When Judge Jayne Chandler (r) swore in Councilman Jeff Warren in early January, host and witness for the special ceremony was the iconic late former school board member Sara Lewis. It was her final official act. (Photo: Courtesy Jeff Warren)
The forced reaction of Mayor Paul Young in his interim appointment of Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis, coupled with the city council’s action this past Tuesday to defer action on reappointing Public Works Director Robert Knecht, suggests an emergent balkanization of power in the affairs of the newly installed city government.
Council chair JB Smiley has made it clear that he intends to position the council — and himself — as a counterbalance to mayoral authority. Smiley, who had taken the lead in the first deferral of action on Davis three weeks ago, reinforced his assertiveness last Tuesday in dressing down Knecht for “attitude” and alleged insularity and leading the council to postpone a vote on Knecht’s reappointment for two more weeks.
“Make sure you respond when we come calling on you,” was the thrust of Smiley’s message to Knecht. The contrast between Smiley’s firmness and Knecht’s docility was instructive.
And individual council members have their own axes to grind.
Councilman Jeff Warren, sponsor of the imminent council resolution that Young had to preempt and emulate in his interim appointment of Davis, has affirmed his position at the nexus of authority. Newcomer Jerri Green’s strong questioning of Davis underscored her determination to be a voice to reckon with.
Another new council member, previously seen as an unknown quantity, is Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, who has made a point of her intention to base her votes on her own independent researches. Yet another first-termed, Pearl Eva Walker, has to be regarded as a potential exponent of an abundant number of activist causes, including a reexamination of Memphis’ issues with TVA.
And so forth and so on. As the old saw goes: All have won, and all must have prizes. Young, who has yet to get his legs fully down, will be hard put to maintain the strong-mayor authority the city charter entitles him to — especially given a belated air of pushback against the relatively free hand enjoyed by former mayor Jim Strickland.
Not to be ignored, either, is the likely enhancement of self-interested power groups in the community. A key moment in the (temporary) resolution of the Davis matter was a come-to-Jesus meeting between Mayor Young and members of the Memphis Police Association on the Monday before the last council session.
The gathered police folk made it clear that they wanted more attention to their concerns that they had been used to in law-enforcement matters.
The bottom line is that rosy rhetoric does not apply to Davis’ case. Nor to her boss’. One noted pundit has hailed the interim appointment as a salvific opportunity for all the sides to get together in constructive kumbaya. The fact is, to employ the right existential terminology, Davis is in a form of purgatory and has, at best, an opportunity to expurgate herself. Meanwhile, she has to bear the ill-defined stigmata of public doubt. And so, sadly, must the mayor, as he still struggles to launch his mayoralty.
Some are already suggesting that Chief Davis might make her best contribution to the city’s welfare — and to her boss’ and to her own — by arranging for a graceful, voluntary withdrawal.
It isn’t necessarily momentous that Mayor Paul Young will face a delay in having his newly announced appointments approved by the city council. But it isn’t incidental or meaningless, either.
As the week began, it had become common knowledge that, upon their formal presentation to the council last Tuesday, the courtesy of “same-night minutes” was likely to be denied to some — if not all — of the appointees.
“Same-night minutes” is the shorthand for a parliamentary process whereby actions taken by the council in a given session are approved by an immediate second vote by the council to become instantly effective and to avoid follow-up action at the group’s next regular meeting, when the minutes of the preceding meeting would normally get formal approval. It’s a “hurry-up” process, as a means of hastening the effective date of a council action, making it, in effect, instantaneous. It is employed when the avoidance of any delay is considered a paramount factor.
The process is also invoked, as previously suggested, as a courtesy of sorts — as in the case of most mayoral appointments.
CJ Davis (Photo: City of Memphis)
As it happens, the Young appointees were to be presented to the council almost a year to the day from that awful moment in January 2023 when Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by an out-of-control unit of the SCORPION task force, which had been created by Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis as a would-be elite enforcement element of the Memphis Police Department.
That fact, along with the well-known circumstance of an increased rate of violent crime in Memphis during the last year and the MPD’s status under a Department of Justice investigation, is enough to have flagged Davis’ reappointment for special attention.
It was clear when Davis spoke to the Rotary Club in November that she — and her mayoral sponsor — wanted to regard her appointment as a certainty. She prescribed a year’s worth of policy points with the air of one who could speak to their achievement. Yet there was something vague, tentative, and not quite jelled about her presentation — as there was when she recapped her intentions again last week at a crime summit called by Young.
Meanwhile, there was head-scratching at City Hall as to Young’s inability — or indecision — regarding his naming of a COO and a CFO, though he had reportedly scoured the city governments of Nashville and Chattanooga for prospects.
The resultant highlighting of Davis’ appointment against a backdrop of Strickland-era retainees left his cabinet-level choices looking somehow incomplete and provisional.
JB Smiley (Photo: City of Memphis)
Pointedly, council chairman JB Smiley, determined, it would seem, to assert council prerogatives, began running a poll on X to gauge public acceptability of Davis’ appointment, and no council members have seemed anything but resolute when sounding out on the issue.
