Tag: Chooch Pickard

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Opinion Viewpoint

Thoughts About How to Win Memphis Council District 5

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Some readers may recall that, in 2015, I ran unsuccessfully for the Memphis City Council as an avowed progressive in District 5. Since then, I have heard several people comment that District 5 was won by a conservative because three progressive candidates ran and split the vote. Now that the 2019 city elections are on the horizon, I would like to dispel that myth and look at what is potentially different for the district in 2019.

Justin Fox Burks

John Marek

Even if only one progressive had run in 2015, that one progressive would have lost. Worth Morgan, the current councilman and eventual winner, had $300,000 in his campaign war chest, and the votes of conservatives Dan Springer and Morgan combined were 55 percent of the total vote, as compared to 42 percent of the combined percentages of Mary Wilder, Chooch Pickard, and, me, all progressives in good standing.

Democratic turnout was lower than expected that year. A lot of working-class and middle-class voters were upset over the city council’s votes on pension retrenchment, and they evidently did not see any alternative that excited them enough to show up to the polls. Meanwhile, conservatives came out strong for mayoral candidate Jim Strickland.

Strickland and I both happened to be at one of the polling sites on Election Day, and I said to him: “Based on who has voted early and the seemingly low turnout today, I believe what is going to help you is going to hurt me.”

Having seen the early voting data, I also mentioned to Mary Wilder my belief that it would be Morgan versus Springer in the runoff, because of the high conservative turnout.

The fact is, District 5 is not exactly a blue district. Yes, it has Midtown and Binghampton, but it also contains most of East Memphis. In essence, Midtown progressives saw all of their districts either transformed or moved elsewhere in Tennessee in post-2010 redistricting. Congressman Steve Cohen’s former state Senate district was affected, as were the state House seats formerly occupied by Jeanne Richardson and Mike Kernell.

I would consider the current council District 5 to be purple in a high-turnout scenario and red in a low-turnout scenario. It’s regrettable that we don’t hold all of our local general elections on the same day we hold our state and federal general elections. We would save money thereby, and simultaneously reap a higher turnout of progressives.

In any case, in 2015, any progressive who might have made the runoff would have lost handily. I thought I could prevail on the strength of personally knocking on some 6,500 doors in a four-month period, while my supporters were doing likewise. Hindsight tells me I was over-optimistic.

Had any of us progressives made that runoff, the older and wealthier white vote would have shown up in higher numbers, and no amount of knocking on doors would have prevailed over the tidal wave of money committed to the conservative contender.

Instant runoff voting (IRV), which should already have been implemented after the 2008 referendum approving it, could well transform the electoral situation if it is employed in 2019. Runoffs have allowed the city’s economic elite to control a council that should by all rights have a majority voted in by working-class voters and people of color. That is why the IRV issue mattered enough for me to volunteer on its behalf in the referenda of both 2008 and 2018.

Looking ahead to 2019 voting, I find myself wondering whether or not the blue-wave turnouts we saw last year will continue to prevail in non-federal elections. If  IRV is properly implemented, a progressive could win District 5. That result would not be guaranteed, although a progressive with the ability to at least partially self-finance would, in my judgment, have a fair chance of  success.

I have heard rumors about one potential progressive candidate who would fit that profile, and that person would benefit from the absence of a runoff via IRV, as well as not having to worry about the divisive effects of multiple progressive candidates, as in 2015.  

Our current council members — and the status quo types behind them — thought it was a good idea in 2018 to try to undo decisions already made by voters in 2008, and they had the temerity to spend $40,000 of our taxpayer money to campaign for such a result in last fall’s referendums.

I would just say this: If you are a progressive prepared to run hard and govern well, please announce your intentions soon, because your city needs you.

John Marek is a lawyer, activist, and
occasional candidate for various offices.

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Politics Politics Feature

Memphis Council Elections: Not Over Yet

A substantial minority of the members of the Memphis City Council — five of the 13 overall — have yet to be chosen and will be determined after the runoff elections on November 19th.

