Month: January 2008

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Willie Herenton, Master Builder

Having just been treated to the latest installment of Mayor Willie Herenton’s annual visionary moment, delivered not via an end-of-year philippic this time but in a low-key address on Tuesday to the members and guests of the Memphis Rotary Club, we are sure of one thing: The mayor’s generous and doting mother, whom he proudly re-introduced to the public during his swearing-in ceremony earlier this year, just had to have made a point of keeping young Willie in new Tinkertoy sets each Christmas.

What else could account for the mayor’s fascination with new buildings? Last year saw him float the ill-fated (and somewhat amorphous) proposal for a new football stadium as the keystone of a new and wholly revamped Fairgrounds. Nothing came of that one — although His Honor told the Rotarians that Fairgrounds proposals from two different development groups are expected within the month. As for the stadium itself, however, Herenton formally buried the idea Tuesday, suggesting instead that major improvements be made to the existing Liberty Bowl facility. This, of course, was what many people acquainted with the city’s needs (and its means) had been advocating all along.

Ah, but an unborn master architect still lurks within Herenton’s persona, for he sprung yet another major building proposal on his Rotary audience Tuesday — elaborating on it further at a subsequent press conference. This was for a new convention center. Perhaps in view of his experience with the stadium proposal (and with the still unachieved city/county consolidation that Herenton has been seeking for years), the mayor left himself an out by appearing to allow for mere renovations of the current convention center, which still has the new-car smell from the massive, and expensive, reconstruction effort performed on it earlier this decade.

But Herenton’s actual intent can best be fathomed from the way his eyes lit up when asked by a reporter at the press conference afterward if it wasn’t the case that the current facility is awkwardly bound in on three sides, a circumstance that would not suggest mere renovation as a remedy, especially when the mayor is also talking up an ancillary 1,000-room hotel as part of the deal. Herenton made a point of arguing that the Cannon Center, crown jewel of the Cook Convention Center, could easily continue to prosper as a freestanding facility. He wants to build, pure and simple, and he made it clear that several sites have been looked at and are in the running for what would amount to an ambitious new convention center to be built somewhere “in the entertainment district.” Herenton said further that he would be appointing a new convention-center committee within the month.

It remains to be seen whether the convention-center proposal meets the same fate as did the one made a year ago for a new football stadium. Concerning the latter, he attempted a modest admission at the press conference that was meant to suggest a new humility but was transformed into something else by a verbal snag that seems to have been a bona fide Freudian slip. “We’re all infallible,” said the mayor with a diffident shrug.
Well, no, actually, we’re not, not even His Honor, but we’re keeping an open mind on his proposal all the same.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Checked Out

Once upon a time …

… there was a well-liked duchess who ruled a world of literature and books. Her castle was a beautiful fortress of stone and glass, and the knowledge it contained was admired by people near and far.

After more than two decades under the duchess’ reign, her territory was annexed by the king and brought under the crown. For two years, though, the duchess continued to rule.

Then, one day, the duchess suddenly left the castle, taking two of her confidantes with her. The king placed a high-ranking member of his court in her place.

The duchess’ people were outraged. They said she had been banished by the king, but the duchess maintained that she had left of her own accord.

When the truth came out that she had been ordered to leave by the king, those close to her said she had thought that by falling on her sword, it would help her kingdom live happily ever after.

Chapter 1: Quiet, Please

On January 14th, in the White House East Room, first lady Laura Bush presented this year’s national medals for Museum and Library Services. Among the recipients was the Memphis Public Library & Information Center.

The newly named library director, Keenon McCloy, was there to receive the award, as was Foundation for the Library vice chair Suki Carson.

Notably missing from the proceedings was longtime Memphis library director Judith Drescher, whose two decades of leadership had helped the organization garner the prestigious national award.

In early December, Drescher announced that she, deputy director Sallie Johnson, and library human resources manager Val Crook would retire at the end of the year.

But before those announcements came, Drescher and Crook received hand-delivered letters from the city administration informing them they would not be reappointed to their jobs by Mayor Willie Herenton.

