The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) said their primary goals are to improve the agency’s operational and financial viability as interim leadership continues efforts to transform the agency.
Today the interim leadership team, comprised of TransPro consultants, gave a monthly update to Memphis City Council’s transportation committee.
John Lewis, interim CEO, said the leadership team has reviewed all non-employee spending to identify “unnecessary and redundant” charges while also stopping “non-safety certification-related travels” for MATA personnel. They have also changed the employee expense reimbursement policies.
“The majority of spending has got to be focused on putting transit service on the street and not towards supporting unnecessary or redundant administrative funding, as has been the practice in the past,” Lewis said.
Officials also said they have gained access to the agency’s American Express account to suspend usage and look into the previous spending. Lewis said this is to stop future misappropriation of agency funds.
Aaron Headley, interim CFO, said MATA is also working to optimize the city’s investment. They are currently working on minimizing the amount of past-due payments with a target of less than 10 percent.
Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas questioned whether the agency had the data to show optimization of the city’s investment, to which officials said this is an intended outcome.
The presentation showed that the amount of past due payables was at 94 percent as of March 7th, and it stayed the same as of March 26th. Headley said this is because they are “laser-focused” on getting more buses on the road and making sure they don’t run out of money.
Lewis said they are working to finalize their FY26 budget with extra focus on “eliminating wasteful spending” from both administration and vendor services.
Councilman Jeff Warren questioned whether or not the agency could switch to smaller buses on routes that aren’t as full. He suggested that this may be a better spend than to continue purchasing larger buses as they could improve cost-saving measures, efficiency, and timeliness.
Lewis explained there are opportunities for smaller vehicles; however, their main concern is stabilizing the agency.
“Getting into service design is further down the road for us,” Lewis said.
Warren responded that stabilizing the agency may be difficult if only a percentage of buses are available to complete routes.
Thomas asked if they are able to receive the data that the agency is using to complete their monthly reports even though officials said they are “ongoing.” Board chair Edmund Ford Sr. said that questions such as these could not be discussed in regular session, but rather in attorney-client session.
Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton asked how MATA plans to rebuild the community’s trust in terms of reliability and on-time performance. She said the current model is a “failing” one and advised MATA to not ask for more money if they plan to do the same thing.
“I understand that getting the money is most important, but getting the trust back — what does your model look like?” Sutton asked. “More service on the street, but you don’t have the people to ride. They’ve made other means because they were forced into a place where they had to find other means.”
Anna McQuiston, vice chair of MATA’s board of commissioners, said the interim leadership team realizes that community trust is broken, yet she didn’t think the model was broken; rather, the agency did not deliver on their promises.
“Our number-one priority right now is to deliver on the service that we tell people we’re going to provide,” McQuiston said. “We’re not doing that right now. We’ve got to deliver on time. We need the buses to show up, and that to me is the first step of many that we need to make to build back that community trust. That has been one of the priorities the board has asked for considering all these things.”
Bacarra Maudlin, former Interim CEO of MATA (Photo Credit: Memphis Area Transit Authority)
Bacarra Mauldin, former interim CEO of the Memphis Area Transit Authority, has been fired by the agency. The decision was made by acting CEO of John Lewis and backed by MATA’s board of commissioners.
“This action follows an internal investigation which concluded that Ms. Mauldin violated MATA’s Procurement and Travel Policy, and did not take sufficient steps to ensure compliance among her direct reports,” a statement from the agency said. “These findings represent a serious breach of the standards and expectations we uphold for all MATA leadership and staff.”
Earlier this month, officials revealed that a “preliminary review of FY24 General Administrative expenses,” which showed that out of $9.9 million, $848,000 was spent in discretionary spending. This included $603,000 in sponsorship of the Memphis Grizzlies and $144,000 in “other AMEX purchases.”
Officials said this did not include charges for travel and meetings.
“We asked for detailed statements of that, had to do some digging with American Express — the agency at the time did not have itemized monthly bills, which was not a best practice to say the least,” Lewis said. “After we received itemized statements going back the last couple of years, we found within those purchases, seemingly non-business-related purchases.”