The runoff races were made necessary when no candidate achieved a majority of the votes cast in the five districts in the regular general election that ended on October 8th. The five districts, and the two top vote-getters in each, along with the percentages they received as of October 8th, are:

DISTRICT 2: Frank Colvett Jr. (49.5 percent), Rachel Knox (22.5)

DISTRICT 3: Patrice Robinson (48.4), Keith Williams (20.8)

DISTRICT 4: Jamita Swearengen (33.0), Doris DeBerry-Bradshaw(24.4)

DISTRICT 5: Worth Morgan (31.9), Dan Springer (23.3)

DISTRICT 7:  Berlin Boyd (26.5), Anthony Anderson (24.0)

Going merely by the percentages, it would seem that the tightest runoff races would be in Districts 4, 5, and 7.

Dan Springer

Worth Morgan

The one in District 5, based in Midtown and East Memphis and formerly occupied by Mayor-elect Jim Strickland, had one of the largest fields in the regular general election, with seven candidates competing. Of those, three — John Marek, Mary Wilder, and Charles “Chooch” Pickard — were generally lumped together as appealing to Democrats and progressives, while two — Morgan and Springer —  were considered to be candidates whose base was Republican or conservative.

The progressive trio finished with vote percentages of 18.55 percent for Wilder, 16.90 percent for Marek, and 6.37 percent for Pickard; Morgan and Springer got into the runoff with percentages of 31.92 percent and 23.28 percent, respectively.

No sooner had the votes been counted on the evening of October 8th than the two runoff candidates promptly began competing for the support of candidates who had been eliminated. 

Here was Springer in a Facebook statement on October 9th: “I’ve made many new friends over the past several months on the campaign trail. And I know voters are grateful for the willingness of John Marek, Chooch Pickard, and Mary Wilder to not only put their names on the ballot, but also to bring to the forefront serious topics that deserve our attention. I know how hard they all worked, but I also know them well enough to know that they will remain committed to making Memphis a better place to live for all of us.

“Over the coming weeks, I look forward to sharing my clear vision about how we can address our community’s serious challenges in regards to job creation, education, and public safety, while promoting and building up all the good things about our city.”

Translation: Springer, who had gained the endorsement of the Shelby County Republican Party in the general election, thanks mainly to his yeoman’s service previously for GOP candidates and office-holders, notably for U.S. Senator Bob Corker and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, believed himself credible enough among moderates, independents, and Democrats to make an active pitch to the erstwhile supporters of Marek, Pickard, and Wilder.

Springer was rewarded with a statement from Wilder, the leading vote-getter among progressives, urging her supporters to consider Springer in the runoff. That was publicly hailed as a “classy” move on Wilder’s part by County Trustee David Lenoir, a Republican considered certain to be a candidate for county mayor in 2018.

For his part, Morgan won the public approval of former candidate Pickard, the third-place finisher among progressives and the fifth-place finisher overall.

In a statement that paid tribute to the previous field of candidates (“amazing people who felt the call to public service in a similar capacity as myself”), Pickard, referring to himself as “an architect and community leader,” said, among other things: “I want to make the public and formal endorsement of Worth Morgan. Over the 10 months we spent campaigning for the position, I was impressed with Worth’s integrity and the ethical way he ran his campaign. I believe Worth Morgan will make a great city councilman and has the ideals to best represent the diverse population of District 5 through truly listening to his constituents and making rational decisions in the best interest of our community.”

Early voting for the runoff races begins October 30th and runs throughNovember 14th, with final election-day voting taking place on November 19th.

• As a reminder, the council members elected outright on October 8th are as follows, with the winning percentages for them and their closest competitor:

DISTRICT 1: Bill Morrison (incumbent), 77 percent, over Wayne Roberts, 21.88 percent.

DISTRICT 6: Edmund H. Ford Jr. (incumbent), 72.24 percent, over Perry Bond, 18.43 percent.

SUPER DISTRICT 8, POSITION 1: Joe Brown (incumbent), 69.15 percent, over Victoria Young, 20.41 percent.

SUPER DISTRICT 8, POSITION 2: Janis Fullilove (incumbent), 76.78 percent, over Isaac Wright, 12 percent.

SUPER DISTRICT 8, POSITION 3: Martavius Jones, 44.93 percent, over Mickell Lowery, 40.97 percent.

SUPER DISTRICT 9, POSITION 1: Kemp Conrad (incumbent), 70 percent, over Robin Spielberger, 16.90 percent.

