Month: December 2016

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Britt Haraway at Bar DKDC

“There’s gonna be some trouble /A whole house will need re-building /And everyone I love in the house /Will recline on an analyst’s couch quite soon /Your father cracks a joke /And in the usual way /Empties the room.” — Morrissey, “Now My Heart is Full”

Britt Haraway’s stories are full of broken people, broken relationships, and lives that need renovation if not full on rebuilding. They are also full of music and musical references. Some of them are full of Memphis, where the author grew up, playing in bands. Thursday, December 22nd, he’ll blend music and literature at Bar DKDC when he teams up with Tim Regan from the band Snowglobe. Regan’s an old friend who’ll perform songs by various artists mentioned in Haraway’s short story collection Early Men, which was published this spring by Lamar University Press.

Britt Haraway

Today both Haraway and Regan live in Texas. In the early aughties, they were roommates who moved into a house on Evelyn, in part, because it came with its own piano. “Tim helped me meet a lot of artists and musicians, and it all pops up so often in my book,” Haraway says. “We could do a reading that’s not just a literary reading, of course. But I think a performance where the audience can hear the musical references after the passage read out will broaden the audience’s experience. It can broaden their experience of the literature, and the music, too, maybe.”

Haraway’s references range from Johnny Cash and Elvis to Morrissey and Broadway musicals like The King and I and The Sound of Music.

“People who might not ordinarily read a short story collection can go to the bar this weekend and get five minutes of short story and a song. The performance is audience-friendly in that way,” Haraway says.

Later that evening, members of Snowglobe will reunite for an “in the round” performance at Memphis Made Brewing

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Politics Politics Feature

Trumped Expectations

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. Consider: As the year began, the idea of Donald Trump‘s becoming the Republican nominee for president was still considered somewhat fanciful — not to mention what seemed the remote prospect of his actually winning the presidency. But that general impression would change — and fairly rapidly.

It may be largely forgotten now, but Trump actually lost the Iowa Republican caucuses, first trial vote of the year, to arch-conservative Texas Senator Ted Cruz. And when I made my quadrennial visit to New Hampshire to check out the candidates, both Democratic and Republican, I had my doubts about The Donald. In my first online report from New Hampshire, on February 8th, here’s part of what I said:

“But for all the polls that still have Trump way ahead of his GOP rivals — by something like 20 points, at last reckoning — I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up suffering another major embarrassment like that which befell him in his second-place finish to Ted Cruz in Iowa last week. 

“So far I’ve only seen him in action in Saturday night’s debate of the remaining Republican contenders in Bedford, and, in all honesty, it was difficult to see Trump as a major figure in that event, or, for that matter, retrospectively over the course of the debates and cattle-call forums to date.”

I began to be disabused of that foolish conclusion (“foolish” because I mistook Trump’s lack of attention to issues in a debate to be a disqualifier) when I traveled through a blizzard to see his magic with crowds — and his fundamental uniqueness — at an indoor mega-rally in the state capital of Manchester the very next night.

That was the night that Trump shattered all verbal precedent by referring to Cruz, at the time his major GOP opponent, as a “pussy.” Granted, he was just channeling what he’d heard a woman supporter call out from the crowd, but still …

My online take: “The battle lines are now clear on an issue, perhaps the defining one, of Trump’s campaign — that of political correctness. Oh, go ahead and heap some other adjectives on: Social correctness. Verbal correctness. Philosophical correctness. What you will. The man is come not to uphold the law but to abolish it. 

“In a campaign based on the most broad-brush attitude imaginable toward political issues, it is Trump’s fundamental iconoclasm that stands out. Be it ethnic groups, war heroes, disabled persons, gender equities, or linguistic norms, Trump is dismissive of all protocols.” 

Trump won New Hampshire, easily, and, from that point on, was basically on a roll. He had the obvious aura of a winner by the time he took his road show to Shelby County on February 28th, appearing before a crowd of thousands gathered at a Millington hangar.

From my report: “The crowd, which was plainly not the usual muster of political junkie-dom (though any number of local GOP regulars could be spotted here and there) was uproariously with him … chanting “Win! Win! Win!” [W]hen, as often happens at one of his rallies, a protester began to chant against him from inside the hangar, he calmly directed the crowd to ‘get him out’ but ‘don’t hurt him.’ And so the crowd did, with its counter-chant morphing from ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’ to ‘Win! Win! Win!’ And finally to ‘U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!’

“Call it what else you will, but this is a movement.”

And a movement it would remain, all the way through Trump’s primary victories, a turbulent GOP convention in Cleveland, and a rancorous fall campaign against overconfident Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Finally, there was the astonishing moment of truth, agonizing for so many, galvanizing for so many others, that was summed up by the now famous Flyer cover of the November 10th issue, showing a victorious Trump in profile over a capitalized caption: “WTF?”

And those bare letters (understandably controversial at the time, though they merely used a common cyber-motif to express a shocked befuddlement that we suspect was experienced by Trump himself) continue to express our — and the world’s — uncertainty as we await the forthcoming reign of The Donald.

OTHER  ELECTIONS: Most local interest was focused on the hotly contested Republican primary for the 8th Congressional District seat vacated by U.S. Representative Stephen Fincher of Frog Jump. A large field competed, including several local politicians. In the end, former U.S. Attorney David Kustoff would come from behind and edge out runner-up George Flinn, the wealthy businessman/physician who had previously served on the Shelby County Commission. Kustoff easily defeated Democrat Rickey Hobson in November.

STATE POLITICS: The prevailing fact of life in state government in 2016 was the same-old, same-old domination of all affairs by a Republican super-majority in the legislature. The upset victory in November of Democrat Dwayne Thompson over GOP state Representative Steve McManus was one of the few circumstances to counter the trend.

An early excitement in Nashville was the deposing of sexual predator Jeremy Durham (R-Franklin), first, from his perch in the GOP leadership, then from his party’s caucus, and, finally, from the General Assembly itself through expulsion.

From Memphis’ point of view, the crowning moment of the legislature had to be the dramatic turnaround of  a stealth de-annexation bill that was on the very brink of detaching from Memphis every territory annexed by the city since 1998. A concerted last-ditch effort by a coalition of city interests turned the tide and diverted the measure to the limbo of summer study.

