Tag: Jim Strickland

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Memphis Political Intrigue Arises

Even as the year 2018 advances, with its plethora of county, state, and federal election contests, the city election of 2019 is throwing some hints of things to come. For one thing, Mike Williams, the Memphis Police Association president who drew a substantial cadre of voters in his race for Memphis mayor in 2015, is clearly preparing the way for another mayoral race in 2019.

On Saturday, Williams inaugurated a new Facebook page entitled “Michael R. Williams 2019,” and his initial text was a de facto announcement of another race next year:

“I am starting this page to allow more people to follow and for me to disseminate information. I needed a public figure page that allows more than 5,000. I have almost 1,000 additional friend requests that I can not add. I will start directing people to this page. Are we getting ready for 2019, yes we are. Let’s get started early this time. Thanks, and please direct people to this page as well.”

As of 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, the page had attracted 56 likes.

• And, as current Mayor Jim Strickland thereby learned the identity of one reelection opponent for next year, he reluctantly found himself at the center of a brewing controversy involving a candidate for the Shelby County Commission.

That would be Tami Sawyer, whose urgent activism last year as a leader in the “#TakeEmDown901” drive to remove the city’s Confederate statues often seemed to put her at odds with what Strickland regarded as a more moderate and methodical pathway to that end.

Sawyer is a candidate this year for Position 7 on the commission, and, among her opponents in the Democratic primary is former Shelby County Schools board member Stephanie Gatewood. Proponents of Sawyer have charged in online posts, in emails to their networks, and in other modes of an ongoing whispering campaign that Strickland is taking a behind-the-scenes role on behalf of Gatewood and against Sawyer.

When queried about the rumors, Strickland responded with a categorical “No,” and, focusing on the online rumors, expressed amazement that they could be taken seriously. That in this heyday of social media, he himself relies heavily on regular messages from his office circulated through the internet is clearly something he regards as being another matter altogether.

And Gatewood herself took note of the rumors, contending in a Facebook post that they were “inaccurate” and saying specifically, “Mayor Strickland has not donated a dime to my campaign nor have I had a conversation with him regarding him having a fund-raiser on my behalf.”

Addressing the same matter of online credibility that seemed to astound Strickland, she would conclude her post by acknowledging “What’s funny is that perception is reality to most.”

In an effort to rebut such a perception, one supporter of the mayor maintained in an online message that Strickland had gone out of his way during a presentation to the state Heritage Commission in Athens last year to cite the role of “people of grass roots” in the struggle to remove the statues, and, in so doing, had bade Sawyer to rise.

Sawyer herself, when asked about the Gatewood matter, was somewhat guarded. She acknowledged that she was conversant with the rumors but declined to comment further on them except to say, “The mayor has a right to support anybody he chooses for public office.”

Categories
News News Blog

City Continues Transit Vision Planning Process, Opens Second Public Survey

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

The city, in collaboration with Innovate Memphis and the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) are moving forward in the Memphis 3.0 transit vision planning process.

After beginning in September with stakeholder meetings, followed by public engagement, the question remains should MATA allocate resources to services that promote high ridership and more frequency or services that cover a large percent of the city with less frequency.

Scudder Wagg of Jarrett Walker + Associates, the transit consultant group working with the city to develop the comprehensive plan, said that currently about 40 percent of MATA’s resources go toward services conducive to high ridership, while 60 percent of resources are used for services that provide more coverage.

“But, is that the right split for Memphis?” Wagg asked.

To answer this question, the public was asked if they prefer walking further distances to bus stops with less wait times or shorter walks and longer waits. The majority of respondents, Wagg said, prefer a shorter wait time.

Based on this, consultants at JWA produced a second report, outlining four basic concepts for the future of Memphis’ transit system.

Two of the options are revenue neutral. The first, most similar to today’s network is the Coverage concept, in which routes extend well beyond the city’s core into the southern and eastern edges of the city. However, with the focus on coverage, less buses frequent each route causing wait times to be more than 30 minutes, and in most cases, greater than 60.

Contrarily, the second concept, which aims to increase ridership, concentrates services in high-density areas within the I-240 loop. While buses on all routes would run every 30 minutes or less, some neighborhoods, namely in the eastern and southeastern areas of the city, would lose access to services completely.

With about $45 million of additional funding, Wagg said MATA could provide a service that increases bus frequency as well as extends coverage to less dense areas.