SUPER DISTRICT 9, POSITION 2: Philip C. Spinosa, 47 percent, over Kenneth Twigg Whalum, 23.61 percent.

SUPER DISTRICT 9, POSITION 3: Reid Hedgepeth (incumbent), 61.23 percent, over Stephen Christian, 19.59 percent.

MEMPHIS CITY COURT CLERK: Kay Spalding Robilio, 26.35 percent, over Wanda Halbert, 24.91 percent.

It will be noted that incumbents running for reelection had easy going, and that the closest of these decided races, Jones vs. Lowery in Super District 8, Position 3, and Robilio vs. Halbert for City Court Clerk, might well have ended with different results if subjected to runoffs.

The same 1991 decision by the late federal District Judge Jerome Turner that prohibited runoff elections for mayor that year subsequently has also prohibited runoffs for the clerk’s position and for the super district council seats, all considered “at large” positions.

Turner’s ruling permitted runoffs only in regular district races. The prohibition of runoffs for mayor is credited with the victory of Willie Herenton in 1991 (with 49 percent in a three-way race) and with that of Jim Strickland (with 42 percent) in this year’s multi-candidate race.

The Shelby County Election Commission will meet to certify the October 8th vote results at noon, Friday, at the commission’s operations center at 918 Nixon in the Shelby Farms government complex.

• Of the nine applicants to succeed former Chief Justice Gary Wade on the state Supreme Court, four claim to hail from Memphis, though only three have a current address in these parts.  

The ex-Memphian in the bunch is Ted Hayden, an attorney and compliance director in the state Department of General Services. Hayden now lives in the near-Nashville suburb of Gallatin, and his wish to be considered a Memphian boils down to his having been, as he stated on his official application, “extremely active” for 24 years at Bellevue Baptist Church.

Aside from his undoubted piety, Hayden makes the claim of a Memphis connection because two of the current state justices are from the Middle Tennessee grand division, where Gallatin is (and Memphis isn’t), a fact which means that Wade’s replacement must come from either East Tennessee or West Tennessee, where Memphis is (and Gallatin isn’t).

The three real Memphians whose hats (or robes) are in the ring are: Memphis lawyer Robert D. Meyers, chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission; former state Representative Larry Scroggs, chief counsel and administrator for Shelby County Juvenile Court; and Memphis tax lawyer Matthew Cavitch, who caught the attention of the state political newsletter “The Tennessee Journal,” with this line in his letter of application: “I work alone, so I handle everything. Unlike most tax lawyers, I actually know something about the rules of evidence and how to draft a motion in limine.”

Under the new judicial selection formula approved by the state’s voters in a 2014 referendum, the selection will be made by Governor Bill Haslam, subject to confirmation by both chambers of the General Assembly. Whoever is chosen and approved will serve for the balance of Justice Wade’s eight-year term, which concludes in 2022 and is then eligible to serve another eight-year term if approved by the voters in a retention election.

Prior to Haslam’s selection, a Council for Judicial Appointments, whose members were named previously by the governor, will interview the nine applicants next Tuesday, October 27th, in Nashville, and submit three names for Haslam to consider.

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Politics Politics Feature

Outliers and Insiders

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

The history of American politics demonstrates that positions that seem unconventional, even outrageous, when first broached have a way of becoming the norm with the passage of time — and sometimes not much time at all.

Think “Defense of Marriage Act,” now blink your eyes and think “Marriage Equality Act.” Even simpler: Think “Bruce,” don’t waste time with blinking and now think “Caitlyn.”

Though there was a time when the political left was responsible for most innovations (think 1960s, sit-ins, or even Social Security), the initiative where change is concerned seems to have shifted over to the right. Or at least to some mutating middle.

On the urban scene — and not just in problem-plagued Memphis city government — the idea of de-annexation may be finding its time. A bill to that effect got a trial run in the General Assembly last year, and it’s sure to take another bow in 2016.

Now you find the phenomenon of three city council candidates running as a ticket on that idea — which seemingly originated with suburban conservatives, but coupling it with such street-populist and Mempho-centric ideas as saving the Mid-South Coliseum and restoring pension and benefit levels for city police and firefighters.

