Month: November 2013

Categories
Calling the Bluff Music

Local Schools Report More Than 2,000 Bullying Incidents For 2012-13 School Year

bullying.gif

The Tennessee Department of Education recently released its first-ever “Bullying and Harassment Compliance Report.” The report centered on the 2012-13 school year.

According to the report, 7,555 cases of bullying were reported during the 2012-13 school year. Approximately 73 percent of those cases, or 5,478, were confirmed as bullying cases after investigation.

Memphis and Shelby County school districts (before the merger) accounted for more than 2,000 of the state’s reported cases, according to Dr. Randy McPherson of Shelby County Schools (SCS).

Manager of behavior and student leadership for SCS, McPherson said 2,247 of the state’s reported incidents took place in the Bluff City. Memphis City Schools (MCS) reported 1,982 bullying incidents. However, SCS only reported 265 bullying incidents over the 2012-13 school year.

McPherson said the number of reported incidents only represent about 1.5 percent of the system’s combined student enrollment. He said the reported incidents were classified as either bullying, cyber-bullying, intimidation, or harassment.

“Support services are available for victims of harassment, bullying, intimidation, and cyber-bullying, as well as interventions and targeted counseling and discipline for alleged bullies,” McPherson said. “There is a progressive tiered system of delivering counseling and referrals depending on severity of the offense and progress in addressing the problem.

“There is also a heavy emphasis on professional development for staff, prevention programming for students throughout the year, and systems development in schools to help recognize and react to any behavior issue, including bullying. Awareness and prevention is the main focus with quick, effective response systems in place to protect students.”

According to the “Shelby County Student Code of Conduct,” harassment, intimidation, bullying, or cyber-bullying are viewed as acts that substantially interfere with a student’s educational benefits, educational opportunities, or educational performance. Anything that causes emotional distress to a student, creates a hostile educational environment, physically harms a student or damages a student’s property, or knowingly placing a student in reasonable fear of the aforementioned actions falls under the bullying category as well, If the acts takes place on school grounds.

Check out my website: ahumblesoul.com
Follow me on Twitter: @Lou4President
Friend me on Facebook: Louis Goggans

Categories
News

Council Members Pledge to Fund Southbrook Project

Toby Sells reports on members of the city council who vowed to find funding “somewhere” for the Southbrook Mall project.

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis City Council Members Vow to Fund Southbrook Mall Project

Screen_shot_2013-11-05_at_2.32.55_PM.png

City money will be found to fund a $1.5 million project to revitalize Whitehaven’s Southbrook Mall, Memphis City Council members said Tuesday, after a legal opinion last week stopped the original funding stream.

Council members voted last month to approve $1.5 million in city capital funds, some of which were to be used to for the revitalization of the Elvis Presley Boulevard corridor, for the project. But city council attorney Allan Wade issued an opinion that said the funding mechanism was illegal.

Some council members said Tuesday the opinion came as a way to stop the project. Councilwoman Janis Fullilove said the project “was doomed from the onset” and that while Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said he was in favor of the project, his administration was silent even though they likely knew the funding mechanism was illegal. She said the mayor’s office has a bias on what projects get funded.

“I get the feeling you don’t want to do this little black project for $1.5 million,” Fullilove said. “But we’ll probably be asked soon to support the $15 million for Crosstown and then the Raleigh Springs Mall and other projects with money we don’t have.”

The issue came before the council’s economic development and tourism committee Tuesday. Committee chairwoman Wanda Halbert said the Southbrook Mall project was orchestrated by some council members and administration staffers away from Memphis City Hall. She reminded officials that the only two places to get city business done is around the council’s committee room conference table or in the city council chambers.

“The council’s role is to put the issues on the table, and it’s the administration’s job to bring forth recommendations,” she said.

Council member Harold Collins said Southbrook Mall is in his district and wanted to help get the project started. He said he met with Wharton and others to discuss funding sources for the project and that everyone in the meetings thought using city capital funds was appropriate. Wade’s opinion on the matter, Collins said, was out of their hands.

But council members vowed to find the funds to at least get the Southbrook renovation project started. Fullilove suggested finding the money to get a new roof on the building before the winter and then find the rest of the money later.

