Month: June 2007

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter from the Editor: Dick Cheney’s Tortured Logic

If you’re paying attention at all anymore to the shenanigans of this administration, you learned this week that Vice President Cheney has declared he doesn’t consider the vice president’s office to be a part of the executive branch of our government.

His reasoning? He presides over the Senate. There’s 231 years of American history overturned, folks. Who knew? But what’s more interesting is the reason for this tortured “logic”: A standing executive order requires that all offices of the executive branch submit regular reports to the National Archives on how they are safeguarding classified documents.

This seemingly reasonable requirement is apparently too much of an intrusion on Cheney’s lust for secrecy, so he came up with his ludicrous defense. What’s even more ludicrous is that it’s working — thanks to weasel-boy, aka Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who hasn’t even bothered to respond to the National Archives’ request for a ruling on the matter.

Cheney’s fingerprints are all over this administration’s misdeeds: lying to build a case for war with Iraq; the “torture memo”; presidential “signing statements”; warrantless wire-tapping; ordering the outing of a CIA agent and letting his buddy “Scooter” take the fall. (Not to mention, he shot a man in Texas, just to watch him die.)

Republicans have been going along with this farce for six years. It makes me wonder how they’ll feel when the president and vice president are not Republicans. Will they regret allowing the executive branch to establish such unilateral power?

It’s a bad idea, no matter who’s in office. This republic was founded on the principle of three co-equal branches of government. The way it’s set up now looks a little different:

Executive

Judicial

Legislative

Dick Cheney

It’s way past time for the citizens of this country to rise up and take back our government. These are impeachable offenses. What’s it going to take to wake up this Congress? Someone giving Dick Cheney a blow job?

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com

Categories
News The Fly-By

Doing Just Fine?

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Budget season is just about over, but the Memphis City Council is currently reviewing where it can save money and where it can make money.

In April, the mayor presented broad recommendations from a $700,000 efficiency study conducted by Deloitte Consulting. Among the study’s recommendations were closing several library branches, hiring more civilians to work at the police department, and reorganizing the fire department. Last week, the City Council’s public safety committee heard from several division directors on the report’s specifics and what — if any — recommendations they felt could work.

But the committee also heard a presentation by the city attorney’s office on how increasing fines and fees could actually make the city more money.

“I see a good number of opportunities for the city to raise the amount of revenue it collects,” city attorney Elbert Jefferson said.

In a report from the Revenue, Credits, and Collections Committee — originally chaired by former city attorney Sara Hall — recommendations included increasing animal service fees and increasing use and occupancy fees, among others.

Though the council directed the administration to look at fines and fees several years ago, the report noted that many of the codes and ordinances were passed before 1970 — and many of the fees hadn’t changed since then.

“Given an increase of 333 percent in the Consumer Price Index between 1970 and 2000, a $20 fine in 1970 would equate to a $6 fine in 2000. Alternatively, an inflation-adjusted fine of $20 in 1970 would be $66 in 2000,” read the report. “Clearly, for those fines, fees, and licenses that have not been updated since enactment or approval, their impact has been dramatically eroded by the general rise in prices for urban consumers of all goods.”

The study cites the metro alarm fee as one opportunity. The initial alarm registration fee is $30. The renewal fee, however, is just $5.

“When I write a $5 check for my alarm fees, I know that it costs more than $5 to process that check,” Councilman Jack Sammons said.

Jefferson said that the fees should be restructured to cover both the direct departmental costs — such as salaries or supplies — as well as indirect costs associated with human resources or the legal department.

“Given the stability and predictability of most division and department budget requirements, setting fees, etc., in anticipation of requirements prevents budget shortfalls and minimizes the impact of unanticipated events,” read the study.

So, could some of the city’s departments become self-sufficient? It’s an interesting idea. When Mayor Willie Herenton presented the initial efficiency-study recommendations, he said the report lent credibility to the city’s operations, but he seemed slightly dismissive of its findings.

“I don’t know any government in the country that can purport to be excellent in every operation. … I think all governments work on a daily basis to make themselves better,” he said. “Consultants can come in and do studies, but we’re the ones who have to run this city.”

