***NOTHING*** positive. Who’s with me???

We need to show up in force on June 11

If you were “ruler” of Memphis

If you were given 4 years with ultimate power over Memphis, how would you make it better?

Here is what I would do:

1 - Memphis is just too geographically big and there is a huge need for more localism. Divide the City into a “Borough” system (Memphis is geographically bigger than New York City for crying out loud!!) Just off the top of my head, the “boroughs” could be 1)Downtown/North/South Memphis, 2) Frasier, 3) Raleigh, 4) Whitehaven/Oakhaven, 5)Hickory Hill, 6) East Memphis, 7) Cordova, 8 Midtown and 9) Westwood/Coro Lake

Each “borough” would have limited autonomy with its own council, school board, zoning laws and “mayor” that would sit on a wider city wide council. (Ditto for each school board and school board president) A “city hall” could be in each borough where all business could be taken care of. Each borough would have its own police and fire chief and other such functions. A councilman from the Downtown area would no longer have a vote on zoning laws in Cordova and vice versa. What are now PTAs would be school boards that have power over their children’s schools. CDCs would basically grow into the local councils.

This would require a lot of civic involvement by the people of each community – to fill all of these positions – and that would be a good thing as it would break the stranglehold that certain politicians and families currently have over positions of power in the city. Local service responsibilities would be pushed out of city hall and back into the communities at the grassroots level

This would bring a local community feel to everything while at the same time being part of the greater city. Downtown could keep its urban/pedestrian character while Cordova could keep its suburban character without conflict. This would also bring back localized schools in which the community has an interest in their school

2 - After confederating the current conglomerate, I would call a state of emergency in the schools and personally make sure that the schools become places of learning instead of places to socialize, get girl/boyfriends, have sex and play. Harsh penalties for delinquency would be implemented. 

3 - Create military camps for delinquent youth where children would do two years minimum learning strict discipline and going to school at the same time. (Maybe put some of the corrupt politicians in it)

4 – Demolish Clayborn and Foote homes to be replaced with mixed use buildings in the neighborhood

5 – Create an “aerotropolis” around the airport

6 - Create an enterprise or tax freeze zone along Elvis Presley Blvd from South of Brooks to Graceland to spur economic growth.

In Whitehaven, I would also re-pave Elvis Presley Blvd, replace the sidewalks with brick sidewalks, take down the wooden light poles on EP Blvd and replace them with nicer more elegant ones, brick the pedestrian walks at the street walks, reduce the speed limit in the Graceland area, landscape the entire area and put up more visible street crossing signs. All of this would make the entire Graceland area more pedestrian/tourist friendly.

Bring Back Whitehaven

I was looking at this site and it made me think. The city NEEDS to spark a revitalization in Whitehaven!

Whitehaven is the gateway to the city via the airport and the home of Graceland. I am embarrassed driving down Elvis Presely Blvd and seeing the blight leading to Graceland. Is this the way we want to represent the city? Here is a good idea from the site I linked to above:

You start with two strips. The Elvis Presely Blvd corridor from Graceland up to I-55 with Brooks road being a “gateway” of sorts with the Visitors’ Center being there. The Visitors’ Center needs to expand. The car lots and junk places up and down the street need to be replaced with major hotels and nice restaurants.

The other strip is on Winchester from the Airport leading to Elvis Presley Blvd. To spark growth, both strips need some type of tax incentives as well as an aggressive plan to recruit more hotels and restaurants into that strip.

Anyone with me here? It’s time to make the Elvis Presley Blvd an international destination