None of this augurs well for a new administration which is still seen — at best — as enveloped with an aura of the unknown and untested.
It remains to be seen whether the situation reflects more of a sense of unreadiness on the part of the new regime or an aroused determination on the council’s part to assert its own authority.
Either way, it certainly amounts to a rough start.
Steve Mulroy (Photo: Shelby County District Attorney)
Unsurprisingly, Paul Young evoked two parallel concepts in his inaugural address as mayor. He spoke of the specter of crime and its continuing threat to the community. And he spoke of that community’s crying need for a restoration of unity. More surprisingly, he rooted that unity in a memory of an almost forgotten Memphis, of a city that once was officially celebrated not only as one of the nation’s safest places but, formally, several times, as the nation’s cleanest city.
“We all feel it, the city feels like it is in a crisis. The chaos has taken a toll on our collective psyche; it threatens to derail all of the progress of what Memphis can be, we are Memphis, and the future depends on what we do right now. … Together, we can make history, we can make America’s largest majority minority city … America’s safest city. We can make that America’s cleanest city, we can make that America’s city with the fastest growing economy … it’s not going to happen tomorrow, but it will happen.”
And this is a man who asked us to remember that he entered the mainstream of life as an engineering student, who converted that aspect of his being into a knack for social and civic engineering, and who has spent many of his professional years in city and county jobs that called for the re-engineering of housing and neighborhoods — and, indeed, of urban attitudes.
Let us hope that he is thereby ideally equipped to help us remake ourselves as a people.
Another member of what we might consider a new breed of public officials is District Attorney General Steve Mulroy. The DA, too, in a year-end piece written for Tom Jones’ Smart City blog, took note of the times:
“2023 was a challenging year for us. At year’s beginning, we became global news with the Tyre Nichols tragedy. Though nothing can undo the trauma of that event, we can derive some consolation from the fact that we — all of us — handled the case swiftly, fairly, transparently, and peacefully. Memphis didn’t burn, and neither did any of the other major cities with large protests following the release of the video.
“I’m praying that we learn some lessons about reform from this tragedy. We’re generally not good at nuance, but we need to understand both that the vast majority of police are persons of good faith, and also that there are issues of culture and process crying out for systemic reform. The crime issue has eclipsed this issue in the minds of many, but we can’t forget that Tyre Nichols isn’t an isolated incident. The problem isn’t fixed, and there’s work still to do.”
The DA expressed hope “that local leaders stop pointing fingers and start joining hands to make us safer … that our public discourse stops obsessing on sentence lengths and bail amounts (which will not make us safer) and instead focuses on how to increase our crime solve rate and our recidivism rate (which will).”
At his annual holiday gathering last year, an event which attracts people of many different minds, Mulroy at evening’s end presented, instead of his accustomed finishing limerick, a song, one which addressed the community’s prevailing air of controversy and divide. To the tune of “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” his verses ended with the refrain of “Let it go, let it go, let it go.”
One of the attendees at that party was Mulroy’s longtime friend Brian Stephens, founder and president of the public strategy group Caissa Public Strategy, well-known for espousing the hopes of conservative-minded groups and political candidates.
Asked about the gap between his own political views and those of his liberal host, Stephens texted back: “Lots of people trying to do their best. Different approaches. Different ways. But it’s all the same goal. Steve is a good man. I hope he feels the same for me.”
And that’s yet another way of saying unity, isn’t it?
Paul Young took the city’s top job last week in an uplifting inauguration ceremony.
“The past doesn’t matter,” Young said after he was sworn in. “The future is all we’re thinking about right now. Partisanship doesn’t matter. The future of our young babies is all we’re thinking about right now.”
Big (But Fun) Typo
Posted to Facebook by Mighty Lights
Mighty Lights was busy this holiday season with tributes to Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, police officers, and more. Its year-end message was to read “HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024.” Deadrick DeShoun Moring Sr. posted a video showing it read 2023 instead of 2024. We’re like same same.
Tsunami
Posted to Facebook by Ben Smith
Tsunami owner Ben Smith toasted Kevin Sullivan’s last shift at the Cooper-Young restaurant this week. Sullivan started as a dishwasher at Tsunami in 2002 and worked his way up to head chef. He’s leaving the restaurant to start his own restaurant, Ki Kitchen, in the Edge District.
New year 2024 concept, beginning of success. Text 2024 written on asphalt road and male runner preparing for the new year. Concept of challenge or career path and change.
What do you mean it’s almost January? If you’re anything like us, the encroaching new year has really seemed to have come out of left field. The churning news cycle means that we’ve had our heads down covering the arts, a mayoral race, the Tennessee legislature, and everything in between. But despite a packed 2023, there are plenty more stories on the horizon. With 2024 just around the corner, our writers take a look at what we can expect in Memphis news next year.