“I’m sure there’s $400,000 here or $400,000 there or $300,000 over here [in the city’s budget], and we can get our finance director [Brian Collins] to find it for us,” Collins said.

Halbert also wanted to know how the administration picks the private projects it selects to invest in each year. Chief administrative officer George Little said determinations are made based on job creation and overall economic impact to the city.

Categories
News

Fresh Market + Kroger = Happy Midtown

Bruce VanWyngarden says new grocery options mean happy Midtowners. With minor reservations.

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Actors Warned About Possible Talent Scam

Picture_1.png

Some Memphis actors have expressed concerns online about Local 24 News’ decision to report on the “Showcase of the Rising South,” an event in Olive Branch later this month that claims to connect young performers to talent scouts from Los Angeles and New York. According to that article, actors must pay $650 to audition.

Lisa Lax, the CEO of the Lisa Lax Agency, said she has heard of similar setups, but it’s not all legitimate.

“These kinds of things are out there,” Lax said. “They’re always scams. Talent should be auditioning and going out for jobs. The last thing they should be doing is paying [for auditions].”

Nora Childers, a Memphis actress, took to the comments section of the Local 24 News story to voice her concerns.

“You should never pay a talent scout and most certainly should never pay for an audition,” she wrote.

The comment she left appeared to be deleted from the Local 24 News website, but was apparently restored.

“I find it odd that the ‘big name’ producers had no names [in the article],” Childers said. “I believe the matter should be investigated to be sure.”

Angie Grant, the founder of the event, said she’s charging because she’s bringing scouts to the Memphis area. According to her, the local actors unhappy with her event should do more research before writing
it off.

“‘If you have to pay money, it’s a scam.’ That’s just not fair,” she said. “I understand where they’re coming from, because there’s a lot of scams that go through this country. If my daughter didn’t go to an event like mine, she’d still be in Tupelo. Let’s see where they are ten years from now.”

According to both Lax and Childers, a typical auditioning process usually begins by submitting headshots to a reputable agency and then going through interviews and booking a gig, which the agency will take a
commission from.

“In this business, it’s easy to tempt others for possible fame,” Childers said. “Yes, these individuals might have some connections, but asking people to pay $650 for a gamble to fame — only saying names
of people they’ve represented and not giving their own names — sounds pretty shady.”

The story was published online and ran during the evening segments of the broadcast Monday night.

Categories
Opinion The BruceV Blog

ZOMG! Midtown Grocery Options!

The news this morning that the upscale grocer Fresh Market is going to convert the Ike’s at Union and Cooper into its newest Memphis location brought great joy to the hearts of most Midtowners.

We were already pleased at the news about Kroger’s big rebuild of its Midtown store on Union. We’ve had Kroger envy for a while now, ever since the Big K built that massive store in Poplar Plaza. We visited that store and we dreamed. Big dreams. Dreams of a craft beer section. Visions of massive new cheese options, instead of the three types of Gouda and four types of cheddar Kroger currently offers in Midtown. We dreamed of wide well-lit aisles, mounds of fresh produce, gleaming fresh-cut steaks, seafood that wasn’t pre-frozen.

Yes, we had dreams, but they were still a couple years away. There’s a lot of tearing down and building that needs to happen yet. And frankly we, at least the “we” that lives on the block of Idlewild Street between Union and Linden, have fears about the new mega Kroger. We fear our quiet little block will become a shortcut to Kroger’s parking lot, a way for clever Midtowners to circumvent the Union bugtussle and sneak in the lot from the east-side door.

Our neighborhood fought Kroger, asked them not to put an entrance and exit on our little street. We went to city hall and asked for help from the Board of Adjustment, but didn’t get it. We did manage to get Kroger to promise build a exit/entrance that would make exiting the east side of the lot south onto Idlewild and entering the lot from the south on Idlewild more difficult. But we still think we’ll get lots of traffic we don’t have now.

So our Kroger dreams are slightly mixed. Better store and better food selection? Yes. More traffic and less peace and quiet? No.

Which is why the Fresh Market move is doubly exciting. It will bring more grocery shopping options into play, and it will presumably reduce some of the traffic going into Kroger. Plus, Fresh Market will beat Kroger to the punch by at least a year.