The three are Jim Tomasik, a veteran of Libertarian Party politics; Lynn Moss, who admits to being Republican; and Robin Spielberger, whose politics are more amorphous. The trio of council candidates (Moss, Super-District 9, Position 2; Tomasik, District 2; and Spielberger, Super-District 9, Position 1) held an open-air meet-and-greet/fund-raiser Saturday at Lost Pizza Company on Poplar (site of the old Ronnie Grisanti’s Restaurant).

Their slogan (on a sign alongside a downtown-skyline graphic) indicates the ambivalent appeal of their position. “Right for Memphis/Cordova,” it says, and the fact is, sentiment for de-annexation seems to have just such a divided appeal. Recently annexed suburbanites (Moss and Tomasik are Cordovans) want independence (though they might settle for autonomy); meanwhile, a growing number of Memphians, like Spielberger, are concerned about the high costs of providing services to the sprawling outer areas annexed in recent years.

Maybe these three are wasting their time (competing with well-financed traditional candidates is going to be a problem), and maybe they are pathfinders, and maybe they’ll even run competitive races. All that remains to be seen, and how it works out may tell us something about our future.

• The developing matchup in council District 5 involves more conventional candidates and enough conservatives and liberals to allow for intramural contests within the larger race itself.

Of the nine potential candidates who have so far drawn petitions, five have drawn the most attention, and, though the nonpartisan nature of city elections allows for a certain flow across party preference and ideological lines, those five divide into two groups, basically.

Dan Springer, a still-youthful veteran of government service and Republican politics, and Worth Morgan, an even more youthful insurance executive with family ties to elite Memphis business circles, are regarded as battling it out for the loyalty of conventional conservatives. (Morgan’s first-quarter financial disclosure showed upwards of $150,000 on hand; my friend Kyle Veazey of the Commercial Appeal may not like the term, but that’s a war chest.)

On the other side of the ideological spectrum, Mary Wilder, Charles “Chooch” Pickard, and John Marek, will be competing for the support of those voters who see themselves as progressives (a designation that has largely replaced “liberal” as a self-signifier).

All three have overlapping interests and platforms, with Wilder noted for neighborhood advocacy, Pickard for preservationist activity, and Marek for campaign management. Wilder and Pickard have been in the field for some time, while Marek, a longtime advocate of police reform and loosening of restrictions on marijuana, is poised to begin a serious effort.

Expectations are that a runoff is inevitable, with no candidate able to get an absolute majority as of October 8th. It seems almost certain that either Springer or Morgan will make the runoff, to vie against whoever predominates among the progressive trio. But it is not impossible that the two perceived conservatives, given the depth of their anticipated resources, will end up opposing each other.

It is less likely that the runoff will be drawn exclusively from the Wilder-Pickard-Marek aggregation, but that is possible.

The Rev. Kenneth Whalum drew a petition for a District 5 race, along with petitions for Super-District 9, Position 2, and mayor, but it’s now being taken for granted that he will end up in the mayoral field.

Colonel Gene Billingsley, Jimmie Franklin, and Jennifer James Williams, all of whom have drawn petitions for District 5 (Franklin has actually filed), have to be regarded as outliers, on the basis of the name-identification factor alone.

• At its meeting of June 3rd in Nashville, the Tennessee Ethics Commission met to consider several new penalties for alleged campaign-finance offenders and to reconsider several already assessed. One of the latter was a $1,000 fine imposed on then Shelby County Democratic Party chairman Bryan Carson last September.

As the commission recapped the situation last week: “Mr. Carson was assessed $1,000 at the September 17, 2014, meeting for failure to file the Statement of Interests. Mr. Carson has subsequently filed and appeared before the commission to explain the tardiness of his filing. After the discussion, Mr. [Jim] Stranch made the motion to reconsider and to waive the penalty as it was Mr. Carson’s first time filing. Mr. [Greg] Hardeman seconded and the motion passed 5-0.”

Carson — who ran afoul of his executive committee and the state Election Registry for his accounting procedures a few months ago and subsequently resigned his chairmanship — offered this explanation: “A few months ago, I learned that each candidate running for public must file a Statement of Interest and submit it to the Tennessee Ethics Commission. I ran for the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee last August 2014 and did not know that I needed to complete a Statement of Interest which was due in September 2014. 