“I was shocked,” says Crook, at the time the longest-serving employee of the library system. “I was in a meeting, and they pulled me out of the meeting to give me the letter. After 42 years, to get that letter … it hurt.”

Johnson did not receive a letter from the city, and although she announced her retirement along with Drescher and Crook, she is still working part-time for the library.

Librarians have long held a reputation for wanting to keep things quiet, and this story will not dispel that stereotype.

Drescher did not respond to multiple interview requests.

Other members of the library community declined to speak on the record.

The mayor, through his spokesperson Toni Holmon-Turner, also declined to respond to questions about the situation.

Drescher supporters sent mass e-mails informing people that Drescher had not been reappointed but asked that this information not be mentioned publicly. The e-mails also asked people to tell City Council members that a professional librarian should run the Memphis library system.

City chief administrative officer (CAO) Keith McGee maintains that Drescher’s retirement was her decision. But, according to Johnson, Drescher received a letter similar to Crook’s. It was brief, saying she would not be reappointed and thanking her for her service to the city.

“We thought it was the best thing for the library system to say that [Drescher was retiring],” Johnson says. “We were trying to protect the library.”

Johnson and Crook say that there was no indication from the administration, prior to the letters, that the mayor was unhappy with the work of Drescher and Crook or had plans to replace them.

“It was a great place to work. I don’t think you could find a better staff anywhere,” Crook says.

But as soon as Drescher’s “retirement” was announced, members of the local library community began whispering about her sudden departure. Letters to the editor in The Commercial Appeal praised her accomplishments and lamented her departure. People who work closely with the library say they were upset when they first heard the news.

“I was really shocked,” says Larry Cannon, president of the volunteer Friends of the Library organization. “She has done so much to promote the library, and she has done a wonderful job. I don’t know who made that decision.”

Chapter 2: Library Science

The whispers got louder after Herenton appointed McCloy, former director of Public Services and Neighborhoods, to the job Drescher had held since 1985.

McCloy is not a librarian but, as the head of Public Services, was technically Drescher’s boss. She holds an undergraduate degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley.

“[McCloy] is a very competent professional,” McGee says. “She was the supervisor of the director of libraries, so she is very familiar with the library operation. She was … chosen for that position because she could provide leadership immediately.”

Judith Drescher

Cathy Evans is the director of libraries at St. Mary’s Episcopal School and a former president of TENN-SHARE, a consortium of libraries across the state.

“This is one of the biggest public library systems in the country. The normal procedure would be to do a national search,” she says, “and find someone with experience to manage a library system this size.”

Evans says she would not hire someone with McCloy’s credentials to work at St. Mary’s library.

“If I had an opening, I’d require someone with a master’s in library science from an accredited library school,” she says.

Cannon surmises the move was political. “I think if you’re going to hire a mechanic, you hire a mechanic. … It doesn’t make sense.”

According to The Commercial Appeal, when Herenton was asked about McCloy’s appointment, he said that “a manager is a manager.”

What McCloy does have is experience with the city. A Memphis native, she began working in the CAO’s office 16 years ago, about a year after graduating from college.

When asked about her appointment, she says, “I’ve had the advantage of working with every division of city government pretty extensively. I am extremely familiar with finance division policies, human resource policies, and all the procedures that govern the city of Memphis.”

Division directors for the city generally make about $115,000. As head of the library, McCloy will be making more than $134,000 each year.

“I’m a manager. Obviously, librarians are the backbone of the Memphis Public Library & Information Center,” she says. “At the same time, we are an extremely progressive organization that serves many different constituencies and not all of them are focused solely on books.”

Chapter 3: Reading Room

Wayne Pyeatt is the treasurer of the Foundation for the Library, an organization that helps raise funds for the Memphis library.

“I was very disappointed [Drescher was leaving]. I’m really fond of her. She is a real leader,” he says. “The board I’m on and the people working with the library itself really hated to see her leave.”

When asked about Drescher’s legacy, members of the community repeatedly point to the main library at 3030 Poplar, which opened in 2001. Though named for civil rights leader and Foundation for the Library member Benjamin Hooks, the library is, in many ways, Drescher’s.