Lewis said these included $5,000 in payments via PayPal and Venmo, $7,000 in purchases at BestBuy, $10,000 in party equipment rental, $30,000 in customizable purchases, and $1,200 in Montblanc purchases to name a few.
He added that they brought this to the attention of the city auditor, and as a result the state comptroller has been notified. Lewis and his team has been advised to seek outside counsel for a more thorough investigation.
At the time, officials said “the former leadership that had possession of the AMEX card has been placed on administrative leave.”
“While personnel matters are typically confidential, we acknowledge the public interest in this situation, given the leadership role involved,” MATA said in a statement. “ Our focus moving forward is to ensure stability, restore trust, and continue providing safe, reliable, and equitable transit services for the people of Memphis.”
Mauldin was named interim CEO following the retirement of former CEO Gary Rosenfeld in February 2024.
The Memphis Area Transit Authority’s leadership contributed to a majority of missed trips last year by removing routes from its published schedule. Interim CEO and TransPro consultant John Lewis called the move a “deliberate” decision by previous management to “mask service cuts from the public.”
This information was revealed during the Interim CEO report at the March 7th Board of Commissioners meeting. Officials said the schedule deletions had been going on “as far back as April of last year (2024).”
“We knew we weren’t delivering 20 percent of the published schedule,” an official said during the meeting.
With customer satisfaction being touted as a priority, officials are now working to improve their on-time performance (OTP). They reported 64 percent of buses arrived “between one minute early and 5 minutes late” in January 2025.
Those numbers exclude the 29 percent of missed trips — which the agency said are trips that were never completed. Leadership went on to say in order for the schedule to be “executed,” drivers are able to pick their routes, but MATA leadership took 20 percent of the rides off of the published schedule.
“Even in a universe where we have buses and spares and operators we know are ready and willing to drive, we could not have delivered that because those weren’t available routes to drive,” the official said. “We never had a chance to perform them.
Lewis added that any schedule changes are subject to board approval.
“I’m mad as hell after hearing this,” Commissioner Cynthia Bailey said. “So, all this time they was violating and had the customers acting [a] ass here, it was their fault, or it never came out? So they was giving false information to the customers? I’m mad as hell.”
Lewis said they are “pursuing consequences” to the individuals who had knowledge of the schedule changes, and they are further investigating the issue.
“I have long stated that MATA had a priority problem and MATA was [more] concerned about the administration than the ridership,” said Johnnie Mosley, founding chairman of Citizens for Better Service. “Memphis must demand that MATA do right by bus riders. Bus riders have suffered too long as a result of lack of leadership.”
One of the key points that officials have tried to improve is the city’s trust in MATA — specifically as stewards of public funds. Leadership pointed to a September 2024 survey of 388 Memphians in which only 26 percent of responders said they deemed the agency trustworthy of taxpayer’s dollars.
“Over time, and with proper financial governance and transparency, the team will strive to improve the community’s faith in MATA,” officials said during a presentation at the meeting.
Lewis said TransPro performed a “preliminary review of FY24 General Administrative expenses,” which showed that out of $9.9 million, $848,000 was spent in discretionary spending. This included $603,000 in sponsorship of the Memphis Grizzlies and $144,000 in “other AMEX purchases.”
Officials said this did not include charges for travel and meetings.
“We asked for detailed statements of that, had to do some digging with American Express — the agency at the time did not have itemized monthly bills, which was not a best practice to say the least,” Lewis said. “After we received itemized statements going back the last couple of years, we found within those purchases, seemingly non-business-related purchases.”
Lewis said these included $5,000 in payments via PayPal and Venmo, $7,000 in purchases at BestBuy, $10,000 in party equipment rental, $30,000 in customizable purchases, and $1,200 in Montblanc purchases to name a few.
“These don’t seem to be necessarily transit related,” Lewis said.
He went on to say they brought this to the attention of the city auditor, and as a result the state comptroller has been notified. Lewis and his team has been advised to seek outside counsel for a more thorough investigation.
The former leadership that had possession of the AMEX card has been placed on administrative leave, officials said.
