Tag: Beale Street Landing

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter from the Editor: The Bottom of Beale

At one time or another, you’ve probably heard that old garage-rock classic “Dirty Water,” by the Standells. It was about the band’s love of their hometown of Boston and the “River Charles.” It ended like this:

“Well, I love that dirty water.

Oh, Boston you’re my home.”

Boston ain’t got nothing on Memphis. We’ve got our own dirty water, and Memphis is our home. When you read John Branston’s City Beat column this week, you’ll learn about the mass of flotsam and jetsam that has gathered at the base of the new $42.5 million Beale Street Landing. A massive load of trash, driftwood, and other detritus is trapped between the shore and the gangplank that leads down to the river.

To make matters worse, as John reports, the majestic American Queen pulls in on Saturday with more than 400 passengers, and the first thing they will see, barring a quick cleanup, is the floating trash lagoon. Not a good first impression, to say the least.

This mess isn’t the fault of Beale Street Landing (though the design, which makes getting a cleanup boat into the area difficult, leaves something to be desired). No, it’s our fault. Memphians are the ones who toss litter onto the street, where it gets into storm drains and eventually the river and harbor. Litter perpetually lines the banks and the water of the harbor at our front door. It’s especially bad when the Mississippi River level falls and the trash is left on the shoreline.

It’s unsightly, and with Bass Pro building a dock on the harbor and the new BSL about to happen, we should do something about it. Like Boston did.

In 2004, a group of citizens in Beantown became so appalled at the amount of junk floating in the Charles River, they formed a nonprofit organization and bought a small cleanup boat. It patrols the river four times a week (an area much larger than the Wolf River harbor, by the way) and picks up trash from the water and shoreline. Almost 10 years later, according to the group’s website (cleanupboat.org), they usually gather less than two full trash bags per trip. It’s an idea that might work for Memphis, and it wouldn’t require nearly as much time or manpower as it does in Boston.

Another, probably better, option would be for the city to buy and man a cleanup boat. If we’re going to encourage people — tourists and locals — to go down to the riverfront, we ought to figure out a way to keep it clean.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com

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Opinion

The Rubik’s Cube on Top of Beale Street Landing

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I have written enough about Beale Street Landing. Like Chief Joseph, I will fight no more forever. In May, when the “colorful topper” was in its infancy, I collected renderings from the Riverfront Development Corporation and Friends For Our Riverfront. An RDC spokesperson said colors in the final product might be “more muted.”

Is this muted?
Is this good urban design for a prominent public space?
Does this make the widely-mocked-as-inappropriate Bass Pro “bait shop” logo look like the Mona Lisa?
Was this created by a child with a box of LEGOs?

You make the call.

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Opinion

Pigging Out on Riverfront Projects

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The city’s pursuit of riverfront projects, spearheaded by Mayor A C Wharton and go-to guy Robert Lipscomb, looks manic, unsynchronized, and a bit desperate.

The latest play pretty in hot pursuit is the Empress of the North, a white-elephant steamboat replica envisioned as a floating hotel. As reported by Amos Maki of The Commercial Appeal, Wharton said “we have submitted a proposal.”

Whoopee. I was reminded of the parental admonition to “clear your plate” before going back to the buffet for more when I was a lad.

Here’s the tally of what’s on our plate already.

Bass Pro Shops. The latest rendering shows a major makeover of the exterior of the Pyramid, with a band of glass to admit natural light. The fate of the observation deck is unknown. The connection to The Pinch, and what will be developed in the Pinch, is unclear. The interstate connection to Front Street is on the drawing board. The interior construction, including the indoor swamp and hotel, is in the very early stages. The project was first proposed seven years ago. Bass Pro has other megastores in the works in Little Rock and New Orleans. I would bet a bass lure the Pyramid opening is delayed.

