Tag: Jim Strickland

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News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Paint, Dean Strickland, Tourney Time

Posted to Reddit by u/CUrlymafurly

Memphis on the internet.

Paint

“The paint is coming off!!” wrote u/CUrlymafurly on Reddit last week. Some MEMernet citizens cringe at painted brick in general. But this paint job hit a note for many more.

The mansion was once the stately Nineteenth Century Club. It was being painted in preparation for the new Tekila Modern Mexican restaurant. But owners made an agreement with preservationists and the paint is now being removed.

Dean Strickland

Posted to X by University of Memphis

“Jim Strickland, the 64th mayor of the city of Memphis, was announced today as the next dean of Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law,” the University of Memphis tweeted last week.

Tourney Time

Posted to TikTok by Bleacher Report

Jaylin James, a content creator with Bleacher Report, had fun at the NCAA tournament here last month. He hit Beale, ate Central BBQ, shared some popcorn with a basketball fan, experienced his first buzzer beater, and captured it all in a fun TikTok video.

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Politics Politics Feature

Making It Rain

Photo: Julia Sudnitskaya | Dreamstime.com

It is generally understood that one of the rationales for naming former Mayor Jim Strickland the new dean at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law was his demonstrated success in having raised significant sums of money — both from the business community during his mayoral campaigns — $1 million at max — and for helping to pry loose from state government some $350 million for local athletic facilities.

Indeed, Strickland’s fundraising prowess was so notable as to make him an obvious prospect for the role of institutional rainmaker. That’s the time-honored term for an individual blessed with unusual ability to attract investments and contributions from others by dint of their persona, their history, or their contacts, or through a combination of all three.

In 2006, Harold Ford Jr. missed becoming U.S. senator from Tennessee by a relative handful of votes, but the former congressman’s residual clout as a looming national figure was sufficient to land him on Wall Street, where he flourished as a rainmaker for more than one big-time brokerage.

So Strickland’s ability to attract big funding is, all by itself, a huge plus, right? Not everybody thinks so. Among those who don’t is activist Cardell Orrin, currently executive director at Stand for Children Tennessee and former chief information officer at LeMoyne–Owen College.

In a Facebook post written in the wake of Stricklands’ hiring, Orrin mused:

“Imagine if former Mayor Wharton, or better yet Mayor Herenton (even more fun), had given millions of dollars to LeMoyne-Owen College during their tenure. This part is easy … They actually did do this, but to help save the college’s existence, not just for pet projects like tennis courts.

“Now, it gets a bit more difficult … Imagine if either mayor had donated all that money to LeMoyne-Owen College, and then, in the final hours of their administration, rushed a decision to gift a stadium worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the college? …

“Imagine if, within just three months of leaving office, one of these former mayors had secured a leading job at LeMoyne-Owen College, with some yet to be disclosed salary. Can you imagine the reaction from the media and the conservative crowd to even the mere consideration of such a position, let alone actually receiving it?

“Try to envision the newspaper headlines and articles covering this hypothetical. Would some enterprising investigative reporter be opening up a file and making FOIA requests? Would they just basically reprint the college’s press release?

“Whew, it must be nice to live in the world of imaginings …!”

Whew, indeed! Known as a longtime critic of Strickland, Orrin, along with some other like-minded foes of the former mayor, has begun raising this issue and imagining it to be a prima facie scandal. What it amounts to is a suggestion that Strickland bought his job, which, in this reckoning, is not just a reward but an out-and-out payoff!

The fact is that the University of Memphis law school, once renowned for the quality of its teaching and, especially, for the high percentage of its graduates able to pass the state bar and achieve thriving, socially useful careers in the larger community, is widely perceived as having begun to lag in those important regards.

Arguably, what it needs now is a shot in the arm from an administrator known for personal success and for an ability to attract substantial support from the social eco-structure which the university both lives in and is charged with serving.

What it may need is a rainmaker. And a two-term local mayor with prodigious fundraising skills and demonstrated connections both to the local business community and to the state government in Nashville clearly fit the bill for those at the university whose duty was to make the pick.