From my article on that outcome: “‘We really had no idea this was going to happen. But it was the best possible result, obviously. This is really a victory for the entire state,’ said Phil Trenary, the Greater Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce head who had been in Nashville last week and this week opposing the bill.”

The issue of de-annexation is not dead, however. It was the subject of serious examination by local governmental task forces, and it will almost certainly return to the legislative calendar in 2017.

CITY AND COUNTY POLITICS: The first day of the year saw the inauguration of a new mayor, former Councilman Strickland, and of six new council members. One sentence of Strickland’s well-received  inaugural address expressed a painful reality: “We are a city rife with inequality; it is our moral obligation, as children of God, to lift up the poorest among us.” Another acknowledged a problem that still remains: “We will focus on the goal of retaining and recruiting quality police officers and firefighters, knowing public safety is at the forefront of rebuilding our city.”

A new police director, Michael Rallings, was appointed from the department’s ranks, as the city confronted an alarming rise in homicides.
Late in the year, Strickland launched a “Memphis 3.0” initiative to devise a new long-range plan for the city via a series of neighborhood meetings.

The dominant motif of the Shelby County Commission’s year was a back-and-forth power struggle with Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, focused on such matters as control of fiscal policy and the commission’s desire to have its own attorney, distinct from the county attorney’s office. The matter was one of several still hanging fire at the end of the year, though Terry Roland, of Millington, commission chair for much of the year, led the way with Heidi Shafer in getting a referendum passed extending the commission’s advise-and-consent power to the firing as well as the hiring of a county attorney.

Roland made it clear that he intended to run for county mayor himself in 2018, with another likely entry being that of County Trustee David Lenoir. Meanwhile, Linda Phillips became the new county election administrator.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS: The city council approved a measure to liberalize the penalties for marijuana possession. The Shelby County Commission failed to follow suit, and state Attorney General Herb Slatery’s opinion that state policy prohibited such local ordinances doused expectations, but reports were that medical marijuana might have new life in next year’s General Assembly. 

At year’s end, a major argument had erupted between local environmentalists and TVA over the authority’s intent to drill wells into the Memphis Sand aquifer in order to cool a forthcoming new power plant. Watch this space. 

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Editorial Opinion

Van Turner: The Compromiser

In the course of years, individuals in organized groups start to differentiate into what anthropologists call “archetypes” — specific behavior types that can be discerned to recur periodically over the long span of human history. One of the best-known archetypes is that of the messiah — the would-be savior who emerges to attempt drastic alterations in the pattern or fate of a body politic. The scale for that archetype runs from benevolent saintly figures to charismatic demagogues. There has been no dearth of either sort in political history.

Van Turner

And then there is something we might call the Henry Clay archetype. Known as the “Great Compromiser,” Clay was a towering figure in American politics during the early 19th century, famous for resolving seemingly intractable disputes by finding and advocating middle-ground positions.

The Henry Clay of the Shelby County Commission is Van Turner, a Memphis Democrat who consistently interposes between squabbling factions and finds compromise solutions that resolve the quarrel. Such was the case again Monday when an intervention by Turner made it possible for the commission to approve an MWBE program requiring the county to give African Americans and Caucasian women special consideration to remedy what Equal Opportunity Compliance director Carolyn Watkins had determined to be discrimination in contracts and purchasing.

The measure almost hit a snag when Commissioner Heidi Shafer objected that, by not specifying all women as such, including Asians and Hispanics, the measure was “actually regressive.” Various other members of the commission insisted on an immediate vote on the measure as written, seeing Shafer’s objections as essentially semantic, but enough fellow Republicans sided with her to ensure further discussion. A largely unspoken issue was that, if the ordinance were amended, it would require an additional reading — meaning that the issue would have to be held off until the new year.

It was then that Turner materialized with a resolution that bridged the gap between the two contending factions, leaving the existing classifications of the ordinance intact but adding a provision that gave the EOC director Watkins free rein to apply the terms of the ordinance to such other groups as she deemed appropriate.

More debate ensued, but the key moment came when Shafer said she found the provisions of the resolution satisfactory. That allowed for a final vote approving the ordinance by a decisive 11-2 vote. The commission went on, by a 12-1 vote to approve a companion measure applying similar remedial provisions to locally owned businesses, strengthening their potential future share of county purchases and contracts.

The two ordinances together allowed the commission to end the year on a positive note and, temporarily at least, resolved a long-standing wrangle over the disparity issue. As audience member James Johnson said, appropriating a famous World War II quote from Winston Churchill, “This is not the end. It’s not even the beginning of the end. But it’s the end of the beginning.”

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Holiday Craft Bottle Swap at the Young Avenue Deli

CREDIT: Maxym022 | Dreamstime.com

Beer nerd/Young Avenue Deli assistant manager Tessa Pascover describes the Deli’s Holiday Craft Bottle Swap: “I’m gonna bring my collectibles. You’re going to bring your collectibles. And if you’ve got something I want, and I’ve got something you want, then we swap them out.” It’s a social thing.

“We’re trying to get the collectors and the connoisseurs to come out for this,” Pascover says. “People who have been traveling and trying different things.”

In addition to beer trading, the Deli will offer five-ounce pours of several limited-supply craft beers. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that all of these beers will be on the draft wall next to each other,” Pascover says. “Some of the specialty beers come around once a year. Others will never come in this market again.”

Maxym022 | Dreamstime.com

The holiday bottle swap idea grew out of an event planned around the arrival of Bell’s Black Note Stout, a highly prized brew aged in whiskey barrels. Memphis was originally only getting one case of the oaky stuff, and from that case the Deli was getting only 12 bottles. “So we thought we’d invite beer connoisseurs to enjoy the stout,” Pascover says. As the Bell’s-sponsored event has grown, so has the available quantity of Black Note. In addition to the original 12 bottles, there will also be a small keg.

“These are all high-alcohol beers,” Pascover says, explaining the five-ounce pours. “Black Note is 11.4 percent. We’ll also have Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA, which is somewhere around 17, but they won’t even give you an exact percentage on that because it’s different every time they brew it.”

Other beers available at the Holiday Craft Bottle Swap include Bell’s Traverse City 355 E Stout with Vanilla Beans, Bell’s 30th Anniversary Double Ale, Stone Wootstout, Dogfish Head Burton Baton, and Founders Backwoods Bastard.