For instance, out of the city’s $500 million operation budget, the consultants found roughly $18 million in savings, most of it from the fire services division.

“[Fire services] director [Richard] Arwood would tell you if we implement these recommendations, we would have a dramatically different fire service division. We have known for some time there were opportunities to reduce cost, but that wasn’t what we wanted to do,” Herenton said.

I guess it’s only natural to sound a little defensive when someone comes in and tries to tell you how to run your city. But Herenton’s right. Increased efficiency isn’t always best.

No matter how many lessons government tries to learn from big business, there is one key difference: With the government, the bottom line isn’t, well, the bottom line. Government has a different end game, one which includes public safety, education, and law enforcement.

But the efficiency study shouldn’t be dismissed. Consultants might not be the ones who “run this city,” but if the fines and fees show anything, it is that some things run on autopilot. If a fee can stay the same for three decades (if not four; it is 2007, after all), it’s not a bad idea to take a closer look.

The council’s public safety committee is expected to hear efficiency-study recommendations for parks and libraries July 10th. The committee was supposed to discuss the two areas at its last meeting, but it ran out of time.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

On the Move

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Café de France, inside Palladio Antiques & Art, will close on Saturday, June 30th. Jeanell and Donnie Morris, the café’s owners, have recently decided to revive the French Bakery, their wholesale operation, which has been dormant for a year.

“It took us a while to decide what we ultimately wanted to do with the French Bakery,” Jeanell Morris says.

One of the problems the couple faced at the French Bakery was the repair of some of their expensive baking equipment.

“Our big French mixer, which holds more than 200 quarts of dough, had broken, and it seemed impossible to find someone locally who could fix it,” Jeanell says. “If you have to fly in a specialist from France every time something breaks, you’ll run out of money very quickly.”

Because the Morrises’ business was almost exclusively wholesale, except for the items they baked for their own café, using an 80-quart mixer that can only hold a 50-pound bag of flour wasn’t an option. Quitting was never really an option, either.

“My heart is in this,” Jeanell says. “And we have a lot of customers who kept asking if we would ever open a retail bakery. Memphis needs a bakery.”

So, even though Café de France is closing, the Morrises have plans to open a retail bakery in East Memphis. The couple hopes to find enough investors to open Café de France Bistro and Bakery in the former Honeysuckle Health Foods space on Mendenhall near Poplar in October.

When the Morrises first took over what’s now the French Bakery in 1998, they had no clue what they were getting themselves into. Neither of them had any experience baking or working in a bakery. But fate put the bakery in their hands.

Guy’s Bakery was owned by Guy Pacaud, a Frenchman who had moved to Memphis in the 1970s and worked at La Baguette before opening his own bakery and later, La Patisserie, a restaurant in the space that is now occupied by Jarrett’s. Jeanell and Donnie were close friends with Pacaud, who died in a car accident in 1998 while delivering bread. In his will, Pacaud wanted Donnie to take over the bakery and buy his wife Libby out.

“This was really hard for my husband because he felt that the bakery killed Guy,” Jeanell explains. Nevertheless, the couple dug in. Donnie went on to learn the ropes of bread baking from master baker Didier Rosada at the American Institute for Bakers, and everything seemed to fall in place. “Donnie always felt like Guy’s spirit was around to help us make this work,” Jeanell says.

The couple focused on the wholesale business until four years ago, when the opportunity for the new venture at Palladio became available. At Café de France, the Morrises served lunch and the occasional dinner when the antique store received shipments from France. The menu was simple: a cheese plate, smoked chicken, tuna, shrimp, and pasta salads, salade Lyonnaise, and an extensive sandwich list that included baked brie, marinated eggplant, and corned beef brisket.

The lunch menu at the new Café de France on Mendenhall will be similar, and they’ll also serve breakfast. Plus, customers will be able to pick up freshly baked croissants in the retail space at 7 a.m.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has opened its first location at the Avenue Carriage Crossing in Collierville, with a second location on Germantown Parkway coming soon. A total of five locations in the Memphis area are planned for the Colorado-based burger chain.