The agency’s Board of Commissioners in conjunction with leadership have established that their main expectations are to enhance customer service, provide financial transparency, develop “public facing metrics,” and increase bus route coverage and frequency.
MATA hopes these outcomes will result in improved trust in the community and satisfied customers, and optimization of the city’s investment. In terms of financials, the agency hopes to provide a balanced budget with “operating expenses [being] less than or equal to available revenue.”
Memphis Mayor Paul Young answers question on xAI, MATA, and more in an AMA. (Credit: City of Memphis)
Memphis Mayor Paul Young answered questions about wide-ranging topics in his AMA (Ask Me Anything) session in the Memphis subreddit Monday.
Memphis Redditors wanted to know his positions on Elon Musk and his xAI supercomputer, what’s happening at the Memphis Area Transit Authority, why the road from Memphis International Airport is so bad, what he thought of the Dr. Marie Feagins/Memphis Shelby-County Schools situation, drive-out tags, and more.
Young responded with (what appeared to be) pretty straight-forward answers.
On Elon Musk, for example: Young said he understood “why some people are wary of working with a billionaire who has a larger-than-life personality, but I separate the personality from the project.” He explained that city, county, and state taxes invested around $100 million in the Electrolux facility and it was sitting vacant. Now, with, xAI it’s drawn a $10 billion investment here that could mean “tens of millions of dollars annually in tax revenue.”
Below, we’ve pulled most of the answered questions from the AMA:
The Memphis Area Transit Authority’s (MATA) Board of Commissioners voted to enter an agreement to let TransPro consultants assume interim leadership roles.
A resolution was passed 7-1 during today’s special board meeting despite open concerns from citizens. In December MATA’s board of commissioners voted 5-4 in favor of working with the city and TransPro on a contract initiating the change.
As proposed, TransPro employees would take over as interim CEO (John Lewis), interim COO (Steve Hamelin), and interim CFO (Aaron Headley). TransPro said this would be to “enhance the reliability, timeliness, and customer satisfaction of mobility services offered by MATA.”
The resolution indicated that TransPro submitted their “Phase 2 Proposal” to the city of Memphis which outlines a “comprehensive plan” for MATA addressing accountability, service quality, safety, and operational efficiency. This includes reviewing current bus routes, schedules, ridership, and more.
Prior to being approved, the resolution has prompted concerns from riders for multiple reasons such as the cost for their consulting. At the agency’s last board meeting, a board member noted that the “interim part-time CEO” would be making $400K.
TransPro’s oversight will last for eight months, will cost the city $1,298,023, and will be paid in “non-federal funds.” The bulk of the costs stem from labor, totaling $1,018,989. The firm promises their oversight will benefit MATA in many ways including accountability and financial compliance and management.
Community members agree that the agency is in need of new leadership, but believe these funds would better be allocated towards helping ridership directly.
“We have long said that MATA was more concerned about spending money on the leadership than the ridership,” Citizens for Better Service said in a statement. “We need a leadership that will put the ridership first. MATA is in need of new leadership which must begin the process of transforming MATA into a first-class public transportation system.”
Citizens also voiced their concerns during the special meeting, asking the board to consider their well-being in their decision making, while also citing their skepticism for entering a contract with TransPro.
Many also voiced their support for interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin, with some asking that the board give her more time to act in her capacity to help fix the agency’s woes.
Organizations such as Better Transit for A Better Memphis asked that MATA collaborate with them and other advocacy groups in conversations with TransPro moving forward as well.
Prior to the vote — after hearing comments from both citizens and operators — the board stated that this was a “crisis management” move and that the board was responsible for holding TransPro accountable.
Public transportation is a big issue in Memphis. As Flyer writer Kailyn Johnson has reported, MATA is in deep disarray. Maybe it’s time to hand things over to the real professionals. Maybe it’s time to call in GloRilla.
And why not? GloRilla has a track record of success. Her debut long player Glorious peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her tour with Megan Thee Stallion was the hottest thing in stadiums not involving Taylor Swift. This weekend, she’ll make her national television debut as the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live.” She’s unstoppable.