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Cover Feature News

Memphis 2017: The Year to Come

Business and Development …

Memphis ought to be used to crazy, impossible blockbusters by now.

For example, it may be tough to remember that the Pyramid was once a dim, vacant, hopeless reminder of good times gone by instead of a game-changing outdoor retailer, hotel, restaurant, bowling alley, shooting range, and gator pit with the best view in town. Weird, right? Who saw that coming?

The coming year promises a ton of similar projects, the kind of projects that make you marvel that someone could imagine the thing in the first place — and that teams of people had the guts and determination (and money) to pull it off.

But taking something old and making it new again is just how we do. You can call it “adaptive re-use” if you want. We’re just going to call it the Memphis Way, something that sets us apart from, ahem, other cities of music.

Crosstown Concourse

This is without a doubt the blockbuster-est of 2017 blockbusters. Crosstown is a $200 million renovation project for 1.1 million square feet, about 17 football fields spread across 10 floors. The mammoth structure closed in 1993 and sat dormant, vacant, and hopeless for years, until energy formed around the project, beginning with the formation of the nonprofit Crosstown Arts in 2010. More money was raised, tenants were signed, and work crews have mobbed the place since 2014.

Crosstown will officially open on May 13th, with a day-long celebration of music, food, speeches, and all the rest. But residents of Parcels at Crosstown, the apartments inside the building, will begin moving in on January 2nd, according to Todd Richardson, project leader for the Crosstown Development project.

Crosstown Concourse

Business tenants, including Tech901, Memphis Teacher Residency, the Poplar Foundation, Pyramid Peak Foundation, and Church Health Center will start moving in next month, as well. Richardson expects all of the 31 business tenants, except Crosstown High and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC), to be moved in by May.

“We have a healthy panic about us, in terms of shifting from construction to operations,” Richardson said. “I always say once we finish construction we’re about 50 percent done.” The other 50 percent, Richardson said, is the “magic” of Crosstown, the people, the programming, and the activity of the place.

Expect construction inside the building to last at Crosstown for a full year and a half after the celebration — on tenant projects and the high school. Construction of the new, 425-seat performing arts theater will begin next month and continue through June of 2018.

Here’s a list of all the other tenants expected to move into Crosstown: A Step Ahead Foundation; Daniel Bird, DDS; the YMCA; Christian Brothers University; City Leadership; The Curb Market; Crosstown Arts; Crosstown Back and Pain Institute; FedEx Office; French Truck Coffee; G4S; Hope Credit Union; Juice Bar; Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare; Mama Gaia; Madison Pharmacy; nexAir; the Kitchen Next Door; So Nuts and Confections; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Tanenbaum Dermatology Center; Teach for America; and Teacher Town.

Trader Joe’s

“Coming 2017” is all the Trader Joe’s website offers Memphians about its plans for a store here. However, a building permit was pulled this month for a $2.5 million renovation of the former Kroger store on Exeter in Germantown. The project has been on again and off again since officials announced the move here in 2015. So, Two-Buck-Chuck fans, keep your fingers crossed for news in 2017.

Poplar Commons

That old Sears building close to Laurelwood has been razed to make way for a new $15.5 million, 135,000 square-foot shopping center called Poplar Commons, to be anchored by Nordstrom Rack. Store officials said to expect Nordstorm Rack to be open by “fall of 2017.”
Ulta, the beauty products retailer, has also signed on as a tenant at Poplar Commons. Nordstrom officials said the center will include “national retailers, specialty retail, and several well-known restaurants.”

Wiseacre Brewing

Will they or won’t they? Wiseacre Brewing officials have until early 2017 to tell Memphis City Council members if they will convert the long-vacant Mid-South Coliseum into a brewery, tasting room, event space, and retail location.

The idea was floated to the council this summer by brewery co-founder Frank Smith. The council approved the lease terms for the Coliseum, and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland lauded the deal.

But Wiseacre would have to bring the 104,000 square-foot building up to code. They’d also have to retrofit it for their uses. It all comes with a price tag of about $12 million, brewery officials said earlier this year.

ServiceMaster

Crews have been hard at work converting the former Peabody Place mall into a new headquarters for Memphis-based ServiceMaster, parent company of Terminix, American Home Shield, Merry Maids, and more. The company says about 1,200 employees will be moved to the new location by the end of 2017.

The transformation will bring light and life to a long-darkened corner of Peabody Place in downtown Memphis. The company, which reported $160 million in profits for 2015, received about $24 million in taxpayer-supported incentives.

South City

Demolition will begin on the Foote Homes housing complex sometime early next year, said Marcia Lewis, executive director of the Memphis Housing Authority. When it’s gone, the massive, $210-million South City project will revitalize the area, which is a stone’s throw from Beale Street and South Main.

Only 40 Foote Homes residents were still living in the complex in mid-December, Lewis said. Those residents all have housing vouchers, are looking for new housing, and will all have moved out by early 2017. Once it’s gone, there will be no more “projects” in Memphis.

Foote Homes will be replaced with an apartment complex, to be filled with tenants of mixed incomes. The apartment campus will have green space, retail, and on-site education centers. Developers and government officials hope the new apartment will spur further economic growth in the area.

Lewis said no solid timeline for construction exists, since some federal government approvals are still being sought.

Tennessee Brewery

Work continues at the former Tennessee Brewery site, and the project’s developers say the brewery — slated to become an “urban apartment home community” — will be “re-established in 2017.”

Tennessee Brewery

Construction crews have spruced up the old brewery, completed the parking garage across the street, and have raised the bones for the two other new apartment buildings that will complete the project.

The brewery building was saved from the wrecking ball in 2014, when developers bought it for $825,000. The planned mixed-use development will cost about $28 million.

Central Station

The 100-year-old train station at Main and G.E. Patterson is getting a major, $55-million makeover, and parts of that project will become visible in the new year. Construction of the new Malco movie theater on G.E. Patterson will begin in January as will the major improvements at the Memphis Farmers Market, including the construction of a more-permanent market plaza area that will front Front.

Work is in full swing on the new South Line apartment buildings on Front, which are expected to be completed in February. Design work has begun on the concourse area around Central Station, which will connect trolleys, buses, bike riders, and pedestrians with Central Station from Main Street, the South End, and Big River Crossing. Dirt should move on these projects in the next few months.

ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital & the Pinch District

No formal plans have been revealed for the St. Jude/ALSAC hospital campus or the long-dormant Pinch District. But one thing is clear, the plans are really big.

ALSAC/St. Jude officials say they are investing between $7 billion and $9 billion to expand the organizations’ facilities and operations. Leaders there say the newly expanded ALSAC/St. Jude will bring an annual $3.5 billion economic impact to the city.

The expansion is expected to bring about 1,000 new jobs, more beds for more patients, and officials hope to double the amount of patients in the hospital’s clinical trials.

The Pinch got $12 million in state funds this year. City leaders have promised to invest $25 million in the area with funds from the already-approved Tourist Development Zone. Again, no final plans for these infrastructure investments have been made public. City leaders wrapped up a series of public meetings on Pinch development last month.

Also Upcoming for 2017

The Hampline should break ground on a project to connect Broad and Tillman.

New plans for the skyline-changing One Beale project are expected to be revealed to city leaders.

Plans for upgrades at the Cook Convention Center should come into focus.

Work on a new luxury boutique hotel called Teller (with a rooftop bar called Errors and Omissions) on Madison should be finished.

Construction should begin on a new Hilton Garden Inn Downtown at the former Greyhound bus station site on Union.

The fully-restored Memphis Grand Carousel is expected to open at the Children’s Museum of Memphis.

The Memphis Bike Share program will launch with a networked system of 60 stations throughout Memphis — and about 600 bikes. — Toby Sells

Theater and Dance …

Prediction #1: You will see a lot more dance in 2017, even if you never go to the theater. All you have to do is go to the Overton Square area.

For years, Ballet Memphis has been hidden away on Trinity Road in Cordova where “street life” is limited to cars zipping by. “Transparency” was the word most frequently used by architect Todd Walker on a late November media tour of the construction site for Ballet Memphis’ new Midtown home on Overton Square, one of the city’s most heavily pedestrian areas. The 38,000 square-foot building will literally bring dance to the corner of Madison and Cooper.

Ballet Memphis

The Ballet’s new, glass-walled home has five studios, all linked together by a series of courtyards. It will house business offices, conference rooms, a physical therapy room, and an egg-shaped cafe. Dancers rehearsing in Studio A will be visible from the street.

There’s also limited retractable seating in Studio A, and an observation area. This brings the number of available stages in Memphis’ growing theater district to six. Eight if you include the Overton Square amphitheater and Circuit Playhouse’s cabaret space. Ballet Memphis has a long history of scheduling public rehearsals in places where they are accessible to pedestrians. This takes that idea a little further.

Prediction #2: You’ll see a lot more of everything else. Memphis’ performing arts community has been experiencing a growth spurt, and that trend promises to continue. The Hattiloo Theatre, which moved to its Overton Square facility in 2014, will complete its first expansion in 2017, creating additional rehearsal and office space. A little further to the west, Crosstown Arts will begin construction on a new, versatile 450-seat theater in the Crosstown Concourse community.

Byhalia, Mississippi, which co-premiered in Memphis last year, went on to become one of the best reviewed and most talked about new American plays of 2016. Memphis continues to cultivate its reputation as a fertile environment for new work with Playhouse on the Square’s January 6th world premiere of Other People’s Happiness, a family drama by Adam Seidel. Haint, a spooky rural noir by Memphis playwright Justin Asher gets its second production at Germantown Community Theatre starting January 27th.

Although she will continue to direct, Memphis’ Irene Crist will retire from the stage in June, following her performance in David Lindsay-Abaire’s comedy, Ripcord. — Chris Davis

Politics …

The year 2017 will be an off year as far as elections go, and the politics that really counts may happen in our state capital. The venerable (if indelicate) political adage that “money talks and bullshit walks” may come in for an overhaul in Nashville in 2017. The second term in that expression may, in fact, be on as firm a footing as the first.

For the second year in a row, the State Funding Board in Nashville is projecting a sizable budget windfall — stemming from an increase of almost $900 million in revenue growth for 2017-18. And for the second year in a row, the forecast of extra money is actually complicating, rather than facilitating, some overdue state projects — the most vulnerable of these being overdue infrastructure work on increasingly inadequate and dilapidated state roadways. 

Governor Bill Haslam, who, with state transportation director John Schroer, went on a fruitless statewide tour in 2015 trying to drum up support for a state gasoline-tax increase, is almost certain to raise the idea of upping the gas tax when the General Assembly reconvenes in January. 

But the projected revenue windfall may actually undercut his hopes. Not only does all the windfall talk create a difficult atmosphere to talk about new taxes. There are also indications that the governor’s Republican party-mates in the GOP legislative super-majority see the dawning surplus as an excuse to dream up new tax cuts and eliminate existing ones — a double whammy that would sop up such financial gain as actually materializes.  

Democratic legislators (five in the 33-member state Senate and 25 in the 99-strong state House of Representatives) are too few in number to do much about the matter, and even some members of the Republican majority are troubled. State Representative Ron Lollar (R-Bartlett) touched on the problem at a recent forum of the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) in Memphis, when he lamented that the ongoing elimination of the state’s Hall tax on interest and dividends — slated for staged reductions and final abolition over a five-year period — will mean the ultimate loss to financially struggling local governments of the fairly significant portion of the Hall tax proceeds that they are accustomed to getting annually.

At that same NFIB meeting, state Senator Lee Harris of Memphis, leader of the Democratic minority in his chamber, pointed out another fiscally related conundrum that he thinks has escaped the consciousness of the GOP super-majority. 

In their categorical rejection of Haslam’s “Insure Tennessee” proposal to permit state acceptance of federal funding of as much as $1.5 billion annually for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), Republican leaders like retiring state Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey always said their attitudes would likely be different under a Republican president, who would surely reapportion such funds as block grants for the states to dispose as they saw fit. 

Harris maintains that the new block grants would be converted from the previous A.C.A. outlays and could be extended only to those states that had already opted for the federal funding. The truth could be even harsher; with congressional Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump both having sworn to “repeal and replace Obamacare” as a first order of business in 2017, it is uncertain just how much federal bounty — if any at all — would actually be available for the states, in whatever form.