“As far as I’m concerned, had it not been for her leadership, we would have never built that library,” Pyeatt says. “She worked on it for many years before it came to fruition.”

He credits the new facility with an increase in library users. “There is a huge number of people who weren’t using [the library] before. But they are now, because of its size and its location.”

Local author and historian Perre M. Magness wrote a newspaper column for 16 years using the resources at the library.

“[Drescher] is the reason we have this beautiful library,” she says. “Many cities have built fine libraries, but they don’t work as well as ours does. You go in there and find people doing job searches and genealogy searches. … It’s not the library of your childhood.”

University of Memphis marketing staffer Bobby King worked for more than seven years as the library’s public relations supervisor.

“No way in the world the city gets a new central library without her in charge,” King says. “She had a vision for what she wanted it to be.”

While at the library, King learned a valuable trait from Drescher that he carries with him to this day.

“She really instilled in everyone that customer-service mentality,” he says. “When you have a job to do, you’ve got to identify who it is you’re ultimately working for.”

Supporters also credit her with the InfoBus program and expanding the 2-1-1 LINC service. The Infobus is a mobile library that began in 1999. By dialing 2-1-1, residents can access all types of community information.

“She made the library this invaluable thing in the community. It’s admired all over the country. She won that award, she and her staff,” Magness says of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. “I hate for her notable career to end on a sour note.”

The timing of the National Medal does make it difficult to understand why Drescher would not have been reappointed because of her performance.

“I can’t understand why the city would make changes in something that not only was not broken,” Magness says, “but was outstanding.”

Chapter 4: Overdue?

In all likelihood, this story began more than two years ago when Shelby County government cut $6 million of funding to the metro library system. The suburban municipalities were left with the option of covering the resulting budget shortfall or finding ways to cut costs.

Amid questions of whether the county branches would still be able to use Memphis library cards or be able to do interlibrary book lending, Germantown and Collierville decided to outsource their branches to Maryland-based Library Systems & Services. Millington initially contracted services from the city system, while cutting service hours, but eventually left as well. Bartlett still contracts from the city.

Without county funding, the library went from being an independent but quasi-governmental agency — similar to the health department — to one funded solely by the city of Memphis. In spring 2005, the City Council voted to bring the operation under the Public Services and Neighborhoods division, headed by McCloy.

The transition has been likened to a corporate merger. The library had to change its purchasing practices, leading to a shortage of new books early last year. At the time, it was reported that the transition held up purchases for at least five months.

Hiring was also affected.

As president of Friends of the Library, Cannon spends every Thursday afternoon volunteering at the library.

“The everyday running of the library changed,” Cannon says. “It took forever to get anyone hired, other than the woman they just put in charge. That was the fastest replacement I’ve ever seen.”

McCloy initially oversaw the integration of the library into the city government.

“It’s been a very complex process and a time-consuming one,” McCloy says. “We’ve completed most of the significant changes that need to occur as part of that assimilation into the city.”

Former library human resources manager Crook agrees.

“It was a matter of getting accustomed to the processes and procedures,” she says. “It was a different way of doing business.

“When we first transitioned, they told us no one would lose their job,” Crook adds. But, because of her job, she understood better than some the reality of the situation.

“I was the HR manager at the library, but they had an HR director at the city. Since we’re no longer a separate entity, the main function was down at City Hall.”

Crook planned to retire last year but says she was asked by Drescher, Johnson, and McCloy to stay and help the library through the transition.

“After 42 years, I would have liked leaving to be my choice, but I’m fine with it,” Crook says.

According to McCloy, the transition is almost complete.

“I think a significant amount of change is behind us. We’ve accomplished a lot. We’re on the city payroll. We’re now participating with city purchasing and complying with all the city guidelines.”

If that is the case, McCloy’s appointment seems the last step in the library’s evolution from an independent organization to a city division and signals a permanent cultural shift.

“They’re trying to bring it under the city’s control,” Magness says. “That worries me for the future of the library.”

Cannon echoes that sentiment.

“When you talk to [Drescher] about the library, her eyes light up,” he says. “I don’t see that with our politicians.”