[pullquote-1]“If you don’t increase resources, it’ll be painful,” Wagg said.

CEO of MATA Gary Rosenfeld agreed, saying that funding for the city’s transit system has been stagnant for years. “We need to change that for the benefit of the community.”

Wagg said there are two basic concepts, both requiring increased funding, that promote high ridership and further coverage. 

The Coverage PLUS concept would increase bus frequency on all routes and maintain most of the current coverage. With this concept, buses on each route would come every 30 minutes or less. Resources would be equally allocated between services that garner high ridership and those that provide coverage to low-density areas.

The second concept, Ridership PLUS, would use 80 percent of funding for services that increase ridership, while 20 percent would be allocated for services that extend coverage.

Scudder Wagg of Jarrett Walker + Associates

Chart illustrates accessibility from Downtown based on the four different concepts

This concept, Wagg said, has the most frequent services, with five high-frequency routes traveling east-west out of downtown and two going north-south.

Both of these concepts also include replacing fixed route services in Southwest Memphis with a demand responsive transit, or dial-a-ride service. It would run on flexible routes and connect to a new transit center near Mitchell and 3rd Street.

Wagg adds that the concepts are not meant to prompt an “either-or” decision, but rather to provide a range of concepts that “frame the extreme ends.”

Over the next two months, Innovate Memphis staff will lead outreach at transit centers and various community events to survey the public on the four concepts. The survey is also available online. 

After the public engagement wraps up, a recommended network will be drafted in February, with the final vision plan slated to be complete by May.

Categories
News News Blog

UPDATED: MidSouth Coliseum Mothballed in New Plan

Brandon Dill

The main floor of the MidSouth Coliseum.

City officials will mothball the MidSouth Coliseum in a new, $160 million redevelopment project that would transform the MidSouth Fairgrounds as a youth sports destination.

The overall plan calls for building a new youth sports complex. Renovating the Coliseum would cost $40 million, according to city officials. Though, the grassroots Coliseum Coalition has put the figure at $23 million in the past.

“We believe that money is better spent on benefits to the surrounding neighborhoods and communities, as part of Mayor Jim Strickland’s ongoing efforts to reinvest in our core,” reads the city’s Facebook post. “Also, consulting with our experts did not produce a business case to operate the Coliseum on at least a break-even basis every year, meaning that reviving it would very likely mean diverting funds from core services like police and fire.”
[pullquote-1]But the Coliseum won’t be torn down immediately. About $500,000 will be spent “to preserve the Coliseum in its current state.”

City officials plan to pay for the Fairgrounds redevelopment project by creating a new Tourism Development Zone (TDZ) around it. The funding mechanism captures state sales taxes for use in a specific area. Strickland will soon ask Memphis City Council members to approve the plan and then seek state approval to create it.

The Coliseum Coalition has worked for years to preserve the building and it is not happy with the proposal.

“This is unacceptable!” reads a Wednesday-monring post on the group’s Facebook page. “The Coliseum will stand but this proposal will not!”

City officials said they looked at four options for the Coliseum and that their evolution was “in-depth and methodical.”

Their review put the full-renovation price tag at $40 million. To open the building’s concourses would cost $14 million. Demolishing the building would cost $8 million-$10 million. Mothballing it for possible use in the future was $500,000.

“We’ve met with experts on every detail, and we started this process with no preconceived notion of what to do,” officials said. “Instead of spending $40 million on the Coliseum, we would rather spend roughly that same amount on benefits for the surrounding neighborhoods and the community as a whole.

“By preserving the Coliseum, we keep our options open for if and when more capital comes to the table — or if the activity of the youth sports complex changes how potential developers may view the site.”

The plan will get a public hearing on Monday, Nov. 6 at 5:30 p.m. at the Kroc Center.

More Details from Paul Young News Conference

Toby Sells

HCD director Paul Young answers questions about the city’s decision to mothball the MidSouth Coliseum during a news conference Wednesday.

Paul Young, the city’s director of Housing and Community Development (HCD), offered up details on his $160-million redevelopment plan for the Fairgrounds at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

The focal point of the project would be an $80-million youth sports facility that would be built on the former Libertyland site at the southeast part of the property. The site is now a grassy, 18-hole disc golf course.