Started in the 1940s as Sam’s Tavern in Seattle, Washington, the restaurant then became Sam’s Red Robin before finally transforming from a tavern into the first Red Robin restaurant in 1969. Now the company has 350 restaurants throughout the United States as well as Canada.

Red Robin serves every sort of burger: chicken, “Bleu Ribbon,” guacamole/bacon, sautéed “‘Schroom,” “Honky Tonk BBQ Pork,” etc. — all accompanied by its signature “bottomless” steak fries.Red Robin, 4641 Merchants Park Circle (854-7645)

Categories
Book Features Books

Lucky Lady

It isn’t every day that an author inspires a slot machine. But in the case of mega-best-selling novelist Jackie Collins, that day was Saturday, June 23rd — the same day Collins talked to the Flyer by phone from her room at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The big occasion: the launch date of Collins’ latest book, Drop Dead Beautiful (St. Martin’s Press). The honors set for the afternoon: the official announcement that it was Jackie Collins Day in Vegas. She’d be receiving a key to the city, and Harrah’s was unveiling a set of slot machines featuring Drop Dead Beautiful. No need, however, for formalities on the morning of the 23rd. “Call me Jackie” were the first words out of Collins’ mouth. Here’s what else the Flyer heard before the author of Hollywood Wives, Hollywood Husbands, Hollywood Kids, and Hollywood Divorces heads to Davis-Kidd and Horseshoe casino for a set of Mid-South booksignings.

Flyer: In Drop Dead Beautiful, your leading lady is once more Lucky Santangelo, a woman who possesses, according to one admirer, “the three B’s in abundance — Brains, Beauty, and Balls.” What’s the reason Lucky’s back?

Jackie Collins: My readers were demanding it! I have a Web site, JackieCollins.com, and fans are always writing, “Oh, we love this book and we love that book, but please bring back Lucky Santangelo.” Why? She’s an inspiration. She does all the things women would like to do and don’t quite have the nerve to do. She says all the things women would like to say and don’t quite get away with saying.

You get away with it too.

I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 20 years. I’ve got lots of stories to tell. But if there’s one question fans always ask it’s: “Do people in Hollywood come up to you mad because they recognize themselves in one of your books?” I say, “No. They recognize their worst enemies.”

Any differences between the Hollywood of 20 years ago and today?

One important difference: You have people now who are famous for not doing anything at all. There’s also a lot women in Hollywood who are married to younger men. But even if it’s just a small age difference, it bugs them because these women are not quite sure it’s okay. It’s always the old geezers with girls 40 years younger, like James Woods’ relationship with a 20-year-old. If Woods were a woman, there would be an outcry.

You’re about to cross the country on a booksigning tour, but you’re including not only bookstores but casinos too. You may be setting a trend here.

You want people to know your book is out there, and casinos are a great place to do it. I get to meet my readers. They love it. I love it. And in Tunica, in addition to signing books, answering questions, and unveiling the Drop Dead Beautiful slot machine, we’ll be doing makeovers. Dress designer Pat Kerr of Memphis will be showing her gowns. She married a friend of mine, John Tigrett.

I’m looking forward to Memphis too … home of Elvis, but I’ve never been to Graceland. I hope I can go. But I was in Memphis once before — to promote my book, Chances. A funny thing happened, though. I was at my hotel and asked for a wakeup call. When I picked up the phone the next morning, there was the voice of a country singer. I’m not sure of his name. Porter … Wagoner? I thought, What did I do last night?

Speaking of what people do at night, during the day, whenever … Drop Dead Beautiful has its share of sex scenes. Is there a line you won’t cross?

Anything to do with cruelty to children, anything sexual to do with children. I will never touch that.

Care to touch on the writing process?

I write in long hand, not on a computer, and what you see is what you get. I don’t plan ahead. I never have the story mapped out. I sit down each day with my characters, and they take me on a trip. No wonder people say to me, “I couldn’t put your book down.” I say, “I couldn’t put it down while writing it.”

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

What NBA? Memphis is a Baseball Town!

We interrupt NBA draft day hype to bring you some baseball
trivia.