As we see in her latest music video, “Hollon,” Glo knows how to do mass transit right. Directed by Troy Roscoe, the video shows our hero in the driver’s seat where she belongs. If riders are at first turned off by her cannabis-forward commute, they come around by the time they reach their destination, which we can only assume is Party Central. Get on the bus.
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
So, like, apparently, 2025 is around the corner. Around the corner of what? From what? That’s just semantics. And at the Flyer, we’re basically already in 2025. That’s just how our deadlines are — always working a week ahead, or maybe two days ahead. Because of that, we can see into the future. Not really, but here are some of our predictions/expectations/hopes for the new year in Memphis.
In the Headlines
Police Reforms
It’s easy to predict that reforms for the Memphis Police Department (MPD) will dominate headlines at least in the early part of 2025.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) blistering review of the agency said police here used excessive force (which included tons of Tasers and pepper spray), discriminated against Black residents, and used harsh tactics against children. The review came after the beating death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of MPD officers in 2023.
The DOJ wants to enter into a consent decree with the city. This would install federal monitors to watch and make sure reforms are moving ahead. But, so far, local leaders, including Memphis Mayor Paul Young, have said they don’t want the monitors for various reasons, including the fact that consent decrees cost too much money.
Young has promised to reform MPD in-house. Criminal justice reform advocates say they want the DOJ oversight because the police should not police themselves.
The need for reform comes, too, as the city prepares to pay what could be a $500-million verdict in the civil suit to the family of Nichols’ for his death.
Photo: Frank Gaertner | Dreamstime.com
Cannabis Fight
Cannabis will certainly be in Tennessee news in 2025.
Rules that would ban smokeable products containing THCA were issued from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) in January 2024. Industry leaders fought the rules all last year. A lawsuit on the matter was pending as of press time.
TDA says THCA goes over the legal THC limit when it’s burned or smoked. This gets consumers high, which is why a lot of conservatives don’t want “intoxicating” cannabis products. Their ability to get consumers high is why the industry says these products — allowed by laws passed by the legislature — are so popular and are a major portion of their business.
Those industry leaders complained that bureaucrats, not elected officials, made the new rules. So expect legislation from the Tennessee General Assembly when they reconvene in January 2025.
Pissed About Reappraisals
Also, expect your property taxes to go up — maybe way up.
January will bring a new property tax appraisal in Shelby County. And Shelby County Property Assessor Melvin Burgess began warning locals about this in 2024, maybe to try to get folks used to the idea.
In an August news release, Burgess said data showed property values increasing. That will likely mean a “significant increase in tax assessments” for homeowners. And that means higher taxes.
Add higher assessments to the Memphis City Council’s new 49-cent property tax rate hike approved in 2024, and it could mean outrage when those tax bills hit mailboxes.
Photo: Ford Co.
BlueOval City
More concern and hand-wringing is likely on deck for Ford’s BlueOval City project next year.
Expectations were high when Ford unveiled the project in 2021. The $5.6 billion manufacturing facility in Tennessee was the largest investment in the state’s history. Since then crews have been hard at work raising the massive plant on six square miles of West Tennessee about an hour from Memphis.
However, global electric vehicle (EV) demand softened. While the automaker planned to begin production of its all-electric Ford Lightning truck here next year, it pushed production back to 2027. In that time, the company awaits lower-cost battery technology and a higher demand for EVs in general. In that time, too, worries will persist about the future of Ford in West Tennessee. Still, the company did pull Santa behind a Lightning in the recent Brownsville Christmas parade. — Toby Sells
MATA
2024 will be remembered as the year in which conversation regarding transit consistently found its way to the forefront. And Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) has faced a tumultuous year — from the revelation of the $60 million deficit that the agency had been operating under, to the route and staff cuts, to the entire board’s dismissal.
The new board decided to pause proposed changes until February 2025. While this temporarily stalled one problem, questions over MATA’s future and leadership prevail.
On Tuesday, December 17th, the MATA board voted to continue negotiating a contract that could lead to temporary leadership changes. If approved, TransPro employees would take over as interim CEO, CFO, and COO for eight months. The proposal prompted several questions from board members, but they voted to form a committee to gain more clarity.