That facility would attract an expected 500,000 to 1 million people to the site annually, Young said. The north end of the Fairgrounds would be developed with retail. Young did not specify what kinds of retailers the city hopes to attract there.

Young said he wants the new Fairgrounds to be something that can be enjoyed by tourists and the community surrounding the area. For example, he hoped that children in the surrounding neighborhoods would be able to use some of the sports facilities, but noted that the main youth sports facility would be off limits.

He said he will meet with the Coliseum Coalition Thursday and asked the group to “work with us to develop a plan.” He said he has reviewed the Coalition’s $23-million upgrade plan and the group’s business plan to sustain it for the future.

Young said he’ll be working to finalize a pro forma for the Fairgrounds as a youth sports destination in the coming months. He hoped to deliver the plan to the council by January and then take it to the State Building Commission for approval after that.

Categories
News News Blog

Construction of $12.5M Housing Project Near COGIC Headquarters Begins


Construction broke ground Wednesday on the $12.5 million Mason Village Project, a community of 77 townhouses adjacent to the Mason Temple, the Church of God and Christ (COGIC) world headquarters in Memphis.

The 6.3 acre development along E.H. Crump and Fourth, scheduled to be completed by July 2018, will be designated for low-income households with children.

The project is a partnership of the COGIC leadership, John Stanley real estate development company, and the city’s Division of Housing and Community Development, who provided $4 million of funding for the project.

The townhomes will be 2- and 3-bedroom units spread over 30 buildings. There will also be a “community” building, which will house a state-of-the-art computer lab where community computer classes will take place. The community center will also have a gym and spaces for parties and lounging.

CEO of John Stanley, Saki Middleton said helping people be healthy and educated is a major component of the project.

Middleton added that the project aims to provide large families with adequate, affordable living spaces, serving families whose incomes are between $20,000 and $40,000 annually. The rent each family pays will be based on their income and the size of their household and will average between $600 and $1000 a month.

However, Middleton said no household will spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent.

Mayor Jim Strickland said he thinks the Mason Village will show “the community we care” and “provide safe, healthy, affordable housing to people who otherwise might not be able to afford it.”

“Our destiny in this city to me is in our core city,” Strickland said. “Today we celebrate one more meaningful project that will help us reach our goal of a vibrant core Memphis.”



Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Protect the People

CREDIT: Susan Ellis

At 3 p.m. on Saturday, about 250 people gathered in Health Sciences Park around the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.

“Whose city? Whose park?” went one chant.

“The people united will never be defeated,” went another.

Those in support of the statue weren’t overtly present, though there were some reported sightings. Perhaps it was the heat (heat index 105) that kept them at bay.

Protesters tried to drape the statue in a giant cloth banner and made some headway before the action was quashed by police.

One man yelled for the speakers to stop cussing. The response? “We’re here to take the motherfucking statue down!”

A second attempt at draping the statue led to arrests. Protesters surrounded the cop car to keep them from leaving. The car backed up, bumping into some people, which brought a brief but scary flash of Heather Heyer’s murder in Charlottesville. One woman began to sob.

And then another chant: “Protect the people, not the statue.”

At some point during the event, a call was put out for elected officials to come and speak. There was no response.

Meanwhile at the Crosstown Concourse, both Mayor Luttrell and Mayor Strickland were there for the grand opening of the $200 million project that Todd Richardson, one of the masterminds behind Crosstown, called a miracle.

That event drew between 10,000 and 13,000 people. There were two balloon drops. The balloons were green, black, and white.

The protesters at Health Sciences Park want the statues down, yes, but they also demanded equality across the board — in education, in transportation, in how they are treated by the cops.

Protect the people, not the statue.

• It appears as of now that Strickland is determined to follow the letter of the law in regards to the removal of the statues of Forrest and Jefferson Davis, but wouldn’t it be cool if tomorrow when when we woke up, the statues — poof! — were gone? Now, that would be miraculous.

On Sunday, Strickland issued a statement on Facebook after being chastised for “leaning closer and closer toward white supremacist apologetics” by a pastor in The Commercial Appeal. Strickland’s response was testy, to say the least, and read in part, “I want every Memphian to see the divisive, empty rhetoric that the media chooses to highlight. I want every Memphian to see the absurdity of someone accusing the mayor who is actually working on removing Confederate statues as being an apologist for white supremacists.”