Money is at the root of another pressing issue sure to be vented in the General Assembly. At the very moment that the state’s short-changed urban school districts, including the Shelby County Schools system, are entertaining a variety of legal actions to force the state to honor full-funding commitments to them under the Basic Education Program (BEP), word is that enough steam may have finally gathered among legislators to allow passage of long-deferred school voucher legislation that would re-route a significant proportion of the state education budget toward private institutions and out of public schools altogether. 

Under the circumstances, even a rumored bipartisan willingness among legislators to at least begin the consideration of medical-marijuana legislation may not be enough to ease such doldrums as continue to afflict the state’s population. — Jackson Baker

Food and Dining …

Old Dominick

For those keeping your eye on the Old Dominick Distillery, Alex Canale tells us, “We’re 100 percent, well, 99 percent, sure we’ll be open by late spring. We’ll definitely be open in 2017.”

Old Dominick

Old Dominick will sell bourbon, a nod to forebear Dominico Canale. There will be a tasting room, and the distillery will be open for tours. Construction is currently wrapping up, and all licenses have been secured. Shipments of grain and malt are currently on the way. Bourbon takes a few years to age, so Old Dominick will be selling vodka at first. They hope to have stock ready to sell by the spring.

Sunrise

The breakfast concept by Sweet Grass’ Ryan Trimm and Central BBQ’s Craig Blondis and Roger Sapp now has a name: Sunrise. They hope to have both places — one on Central, one on Jefferson — up and running by January or February. The Central location will serve breakfast from 5 to 11 a.m. and then switch to a Central BBQ to-go. The Jefferson location will open at 5 a.m. as well and will serve lunch.

Trimm says the coffee program they’ve come up with is particularly impressive. Cold-pressed and nitro will be on the menu, as well as “normal hot coffee.”

“The biscuit sandwiches will be more interesting than your typical sausage and egg biscuit,” says Trimm. Think bologna and house-cured meats and house-made sausage.

The lunch at Jefferson will offer hometown cooking and large sandwiches piled high with house-cured meats. The meats will also be available for purchase.

Crosstown Concourse

The Crosstown Concourse will be one of the biggest food stories of the upcoming year. The revitalized Sears building already has a stellar list of food and drink venues: I Love Juice Bar, Next Door, Mama Gaia, French Truck Coffee, Curb Market, Crosstown Cafe, and Crosstown Brewing Company.

“Our vision was to curate a really great mix of offerings to add to the food scene,” says Crosstown’s Todd Richardson. Richardson says that about 65 percent of the retail space has been rented. He’s in talks with what he calls a “really great ice cream concept” and a pizzeria.

With all that plus a bank and barber and apartments, it seems like there would never be a reason to leave the Concourse. Richardson says that’s not the goal at all. “We’re not trying to create a city within a city. We want something that draws interest and has the greatest impact on the neighborhood.”

South Main Market

Shooting for a summer opening is the South Main Market. Rebecca Dyer has been busy converting the building at 409 S. Main into an event venue. Once she has the third floor ready, she’ll then re-renovate the first floor into the market. (“If I survive,” she says.)

The market will feature 12 to 15 kitchens. Think Boston’s Faneuil Hall. Dyer says she’s already got 11 chefs signed on, all local. “It’s going to be very varied,” says Dyer. That means each kitchen will serve a distinct cuisine — no three cupcake spots or duplicate falafel shops.

“We don’t want our chefs to compete with each other,” Dyer says. “We want to give our customers the best opportunity for dining.”
The Liquor Store
Lisa Toro, who owns City & State with her husband Luis, estimates that 50 percent of the businesses on Broad Avenue are owned by women. In that ladies-doing-for-themselves can-do spirit, Toro helped form an all-woman angel investment group. Their first investment is the Toros’ latest project The Liquor Store.

Toro describes it as a modern take on a diner. There will be blue-plate specials but with cured meats and fresh vegetables. There will be a bar as well, offering boozy milkshakes and soda fountain cocktails. The diner is being carved out of an old liquor store space. Floors are being ripped up, electrical and plumbing added.

The Toros hope to be open by early spring. — Susan Ellis

Film …

It’s safe to say that 2016 was a less than stellar year in the world of film. Will 2017 be better? Early signs point to probably not. The slate of announced films for the year so far is more of the same: Franchises, sequels, reboots nobody but a branding specialist could possibly want, and superheroes, superheroes, superheroes.

In January, a few 2016 films currently in limited release will make it to Memphis, such as Hidden Figures, starring Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monáe as unsung black women engineers and mathematicians who helped America land on the moon, and A Monster Calls, a modern Irish fairy tale about loss and grieving. Then there’s Monster Trucks, a big-budget film so bad Paramount took a preemptive $100 million write-down on their earnings report. I have to see it, but there’s no reason you should.

In February, the pop S&M sequel Fifty Shades Darker is sure to both light up the box office and contribute to this reviewer’s depression. Hopefully The Lego Batman Movie will cheer me up. If that doesn’t work, there’s the Oxford Film Festival, which just announced a stellar lineup, and Indie Memphis’ new Indie Wednesday series, which will bring in quality arthouse and indie films from all over the world to Studio on the Square, Malco Ridgeway, and Crosstown Arts.

March brings Logan, Hugh Jackman’s final turn as X-Man Wolverine; Kong: Skull Island, a King Kong spinoff with an all-star cast; and the controversially Scarlett Johansen-led anime adaptation Ghost in the Shell. In May, the Marvel drought ends with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which will be answered in June by DC’s Wonder Woman movie. Pixar’s weakest series, Cars, gets a third installment before Marvel fires back with Spider-Man: Homecoming, which looks promising in previews. Later that month, I’m looking forward to War for the Planet of the Apes, which concludes the underrated Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy, and the Stephen King epic The Dark Tower.

All I know about August’s Baby Driver is that Edgar Wright of Scott Pilgrim fame is directing, but that’s enough to get me excited. September looks bleak except for the unexpected remake of the ’90s cult film, Flatliners, and the only oasis in the wasteland of October is Denis Villeneuve directing Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049.

November will kick off with the Indie Memphis Film Festival, before Marvel and DC go at it again with Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League. The holidays will bring the as yet untitled Star Wars: Episode VIII, directed by Breaking Bad badass Rian Johnson, and Mark Wahlberg going bionic in The Six Billion Dollar Man.