Friends of the Library plans to host a retirement party for Drescher in early February.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

The Rant

Where is Shirley Chisholm when we need her? Unfortunately, she is no longer with us, having passed away in 2005. But I think we need her back. For those of you who were just a twinkle in your father’s eye back in 1968, Shirley Chisholm was elected that year as the first African-American female congress-
woman in the United States. And she was a first-class soldier working in the trenches for — count them — seven consecutive terms in office for the state of New York. She earned her master’s degree while working as a teacher in the public school system. She had class and she was tough as nails. She was not a rock star. And she wasn’t full of shit. That was 40 years ago. Now look at things. We finally have a woman and an African-American running for president, each with a good chance of winning, and they are acting like a couple of spoiled brats in a high school popularity contest. And if they don’t watch out, they are going to alienate voters to the point that we might be looking at another four years of picking and choosing which country to attack next. I had a good friend, who is also no longer with us, who refused to vote the rest of his entire adult life after Shirley Chisholm lost the presidential primary in 1972. I took this with something of a grain of salt because he also carried a bowling ball named Darlene around with him everywhere he went and turned his apartment into a dead tree-limb museum. But now I’m beginning to believe he had something there. He should have been a delegate to the Electoral College — although he would probably have been a “faithless delegate,” because he might have given his vote to the person who won the most popular votes. And now we still have that Electoral College crap to deal with. I’m beginning to wonder if it even matters if I vote anymore. But I will. At this point, I would rather have Britney Speers as president than what we have now. She couldn’t possibly look any more stupid dancing around with swords on a “peace” mission to the Middle East than George W. Bush, whose visit, of course, was preceded by that drummed-up near-attack on the United States Navy ship by the Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz, with the fake voice coming over the waves threatening to blow up the ship. That had secret administration maneuvering written all over it, serving as just one more step for George to get his hands on another war. But I digress. It’s kind of difficult for me to embrace Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton as people who really care about anything other than getting into the Oval Office, crocodile tears and rolled up sleeves, or not. It’s not that I don’t think either of them would be a vast improvement over what we have now or that they wouldn’t do a decent job. But all this bickering like kids and arguing about each other’s records (how can you argue about something that has already happened and is fact?) is a waste of time, and it is ridiculous in this day and age, when it’s all anyone can do to keep his or her home from being foreclosed on and sold at auction. I was with a man yesterday who should be running for president. He was the first African-American chairman of the Memphis City Council and was in the thick of the sanitation workers strike here, which ultimately led to the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Ask HIM if he thinks James Earl Ray acted alone.) He was describing to a group of journalists from Europe the reasons why the sanitation workers were on strike. They were being forced to go into the backyards of Memphis and collect the garbage from the cans and put it into containers that they had to then carry on their heads to the garbage trucks. The city wouldn’t replace the containers when they got worn out and had cracks in them, and when they carried the garbage, the filth and liquid from the garbage ran down their heads and onto their clothes. When they returned to the “barn” at the end of the day, they weren’t allowed to shower as the white workers were and were forced to ride the buses home covered in vile filth. They were making 90 cents an hour, and they wanted not only a raise but also the right to clean up before getting on those public buses and being made to sit in the back. And this former Memphis city councilman fought tooth and nail — sometimes in hiding — to win these basic human rights. If he was any more passionate about this then than he is now, I would be surprised. I also think it would be a good idea for senators Clinton and Obama to sit down with him for an hour or two. He didn’t have a rock-star husband or, God forbid, Oprah Winfrey helping him out. But he damn sure cared about the people he was representing. Now, tell me again what they were bickering about during that debate in South Carolina last week? John Edwards is looking mighty good, in my humble opinion. And Shirley Chisholm is bound to be turning over in her grave.

Categories
News The Fly-By

The Cheat Sheet

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

In recent months, air traffic controllers have let five jets approach the Memphis International Airport closer together than FAA regulations allow. One incident even took place during a training session, when two jets came within a mile of each other while landing, instead of the three miles required by the FAA. We can remember when one airline’s slogan was “Fly the Friendly Skies,” but this is getting a bit too close for comfort.