“All candidates were required to complete another statement in January 2015, of which I completed and filed on time. Running to serve on the TNDP was my first time running for public office, therefore, that weighed heavily on the final decision of the Tennessee Ethics Commission.”

• Fresh from serving as host for a “Memphis for Hillary” rally held on Saturday in a Southeast Memphis storefront owned by her family, state Representative Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) is in Canada this week, guest of the Embassy of Canada, which selected her and seven other legislators from the United States for a week-long “Rising State Leaders Program.”

The program began in 2006 with the goal of facilitating understanding between the two neighbor countries on business, trade, and cultural matters. The 2015 program, focusing on eastern Canada, will take legislators to Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. It began on Sunday and will continue through Saturday.

Following the death of longtime legislative eminence Lois DeBerry in 2013, Akbari won a special election to represent DeBerry’s District 91 House seat in the Tennessee General Assembly. She was easily reelected to full term last year.

A member of the House Criminal Justice Committee and Subcommittee, Akbari also serves on the House Education Instruction and Program Committee, where she closely monitors the effect on Memphis public schools of various state programs. She has sponsored several pieces of legislation designed to safeguard the structure of Memphis schools during a period of rapidly imposed innovations at the state level.

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News The Fly-By

Bus Riders Union Asks For Improvements at North End Terminal

CREDIT: Memphis Bus Riders Union

It’s doubtful that anyone, not even Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) President Ron Garrison or MATA board member Chooch Pickard, would say the North End Terminal bathrooms are in good shape.

“It’s horrible. It’s like third-world conditions,” said Pickard, referring to the state of the downtown bus terminal restrooms.

Garrison admitted that, although they’ve put extra staff on cleaning duty in those bathrooms, he didn’t think “the extra cleaning being done is adequate.”

Renovated restrooms at the North End Terminal are one of many improvements the Memphis Bus Riders Union (MBRU) is demanding in a new plan addressing what they consider to be inadequacies at the downtown station. Among those are problems with MATA’s contracted security officers, poor customer service due to a lack of personnel, and general lack of aesthetics.

“It’s been a long time since that place has seen some love,” said MBRU’s Bennett Foster. “We’re hoping the MATA board will adopt this plan and that they can set aside some funding in this budget cycle.”

Garrison hadn’t seen MBRU’s plan as of press time since they’re planning to introduce it at MATA’s June board meeting. But he said bathroom renovations at the downtown terminal are already in the works. Renovation work should start before the end of this fiscal year, he said.

“Those bathrooms were one of the first things I saw when I was brand new [last summer] and touring all the facilities,” Garrison said. “We immediately began to look for money in the budget or some way we could keep the bathrooms cleaner.”

Perhaps a more complicated issue in MBRU’s plan addresses issues with security officers from Ambassador Worldwide Protection Agency, which MATA contracts with to provide security at the terminal facilities. Foster said the union has received complaints from riders that officers have harassed riders for wearing sagging pants, and one officer was overheard using a racial slur.

MBRU is demanding that MATA terminate its contract with Ambassador and begin contracting with Memphis police officers for security since the South Main precinct is moving its offices into the North End Terminal this fall. They say that will create better transparency.

“With Memphis police, if we have any issues, we can do an open records request. But with a private company, they don’t have to tell us anything. They can keep us in the dark,” Foster said.

Pickard is pushing for body cameras for the Ambassador security officers, and Garrison said he’s working with Ambassador to correct the problems. Garrison agrees that body cameras would be a good idea.

“I think that would help a lot of things,” Garrison said. “For example, when you know your mom and dad are watching you and you’re 15, you’re probably not going to go in and have a glass of wine or beer in front of them. You’ll be on your best behavior. That’s so the customer will have a higher level of service.”

Other MBRU demands for the North End Terminal include an intercom that would announce when buses arrive, art exhibits, a play area for kids, free wifi, and a new paint job, among others.

Garrison agrees with some of those suggestions. He said he’d love an intercom system if MATA could find the money for it. And in other transit systems where he’s worked, he says he often incorporated art into bus facilities.

“It helps create a sense of place and a sense of wonder,” Garrison said. “This is something we haven’t done yet, but what if we had partnerships with local artists and arts organizations and gave them an opportunity to display their art? That’s what I would like to do.”

The MBRU is also asking MATA to hire more customer service staff system-wide. Garrison admits that customer service “is not what it could be” and says that’s something MATA will be focusing on.