This worked out really well for him because now people are calling him Trump.

• This week’s cover story is about the University of Memphis’ football team and primarily their quarterback Riley Ferguson. Last season, Ferguson emerged from under the shadow of Paxton Lynch and did a pretty good job of it.

My takeaway from the story is that the team will win it all.

• One last thing, this Friday, August 25th, is the last day to vote in this year’s Best of Memphis. I may have mentioned before that I will not say if you don’t vote you can’t complain. Complain all you want.

The 2017 Best of Memphis issue will be on the stands September 27th.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Even in his off-duty time, Jim Strickland had to face the weather.

Is there such a thing as time off when you’re Mayor of Memphis? Maybe not. Jim Strickland, the city’s chief executive, made room on his schedule Snday for an opportunity to kick back a little on a Memorial Day weekend stop by the annual Bratfest, co-sponsored by several longtime friends at the Natchez Lane home of Steve and Susan Steffens.

The backyard affair, a cookout featuring brats, burgers, chips, drinks, and whatever sides guests chose to bring, looked the same as always, but there was a difference. If it happened to rain — something that looked ominously possible for most of the afternoon and evening — guests lacked the usual recourse of taking the party inside.

For on Natchez Lane, as in much of the city after Saturday night’s torrential downpour-cum-windstorm, there was no power. And that circumstance dominated much of the general conversation, as well as a fair amount of Strickland’s time during his roughly hour-long attendance.

The mayor was kept busy at the Bratfest detailing the steps that various organs of local government, assisted by regional power companies, the Red Cross, and other agencies, were taking to deal with the fallout from this latest weather catastrophe. Beyond the obvious matters of clearing away felled trees, repairing power lines, and restoring essential utilities, there were human-service issues to deal with.

And, mixed in with such small talk as he was able to manage, Strickland fielded questions from attendees on such questions as:

Whether Memphis was officially a sanctuary city vis-a-vis the Trump administration’s potential immigration crackdowns (it isn’t, technically, though the mayor is standing by his position that the Memphis Police Department has no role in rounding up supposed violators);

Whether the city could follow the example of New Orleans in removing its Confederate statuaries (it can’t, because of state law prohibiting such action, though Strickland repeated his openness to the idea of relocating such memorials);

How police recruitment was going (well, according to Strickland, thanks to progressively larger recruit classes; from a recent low of 1,941 officers, he projects something like 2100 members of the MPD by 2019).

And, over and over again, when it was likely that power would be back on throughout the city.

On that last matter, Strickland didn’t sugar-coat things; he said the course of full restoration would likely take a week. (Update: he was able to announce on Tuesday that that the number of MLGW customers without power had been reduced from 188,000 to 63,988.)

In the course of the Memorial Day weekend, Strickland would avail himself of numerous tweets and Facebook entries to discuss the weather crisis, submit to several TV interviews, find time to attend Memorial Day ceremonies, and maintain contact with emergency officials.

And, at Bratfest, Strickland did manage to deal with one wholly personal issue: In answer to a former playing partner’s challenge, he resolved to resume playing Ping-pong on the table he keeps in his garage at home. (Progress on that point will be reported in this space.)

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Memphis and Shelby County Focus on Creating Opportunity for Minority and Women Contractors

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

It was a couple of weeks ago that a group of Memphis contractors gathered in East Memphis for a fund-raiser to benefit the city’s mayor. It was a hastily arranged affair, but with only three days’ notice, the group of builders had been able to put together a kitty of $18,500. Not too shabby.

The foregoing paragraph, or something like it, could have been written at various times over the last several decades of Memphis history. It has surely happened over and over — contractors hobnobbing with their city’s chief executive and, depending on how one looks at it, either giving him a pat on the back for his performance and friendship or scratching that back with hopes of getting some scratch back later on in the form of city business.

What distinguished this circumstance from the great majority of similar such events preceding it over the years was that the assembled well-wishers were, with few exceptions, African Americans, and their tribute, considered either as praise or as a proffered quid pro quo, was presented in self-evident sincerity and good faith.

So was the response of the beneficiary, Mayor Jim Strickland, a white man and the first member of his race to hold Memphis’ prime leadership position in a quarter of a century.

“We measure what we do,” Strickland told his hosts. “We measure how long it takes to answer a 911 call. We measure crime. We measure how long it takes us to fill potholes. We also measure how we do on minority- and women-owned business contracts.”