Greg Cravens

The Regional Medical Center is aggressively pursuing ways to partner with another health-care organization that is more financially stable. The Med’s money woes stem from several sources, including an increase in uninsured patients. As a result, it’s been bleeding money, so we hope somebody can find a way to bandage this much-needed facility.

President Bush has named former Memphian Margaret Scobey the U.S. ambassador to Egypt. Before that, Scobey served in Syria, Israel, Kuwait, Yemen, and Pakistan. Compared to those countries — none of them exactly known for their stability — Egypt should be like a vacation. At least we hope so.

While police were interviewing the victim of a carjacking, the suspect happened to drive by, and police set off in hot pursuit. He was caught and is currently facing a wide range of charges. We had always read that bad guys return to the scene of the crime, and we guess it’s true.

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

Power of 1

The Memphis Tigers — now the only undefeated team left in college basketball — remain atop Sports Illustrated‘s Luke Winn’s weekly Power Rankings. Winn offers the U of M a backhanded compliment, though, when it comes to discussion of candidates for the Wooden Award as the nation’s best player.

According to Winn: “The nation’s last undefeated team had two players named to the Wooden Award’s midseason top 30 list: junior forward Chris Douglas-Roberts and freshman point guard Derrick Rose. As good as those two are, there’s no real chance they’ll be given the award. This isn’t a bad thing: Memphis is so balanced that it doesn’t have a clear MVP.”

Read the whole thing here.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Don’t Say “Gay”

CREDIT: Patriotboy.blogspot.com

Playwright Tennessee Williams was gay. Poet Lord Byron had several homosexual affairs in his day. And artist Leonardo da Vinci was charged with sodomy at the age of 24.

But public school students in Tennessee won’t learn that information if a bill passes barring teachers from discussing homosexuality.

Representative Stacey Campfield of Knoxville filed a bill last week that would prevent public elementary and middle schools from allowing “any instruction or materials discussing sexual orientation other than heterosexuality.”

“This is the kind of bill that you would have seen introduced back in the 1990s as a reaction to SpongeBob SquarePants or Heather Has Two Mommies,” says Tommie Simmons with the Shelby County Committee of the Tennessee Equality Project. The group advocates equal rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people.

Campfield says the bill was a response to a National Education Association resolution that suggests schools provide information on diversity of sexual orientation and gender identification in sex-education classes.

“I think the schools should stick to the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic. And maybe some civics,” says Campfield. “But teaching transgenderism to middle school students … I don’t think that’s the road we should go down. I think that’s what parents should be doing.”

Currently, individual school boards decide whether or not sexual orientation and gender identity will be discussed within the sex-ed curriculum. Memphis City School officials are currently considering a new curriculum that would address sexual orientation and gender identity. Shelby County School officials did not return phone calls by press time.

“Why does [Campfield] feel the need to take control of what’s taught in a school system away from local boards of education and away from local communities?” asks Earl Wiman, president of the Tennessee Education Association.
Campfield’s bill allows discussion of heterosexuality because he wants students to learn biology and the science of reproduction.

“If I were to say ‘Jack and Jill went up the hill’ or ‘George Washington and Martha Washington were husband and wife,’ there are groups out there that would say we were pushing a heterosexual agenda. To keep those lawsuits from coming, I thought we should still be able to talk about that side of it,” Campfield says.

Over the years, Campfield has proposed other controversial legislation, such as replacing the state’s food tax with a tax on pornography and requiring the state to issue death certificates for aborted fetuses. In 2005, Campfield compared the state’s Black Caucus to the Ku Klux Klan when they refused to let him join because he is white.

Though Campfield’s bill is intended to deal with instruction, opponents worry that it would have a chilling effect on students’ free speech.

“Let’s say you have an eighth-grade writing class with an open-ended essay assignment. What if a student chooses to write about a current issue on sexuality?” says Chris Sanders, president of the Tennessee Equality Project. “This bill could be misinterpreted. It’s overly vague and far-reaching.”

Wiman worries the bill could lead to further alienation of gay students or students of gay parents.