Beale Street Landing. Low water forced the American Queen to dock at Greenbelt Park this summer. The dock itself was moved to the cobblestones to allow dredging at the landing. The blockish structure at the top of the hill, trust me, is going to open some eyes. The “floating islands” have yet to be constructed. The usefulness of a boat dock for an occasional steamboat visit is questionable. The relative scarcity of parking concerns the current Memphis boat company. The marriage with Memphis in May will be interesting. The price is $42 million, and the concept is nearly 10 years old, and the opening is supposed to be later this year. The cobblestones work has been pushed back so many times I have lost count.

Pinch District. The connection between Bass Pro and St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and the prospective retail anchor for the north end of downtown and the convention center. Forget the colorful handouts and renderings, The Pinch is a small collection of restaurants, condos, blight, and vacant buildings. The convention center and hotel are not part of Phase One of Bass Pro. Nor is funding for it included in the $200 million budget.

Mud Island River Park. Closed half the year. Nice summer concert venue, though.

Tom Lee Park. Too hot in summer. Given to Memphis in May in April and May. Torn up for a few weeks after that. No major structures or big trees because that would cramp Memphis in May activities. Called “the worst riverfront park in the country” by Benny Lendermon of the Riverfront Development Corporation.

Harahan Project. Bike and pedestrian path over the river is slated for 2014 and funding has been secured. Now it needs focus.

Floating hotel. Kitschy. There’s one in Chattanooga. Nice place to have a drink on the Tennessee River. But the boat is old, the ceilings low, and the space cramped. The fact that the Empress of the North has been docked for several years and is in custody of the United States Maritime Administration speaks volumes about its viability. And the subsidies that would be required to sustain it.

Add to this, Lipscomb is also point man for the fairgrounds, Overton Square, Triangle Noir, replacement of public housing, and he has two city jobs.

Focus. Finish. Clear your plate.

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Opinion

Beale Street Landing: Low-water, Part 2

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

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The boat dock at Beale Street Landing has been moved temporarily to inside the downtown harbor due to low water.

“Beale Street Landing is still under construction,” said Dorchelle Spence, spokeswoman for the Riverfront Development Corporation. “One of the few remaining items from the original contract is completing the dredging underneath the docks. With the river at this very low level, it is an ideal time to do this work.”

Last week the dock was at the landing at the end of the cylindrical ramp. Normally, the American Queen steamboat would tie up there, as it did on its maiden voyage and christening earlier this year.

But low water at the site of the landing and entrance to the harbor forced the steamboat to dock instead at the north end of the Mud Island Greenbelt when it visited Memphis ten days ago.

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This week the dock sits next to the historic Cobblestone Landing just south of one of the boats of the Memphis Queen Riverboats. The Riverfront Development Corporation is working with the U.S. Corps of Engineers to get the landing site and harbor entrance dredged so the dock can go back to where it is supposed to be, as shown in this RDC rendering.

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The $40 million project is supposed to be finished later this year.

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Opinion

Beale Street Landing Has a Problem (Again)

CREDIT: John Branston

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American Queen

Sometimes a picture (two of them in this case) is worth 1,000 words. The pictures above were both taken Thursday afternoon. One of them shows Beale Street Landing absent the American Queen (that’s a barge approaching it from the harbor). The other shows the American Queen, which was christened at Beale Street Landing in April but forced to dock this week at the north end of Mud Island because of low water.

This $40 million project simply cannot catch a break.

The Riverfront Development Corporation, which one year ago said in a statement about the timetable for completion of Beale Street Landing that “almost a decade of careful study and planning will soon pay off,” said in another statement this week that “additional work must be completed to accept the American Queen at the lowest possible river stage.”

At -5 feet on the Memphis gauge, the river is low but not as low (-10.7 feet) as it was in July, 1988, well within the memory of the staff and board members of the RDC. The flood of 2011 was a once-in-a-lifetime event, but this summer’s drought is a several-times-in-a-lifetime event. In other words, it was foreseeable by the designers of Beale Street Landing. We can only wonder what the RDC means and what the cost will be of the “additional work” that is necessary.

This underscores two things, one of them good and one of them not so good.