Credit is due both to those critics like Orrin whose imagination suggests caution in viewing such a choice and to those members of the law faculty — a not insubstantial number — who wanted a more traditional choice, perhaps from within university ranks

But the die has been cast. And optimism should be the motto of the moment.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

The Case for a Dean Strickland

Jim Strickland (Photo: Aspaan-19 | Wikimedia |  Creative Commons)

The news is out that Jim Strickland — recently the two-term mayor of Memphis and before that a member of the city council — is the prime candidate to become the next dean of law at the University of Memphis.

There are those who would see that outcome, the appointment of a non-academic, as something strange, or at the very least, untypical. To disabuse themselves of that notion, they should think no further than the name of the institution Strickland would accede to the head of — the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

The eponymous Humphreys, though, strictly speaking, no academic, achieved his early renown as the head football coach of Memphis State College in the prewar years of 1939-41. He later served as the school’s athletic director. Still later, Humphreys would become president of Memphis State itself, which under his leadership would become the super-charged multi-disciplinary University of Memphis.

Hence, and quite appropriately, his name graces the university’s school of law, which for years led all degree-granting schools of law in Tennessee in the important metric of the percentage of its graduates passing the bar exam, but now, reportedly, has fallen somewhat off that mark.

Could Strickland, who lobbied for the job, be the right man to lead the law school into its next period of achievement and growth?

Consider that he owns a Juris Doctor degree from the law school and currently serves as an adjunct professor there. And though, like any politician, he has his detractors, his service at the helm of Memphis city government was deemed satisfactory enough by his constituents to gain him two full terms and to generate the momentum for a referendum which, had it passed, would have enabled a third.

Consider, further, that Strickland is the first Memphis mayor in almost half a century to leave that office altogether on his own terms. Not since the late Wyeth Chandler resigned the office in 1982 to become a judge had a Memphis mayor clearly done that.

Chandler’s successor, Dick Hackett, was defeated for reelection in 1991 by Willie Herenton, who in his turn was elected five times before bowing to various pressures and resigning in the middle of his fifth term. (“Retired” is how Herenton put it, and arguably he too departed voluntarily, though, to say the least, his tenure had become shaky.)

Next up was Mayor AC Wharton, who served from 2009 until he was upset by Strickland in the election of 2015.

To be sure, Strickland, who once served as chair of the Shelby County Democratic Party, was formally censured by that party this year on account of his support for the political campaigns of assorted Republicans, but, all things considered, his exercising of bipartisan options as a nonpartisan official probably boosted his stock rather than diminished it.

The case for a Strickland appointment was further fortified surely by a study sent to all faculty members by David Russomanno, the university’s provost for academic affairs.

The document, “Non-Traditional Law Deans: Their Experiences and Those of the Law Schools that Hired Them” by one Timothy Fisher, underscored the striking number of such appointees and their successes in office.

It all remains to be seen.

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News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Final Update, The Crud, Guy

Credit: Jim Strickland

Memphis on the internet.

Final Update

Former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland used his final email blast last week for a victory lap backed up by data. In his eight years in office, the city spent $200 million on parks and community centers, he said. About $40 million is typically spent over the same period.

The Crud

Posted to Instagram by Choose901

No matter what you call it — a bug, a virus, the crud — flu-like illnesses are gripping Memphis. Check memphisflyer.com for our story with more details.

Guy

Posted to Instagram by Downtown Memphis Commission

Guy Fieri, the Mayor of Flavortown, rolled into Memphis recently for visits with two restaurants. Good Fortune Co.’s segment aired last Friday. Little Bettie’s will air this Friday at 8 p.m.

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News News Blog News Feature

Mayor Strickland: Nichols Video Will Publish After 6 p.m.

(Credit: City of Memphis/Twitter)

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland issued a statement Thursday evening saying the police video of Tyre Nichols’ death will be issued Friday after 6 p.m.

Here’s what he said:

 “Since learning of this tragic event, transparency and swift methodical action have been our top priorities. 

“Because the family of Mr. Nichols and our citizens deserve nothing less, the actions of these officers were awful, and no one, including law enforcement, is above the law, I assure you, we will do everything we can to keep this type of heinous act from happening again.