Looking ahead, the board will need to address the February 2025 changes which could lead to service cuts and layoffs. The agency will also need to identify more funding sources, while potentially welcoming a new team of leadership. — Kailynn Johnson
Political Forecast
The coming year happens to be the one year out of every four-year cycle in which there are no major elections scheduled in Memphis/Shelby County. But that is not to suggest that there will not be intense political activity. In fact, potential candidates for the county, state, and federal offices in the elections of 2026 will be working feverishly during the year to organize and declare their campaigns. At stake will be contests for Shelby County mayor, to succeed the term-limited Mayor Lee Harris, and for the 13 members of the county commission, as well as races for governor, the state legislature, Congress, and the U.S. Senate seat now held by incumbent Republican Bill Hagerty.
Announcements of candidacies for these offices should be forthcoming early in 2025.
There will be one more major attempt by Governor Bill Lee and his allies in the Republican legislative supermajority to pass comprehensive school voucher legislation when the Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes in January. Preliminary estimates are that this time the measure to extend taxpayer-funded private school stipends statewide has good chances for passage. Also to be expected are further efforts by GOP members to impose stricter controls (or more severe usurpations) on the law enforcement infrastructure of Shelby County. It remains to be seen if GOP state Senator Brent Taylor gains any traction in his effort to seek legislative removal of Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy.
Both major political parties in Shelby County will be selecting new chairs, the Republicans in January, the Democrats in April. State GOP chair Scott Golden of Jackson was reelected in December, but Democrats will be choosing a new leader in January to succeed Hendrell Remus. One of the major candidates is state Representative Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in November.
The Shelby County Commission will face the new year not only with some last-minute updates in its funding priorities, but with a stepped-up formula for establishing a budget and meting out allocations. In an effort to adhere to previous commitments to build two new schools for Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Mayor Harris and the commission will be seeking means to compensate for lower than anticipated revenue aid from the state government.
Both local governments may come in for support and new modes for inter-governmental cooperation through the aegis of a newly formed and privately endowed ad hoc organization called More for Memphis. But the mechanics and prospects for such an arrangement remain obscure, for the moment. — Jackson Baker
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) dunks the ball. (Photo: Wes Hale)
On the Roster
One year without playoff basketball for our Memphis Grizzlies is quite enough, thank you. A trio of healthy star guards (Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart) and the addition of a towering rookie center (Zach Edey) have the Grizzlies near the top of the NBA’s Western Conference standings. Better yet, the Grizz are among the top scoring teams in the Association, averaging more than 120 points per game. Where might this take a franchise that’s reached the conference finals only once in three decades? Go back to that word: healthy.
Morant only played in nine games a season ago (he served a lengthy suspension before his shoulder injury). Smart only played in 20. Bane barely played half the season (42 games). The end result was a 27-55 campaign. Morant is an All-NBA talent, Smart a former Defensive Player of the Year, and Bane an All-Star-to-be. If they stay on the floor through April, Memphis could well reverse that 2023-24 record and earn a top-four seed for the postseason. Can the West be won? Five different teams have gone to the Finals out of the Western Conference the last five seasons. There’s no current behemoth that would be considered unbeatable in May. The NBA Finals at FedExForum? Let’s believe.
At the college level, coach Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers captured attention in November with an upset of Connecticut — the two-time defending national champions — at the Maui Invitational, bringing enough attention to climb into the Top 25 (16th) before an upset at home to Arkansas State. Is this another fall tease like the 2023-24 season, the Tigers setting up an immense fan base for a middling conference schedule? The answer is in the hands of two more star guards: transfers PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter. A pair of glass-cleaning rim protectors — Dain Dainja and Moussa Cissé — give Memphis something it didn’t have a year ago, suggesting a repeat of the winter blues may be unlikely. A December upset of Clemson on the road and a less-than-intimidating American Athletic Conference are positive signs for a return to the NCAA tournament.