The good is Greenbelt Park, the most popular, cost-efficient, user-friendly, and versatile park on the river. In June it was the site of the Outdoors Inc. Canoe and Kayak Race and the LUVMUD 5k obstacle course race. The American Queen was able to dock at the fishermen’s boat ramp at the north end of the park and transport its passengers downtown by bus. The park is regularly used by walkers, bikers, and joggers who appreciate the shade, scenery, ease of access, and well-manicured sidewalk.

The not so good is the planned $6 million rehabilitation and development of Cobblestones Landing, which was put on hold because of Beale Street Landing. The river level fluctuation is an obvious engineering and design challenge at the cobblestones, which were underwater during the big flood of 2011 and are subject to erosion in low water.

The RDC and the City of Memphis secured approximately $6 million in local and other funds to preserve, restore and enhance the cobblestone landing. The process began in early 2008 but has stalled several times.

Still to be determined is the design and color scheme of the elevator enclosure that looks like a top hat on the grassy knoll at Beale Street Landing. An earlier rendering, now under reconsideration, is shown below.

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Categories
Opinion

A Darn Good Week for Downtown

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Wow. First the Harahan Bridge Project funding announcement Tuesday, then the Bass Pro Pyramid media event Thursday. Two projects that bookend a third project, Beale Street Landing and the steamboats, that is also changing the face of the riverfront. Over $300 million in public and private investment by my math. And a successful relaunch of the Outdoors Inc. Canoe and Kayak Race last Saturday.

At the Bass Pro deal, someone collared me to say “nanny nah-nah” in reference to some skepticism I expressed over the years, and someone else grabbed me to say how much she likes Bass Pro but the only problem is their clothes hardly ever wear out. A third person came over to reminisce about the Pyramid groundbreaking or “Big Dig” we both witnessed in 1989. It seems like it was only 20 years ago.

Sturdy footwear and garments, along with ammo and camo and Tracker boats and fishing rods and bait and stuffed animals and zip lines and big ole trees in a swamp and live demonstrations and restaurants serving fried catfish and hushpuppies. As the King and the Duke say of their tomfoolery in “Huckleberry Finn,” if that don’t fetch ’em then I don’t know Arkansaw. Or Tennessee either.

Except that Bass Pro is putting another store in Little Rock at about the same time. The apologists who say no big deal are kidding themselves. I’ll drop at least a couple hundred bucks a year at Bass Pro Pyramid and take every visitor there for the rest of my Memphis life. But that 4 million visitors estimate sounds high with so many outlets within 220 miles. I like the band of glass on the exterior of the building but was surprised to see such a major change in the renderings at such a late date in this deal that has been in the talking stages if not the doing stages for seven years. And the fate of the observation deck is still unknown. Sounds like someone hasn’t decided where to spend those funds yet.

The $30 million Harahan Bridge Project, also known as “Main Street to Main Street” is a classic example of politics and creative draftsmanship. Get some repairs done on the mall in Memphis and on Broadway in West Memphis and a very cool but expensive bike and pedestrian bridge paid for in part with federal transportation and stimulus funds. As Bill Dries of the Daily News pointed out, Whitehaven and Graceland got screwed, if you will, on the TIGER funds allotment. Hats off to Charlie McVean, the driving force behind the bike deal. Others have talked and written about it for at least 40 years, but McVean, nothing if not determined, got it done. I agree that every able-bodied soul in this area with a bike will want to do it at least once.

And “once” may be the operative word. It’s no greenline, people. While you’re waiting for the completion of the Harahan Project, which is a couple years away, here are two things to try: bike to Mud Island park on the walkway above the monorail, envisioned as a dramatic sky train 30 years ago. And, for the adventurous, drive to Crump Park next to the National Ornamental Metals Museum, park your car, jump on your bike or put on your Bass Pro sturdy boots, and climb the embankment to the narrow walkway on the south side of the Interstate 55 bridge just south of the Harahan. There is absolutely nothing stopping you. Step out on it and head for “the other side of the river” which can be as much as a mile or more away depending on the river level. You can hear the roar and feel the wind as trucks speed past so close you could reach out and touch them.

