Tag: Cooper-Young Business Association

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Cooper-Young Fest Returns this Weekend

CREDIT: Cooper-Young Business Association

It’s finally that time of year again, a time when one of Memphis’ largest celebrations occurs.

“When they started the first Cooper-Young Festival back in 1988, there were 25 vendors, and it was more like a bake sale than anything,” says Tamara Cook, executive director of the Cooper-Young Business Association (CYBA). “And I believe Joyce Cobb was the headliner that year.”

This year, the arts and crafts festival will host more than 435 artisans and a number of up-and-coming musical acts, including Robenx, Marcella & Her Lovers, and CMajor.

Cooper-Young Business Association

Cooper-Young Festival

“It’s going to be rocking,” says Cook.

In 2010, Cooper-Young Festival attendance hit 100,000, and to help address some of the overcrowding, some transportation services and commute options have been established.

“Five years ago, we started doing a shuttle service,” says Cook. “And three years ago, we started the bike corral. Last year, Innovate Memphis did a really good job. They babysat around 300 bikes.”

Beyond giving local artists, businesses, and organizations exposure, Cooper-Young Fest has enabled the CYBA to use the proceeds to fund an estimated $700,000 in restorations to the neighborhood. Some of the long list of completed projects include restoring the gazebo (or bandstand) at the corner of Cooper and Young, adding crosswalks in front of Celtic Crossing and First Congregational Church, and giving back to nonprofit organizations, including House of Mews and OUTMemphis, in the area. There are plans to begin safety projects, which include the installation of six skycop cameras and a handful of reduced speed limit signs.

Cooper-Young Festival, Cooper St. and Young Ave., Saturday, September 14th, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., free.

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Neighbors Question Cooper-Young SkyCop Camera Project

CREDIT: Preserve Cooper-Young/Facebook

Preserve Cooper-Young/Facebook

SkyCop cameras could soon watch the streets of Cooper-Young and not everyone is happy about that.

A Tuesday-morning statement from the Cooper-Young Business Association (CYBA) said the board bought seven cameras from SCIT Technologies, Inc. last month. Two of those cameras will read license plates. If installed, all video and license plate information captured would go directly to the Memphis Police Department’s (MPD) Real Time Crime Center (RTCC).

The statement, from CYBA executive director Tamara Walker, said “this action is a direct result of the active and ongoing violent assaults that have been taking place in our business district over the last several months.”

In May, several men were robbed and beaten in the Young Avenue Deli parking lot, according to WREG. Two men left the bar and were heading to their car “when three vehicles pulled up. Men wearing bandannas and masks jumped out,” according to WREG, and one of the attacked men said the attackers had pistols and assault rifles. The men attacked and robbed another man before fleeing in their cars.

WREG

Last month, police told WREG that a man kidnapped and robbed a woman and then robbed an Uber Eats driver.

“We believe that these cameras, in addition, to the armed security patrol that businesses are hiring, new lighting that is being installed, fencing around property, regular clean up and maintenance, as well as individual business surveillance will bring an immediate impact on this violent activity happening in the business areas in our district,” Walker said in a statement.

However, some Cooper-Young residents say the SkyCop camera project was done without any feedback from the community and are urging residents to contact the CYBA and Memphis City Council member Jamita Swearengen to comment.

“If these blue blinking lights are able to deter crime along the business corridor, where do you think crime will spread if those arteries are watched?” asked Patrick Durkin, a Cooper-Young resident and adminstrator of the Preserve Cooper-Young Facebook page. “Is it out of the question that a would-be criminal may slink into the neighborhood and target residential streets because those in front of the businesses are being surveilled? Is 24/7 government-recorded surveillance that may force criminals onto our residential streets the answer to summertime crime upticks?”

WREG

The CYBA said the cameras will be placed at ”highly-utilized intersections on Cooper Street, Young Avenue and Central Avenue.” Durkin said he was told the cameras would be placed close to East Parkway and Young, Blythe and Young, Cooper and Young, Walker and Cooper, Evelyn and Cooper, Central and Cooper, and Central and Cox.

The CYBA said “these cameras will be pointed at the street. The video will only be used by detectives at Memphis Police Department to solve crimes. The CYBA will not have access to this video. Video will have a 30-day, continuous record.” Walker said she expected the cameras to be up in 30 days.

“How does this look to visitors to our neighborhood?” Durkin asked on Facebook. “Do you feel more comfortable living your best life under MPD’s microscope or is it a signal that you have now entered a crime-ridden neighborhood where at any moment you may become a victim?”

Before the cameras can be installed, the funds from the CYBA to the MPD for them must be approved by the city council. The council is slated to meet again on Tuesday, July 16th.

“If you have comments regarding this, please contact the CYBA at cyba@bellsouth.net or (Cooper-Young’s) councilwoman Jamita Swearengen, Jamita.Swearengen@memphistn.gov,” Durkin wrote. ”Cooper-Young: historically hip and now and forever blinking blue.”

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Cooper-Young Bank of America To Close in February

CREDIT: Chris Shaw

The tiny Bank of America at the iconic Cooper and Young intersection is getting ready to make a withdrawal from the neighborhood.

In a letter sent to customers last week, Bank of America stated that the bank will be closing on Friday, February 20th. The bank says the planned closure is mainly due to a change in banking habits by the account holders in the area, as more and more customers do the majority of their banking online or through mobile apps.

“We look at our banking centers and ATM networks and see how people are using our banking services, and when that information is determined, sometimes it means that we close a banking center,” Bank of America spokesperson Matthew Daily said.

Daily said that there are no plans to open another Bank of America in Cooper-Young or any area nearby, but that the ATM at that location will stay in place for about a year.

“In this particular case, we have an overlap with a branch a mile and half away [at Union Extended and Poplar], and we saw that the customer’s needs in this area are changing. Generally, we saw a decline in transactions and an increase in people using online banking and mobile banking,” Daily said.

Chris Shaw

Cooper-Young Bank of America

While individual customers may have changed the way they bank, some locally owned businesses in Cooper-Young rely on that Bank of America location for their daily banking needs. Cooper-Young Business Association Director Tamara Walker said the association will push for another bank to open there after the Bank of America closes.

“We would definitely push for another bank rather than another business,” Walker said. “Since 1989, there’s been a bank there. Boatmen’s [Bank] came in 1989, and they lent to a lot of the businesses that were opening during that time, which helped make the neighborhood what it is today.”

Burkes Books co-owner Cheryl Mesler said that having a bank so close to her business was one of the reasons they chose their current location on Cooper.

“When we moved over here seven years ago, we switched everything over to Bank of America, honestly just for the convenience,” Mesler said. “Not having to get in my car and drive to the bank was a huge help, especially because there are a lot of times when there’s only two of us in the store. Going to the bank on Union Extended would turn into a 20-minute trip instead of a 10-minute one, so if a new bank comes in, I can’t say that I wouldn’t switch all of our accounts over to them.”