There will be life after basketball season for Memphis sports. Baseball America’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Quinn Mathews, will likely start the 2025 season with the Memphis Redbirds. Another pair of rising stars — pitcher Tink Hence and infielder JJ Wetherholt — have AutoZone Park in their sights. The Redbirds hope to end a postseason drought that dates back to 2018. The club will open the season with an exhibition against the parent St. Louis Cardinals on March 24th.
On the gridiron, the Memphis Tigers will enter their 2025 season on a pair of impressive streaks. The program has reached bowl eligibility 11 consecutive seasons and has scored at least 20 points in 40 consecutive games, tops in the country. Antwann Hill, the highest-ranked quarterback ever signed by Memphis, will don blue and gray for the first time and hope to replicate the success enjoyed by the departed record-setting Seth Henigan. One nugget Hill could grab that Henigan didn’t: a conference championship. — Frank Murtaugh
Mickey 17
Coming Soon
It’s not so much that 2025 is getting off to a slow start as 2024 finished strong. Christmas week brought a torrent of new releases beyond the usual awards season crush. So you can spend your first week of dry January catching up with titles like Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, directed by Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins; the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet and directed by Walk The Line’s James Mangold; and Babygirl, an erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman. I will never understand the decision to release Robert Egger’s vampire creepfest Nosferatu on Christmas instead of two weeks before Halloween, but you should probably see it if you’re into that kind of thing.
It’s not until January 10th that we get our first new releases of the new year, and that’s Den of Thieves 2: Pantera starring Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. The next week things start to pick up again with Wolf Man, a Blumhouse horror reboot of the lupine Universal monster. One of Them Days is a buddy comedy with Keke Palmer and SZA, which sounds promising. The month closes out with comedy: You’re Cordially Invited starring Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, and an alligator.
In February, somebody learned the lesson about seasonal programming and scheduled Love Hurts for the week before Valentine’s Day. It’s an action comedy starring Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose. On the holiday proper, we’ve got Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Captain America: Brave New World, a combo which is sure to provoke many lovers’ quarrels over Valentine date night viewing. Then there’s The Monkey from Osgood Perkins, so that’ll be weird/scary. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is a sci-fi Bugs Bunny feature aimed directly at me. Paul W. S. Anderson adapts George R.R. Martin’s In the Lost Lands.
March comes in with Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s dip into horror, Sinners, and the Zambian black comedy On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. March 14th is a showdown between Steven Soderbergh’s techno thriller Black Bag and Avengers maestros Russo brothers’ The Electric State. Disney’s live action Snow White boasts a screenplay by Greta Gerwig and stars Rachel Zegler as the drowsy protagonist.
In April, many of you will be dragged to A Minecraft Movie. I am eagerly awaiting Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattinson as a disposable space hero. Blockbuster season starts in May with Marvel’s first swing of the year, Thunderbolts. The ever-creative Michel Gondry’s first musical, Golden, bows on May 9th, and the millennials’ favorite ambient horror franchise Final Destination: Bloodlines follows on the 16th. The 23rd looks to be a showdown between Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch reboot. June’s looking stacked with a John Wick spin-off Ballerina, Pixar’s Elio, the How to Train Your Dragon reboot, and the long awaited zombie capper 28 Years Later. July’s got James Gunn’s Superman, a new Jurassic World film for some reason, and The Smurfs Movie. August closes out the summer with Freakier Friday and the Paul Thomas Anderson crimer One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
October brings Tron: Ares, but besides The Black Phone 2, looks pretty slim on horror. In November, we come back after the intermission with Wicked: For Good, and Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man. December will be dominated by Avatar: Fire and Ash. Never bet against James Cameron. — Chris McCoy
Yo-Yo Ma (Photo: Courtesy MSO)
Live Music, Ho!
A multitude of ways to ring in the new with live bands await you on New Year’s Eve. Growlers will host Blacklist Union, Line So Thin, and Josey Scott, erstwhile lead singer for Saliva who won acclaim as a solo artist with “Hero” from the Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man. For something completely different, crooner Gary Johns will serenade Beauty Shop patrons that night, while Bar DKDC sports another incredible singer, Jesse James Davis, from big beats to ballads, not to mention the dance-inducing bounce of Bodywerk. For some Beale bounce and soul, aside from the street party, Eric Gales tops the Rum Boogie bill and the B.B. King All Stars shine at their namesake club. Or tribute bands can bring yesteryear alive, with Louder Than Bombs’ Smiths sounds at B-Side, or Play Some Skynyrd and Aquanet at Lafayette’s Music Room. Prefer freshly spun wax? That’s it’s own kind of live. Try DJ Funktual at Eight & Sand.