“There are just a few customer service reps, and they do the best they can with what they have. But the only way to solve this issue is to employ more customer service reps and more people on staff who can answer the phone,” Foster said.

Pickard said he’s in agreement with the concerns of the MBRU and that, when the plan is presented to the board, he’ll push for some of these changes. But he warned that change will take time.

“It’s going to take a long time to turn the entire ship around, but we’re going to need to start seeing incremental change very soon,” Pickard said. “There’s been a lot of frustration, but we have a new [MATA president in Ron Garrison].”

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News The Fly-By

MATA Looking to Improve Bus Service in Midtown

CREDIT: Chris Shaw

When making over one’s image, it’s common to start from the ground up. But the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is looking to revamp and rebrand, and they’re starting squarely in the middle.

In a public meeting last week, MATA representatives announced plans to revamp bus routes in Midtown and the surrounding area. Introducing their Midtown alternatives analysis study, called “MATA in the Middle,” transit officials invited the public to voice opinions on how bus routes in the city’s core can be improved.

Chris Shaw

Before hearing input from the community, MATA representatives introduced some goals that they hope “MATA in the Middle” can achieve. The study is looking at ways to make Midtown transit service better and more reliable and how to connect neighborhoods and improve local circulation by improving access to jobs, civic attractions, visitor destinations, and cultural assets. MATA is hoping to create more cost-effective transit solutions.

The study is an extension of MATA’s short-range transportation plan. Howard Robertson, CEO of Trust Marketing, a public relations firm helping MATA promote the study, pointed out that revamping the Midtown corridor involved working with some of the most-used bus routes in the city.

“Just as your backbone is the center for movement and activity in your body, this area is the center of movement and activity for MATA,” Robertson said. “It’s where the two busiest lines intersect, so we’ve got to get it right.”

After a short presentation and a small group exercise, members of the community voiced their concerns over the current Midtown bus routes. Most said they wanted more reliable bus service that ran on time, and some wanted transfers eliminated. Others said they’d like to be able to bring their bicycles onto the bus, rather than strap them onto the bike racks in front of the bus. And some said they wished buses ran later than 11 p.m. for those who work night-shift jobs.

Taiwo Jaiyoeba, project manager for “MATA in the Middle,” said that involving the community in the changes coming to the Midtown bus system was the first step in rebranding MATA.

“We want to create something where people say ‘There goes the new service.’ It needs to have a distinctive appearance in the community,” Jaiyoeba said.

But toward the end of the meeting, MATA user Ray Brown urged the transit authority to stop selling the rebranding idea and just make it work.

 “Rebranding won’t help if people don’t believe in the system,” Brown said. “If you present a system that actually works, and people are convinced that it works, the rebranding will take care of itself.”

Also at the meeting, MATA board member Chooch Pickard announced that MATA is working on developing a new app.

“We are also developing an app to show where the bus is in real time. There will be a little red dot on your phone that tells you exactly where your bus is.” Pickard said. “The University of Memphis already has it on their buses and we are hoping to have it available in the fall.”

The next “MATA in the Middle” public meeting will be held in the fall.

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News News Blog

Scenes From the U.S. Marine Hospital

Last weekend, developer Lauren Crews and architect Chooch Pickard of City South Ventures opened the long-vacant U.S. Marine Hospital for self-guided tours.

Crews purchased the property years ago, and now he’s pushing a plan to transform the hospital into apartments before possibly persuing other major development projects in and around the historic French Fort neighborhood.

The hospital treated U.S. Marine mariners back in the late 1800s. The main hospital building, a nurses’ building, and a maintenance structure have sat decaying on the property next to the Metal Museum for decades.

To read more about the project, read this Flyer story.

[slideshow-1]

Categories
News The Fly-By

An Inside Look Into the U.S. Marine Hospital

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

The room is eerily still and pitch black, aside from the tiny streams of light pouring from our flashlights. My light shines on a long, dusty metal table. It has a metal headrest positioned over a metal sink.

“This is where they drain the bodies!” I exclaim to my friend Greg. We’re on a self-guided tour of the long-vacant U.S. Marine Hospital downtown, and we’ve found ourselves in the morgue.