“In this case, I want to thank [Memphis Police Department Cerleyn] Davis and her team for moving quickly with the administrative procedure resulting in termination and [Shelby County District Attorney] Mulroy for taking deliberate actions in bringing these indictments forward. 

“We have worked to get a resolution to these matters in record time because we take them extremely seriously. 

“As we have said all along, we wanted to ensure the proper legal steps were followed and that the family of Mr. Nichols had an opportunity to view the video footage privately before we released it to the public. 

“In light of those matters occurring, we will be releasing the video to the public sometime Friday, tomorrow after 6 p.m. 

“It is clear that these officers violated the department’s policies and training. But we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again. So we are initiating an outside, independent review of the training, policies and operations of our specialized units. 

“Lastly, I am sad and angry for the family of Tyre Nichols. I am also angry for the many good men and women of the Memphis Police Department who devote their lives to serving our citizens. We must all work to regain the public’s trust and work together to heal the wounds these events have caused.”

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News News Blog News Feature

Tyre Nichols Video Will Not Immediately Be Released to the Public

Posted to Facebook by Hunter Demster.

Video of Tyre Nichols’ deadly encounter with five Memphis Police Department (MPD) officers will not be immediately released, officials said Monday. 

MPD officials and those from Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s office met with the Nichols family Monday morning to “facilitate the viewing of video recordings,” according to a statement. The city’s statement did not make it clear whether or not the family viewed the video Monday or whether the meeting was simply to organize the viewing. 

A statement from Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy’s office, however, said the family “have now seen the video.” Mulroy said he expected the public release to come “this week or next.”

MPD made clear, however, that the public will not see the video Monday. 

“Transparency remains a priority in this incident and a premature release could adversely impact the criminal investigation and judicial process,” reads a statement tweeted by MPD Monday afternoon. “We are working with the District Attorney’s office to determine the appropriate time to release video recordings publicly.”

Mulroy said transparency was a priority for his office, too. While he said “we understand the public’s desire for immediate release,” it is “important that the release does not compromise the investigation.”

“We’re working with the [Tennessee Bureau of Investigation] and [the Federal Bureau of Investigation] to expedite that investigation and are consulting regularly with the city of Memphis about the video’s release, which we expect will occur this week or next.”

So far, five MPD police officers have been fired in the wake of the incident. On Saturday, January 7th, Nichols was stopped for reckless driving. After two “encounters” with MPD, he was transferred to St. Francis Hospital – Memphis. 

An image of Nichols in the hospital shared widely online shows him intubated with bruises and a swollen face. He died at the hospital on January 10th. 

The family has urged local leaders to release the footage of Nichols’ interaction with law enforcement. However, videos that are still subject to an ongoing investigation are often kept sealed, sometimes even after cases have been heard in court. 

It didn’t take long for many to criticize the decision to keep the video under wraps. Many on Twitter called officials behind the decision “cowards.”

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

More to Come

Back in 2009, Joe Brown (right), then the star of a syndicated TV show and now a self-declared mayoral candidate, hobnobbed on a visit home with newly installed Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, state Representative G.A. Hardaway, and the late state Senator Reginald Tate. (Photo: Jackson Baker)

With outgoing County Commissioner Van Turner’s announcement last week of a pending run for Memphis mayor in 2023, another political season is on its way.

Actually, Turner did not announce as such; he told the Flyer, and subsequently the world, that he would be making his formal announcement at month’s end, about the time he leaves his present office.

If advance gossip can be trusted, Turner, whom many observers reckon as the favorite, can expect to be joined in the contest by Downtown Memphis Commission President Paul Young, who has a key speech to the Kiwanis Club scheduled this week, and Karen Camper, minority leader in the state House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, local NAACP head Turner is actually the second declared candidate for the office, which is likely to be the object of spirited competition now that the voters have taken incumbent Mayor Jim Strickland out of the running by voting in the August 4th election not to allow a third term for mayor and council members.

The first declared candidate? None other than Joe Brown — not the General Sessions Court clerk and former councilman but the other Joe Brown, who played a judge on TV for some years after being one for real in Shelby County back in the ’90s. You might have missed it, but Brown’s announcement was made via YouTube last fall, and if he follows through, it will be his second major non-judicial run for office in these parts.