Once January is underway, our musical arts institutions resume their 2024-25 seasons. The Iris Collective will present the New York-based Overlook Quartet in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts on January 16th, showcasing music’s healing powers through meditative practice. On the edgier tip, Iris’ March 8th concert at Germantown United Methodist Church, with guest violinist Elena Urioste spotlights works by Max Richter, Astor Piazzolla, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Meanwhile, Germantown Performing Arts Center will present the groovier side of innovation with bassist-composer Meshell Ndegeocello’s show, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, on January 11th. And Opera Memphis brings Carmen in late January.
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra comes out swinging with its tribute to the “American Maestro,” Leonard Bernstein, on January 18th and 19th, in a program culminating with his Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Another maestro will be celebrated a month later, when the MSO welcomes guest soloist Yo-Yo Ma February 25th at the Cannon Center of Performing Arts.
On the more rocking side of things, early January marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley, and Graceland Live will honor it in style with shows spanning January 8th to 10th. Yet the venue has lately embraced some distinctly non-Presley-esque music as well, like the February 6th appearance by 21st-century rockers Theory of a Deadman (an Elvis reference?), experimenting with an unplugged approach to their heavy sound. The unplugged aesthetic will also be celebrated at the Halloran Centre’s Memphis Songwriters Series, with Mark Edgar Stuart welcoming Hannah Blaylock, Rice Drewry, and Raneem Imam on January 6th. Soon after, Sweet Honey in the Rock will bring the raw power of the human voice to the Halloran on January 24th. And speaking of powerful voices, Mary J. Blige will appear “For My Fans” — like some of us who saw her in 1995— at the FedExForum on February 2nd.
But what’s a mere human voice compared to The Man-Machine? Many are laser-focused on Kraftwerk taking over the Overton Park Shell on March 25th. For the Wo-Man-Machine, see the twin-goddess cyber-hybrid multimedia of Marcella Simien and Talibah Safiya at Crosstown Theater January 25th. For everything in between, scan our weekly After Dark listings to see the artists making it happen in our thriving smaller clubs every day. — Alex Greene
The Memphis Area Transit Authority’s (MATA) current administration may be replaced by consultants from the transportation consulting agency, TransPro.
The news comes after the agency’s new board of commissioners voted 5-4 during yesterday’s board meeting for the MATA board to continue to work with the city and TransPro on a contract initiating the change.
As proposed, TransPro employees would take over as interim CEO (John Lewis), interim COO (Steve Hamelin) and interim CFO (Aaron Headley). TransPro said this would be to “enhance the reliability, timeliness, and customer satisfaction of mobility services offered by MATA.
TransPro was originally hired by Mayor Paul Young to audit the transportation agency as it faced financial struggles and performance issues. The consulting firm highlighted these changes in a draft report which ultimately led to Young replacing the former board of commissioners with the existing board.
The resolution indicated that TransPro submitted their “Phase 2 Proposal” to the City of Memphis which outlines a “comprehensive plan” for MATA addressing accountability, service quality, safety, and operational efficiency. This includes reviewing current bus routes, schedules, ridership, and more.
TransPro’s oversight will last for eight months and will cost the city $1,298,023, and will be paid in “non-federal funds.” The bulk of the costs stem from labor, totaling $1,018,989. The firm promises their oversight will be beneficial to MATA in many ways including accountability and financial compliance and management.
While the resolution passed, several board members voiced their concern as they said there were still details that needed to be cleared up.
Prior to the vote, board member Jackson McNeil said he was hesitant to engage in discussion, as it seemed as if an interim “part-time CEO” would be making $400,000.
“I think because of the importance of the work that needs to be done, I think we need to make sure we as a board are accepting or considering a proposal that includes full-time leadership of the agency.