All in all, I think we’re seeing the business community beginning to recognize what we central city folks have known for a long time: Midtown (and downtown, for that matter) is healthy, full of disposable income, and is home to thousands of shoppers tired of having to drive east for choice and quality. Welcome.

Categories
Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

Family Dollar Airlines Expands Catapult Services to Include Memphis International Airport

Screen_shot_2013-11-05_at_1.11.08_PM.png

MEMPHIS—The Memphis International Airport today welcomed yet another major player in the low-cost goods market to their fold, as discount store Family Dollar revealed that their “no frills” regional air service would begin operations within the year.

Family Dollar Airlines President Umberto Martine was on hand to display working models of the high-powered catapults that would propel cash-strapped travelers from Memphis to “the general vicinity of” Little Rock, Nashville and Jackson, Mississippi in under an hour’s time, and for less than the cost of traditional airline baggage fees.

“We can offer this service at an incredibly low price because we cut out a lot of the extras that people are used to, but don’t really need when traveling,” said Martine. “Without beverage services, trained pilots or airplanes to account for, you’d be surprised how little it costs to run an airline.”

Passengers on FDA will be loaded in fifty-person batches into a pressurized biodegradable plastic sphere and hurled through the air by minimum wage employees, reaching speeds that NASA scientists have deemed “offensive.” Riders are encouraged to wear helmets, earplugs and many layers of soft clothing, in addition to carrying a precautionary first aid kit, all of which can be purchased at one of Memphis’ 2000 Family Dollar locations.

Martine is hopeful that his employees will take advantage of the complementary jump-seating policy, which allows them to travel on the exterior shell of the sphere to any available destination. In addition, the company plans to offer a seat on the inaugural flight to “anyone adventurous to try our ‘fresh’ produce.”

Round trip services are not offered, nor needed, at present.

Robert Callahan is a member of the Wiseguys and a regular contributor to Fly on the Wall

Categories
News

Downtown Dumpster Debate

Toby Sells reports on the City Council’s attempts to get a handle on downtown dumpsters.

Categories
News News Blog

Bass Pro Exterior Sign Work Could Begin Soon

Bass Pro Shops pulled a $16.5 million building permit Monday for signage, which signals that the beginning of some of the first exterior branding work done to the Pyramid could begin soon.

Robert Lipscomb, director of Memphis Housing and Community Development, said that having the permit will enable Bass Pro to begin choosing contractors to install all of the signs that will be on and around the Pyramid. Once the contractor is chosen, work could begin immediately, he said, calling the permit “a big deal.”

Interior construction of the building began in September after the Springfield, Missouri, outdoor retailer pulled a permit for about $40 million. The construction came after the city prepared the property and the building doing electrical, seismic, and HVAC work.

Bass Pro officials have projected the store will be complete by late 2014.

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis City Council Talks (Downtown) Trash

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

Dumpsters in Downtown alleys and on Downtown sidewalks became illegal at the beginning of November and even though businesses there knew the change in policy was coming, many did nothing to prepare for it.

Each dumpster was to come with a fine of $500 for each month they remained. But those fines were reduced by a Memphis City Council committee Tuesday to $200. It is expected that council members, city staff and Downtown merchants will work together to devise a more-permanent solution to what could become a stinking, rodent-infested problem.

If Downtown merchants, especially restaurants, have to get rid of their dumpsters, city leaders said Tuesday they would pile their trash in alleys between buildings or other out of the way places, which will create health hazards.

A proposal from council member Lee Harris would have used $300,000 in city funds to build six concrete pads for trash compactors, which would have been built by private companies and the merchants they serve. But the proposal died in committee as members the money would have had to come from city reserves and go to private entities.

Bianca Phillips

Downtown Memphis dumpsters

“We just don’t have the money,” said council member Jim Strickland. “(Tennessee State Comptroller Justin Wilson) is already upset at us about not having enough money in reserves. We don’t have a money tree on Mud Island that we can just pull from.”

Harris said he was more interested in protecting Downtown stakeholders than in spending reserve funds. Jerome Rubin, former council member and vice president of operation for the Downtown Memphis Commission, said the $300,000 investment was vital to protect health concerns and that the funds could be recouped by the city through a new fee on Downtown businesses and residents.

The council will vote on building the compactor pads in its meeting Tuesday afternoon.