Strickland went on to state for the record that, when he took office not quite a year-and-a-half ago, some 12 percent of city construction work was going to minority contractors. It had grown to 16 percent on his watch, he trumpeted. “That’s 33 percent in one year!”

But he followed up that heady statistic with one that was (no other way to put it) dismaying. “Twenty-five years ago, only 1 percent of the businesses in Memphis were owned by African Americans,” he reminded the gathering. “And today it’s still the same,” Strickland lamented.

“City government needs to lead the way,” the mayor said, going on to proclaim, “For the first time ever, employees are being evaluated on their minority contracting at City Hall.” And he finished up with an exhortation to the group: “If you’re not certified as a credentialed builder, go downtown and get certified!”

This event didn’t come to pass in a vacuum. Giving Mayor Strickland the benefit of the doubt, city government may, in fact, be attempting to lead the way in contracting reform. But this is one of those exercises that requires coordination in the community at large, and at least two other major entities are all in on the effort, as well.

Simultaneously, the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce, in an announcement this week, has set a goal for 2017 of seeing “600 total new contracts for minority- and women-owned enterprises (MWBE) and locally owned small businesses (LOSB). …”

And the Shelby County Commission, which over the past year devoted commendable time and energy to the preparation of an in-depth disparity study, has seen its own MWBE/LOSB efforts redoubled and then some, voting both to expand the existing county Equal Opportunity Compliance office (EOC) and to endow a brand new office entrusted with the task of actively seeking out women and minority contractors.

Yep, it takes a village.

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Memphis’ Big River Crossing is a Game-Changer

CREDIT: bigrivercrossing.com

bigrivercrossing.com

As is well known, the city of Memphis sprawls a good bit. In fact, we are used to hearing politicians contend that, area-wise, Memphis is larger than Chicago, although that claim has an apocryphal ring to anyone who has driven through the Windy City from north to south.

It is undeniable, though, that over the weekend an event occurred on the downtown side of Memphis that will both magnify its size and extend its borders enormously in the eyes of the outside world.

This was the event known as the Big River Crossing, a commemoration that occurred in tandem with the completion of the Main Street to Main Street project that now links downtown Memphis with downtown West Memphis — and does so via an innovative pedestrian/bicycle pathway extending all the way across a refurbished Harahan Bridge, heretofore used only by trains. At night, moreover, the bridge has the capacity to be visually spectacular, thanks to a lighting system that can shine in “architectural white” or, as it did on Saturday and Sunday nights, in dazzling rainbow colors.

This new addition to the city’s landscape is no serendipity. It is the result of years of visionary thinking and liberally applied elbow grease on the part of several local pioneers, who, in tandem with counterparts across the river in Arkansas, worked together to accomplish what, at first blush, had seemed a crazy idea, even to some of its most avid backers.

The father of this project is the distinguished trader/investor Charlie McVean, but he had help in designing it, funding it, and executing it from a host of others — notably the late Jim Young of Union Pacific Railroad in Little Rock, who overcame his industry’s bias against shared rail/pedestrian structures, and 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen, who went to bat for the project in Washington and ended up making it possible through the acquisition of a $15 million TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant that completed the necessary funding package.

The TIGER grant not only significantly underwrote the project (technically known as the Main Street to Main Street Multi-Modal Connector Project) but also made it possible for both of the bookend cities, Memphis and West Memphis, to undertake significant rehabilitation of their downtown cores. It is one of those rare circumstances from which environmentalists and urban-growth enthusiasts can both take heart.

And McVean and his collaborators aren’t resting on their laurels. They imagine further work on the adjoining Mississippi River levees that would result in a recreational artery extending all the way to New Orleans and to the creation of what would be, in McVean’s words, the world’s largest land park.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Breaking the Lull

The period from mid-August to Labor Day has, in Memphis as elsewhere, traditionally been a lull time, politically, and so it is this year, after the conclusion of the latest vote cycle, the county general election and state and federal primaries of August 4th.

Even in an election year, public attention to politics generally goes on siesta for a few weeks before kicking up again in the stretch run of a fall election, to be held this year on November 8th.

clay maquette of suffrage statue

This is not to say that events of significance don’t happen in the meantime. Here are a few:

A labor of many years will finally be on view in its final form next Friday, August 26th, which has been designated as Women’s Equality Day, with the unveiling in Nashville of sculptor Alan LeQuire’s monument to Tennessee’s role in the ratification of the 19th, or Women’s Suffrage, Amendment.