Basically, the year in film will be like everything else in 2017: Hope for the best, cherish the bright spots, but expect the worst. — Chris McCoy

Music …

As productive as this year was for Memphis music, you can expect 2017 to be just as fruitful for the local scene. From where to be to who to watch, here are some early tips for following Memphis music in 2017.

What to Buy and Why:

Valerie June will be releasing her new album, The Order of Time, on January 27th, her third full-length and first for Concord Music Group. June recently toured with Sturgill Simpson and Norah Jones, but she’ll come back home for a show at the Hi-Tone on Friday, February 17th. As for her new album, the song “Astral Plane” is already being heralded by NPR, which is a good indication that the three years that have passed since Valerie June released an album weren’t in vain. Expect big things in 2017 from one of our city’s most intriguing songwriters.

Another band with a considerable amount of hype behind them that’s releasing a record in 2017 is Aquarian Blood. The band’s debut effort will be released through Goner and is expected to be out in February. Aquarian Blood has released singles on Goner and New Orleans label Pelican Pow Wow, but their first LP has been months in the making, and should showcase the Midtown supergroup and musical freak show.
Southern Avenue is also set to release a new record in 2017, after burning up the Midtown bar circuit with their take on modern Memphis soul. Their debut record is coming from the fine folks at Stax. Being promoted as the first Memphis band to be signed to Stax since the ’70s, you can expect Southern Avenue to kill it in 2017, but don’t count on the band being in town very often.

Where to Be

The FedExForum has an impressive lineup early next year, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers on January 12th and Garth Brooks doing an entire weekend February 2nd-4th . Minglewood also continues to impress, with Lil Boosie, Juicy J, and Ben Folds all scheduled to play in the first few months of the new year. You can also expect shows to start cropping up at both the Galloway House and the Clayborn Temple downtown, and don’t forget about the excellent River Series at the Maria Montessori School; the laid-back, all-ages shows are becoming a staple for live music enthusiasts. And you can always catch a good mix of local and traveling talent at Overton Square and on Beale Street.

Memphis music will be well represented at the largest music festival on planet Earth — South by Southwest — this year. Music Export Memphis will host the Memphis Picnic at SXSW on March 14th in Brush Square Park. The lineup is still being finalized — expect an announcement around mid-January — but the event promises a totally Memphis experience, complete with the Amurica photo trailer booth and Gus’s Fried Chicken on site. — Chris Shaw

Categories
News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1452 & 1453

Neverending Christmas

What’s Christmas without a screening of the beloved holiday classic, Home Alone? And what’s a screening of Home Alone without some fool arguing about whether or not Elvis Presley is still alive?

Last week, Vice.com took a close look at a popular conspiracy theory that Elvis, who died in 1977, makes a silent apperance as a bearded extra in the 1990 hit comedy.

In its strongest case in favor of Elvis, the article references a 1979 McCall’s Magazine feature about Priscilla who hints that her ex was self-conscious about his neck, “hence his penchant for oversized, popped collars.”

And what’s the bearded dead ringer for Elvis wearing as he shifts impatiently and tosses his hair in decidedly Elvis-like fashion?

“A turtleneck. That’s right, a shirt so hideous and impractical that it would only be worn by someone trying to cover their disproportioned, deformed, or otherwise unsightly neck.”

Sinful Memphis

Shocking news from Wallethub.com. According to the personal finance website, “Las Vegas isn’t the only sinful place in America.”

Maybe that’s not so shocking but every year WalletHub ranks America’s 150 most “sinful” cities based on “27 key indicators of evil deeds.”

Memphis ranked 68, making us just a little less sinful than Austin, Texas, and just a little more sinful than Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In spite of a soaring murder rate, Memphis’ chief vices, according to WalletHub, are lust, vanity, and avarice. Always underestimated, Memphis ranked considerably lower than Nashville (53), and Knoxville (13).

Categories
News News Feature

All About Eve

DOWNTOWN

Beale Street

The historic strip will be alive with fireworks, dancing, and music outside and from club to club. Locals Southern Avenue and bluesman Bobby Rush will ring in the New Year on an outdoor stage at Fourth and Beale. Music starts at 9 p.m.

Free. Beale (526-0117)

Hard Rock Cafe

Keeping with annual tradition, the Hard Rock will drop a 10-foot D’Angelico guitar over Beale Street at midnight. A concert honoring Willie Mitchell and Royal Studios will feature William Bell, STAX Records artist and Memphis Music Hall of Fame Inductee Tamika “Big Baby” Goodman, Al Kapone, and more.

7 p.m. Tickets: $25 general admission. $150 VIP pass, $250 VIP couple.

126 Beale (529-0007)

Jerry Lee Lewis Cafe & Honky Tonk

Jerry Lee Lewis will ring in the New Year at the Beale Street club that shares his name. Jason James will open the show, and the Killer will follow. Tickets are going fast.

8 p.m. 310 Beale

New Daisy Theatre

Daisyland, the New Daisy Theatre’s EDM dance club, will take the party into the early morning. At BLACKOUT II, there will be complimentary cocktails on the house and a champagne toast at midnight — when the lights go dark until 5 a.m.

9 p.m. $50- $100.

330 Beale (525-8981)

Rum Boogie Cafe

Music by Pam and Terry and headliners Latimore.

7 p.m.-1 a.m. 182 Beale (528-0150)

Rum Boogie Cafe Blues Hall

The Plantation Allstars and the McDaniel Band will perform.

4 p.m.-1 a.m. 182 Beale (528-0150)

King’s Palace Cafe

Music by David Bowen and the Ghost Town Blues Band.

5 p.m.-1 a.m. 162 Beale (521-1851)

King’s Palace Cafe Tap Room

The Plantation Allstars will perform.

10 p.m.-2 a.m. 168 Beale (576-2220)

Blind Bear

The downtown speakeasy will serve dinner for two and FreeWorld will take the stage at 9:30 p.m.

Reservations: 5-9 p.m. Dinner: $35 per person, $60 per couple. $17 entry after 8 p.m.

119 S Main (417-8435)

Peabody Hotel

This year’s annual party will be throughout the Peabody Hotel’s grand lobby and mezzanine with Hollywood, Seeing Red, and DJ Mark Anderson playing in the Continental Ballroom. The Rene Koopman Duo will perform in the Corner Bar. VIP passes include access to the Stella Artois VIP Lounge, hors d’oeuvres, champagne, Stella Artois, and valet parking.