For at least an hour, we’d been urban spelunking through the darkened rooms and hallways of the three-story abandoned hospital on the river bluff, oohing and aahing at doors with peeling paint, antique bathroom fixtures, and vintage dental equipment. The whole place feels like the set of American Horror Story: Asylum.

Bianca Phillips

U.S. Marine Hospital

We were two of about 200 people who showed up last weekend to get a glimpse inside the hospital that treated U.S. Marine mariners back in the late 1800s. The main hospital building, a nurses’ building, and a maintenance structure have sat decaying on the property next to the Metal Museum for decades.

Developer Lauren Crews of City South Ventures purchased the property years ago. But now he’s pushing a plan to transform the hospital into apartments before possibly persuing other major development projects in and around the historic French Fort neighborhood.

“He purchased the building eight or nine years ago, and he was planning on doing condos there, but when the condo market went south, he decided to reevaluate things,” said Chooch Pickard, the architect for Crews’ project. “Now he’s decided that he wants to rehabilitate the entire neighborhood.”

Bianca Phillips

Vintage dental equipment

Once the project finds an investor, Pickard said they’ll begin by building 67 apartments in the Marine Hospital and adjacent nurses’ building. But the larger plan would pour $150 million into new and adaptive reuse development in the area.

Ideas include a new boutique hotel built on the edge of Crump Park overlooking the river and a new events center and parking area for the hotel in the area that currently houses the Economy Boat Store.

“We’re looking to purchase quite a few city parcels. You would park down where the boat facility is now and take an elevator up to the hotel,” Pickard said. “The Economy Boat Store’s lease is up in 2016, and we want to either lease or purchase that property and put an event center there with a restaurant and a tavern.”

They also hope to build new multi-family housing in the area, and they would eventually like to purchase the Super 8 motel that’s still in business so it can be demolished. In its place, they’d build either multi-family housing or a more modern motel.

While City South Ventures is seeking an investor, Crews is hoping to “previtalize” the Marine Hospital with community events, such as wine dinners and film screenings, similar to what was done with the “Untapped” beer garden at the Tennessee Brewery this past spring.

Last weekend’s event, at which participants sipped on free High Cotton beer and snacks, was the first of such previtalization events. And as we and others inspected the morgue, it was hard to imagine new life in the building.

But Crews and Pickard seem determined to make the property rise from the dead.

“We see the Marine Hospital as a really catalytic project for the neighborhood,” Pickard said. “Everyone loves it. We’re hoping if we can get financing on the hospital and renovate it, that will kick off the entire project.”

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News News Blog

Memphis Regional Design Center Moves In a New Direction

Jeff Sanford will serve as interim executive director of the Memphis Regional Design Center

  • Jeff Sanford will serve as interim executive director of the Memphis Regional Design Center

Last night, the Memphis Regional Design Center‘s (MRDC) board of directors voted to reorganize the five-year-old, non-profit, urban design and planning organization. That reorganization meant letting go of founding director Chooch Pickard.

MRDC board chair Bill Ferguson said the board is looking to hire a new director with management and fundraising skills, rather than someone who is more interested in the urban design and planning aspect.

“It was suggested that we need someone to manage, not someone who went to school for urban design, and all the administrative paperwork drives them crazy,” Ferguson said. “We need someone who likes to network and get partnerships, someone who is always thinking about fundraising.”

People with an urban design background would continue to work for the organization, but the director would take on more of a managerial role.

The board approved a six-month contract for Jeff Sanford, former executive director of the Center City Commission (now known as the Downtown Memphis Commission), to serve as interim director. He will be tasked with keeping the organization running while heading a search for a permanent executive director.

As for Pickard, he’s currently seeking out new opportunities in the fields of architecture, historic preservation or urban design.

“I’ve enjoyed my time there, and I learned a lot. I met great people, and I plan to stay involved with the community in whatever I do in the future,” Pickard said.

The mission and vision of MRDC, to make Memphis the most livable city in country while increasing vitality and economic stability through urban design and planning, will remain the same. MRDC’s accomplishments include the establishment of the Midtown Overlay (which protects Midtown’s historic character in new development projects), the founding of the South Memphis Farmers Market and that community’s renaissance, leading public discussions about the future of Overton Square, and the restoration of the Broad Avenue Arts District.