It’s been an eventful month, if not a very good season, for
two big-league baseball players from Germantown – pitchers Matt Cain and Paul
Maholm.

Both faced and lost to future Hall of Famers recently.
Maholm, who is 2-10 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, started in Yankee Stadium when
Roger Clemens made his 2007 debut a couple weeks ago. And on Wednesday, Cain,
2-9 for the San Francisco Giants, took the loss against Greg Maddux and the San
Diego Padres. Both Clemens and Maddux have won over 300 games in their careers.

Maholm played
for Germantown High School while Cain played for Houston High, and neither was
born when Clemens, 44, made his major-league debut. Despite their ugly won-loss
records this season, both are considered future stars.

–Paul Maholm

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Mid-Season Trade: Shelby Dems Boot Fields, Get Gill Back

CREDIT: jb


BY
JACKSON BAKER |
JUNE 28, 2007

A new
physical principle has been discovered about the known Universe, or at least
about that corner of it occupied by the Shelby County Democratic Party. It is
this: That the likes of Richard Fields can be gotten rid of – perhaps
permanently — but longtime gadfly Del Gill is irrepressible and will return
again and again – perhaps till the end of time.

Fields, accused by Mayor Willie Herenton of a “blackmail plot” aimed at
deposing the mayor, was the subject of two votes at Thursday night’s monthly
meeting of the local Democrats’ executive committee. First, his resignation from
the committee – tendered in a letter to party chairman Keith Norman in which
Fields blamed his departure on complications arising from “my present
investigation of problems in Memphis” — was accepted by a 36-0 vote.

That
vote, however, came only after Gill – yes, Gill – tried to move for Fields’
expulsion and was talked by Norman into tacking that motion on to the acceptance
motion as a second stage. The reason: As Norman explained it, only the state
party could rule on an expulsion; hence, Fields’ resignation had to be accepted
first, lest some discovered technicality bind him forever to the committee, and
to the party.

And
that, Norman explained, was what nobody wanted. The chairman opined that “we
should never have elected him back on in the first place” after Fields was
forced off an earlier version of the committee in 2006 for working with
Republican lawyers to overturn the election of Democrat Ophelia Ford to the
state Senate.

Norman
allowed himself some additional rhetoric to the effect that Fields was best gone forever –
a point that Gill and others thought had been incorporated into the resolution
of expulsion, which passed 27-6. Both Norman and party secretary David Holt said
afterward, however, that the word “permanently” – heard frequently in discussion
on Gill’s motion – was not involved in the final vote. The point may be moot; it
is hard to imagine a third coming for Fields.

The
real miracle was the return to the committee of Gill – who has his own detractors. That resurrection occurred when Gill, a perennial member who was not, however, elected at this
year’s party convention, got nominated by the newly formed Memphis Democratic
Club as its representative on the executive committee.

The
Memphis Democratic Club is chaired by Jay Bailey, the lawyer who was defeated by
Norman for the party chairmanship, and numbers other dissidents among its
members.

Also returned to the
committee was another longtime maverick, Bill Larsha, who was accepted as the
representative of yet another newly formed dissident club.

Categories
News The Fly-By

By Leaps and Bounds

Twenty feet in the air, the young athlete seems as confident as if he were standing on the ground. Within seconds, he drops back to the surface of the trampoline, which contours to his feet for a moment before he springs even higher.

At the USA Gymnastics’ 2007 Trampoline and Tumbling National Championships, youths and young adults from around the country are bouncing about everywhere.

As the athletes warm up at the Memphis Cook Convention Center, a young woman sprints onto a mini-trampoline before catapulting herself into the air. Nearby, men with triangular torsos leap and flip in synchronization.

Clearly, no one here is scared of heights.

But it takes far more than confidence to arrive at the national championships. According to Ann Sims, trampoline and tumbling program director, “Anyone can jump on a trampoline, but to excel, you need spatial awareness, flexibility, and a strong mental attitude.”

Sims, who has been with USA Gymnastics since 1999, first became interested in trampoline and tumbling when her children participated in the sports. Now, she witnesses others determined to excel.