Board chair Emily Greer said this was part of the negotiation.
Commissioner Cynthia Bailey said the board hadn’t been involved in discussions regarding the contract and commented on the ambiguity regarding interim leadership and how the transition would work.
“We have to think on this very toughly,” Bailey said. “We have to listen to the community. I’m going back on things that Mr. John Lewis was saying so bad about MATA — yet you want to be a part of that team to work with him.”
It was later clarified that two people would not serve in a role simultaneously, and if approved, interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin would serve in her previous role, deputy CEO. At the end of the eight months, TransPro would leave and the board would determine who the agency’s next CEO would be.
While the motion passed, the board decided to form a committee that would work through details that needed clarification and bring them back to the board.
Towards the end of the meeting, Mauldin said she has been able to advocate for better transit on multiple levels, and is now being asked to support TransPro in rebuilding MATA.
“If that’s where the mayor and the board feel like my talents are best utilized in Memphis, then that’s where I’ll serve,” Mauldin said. “I’m fully in support of the mayor’s vision. I’m supportive of this board and what you all decide to do.”
The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is undergoing significant change following the release of a draft report from TransPro, a transportation consulting organization.
MATA has replaced its entire board of commissioners under the direction of Memphis Mayor Paul Young, and the mayor is also urging the agency to delay service changes and cuts. While these measures are taking place in order to ensure the viability of the agency, transportation advocates are unsure that MATA can implement these changes without proper funding.
Better Transit For A Better Memphis (BTBM), a coalition founded by Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH) and Sierra Club Chickasaw Group, said these changes are a “temporary win” but found the decision to continue current service is “unrealistic.”
“Years of underfunding have left MATA without enough buses to meet even the existing, limited schedule. Interim MATA CEO Bacarra Mauldin has been scrambling to secure more buses, but 151 of the fleet’s vehicles require repairs and the wait time for a new bus can be up to a year,” BTBM said in a statement. “Regardless, MATA lacks the funds to purchase parts and supplies or to place an order for new buses.”
The previous MATA board voted to cut six bus routes, including Route 16 Southeast Circulator, Route 28 Airport, Route 34 Central and Walnut Grove, Route 37 Perkins, Route 69 Winchester, and Zone 3 Cordova Ready! On Demand. The cuts were slated to go into effect November 3rd. However, during last week’s City Council meeting, Young said he wanted to halt these changes after TransPro released its report.
Prior to those changes being passed, the agency held 19 public meetings prior to the board meeting to discuss the changes. After hearing from the community, the agency said many had a desire to maintain the current bus service, and they wanted service to last longer and an improved on-time performance.
“The public hasn’t changed in what they want and what they need. It’s just our ability to deliver these services,” John Lancaster, MATA’s chief development officer said during a previous board meeting.
In addition to route suspensions, the board also decided to raise fares for MATA’s fixed-route buses. Adult base fare will be $1.75 compared to the current fare of $1.00. The increases also affect fares for students, senior citizens, and individuals with disabilities. Fares for FastPasses were also increased.
TransPro said these cuts would make it harder for MATA to deliver reliable service, which they argued should be the primary goal of the agency. However, BTBM said TransPro failed to consider that the agency is not able to provide these services consistently due to their lack of buses in the fleet.
“How can the report recommend maintaining service levels when the system doesn’t even have the buses to run those routes reliably?” BTBM co-chair Dorothy Conner asked. “ It’s not supported by data or resources, and it contradicts its own findings, which highlight that Memphians want reliable transit – not an overstretched system that can’t deliver.”
BTBM said the report also failed to show the “underfunding” from previous city councils, as the city is the primary funding source of the agency. Leo Arnoult, spokesman for BTBM said both the mayor and city council have “failed to provide inflation-adjusted budgets or release Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) funds.”
The organization said these issues were unaddressed in the report, and that replacing the entire MATA board would not fix these issues. The agency has been open about the cost of doing business as they need an additional $7.5 million for personnel costs, and $5 million for operating expenses. BTBM is urging both Mayor Young and the City Council to increase funding for the agency to resolve these issues.