“We have such a high adolescent suicide rate, and a large number of those killing themselves are struggling with sexual orientation,” Wiman says. “It’s a real concern for us that we be able to help boys and girls without some kind of arbitrary restrictions.”

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Peas, Please

We may not have sky-cars yet or transporter beams, but, increasingly, 21st-century medicine is starting to sound like the product of some mid-20th-century science-fiction writer’s fevered imagination. Though still in its infancy, gene therapies, which make adjustments in human DNA, promise to someday cure everything from Parkinson’s disease and cancer to the infamously identified “bubble boy” syndrome. And we owe it all to a 19th-century friar named Gregor Mendel, whose microscope and few surviving notes are currently on display at the Pink Palace Museum as part of the touring exhibit “Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics.”

It’s something of a miracle that Mendel’s work survived. His observations weren’t particularly well-received by the scientific community, and after his death, the succeeding abbot of his order burned all of the proto-geneticist’s papers. But a quarter-century after his unheralded passing, Mendel’s work showing dominant and recessive traits in peas was rediscovered and became the foundation for the field of modern genetics.

Although he’s most famous for his work with pea plants, Mendel also tried to prove the existence of similar patterns of inheritance in bees. He was only successful in creating a colony of hybrid bees so aggressive they had to be destroyed, but that’s another story entirely.

The exhibit mixes biographical information about the studious clergyman with artwork to explore the birth of modern genetics and its implications for the future.

“Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics” at the Pink Palace Museum,

February 2nd through April 27th

Categories
News

Police Need Help Solving Vidulich Murder

Memphis Police homicide detectives have identified a Ford Explorer that may have been involved in the murder of Lieutenant Edward Vidulich. Now police are asking the public if they recognize the vehicle.

Anyone who saw this vehicle (pictured to the left) in the area of Frayser Boulevard and Steele on Sunday night is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 528-CASH.

Memphis Police discovered the body of Lieutenant Edward Vidulich inside his home at 3454 Shiloh around 1:30 a.m. Monday morning. Vidulich had suffered a gunshot wound.

Vidulich is best known for his role in trying to save a manatee found in the Mississippi River in 2006.

The city is offering $7,000 for information leading to an arrest.

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

It’s Super Tuesday (Almost), And Do You Know Who Your Candidate Is?

CREDIT: jb

Next week, Memphis and Tennessee will be, for once, smack dab in the middle of the decision-making process for a presidential contest that is still very much up in the air. Read Jackson Baker’s review and preview here.

Categories
News

Herenton Offers “State of the City” Speech at Rotary Meeting

The Liberty Bowl is safe but the convention center is in play.

Mayor Willie Herenton made his informal (no apparent notes) state-of-the-city speech to the Rotary Club of Memphis Tuesday. It was upbeat, and there were no bombshells.

He said the expanded convention center (where the Rotary meeting was held) has been a very good investment even if did run way over budget, but it might not be adequate in the current “arms race” with Nashville and other cities seeking conventions.

He said he will appoint a committee within 30 days to study whether the center should be upgraded again or replaced with a new facility and a hotel with 1,000 rooms on another site.

“We have located some great sites,” he said, although he did not disclose them.

Herenton also said the area around Beale Street and FedExForum will get major attention along with the landscaping of the expressways in Memphis and the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium surroundings. The proposal the mayor made a year ago to consider replacing the stadium is defunct.

“I have listened to a large segment of the population of Memphis and to build a new stadium is not in the best interest of the Memphis community,” he said, to applause from the audience.

On consolidation of city and county governments, Herenton said “I may be the wrong person to talk to suburban mayors” but he still feels “I am right on this issue.” He said the “waste” in two governments and two school systems is “nonsense.”

The mayor praised Shelby County Commissioner Mike Carpenter for offering a mild proposal to merge some functions of the police and sheriff’s department. But commissioners led by Joyce Avery, Wyatt Bunker, and Joe Ford shot that down in a 6-5 vote Monday.

As Herenton spoke, a delegation of city and county elected officials was traveling to the headquarters of Bass Pro in Missouri. Herenton said he will consider rival proposals but Bass Pro is “the best” option.