It shakes. It shakes a lot. There is a 30-inch concrete wall on one side and a 40-inch railing on the other side. Scary. And hot on a day like today. Nice view, and about the same one you can get from Martyr’s Park or the metals museum. I know there will be all sorts of safety features on the Harahan bike and pedestrian walkway, but that’s the point. This stuff is expensive. It takes maintenance. I can’t remember a day in the last few years when I did not see workmen working on the pilings under the interstate ramps near Riverside Drive and the Pyramid. I wonder how many people have thought this through.

Once it is completed, I hope the Harahan path connects to the levee in Arkansas and a true bike trail on the Tennessee side to make a national destination worthy of attention from Adventure Cycling Association, this Missoula, Montana outfit.

The key to both deals (and Beale Street Landing), says downtown visionary Henry Turley, is leveraging them into lasting broad benefits to downtown and Memphis in general. The Downtown Memphis Commission and the Riverfront Development Corporation have their charge. Whatever mistakes they may have made in the past don’t matter now. That was yesterday, we move on. We bought it, we got it. Now get the cobblestones done, figure out Front Street and Memphis in May and Mud Island Park and the Pinch. Then we’ll really have something to celebrate. We better do this, because a bike bridge, a boat dock, steamboat cruises for $3000, and tax money for a retailer sure doesn’t sound like government belt-tightening or a city and a country supposedly in the throes of a great recession.

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News The Fly-By

Breaking Ground

By 2010, a $30-million makeover to the Memphis riverfront should be completed, offering an easy-access boat dock for excursion boats, a restaurant, parking, and concrete islands to get visitors closer to the water.

A groundbreaking was held last week to commence work on the Beale Street Landing located at the tip of Beale Street in Tom Lee Park.

The project is a “simplistic, yet elegant response to an age-old problem in our city, and that is how to bring the public to the river’s edge despite the sometimes 57-foot fluctuation in the water,” said Riverfront Development Corporation’s (RDC) chairman Greg Duckett.

Captain William Lozier, owner and pilot of Memphis Riverboats, says the new landing will allow more people to enjoy the Mississippi River. Tour-boat passengers currently embark from the historic cobblestone landing.

“The cobblestones lack accessibility, which intimidates our tour-bus companies, the handicapped, tourists, and local residents,” Lozier says. “Many passengers enjoy our cruises but criticize our location, and many others just avoid us entirely.”

But not everyone has been happy with the project. There were concerns surrounding the destruction of a small wetlands area at the construction site. Under a Clean Water Act permit acquired by the RDC, the development must create or enhance 1.72 acres of wetlands as compensation.

RDC president Benny Lendermon says an agreement is in the works to purchase acreage for the wetlands, which must be four times the size of the destroyed area.

“We’re hoping that we can make it part of something larger — maybe more wetlands — not just a little spot of wetland,” Lendermon says.

The Beale Street Landing project was first approved by the City Council in 2002 as part of the Memphis Riverfront Master Plan. At a budget hearing in May, Lendermon told the City Council that the project would be funded with $19.5 million in city funds and $10.5 million in state and federal funds.

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Opinion

Riverfront Rising

“You will see a constant progression of things getting better.”

That’s how Benny Lendermon, executive director of the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC), summarized upcoming riverfront improvements for members of the Memphis City Council at budget hearings last week.

The riverfront that thousands of Memphians and visitors saw this month at Memphis In May will look significantly different two years from now, with the expansion of Tom Lee Park, the Beale Street Landing boat dock, an overhaul of the cobblestones, and the construction of the University of Memphis Law School at the old post office on Front Street.

Here’s a summary of the changes.

What is Beale Street Landing? Located at the north end of Tom Lee Park, Beale Street Landing will include a boat landing, concrete islands for pedestrians to get close to the river, a parking lot, a restaurant, and a gift shop. Total project cost is about $30 million, including $19.5 million in city funds and $10.5 million in federal and state funds. There is no private funding so far.