Brown’s last electoral effort, a race for district attorney in 2014, began with abundant ballyhoo and a sense among some local Democrats that his celebrity and presumed healthy bank account would allow the party to achieve a generalized success at the polls. Instead he belly-flopped, badly. Coincidentally or not, so did the party.

Among other things, the bankroll — for whatever reason — didn’t exist, nor did Brown’s actions and public positions during the campaign exactly square with many people’s ideas of political leadership.

As part of his rollout, Brown had been the keynote speaker at an official Democratic Party tribute to former Mayor Willie Herenton. He used the occasion to denounce “promiscuous” women and make homophobic remarks.

One of his next acts was to get himself arrested on a contempt of court charge for insulting a Juvenile Court magistrate in the process of a pro bono child support case Brown was handling. (Brown thereupon posted a Facebook entry in which he likened his ordeal to that of Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic confinement in the Birmingham jail.)

All this was just a lead-in to Brown’s culminating campaign act, a speech in which — sans any evidence or pretense of same, or any relevance to anything, for that matter — he accused his opponent, incumbent DA Amy Weirich, of having a lesbian affair with her next-door neighbor. Weirich won with 65 percent of the vote.

• Weirich’s luck ran out this year in another reelection campaign, this time against an opponent, Steve Mulroy, not pre-ordained to fantasize or self-destruct.

The two of them took turns last week in the well of the Shelby County auditorium, arguing this time for the same goal — the creation of a new bail hearing courtroom. A resolution to that end, requiring that bail issues for new county prisoners be hashed out in a hearing before a judge and with representation from both arrestee and victim of an alleged crime, was passed unanimously by the 13 members of the commission. As Mulroy noted, this was the one thing the two erstwhile adversaries had been able to agree on during this campaign year.

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Opinion Viewpoint

Viewpoint: A Referendum on Arrogance

Bryce Ashby (Photo: courtesy Bryce Ashby)

Over the last few weeks, we’ve heard a few grumblings of support for the Memphis City Council’s referendum seeking to extend its own term limits from two to three terms. Unfortunately for the council, those grumblings appear to be coming only from its own members and their cronies. Nevertheless, they continue unabated in their effort to rally support for this mistaken attempt to supplant the will of residents.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has abandoned his previous promise not to seek a third term in office if term limits were extended. Now, showing a little mayoral leg to entice his voting bloc, Mayor Strickland said if the referendum passes, he will be more than happy to flip-flop his position to keep himself in office.

Meanwhile, Councilman Dr. Jeff Warren — the referendum’s most vocal supporter — seeks to garner votes in his quixotic quest to remain in power.

I’ve said this before: I like Jeff Warren. I appreciate his service. I appreciate his efforts to protect Overton Park. Although I’ve never voted for Mayor Strickland, he offered strong leadership through the pandemic and has offered a welcome, tempering voice as the city council unwisely sought to hop into bed with the Carlisle group and have the city carry far too much financial risk in the One Beale project.

I have strong disagreements with these men on a number of other issues, but even if I didn’t, their cynical efforts in backing the term limit referendum demonstrate a disappointing amount of hubris and/or frightening misunderstanding of the goals of public service.

Strickland and Warren have primarily argued in favor of the referendum because there is still work to be done. Well, of course, there is, but that’s not a good reason to extend term limits. There will always be work to do, challenges to overcome, and improvements to make. Extending term limits to three terms or eliminating them altogether will not change that fact.

Public service and governing should be about making as great a contribution as you can while you have the opportunity. Democracy is about making long-term, incremental progress, and a good public servant should work to make those contributions and that progress, but with an eye on developing young leaders to follow behind him or her and continue that work. That’s Strickland and Warren’s first mistake — contending that the work can ever be finished. Their second mistake and the much more troubling one is believing that only they are capable of doing that work.

Look around Memphis. We have so many talented, energetic, and creative people working to make the city better. Whether it is in business, nonprofits, or advocacy, Memphis’ greatest resource is our sheer abundance of smart and caring individuals working to build a more just and equitable city. Working to build a stronger education system. Fighting to ensure that as we develop, we do so in an environmentally sustainable way.