8 p.m.-2 a.m. $40-$150. 149 Union (529-4000)

Madison Hotel

The Madison Hotel’s second annual White Party will rain confetti and a cascade of balloons over a light-up LED dance floor. DJ Moises will perform, and complimen-tary hors d’oeuvres will be served. Drink tickets will be sold at the door with three bars spread across the hotel.

10 p.m.-1 a.m. $50.

79 Madison (333-1200)

Paula & Raiford’s Disco

Get your boogie shoes on. Doors open at 10 p.m.

14 S. 2nd

Cadre Building

You can catch Lord T & Eloise, DJ Wick-It, the Instigator, and DJ Jordan Rogers at the Cadre Building’s Exhalation Party. Two ice luges will be on site, and balloons will drop at midnight. All proceeds will benefit the Memphis Songwriters Association.

9 p.m.-2 a.m. $50 – $100. 149 Monroe (544-9103)

Terrace at the River Inn

The Terrace is hosting a dinner drinks party this New Year’s Eve. Reservations: 260-3333.

50 Harbor Town Square (260-3333)

Tug’s

Tug’s will be serving its full menu as well as specials. Open ’til midnight. Reservations: 260-3344.

51 Harbor Town Square (260-3344)

MIDTOWN

Overton Square

Overton Square will host a free neighborhood concert to kick off the night. Hosted by Alexis Grace, the show will feature Star & Micey as well as John Paul Keith and the 145’s.

9:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Free. 2101 Madison

Lafayette’s Music Room

Lafayette’s New Year’s package includes a three-course dinner, a midnight champagne toast, and party favors. Travis Roman will open the night at 6 p.m. followed by Roddie Romero and the HubCity All-Stars at 10 p.m. DJ Rob will take the stage at 1 a.m.

9 p.m. $99 per person. 2119 Madison (207-5097)

Mulan Asian Bistro

The kitchen is open until 12:30 a.m., and the restaurant will be open all day New Year’s Day, with happy hour starting at 1 p.m.

2149 Young (347-3965)

Hi-Tone

Quintron and Miss Pussycat, NOTS, Benni, and DJ Cren$haw will perform.

9 p.m. $20. 412-414 N. Cleveland (278-8663)

Huey’s

All Huey’s locations will host an array of bands and offer complimentary champagne at midnight.

hueyburger.com

Young Avenue Deli

Three Star Revival and wARM will perform.

9 p.m.-2 a.m. $10.

2119 Young (278-0034)

Neil’s Music Room

Backstage Pass will perform.

9 p.m. 5727 Quince

(682-2300)

Bar DKDC

Marcella and Her Lovers will perform with surprise special guests.

9 p.m. 964 S. Cooper

(272-0830)

The Cove

Music by Petty Gene.

10 p.m. 2559 Broad

(730-0719)

EAST MEMPHIS

Newby’s

Seth Walker and Born 2 Hunt will perform.

9 p.m. 539 S. Highland (730-0520)

THE ‘BURBS

RockHouse Live

Music by Twin Soul.

8 p.m. 5709 Raleigh Lagrange (386-7222)

Purple Diamond

A New Year’s Eve party with an all-you-can-drink buffet (!).

6102 Macon (266-1492)

Hadleys

Music by the Nuttin’ Fancy Band and Swingin’ Leroy.

9 p.m. 2779 Whitten

(266-5006)

Gold Club

A New Year’s Party “in style.”

777 N. White Station

(682-4615)

TJ Mulligan’s

Every Mulligan’s location brings in the New Year with live music. Forefront takes the stage at the Poplar and Kirby location. At the Cordova spot, it’s the Wolf River Rednecks. Adam McCleland and the Hangovers play the Highway 64 location.

TJ Mulligan’s Poplar/Kirby, 817 Kirby (755-2481)

TJ Mulligan’s Cordova, 8071 Trinity (756-4480)

TJ Mulligan’s Hwy 64, 2821 N. Houston Levee (377-9997)

TUNICA/NORTH MISSISSIPPI

Horseshoe Tunica

At Horseshoe’s Legend’s Bar, the casino will have live music starting at noon and going until 3 a.m. Jamie Baker and the VIP’s will kick the day off, followed by Party Planet at 6 p.m.. The Garry Goin Group will go on at 11 p.m. The Las Vegas Showgirl Dancers will provide floorshow entertainment. Party favors and compli-mentary champagne will be given out.

Midnight-3 a.m. 1021 Casino Center, Robinsonville, MS

(800-303-7463)

Tunica Roadhouse

The Roadhouse’s Riverstage Bar will showcase Gerald Richardson and Friends and the 1-900-Band. Party favors and complimentary champagne will be given out.

5 p.m.-3 a.m. 1107 Casino Center, Robinsonville, MS (662-363-4900)

Gold Strike

The High Rollers will take Stage2 and perform well past midnight.

9 p.m.-2:30 a.m. 1010 Casino Center, Robinsonville, MS

(662-357-1111)

WEST MEMPHIS

Southland Park Gaming and Racing

The 9th annual Big Top Bash will feature a Ferris wheel, stilt walkers, magicians, and carnival treats at the buffet. DJ Styles will perform at the Starting Gate Bar, and the Memphis All Stars will play at Sammy’s Bar.

8 p.m.-2 a.m.

1550 Ingram Boulevard, West Memphis, AR

(800-467-6182)

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 95, Incarnate Word 71

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Lawson double-doubles — pick your brother — have become commonplace at FedExForum this season. Not so much scoring outbursts from freshman guard Keon Clergeot. Wednesday night, 7,919 devoted Tiger fans saw both (or all three, if we’re being literal).

Sophomore forward Dedric Lawson led the way (again) with 25 points and 12 rebounds, his 10th double-double of the season and 27th of his career (one more than Joey Dorsey had in four seasons). Redshirt-freshman K.J. Lawson added 20 points and 12 rebounds, the sixth time he’s doubled up his younger brother’s stat-line combo. That was the commonplace.