Completion date is fall of 2010, but that could change based on weather and funding issues. Lendermon said the project has already come before the council seven or eight times and will doubtless come up several more times.

“That is just what happens on a multi-year, phased project,” he said.

About $6 million already has been spent. The landing will take up six acres, including four acres being added to the current 25-acre Tom Lee Park. All permits have been obtained, and a wetlands mitigation plan for the half-acre of wetlands at the tip of the park is included. Lendermon said operating costs of the landing will be paid out of revenues.

What about the cobblestones? As an architect involved in the project says, the good news is Memphis has seven acres of cobblestones. And the bad news is Memphis has seven acres of cobblestones. The cost of repairing them and adding access points is approximately $7.2 million, including $6 million in federal funds. Improvements will include a sidewalk at the lower level, limited handicapped accessibility at Jefferson Davis Park, a retaining wall, new utility service, and walkways. There will be “some opportunity for floating restaurants,” Lendermon said.

Will there be daily excursion boats? Yes, but possibly under a different operator. Presently, only two of the boats docked at the cobblestones are in use. Future passenger pick-up and drop-off will be at the new landing, but the RDC wants the excursion-boat operator to do a better job of maintenance. Wharfage fees are now only $1,500 a month. The overnight-cruising riverboat business is in flux, and it is unclear how many of them will use the landing. At one time, the RDC hoped to attract the corporate headquarters of a steamboat company, but that fell through.

What about the law school? The $40 million renovation is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2009. It will basically turn the back of the building into the front of the building, with landscaping, elimination of parking, a plaza, and a connecting bridge to Confederate Park. The building overlooks the cobblestones.

What about Mud Island River Park? Don’t expect any changes this year or next year, but the long-term future is likely to include a hard look at private development. Lendermon said “there is some opportunity” for that, but proposals should be part of a public process and not simply presented in take-it-or-leave-it fashion like the ill-fated theme park.

“No matter what you do, Mud Island is still going to be detached,” said Lendermon in response to a question from Councilman Shea Flinn who asked why Beale Street Landing is a higher priority than Mud Island.

Is the City Council on board? Most members seem to be, including holdovers Myron Lowery and Barbara Ware, as well as newcomers Bill Boyd, Flinn, Wanda Halbert, and Jim Strickland. Doubters are confronted with the $6 million already spent, the lure of “free” federal funds, the commitments made by previous councils, and the permits already obtained.

Ware has a special interest in the old post office where she used to work. Strickland expressed doubts about the need for more parking at Tom Lee Park. And Flinn noted that the city could possibly have cut its operating losses at Mud Island by spending “half or less” of the $30 million going to Beale Street Landing. But the overall tone of the hearing was jovial.

Bottom line: All aboard.

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Opinion Viewpoint

Kickin’ Around the Cobblestones — in Downtown Memphis

On a day when most Memphians concerned themselves with such mundane matters as rain, work, school, crime, foreclosures, and the fights and shootings that broke out at four city schools, 40 of us met at City Hall Wednesday to hear a two-hour discussion of rocks.

The rest of you can be excused for wondering if we have rocks in our heads.

The rocks in question are the cobblestones at the foot of downtown. The rock hounds included two reporters, representatives of the Tennessee Department of Transportation and various state and local historic preservation groups, and supporters and foes of the proposed Beale Street Landing.

The rocks are next to the landing. To a handful of people, the rocks are a historic treasure comparable to Beale Street or the Mississippi River itself. The $29 million landing might have “an adverse impact” on the rocks, which are slated for additional millions. Hence Wednesday’s meeting.

“The current design reflects a primarily recreational use of boarding and disembarking pleasure boat and cruise ship passengers,” says the state report. “In doing so, the design overwhelms any sense of the historic commercial use of the riverfront.”

This is the problem with projects like Beale Street Landing and the proposed new stadium at the Fairgrounds. They absurdly inflate the importance of something that matters little if at all to most people and prevent progress on smaller and easier projects with potentially far greater benefits.