Instead of wasting their energy and spending political capital on keeping themselves in power, Mayor Strickland and Councilman Warren would be better off identifying young leaders who are already contributing to our city and encouraging them to bring their energy to public service.

Let’s bring this debate to a close on August 4th. What is on the ballot is not a referendum on term limits but one on the arrogance of a few. For the third time in 14 years, vote against this cynical referendum. Once that’s done, we can focus on what really matters, continuing the work of improving the lives of all Memphians.

Bryce W. Ashby is an attorney with Donati Law, PLLC.

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News News Blog News Feature

Details Emerge on Snuff District Lake, Floating Dock at Cobblestone Landing

Credit: Wikipedia

A lake could be created next to the Snuff District and a floating entertainment dock could be headed to Cobblestone Landing, according to legislation proposed by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis). 

Cohen said he proposed the two “Memphis-centric projects” for the 2022 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) on behalf of the city of Memphis. These projects are part of riverfront improvements proposed by Mayor Jim Strickland in December. 

Credit: City of Memphis/YouTube

Those plans would build two new riverboat docks on the Mississippi. But it would also create a two-million-square-foot lake for swimming, paddling, and fishing in the north end of Wolf River Harbor next to the burgeoning Snuff District in Uptown. It would also include a new “floating entertainment dock” at Cobblestone Landing.  

Credit: City of Memphis/YouTube

A statement from his office Wednesday afternoon said the bill would allow “the Wolf River to create a lake adjacent to the historic downtown Snuff District,” done, apparently, by damming the Wolf River. It would also accommodate a floating entertainment dock at Cobblestone Landing.

“Both projects will transform our city and appeal to residents and tourists alike,” Cohen said in a Wednesday statement. 

Details on the floating dock are scanty. Information from the bill says only the project is hoped to ”entice visitors and the Downtown workforce down to the harbor’s edge at Cobblestone Landing.”

Credit: City of Memphis/YouTube

To create the lake, labeled Sunset Lake in a city YouTube video, a dam would be built in the harbor a mile and half north of its entrance at the tip of Mud Island. The lake’s water elevation would be determined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which, according to the bill, “have been supportive of the project concept.” The water quality of the lake would be “improved” to “allow enhanced recreational usages including kayaking, swimming, and fishing.”

Credit: City of Memphis/YouTube

“The new lake will allow visitors to have access to the riverine environment of the Mississippi River which is found in more remote reaches of the river but is available in Uptown/Downtown Memphis,” reads the bill material. 

The bill says the lake would be sandwiched between the $62 million project to repurpose the snuff factory to the east (with 294 housing units and 10,000 square feet of retail space) and the hundreds of residents of Harbor Town on the west, ”who will benefit from access to such a great public amenity.” A “strong possibility” exists that visitors to the lake could access it by Downtown’s Big River Trail.

Credit: City of Memphis/YouTube

Strickland unveiled his riverfront proposals to the Memphis City Council in December. He mentioned them again in his State of the City address in January. 

“We have a unique opportunity to expand Beale Street Landing and Greenbelt Park docks, as well as, create a lake and a series of additional docks and other improvements along the riverfront to increase economic development in the area and improve the quality of life for residents,” he said. 

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

Scenes from the Week

Veteran pol David Upton (right) spins a scenario to Dean Baxter (left) and Mayor Jim Strickland Thursday night at the mayor's tent at the Barbecue Festival at the Fairgrounds. (Photo by Jackson Baker)

From Tuesday on, last week was a record hottie for the time of year, but politicians still had occasion to gather. Here are three such events. The picture of the three mayors, unfortunately blurry in resolution, still depicts a highlight moment at the James Lee House in Victorian Village, one in which, reportedly, there was palpable tension between the mayors on far left and far right.

Judicial candidates Carlyn Addison and Danny Kail, and Circuit Court clerk candidate Sohelia Kail were among the candidates at Sunday’s annual picnic of the Germantown Democratic Club. (Jackson Baker)
Judge Loyce Lambert at a Wednesday night fundraiser in her honor, surrounded by mayors. From left: former Mayor Willie Herenton, current Mayor Jim Strickland, Lambert, former Mayor A C Wharton. (Photo from Mayor Jim Strickland)