Larry Kuzniewski

Keon Clergeot

Into the playing-time void left by center Chad Rykhoek, though, stepped Clergeot. With the senior center watching from the bench, a boot hugging his dislocated left ankle, Clergeot scored 23 points in 21 minutes, hitting six of seven shots from the field, including all four of his attempts from beyond the three-point arc. Shortly after UIW climbed within two points (21-19) midway through the first half, Clergeot scored seven points in 24 seconds, hitting three-pointers on consecutive possessions and draining a free throw after being fouled on the second. (Clergeot hit all seven of his foul shots for the game.) Over a four-minute stretch, Memphis extended its lead from two points to 14 (34-20), and managed to cruise the remainder of the contest.

“It’s a relief,” said point guard Jeremiah Martin, when asked about Clergeot’s impact from the bench. “It takes pressure off me. I can pick up my defensive intensity, play a little harder.” Martin had his lightest workload (29 minutes) in five games, but still led Memphis with seven assists.

“He’s my roommate,” added Dedric Lawson, “and I told him to be ready today, that I thought his number would get called. He did what he’s supposed to do.”

“He’s just got to keep his head clear,” said K.J. Lawson. “When a guy comes out of high school averaging 25 points, you just gotta take it game by game. Soak in the knowledge and be ready to play when your number’s called.”

Markel Crawford added 11 points to help the Tigers improve to 9-3 in their final tune-up before American Athletic Conference play opens next week. UIW falls to 5-6 for the season.

“We came ready to play, focused,” said Tiger coach Tubby Smith. “It’s easy to look past a game like this, especially with the holiday break. Incarnate Word was aggressive; I knew they’d scrap. I like the way our team played, especially Keon. He’s been struggling, but he stepped up tonight and played extremely well.”

Smith is now coordinating a limited roster, forced to start junior Jimario Rivers and boost the playing time of reserves like Clergeot and Craig Randall. From mixing defenses to a continued emphasis on moving the ball, the veteran coach seems prepared for the heightened challenges ahead. “For me, a win is giving it your all,” he said. “We need to improve our outside shooting, continue to share the basketball. We’re going to have to improve between now and December 27th [when SMU visits].”

Frustrated with a first-half possession in which his team did not share the basketball as expected, Smith slammed the scorer’s table with his right hand. Like Clergeot’s shooting, it was an atypical outburst for the 2016-17 Memphis Tigers. When asked about his display after the game, Smith smiled before answering: “I was trying to wake up the crowd.”

Categories
News News Blog

Planned Parenthood is Planning for the Worst

CREDIT: Micaela Watts

Micaela Watts

PPGMR reported a rise in donations since Donald Trump’s election. More than 300 supporters flocked to the Memphis clinic to show support for the organization.


Planned Parenthood of Greater Memphis Region is taking steps to brace itself against the incoming administration where federal defunding of the national women’s healthcare organization is all but guaranteed, according to PPGMR CEO Ashley Coffield.

If federally defunded, the organization will lose roughly $540 million* (edited) nationally in Medicaid reimbursements. The Memphis clinic could lose millions in reimbursements for cancer screenings, birth control, and other basic gynecological services. Low income women will be most affected, as PP is often their only affordable option.

“We’re preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. We’re not going to give up this fight,” Coffield told a crowd of media and supporters who gathered yesterday to hear how PPGMR plans to stay afloat once president-elect Donal Trump is sworn into office in January.

In 2015, Congress passed a bill to federally defund Planned Parenthood, but it was vetoed by President Obama. With Republicans in control of Congress and in the Oval Office, the fear is that PP’s safety net will take  a massive blow.

“We have no way of knowing what this administration will bring, but we can start preparing for it,” said Coffield.

Coffield announced that the organization’s Now Campaign has raised $10.5 million of its $12 million goal, as donations spiked in direct response to Trump’s election.

The Now Campaign is not meant to substitute federal funding, but it will help the organization survive as $6 million will go towards an endowment and the other $6 million towards strategic growth, which includes comprehensive sex ed, a new location, and a separate fund in case unanticipated legal challenges pop up.

“Remember the fetal tissue hoax?” asked Coffield. “That cost us tens of millions, and we had no idea it was coming.”

Coffield’s address occurred right around the time state health officials in Texas were delivering final legal notices to PP clinics in Texas that they would be stripped of $3.1 million in Medicaid reimbursements.


That’s roughly the same number that Tennessee PP clinics would lose. Though Texas’ population is considerably larger than Tennessee, PPGMR handles patients from many of Tennessee’s border states, where abortion access is often harder to come by.

Next year it may be Texas women that have to make the pilgrimage to Tennessee.

Coffield considers the move to be an attack on lower-income women, especially women of color.

“These political attacks on reproductive healthcare access in Texas stand to undo decades of work by public health advocates who have worked to address the longstanding health-care inequity for people of color in this country.”

Categories
News News Blog

Weirich Announces New Plans For Community-Based Prosecutors

Amy Weirich

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich announced a new geographically based approach to prosecuting criminals during a community meeting at the Ed Rice Community Center in Frayser.

Weirich wants to keep prosecutors and judges consistent within certain areas of Memphis, so they are able to gain a better understanding of the community they serve.

“The goals I envision include shifting a focus of crime prevention and intervention to the communities where the crimes are occurring,” said Weirich. “Prosecutors with background knowledge of a community, established partnerships in the community and the trust of the community will bring better results for the community.”

The program will begin on January 3, with Assistant District Attorney Carrie Shelton’s assignment to the Memphis Police Department’s Old Allen Precinct in Frayser, where the surrounding area is under the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department’s jurisdiction. Shelton’s assignment will be supported by a team of prosecutors, victim-witness coordinators, and support staff at 201 Poplar that will oversee every arrest made in the area surrounding the Old Allen Precinct.

“We chose this Frayser-Raleigh area because of its high crime rates and because the area is home to diverse, grassroots community organizations that are working daily to bring a better way of life to this area,” said Weirich. “The community prosecutor will be building relationships with law enforcement, neighborhood watch groups, schools, businesses and other community-based organizations.”


Weirich also said a similar plan is in the works for the MPD Tillman Station Precinct and its surrounding area.

The plan to keep prosecutors and judges consistent in high-crime areas is one of 16 objectives under a Operation: Safe Community, a comprehensive five year plan announced by the Shelby County Crime Commission last month.

The SCCC’s plan also calls for increased trust through community policing and more interaction between law enforcement and the public.

The announced objectives for increasing trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve occurred right as the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing is beginning what could be a two year review of MPD’s community policing and use of deadly force policies.