For decades, the cobblestones were so treasured that downtown workers and visitors used them as a bumpy and treacherous parking lot. Now they might be “adversely impacted” by the “verticality” of Beale Street Landing.
As Benny Lendermon, the head of the Riverfront Development Corporation, noted, the elevation of the river fluctuates 57 feet. In high water, most of the cobblestones are submerged. In low water, big touring riverboats can’t get in the harbor.

Hence the proposed landing at the north end of Tom Lee Park. It will be used by recreational boats, small day-tour boats, and big, fancy, cruising boats like the Delta Queen. That is, if the Delta Queen doesn’t go out of business in 2008 because the government has deemed it a fire hazard, as The New York Times reported Thursday.

The design of the docking part of the landing is unique. After some sharp discussion Wednesday, it was determined that “unique” means nothing like it has ever been built before. RDC engineer John Conroy said its structural soundness has been certified.

The people from state government who hosted Wednesday’s meeting are not “big-picture” deciders. They are, as one of them explained, a “pass-through” agency. They will go back to Nashville and weigh the historic considerations and announce, sooner or later, if and how the project can proceed.

Beale Street Landing, whose cost may now fluctuate like the river elevation, is to be funded by a combination of local, state, and federal funds. Some of the federal funds come from the Department of Homeland Security, because there are ferry-boats involved.

And you thought Homeland Security was just to protect us from terrorism.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

A Victory Lap for the Riverfront Development Corporation

BY

JOHN BRANSTON | JUNE 21, 2007

When you’re selling the glories of Mud Island River Park to people old enough to remember its grand opening 25 years ago, you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.

That’s what the Riverfront Development Corporation’s support tag-team did at the Memphis City Council. The purpose of the presentation wasn’t clear. The council voted to keep $29 million Beale Street Landing in the budget last week. The RDC won. So move on, and make the best of it. The RDC may, after all, be right.

But RDC President Benny Lendermon and his board members sound more like they are trying to talk themselves into believing their own Power Point propaganda.

One slide displayed Tuesday called the intersection of Beale Street and Riverside Drive the most important historic tourist destination in America. Take that, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington Monument, Golden Gate Bridge, and Grand Canyon!

Beale Street Landing’s biggest fan is city councilman Joe Brown, who thinks it will put the Memphis riverfront on par with the Chicago lakefront and the St. Louis Arch. He praised the tranquility of the Mississippi River and its benefits on community mental health.

Miraculously, other council members in the meeting managed to keep from bursting out laughing. A couple of weeks ago Brown publicly called a colleague “retarded,” prompting a memo to all council members urging decorum.

Board members said they had rounded up $10 million in state and federal funds for Beale Street Landing that would go unused if the project is stopped. In other words, we are spending $19 million in local money to save $10 million in “free” money.

The presentation on Mud Island, which is part of the RDC domain, was condescending. Whatever you think of their arguments, Friends For Our Riverfront is comprised of conscientious long-time Memphians who don’t need to be lectured and — unlike the RDC’s staff and consultants — work for nothing.

As anyone who goes there knows, Mud Island River Park is nicely maintained and the river model is impressive — to visitors seeing it for the first time. The concerts have been a welcome addition. But attempts to jazz up the park with boats and overnight camping suffer from one obvious problem: It is too damn hot in Memphis in the summer, especially before 5 p.m. when the park closes. The place downtown where you can actually see people on the riverfront at all hours of the day is the Mud Island Greenbelt, which offers nothing more than a sidewalk, parking, acres of well-cut grass, pretty views, and some shade.

A few years ago, Memphis architect Frank Ricks proposed putting a ferris wheel at the tip of Mud Island. Throw in a sprinkler park for kids along with some shade and a portable concession stand at Tom Lee Park and clean up the cobblestones, and that’s still the best and most economical idea I have heard for improving the riverfront.

But it looks like the battle is over. Bring on the boat dock, and let’s hope it works.