“They have to jump through all the hoops to get here,” she says. And, of course, they have to jump quite a bit literally.

This year, more than 1,700 athletes are competing in the championships.

Because trampoline and tumbling competitions are dangerous, safety must be taken seriously, Sims emphasizes: “All sports have liabilities, but we limit that to a minimum through the best equipment and safety.”

According to Sims, trampoline and tumbling are evolved forms of activities children enjoy anyway. “With competing, the kids just go higher and faster,” she explains.

Elite athletes soar up to 20 feet, Sims tells me. I later notice coaches and safety guards huddling around a trampoline, necks craned, while a young athlete rises higher and higher. Her turquoise leotard shimmers as she artfully twists her torso and extends her legs.

But Sims is referring just as much to passion as to physical skill when she states, “This is when they peak.”

Categories
News

Carol Johnson Makes History in Boston

Outgoing Memphis City Schools superintendent Carol Johnson will be paid $275,000 in Boston, making her the highest paid school superindendent in that city’s history.

Johnson, who was offered a five-year contract, will be eligible for a $20,000 yearly bonus if she meets education goals, according to the Boston Globe.

And there are other benefits. From the story: “Johnson will also receive a $7,200 annual car allowance, annual contributions toward her retirement, and a housing allowance of up to $18,000 while she sells her house in Memphis. Her contract, excluding the one-time housing allowance and retirement contributions that have yet to be calculated, could be worth up to $302,200 a year.

“She will also receive a 2.5 percent raise each year, provided she has satisfactory performance. By June 30, 2012, when her contract expires, Johnson will be paid a $303,548 base salary.”

Johnson’s salary in Memphis was $204,516.

Categories
News

Crossword Puzzles, Memphis-style

From the Daily News: Mark Blakeburn has published Memphis in Puzzles, a book of 54 crosswords revolving around the city’s history, events, music, sports, and more.

Of course, this begs the question of what the clue might be for “You ain’t hitting on nothing with me.”

According to the story, Blackburn has contributed puzzles in The New York Times, Simon & Schuster, and Dell Magazines. He says in terms of the difficulty, his Memphis puzzles are easier than the ones in the Times and harder than the ones in The Commercial Appeal.

Memphis in Puzzles, $10, is available at Burke’s Book Store, Davis-Kidd, Booksellers, Xanadu Music and Books, and Tater Red’s.

Categories
Living Spaces Real Estate

Haute Life

The Big Muddy eases by a couple hundred yards away, and the streetcars rattle along a block over. A little farther away is the nexus of the hottest blues and coolest jazz in the area. A light breeze wafts with the aroma of some of the city’s finest Southern fare. You sit in a comfortable courtyard surrounded by brick and a fleur-de-lis-topped iron railing.

No, you’re not in New Orleans. You’re in that other Mississippi River city, the one atop the bluffs. You’re in downtown Memphis, right next to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, at RiverCrest condominiums on Front Street and East Pontotoc Avenue.

RiverCrest is the brainchild of Fred and Donna Dee Sliney and Don Morris of Horizon Construction. Donna Sliney of RE/MAX Elite pulls double duty, as she is also the real estate agent for the project. RiverCrest did not happen overnight, and as it has taken shape, the building has drawn a lot of attention from downtown residents, workers, visitors, and diners at Gus’s. The chicken shack, once standing lonely between a parking lot and a field, now has a big brother.

“We have been at this for over a year,” Donna Dee Sliney says. RiverCrest broke ground on May 30th, 2006. “We felt it would take one year to get the quality we wanted.”

The owners not only took their time on the project, they also limited the size of the development. “We wanted to keep it at three stories with the rooftop [terrace level], and we thought that we could get more quality by limiting the number of units to 11,” Sliney says.

The result is a building with units ranging in size from 1,860 to 2,700 square feet (and each style unit with multiple floor-plan options). With units having 10-foot ceilings, there’s plenty of room to breathe. All units are loaded with windows, and the model is as bright as the summer day outside. Flats and

townhouses on the second and third floors have private balconies. Top-floor units also boast private roof-garden terraces. Townhouses include 21-by-10-foot lofts.