The statue, which depicts five Tennessee suffragists involved in the effort to gain the vote for women, will be unveiled in Nashville’s Centennial Park. It is the result of years of private fund-raising efforts overseen by the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument, Inc., a foundation whose president is Paula Casey, of Memphis. 

Casey, who has long been involved in efforts to memorialize the Tennessee suffrage movement, was editorial coordinator for The Perfect 36, a 1998 commemorative history of the Tennessee suffragist movement co-written by Janann Sherman and the late Carol Lynn Yellin, also of Memphis. 

The unveiling will take place at 11 a.m. Participants will include Mayors Jim Strickland of Memphis, Megan Barry of Nashville, Kim McMillan of Clarksville, and Madeline Rogero of Knoxville.

In addition to the unveiling, the ceremony will include special recognition of three contemporary “Tennessee Trailblazers,” the late state Representative Lois DeBerry, of Memphis, the first woman to be elected Speaker Pro Tempore and the longest-serving member of the House at the time of her death in 2013; the late Jane Eskind, the first woman elected to statewide office; and state Representative Beth Halteman Harwell, the first woman to be elected Speaker of the state House of Representatives.

• The most extended discussion at Monday’s regular meeting of the Shelby County Commission concerned the merits of allowing a new gravel pit to be dug by Standard Construction Company near a neighborhood area in unincorporated Shelby County. That issue was stoutly resisted by residents of the area and was eventually referred back to the commission’s land use, planning, transportation, and codes committee.

But, for the first time in recent memory, the commission managed to elect a new chairman — Melvin Burgess Jr. — by acclamation. Usually these annual transfers of the gavel involve multi-layered power struggles and require multiple ballotings before a winner is decided. Not this trip.

In fact, kumbaya was the order of the day. Outgoing chairman Terry Roland, a Republican, got a standing ovation from his colleagues and a verbal tribute from Walter Bailey, the commission’s longest-serving Democrat. In his turn, Roland, who is given to bear hugs anyway, bestowed a full-fledged embrace on successor Burgess, also a Democrat.

• The executive committee of the Shelby County Democratic Party and state party chair Mary Mancini of Nashville disagree again. The local party committee voted last week to deny former chairman Bryan Carson — accused by some of bad fiscal management, and by others of outright embezzlement — the right to claim bona fides as a Democrat. 

Mancini, who has insisted that the local party accept a modest payback agreement with Carson, countered that the party bona fides can only be lifted if one is a would-be candidate and has failed to vote in three of the five previous party primary elections.

Categories
News News Blog

Rallings Selected for Police Director Job

Michael Rallings

Memphis Police Interim Director Michael Rallings has been chosen to fill the permanent police director role, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced on Facebook Sunday afternoon.

Rallings had put his name in the hat for the job to fill the position vacated by former director Toney Armstrong. But Strickland conducted a national search and was also considering Malik Aziz (deputy chief of the Dallas Police Department), Patrick Melvin (former chief of the Salt River Police Department in Arizona), Joseph Sullivan (chief inspector of the Philadelphia Police Department), Branville Bard (police chief and director of public safety with the Philadelphia Housing Authority), and Richard Bash (deputy chief of police at the Columbus Police Department in Ohio).

Here’s Strickland’s statement from Facebook:

“I promised Memphians that I would find the best possible police director in the nation to meet our city’s needs. After a comprehensive process in which I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of our candidates, I’m convinced the best leader for Memphis Police Department est.1827 is Michael Rallings.
So today, I offered our interim director the title of director. And I’m thrilled to share with you that he accepted.

You already know that Director Rallings is tested and has what it takes for this demanding job. I’m impressed with his commitment and results both in fighting crime and leading a fair, responsible and trustworthy police department.

My appointment is the product of a national search I promised in my campaign. Our six recommended candidates interviewed Wednesday, and to ensure a broad cross-section of input on the hire, I also included panels representing law enforcement, the community, the city administration and civic leaders.

We’ll hold a news conference Monday (which we’ll stream live here), and I’ll be presenting my appointment to the City Council Tuesday.

I hope you’ll join me in congratulating Michael Rallings!”