The smallest units are still expansive. Each flat has two bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths. The master bath is almost sinful: a huge bath/shower combo. Bedrooms, which are carpeted, have two walk-in closets and a full bath each. The rest of the interior is either hardwood (the purchaser’s choice of one of five Bruce “Natural Reflections” hardwood floors) or ceramic tile.

Condos also offer a full laundry, kitchens with stainless-steel appliances, including double ovens, and TV and wireless Internet provided as part of homeowner-association membership. In addition to hardwood-floor choices, residents can pick from six styles of granite countertops for the bathrooms and kitchen, the ceramic tile, carpet,

cabinetry, interior wall colors, and an interior trim color throughout. An allowance is given to purchasers for interior fixtures.

Diane Gordon, principal designer of SEE the Difference Interiors, was selected to do the interior design for RiverCrest. “We were most impressed with Gordon, and we basically gave her free rein,” Sliney says. Gordon’s credentials are impeccable: In the Memphis Area Home Builders Association’s 2006 Vesta Home Show downtown, Gordon won four awards: Best Interior Design, Best of Show, Best Lifestyle Appeal, and Best Kitchen, all for her work on CityHouse.

“I was selected to be the interior designer for the project, from picking out the paint colors to the cabinets to the granite, making the units have consistency and flow, and setting up the model,” Gordon says. “Picking out colors is very important so there is consistency.” Designing RiverCrest’s

Donna Dee Sliney

model, Gordon went through the same process she does for all her clients. “I go to High Point, North Carolina, and I make my own selections and purchase everything directly from the manufacturers: rugs, furniture, accessories, lighting, wall décor, bedroom suites, dining room suites, and upholstery.

“RiverCrest has a New Orleans flair to it, and to be able to come in and do an updated home furnishing on it really fit the style of the complex,” she says. “I would probably call it a soft eclectic style. Everything in Memphis is 90 percent tradition, so when people come in, they’re like, Wow. Every time you go to home furnishing stores and models, you either get that total modern, contemporary look, which is what a lot of downtown is going to, or you get kind of an eclectic look, which is basically matching different pieces from different vendors instead of everything being from the same company that matches up perfectly.”

Gordon, a native Memphian in the interior-design business for about 12 years but who just opened her showroom in December in CityHouse, will be on hand to assist RiverCrest purchasers with the selection process.

One of the most coveted possessions downtown — covered, secured parking — is one of the amenities RiverCrest offers. Each unit comes with two secured, underground parking spots accessible from the entrance off Pontotoc. And there’s not just an elevator that can take you from the garage to all floors. It’s

Diane Gordon

furniture-friendly, ready for moving in. All entrances to the building, including the garage, are keypad secure. There are also individual, customized storage areas for residents.

A large courtyard graces the central/back portion of the building, evoking New Orleans in word and design. The landscaped area includes gas grills and picnic tables, perfect for escaping from it all — right in the middle of it all.

RiverCrest is the Slineys’ first foray into downtown Memphis development. “It’s been exciting,” Donna Sliney says. “Downtown is alive. We think downtown is just wonderful, and that’s why we chose to build RiverCrest here. We’re just real thrilled to be a part of downtown.

“RiverCrest is not the typical residential building. It’s for professionals and people who want to enjoy all the amenities of downtown,” she says. “The upside of living downtown, and especially at the Rivercrest, is that you can walk to the Orpheum, you can walk to Beale Street, you can go to FedExForum, and with all the new restaurants opening, the lifestyle is great. From the rooftop you can see the river, and the view of downtown is just incredible. But there’s dead silence in your unit.” According to Sliney, units are soundproofed to the extent that you can’t hear passing traffic on Front Street.

Units range from $389,000 to $559,000, and purchasers can be in their condo within 30 days, maximum. “They’re all sheetrocked and ready for purchasers to approve,” Sliney says. ■

For more information on RiverCrest, contact Donna Dee Sliney at 901-485-7970 or by e-mail: donnasliney@remax.net. Diane Gordon can be reached at 901-522-9696 or seedianegordon@aol.com.