Breaking News
Paul Young
Paul Young taking the mayor’s seat will be the Memphis news story to watch in 2024.
Memphis hasn’t had a new mayor for eight years; hasn’t done things differently for eight years — for good or bad. So, Memphians can expect new ideas, fresh faces, and new approaches to the city’s same-old problems (but maybe some new opportunities, too).
Paul Young (Photo: Paul Young for Memphis)
Some could argue too much emphasis is put on the mayor’s office, much like the president’s office. But that office is where the city’s business is done daily, from police and fire to trash collection and paving. Yes, these ideas are later shaped by the Memphis City Council and, yes, the mayor is expected to carry out rules formed entirely by the council. But all of that is executed (executive branch, get it?) by the mayor and his team.
Young has already named a few key staffers. Tannera Gibson will be his city attorney and Penelope Huston will be head of communications, according to The Daily Memphian. Young told the Memphian, too, that he’ll keep the controversial Cerelyn Davis as chief of the Memphis Police Department.
Memphis in May
This next year could be make or break for the Memphis in May International Festival (MIM).
It ended 2023 with a whimper. The nonprofit organization posted a record loss of $3.4 million and record-low attendance for Beale Street Music Festival. Also, its longtime leader Jim Holt announced his retirement.
MIM leaders put Music Fest on hiatus for 2024. It also moved the Championship Barbecue Cooking Competition to Liberty Park.
Meanwhile Forward Momentum and the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP) announced a new three-day music festival at Tom Lee Park (called River Beat) and a new barbecue contest, both in May.
It’s unknown if these new events could supplant MIM. Speculation, though, has the future of the nonprofit in question. It’ll be worth watching.
Tennessee General Assembly
State lawmakers are hard to predict.
Last year, for example, one GOP member spent countless hours persuading his colleagues to add firing squads to the list of options for the state’s death row inmates. Another wanted to add “hanging by a tree” to that list.
However, one can easily predict Republicans will seek to make life harder for the LGBTQ community. One bill paused last year, for example, would allow county clerks to deny marriage rites to anyone they choose (wink, wink).
The little-known but hard-working Tennessee Medical Marijuana Commission may approach lawmakers next year with a plan to get a state system off the ground. Dead medical cannabis bills have become too many to count over the years. But the hope is that the group’s expertise after years of study may help tip the scales.
Easy bets are also on bills that mention “abortion” or “trans.” — Toby Sells
Politics
Oddly enough, the city’s incoming chief executive, Paul Young, remains something of an unknown despite his extensive exposure (and his consistently adept campaigning) during the long and trying mayoral race that concluded in October. Nor will the aggressive ballyhoo of his preliminary activities — parade, concert, and inaugural ball, no less! — have shed much light on his intentions in office, though his inaugural address will be highly anticipated in that regard.
Major changes may be in the offing, though so far the shape of them is not obvious. Young’s announced reappointment of police director C.J. Davis at year’s end may be an indication that, in the personnel sense, anyhow, there may well be a continuum of sorts with the administration of outgoing Mayor Strickland.
C.J. Davis (Photo: Memphis Police Department)
The newly elected council, meanwhile, is expected to be measurably more progressive-minded on various issues as a result of the election than was its predecessor.
A city task force already launched — GVIP (Group Violence Intervention Program), which involves an active interchange of sorts between governmental players and gang members (“intervenors,” as they are designated) in an effort to curb violence on the streets. It will be picking up steam as the year begins.
And follow-up readings will still be required in 2024 on an initiative sponsored by outgoing Councilman Martavius Jones and passed by the council conferring lifelong healthcare benefits on council members elected since 2015, upon their having completed two terms.
(News of that move prompted an astounded Facebook post from former Councilman Shea Flinn, who served back when first responders’ benefits had to be cut and a controversial pension for city employees with 12 years’ or more service was rescinded. Said Flinn: “Do I have this correct? Because I don’t want to be gassing up a flamethrower for nothing!”)
The Shelby County Commission, having worked in tandem with Mayor Lee Harris in the past year to secure serious funding for a new Regional One Health hospital, continues to be ambitious, hoping to acquire subpoena power from the state for the county’s recently created Civilian Law Enforcement Review Committee and to proceed with the construction of a long-contemplated Mental Health, Safety, and Justice Center.
The commission is also seeking guidance from the DA’s office on the long-festering matter of removing County Clerk Wanda Halbert from office.
At the state level, almost all attention during the early legislative session will be fixed on Republican Governor Bill Lee’s decision to push for statewide application of the school-voucher program that barely squeaked through the General Assembly in 2019 as a “pilot” program for Shelby and Davidson counties. (Hamilton County was later added.) The program was finally allowed by the state Supreme Court after being nixed at lower levels on constitutional grounds. Democrats are universally opposed to its expansion, as, for the record, are the school boards in Shelby County’s seven school districts. Prospects for passage may depend on how many GOP legislators (a seriously divided group in 2019) are inclined this time to let the governor have his way.
Also on tap will be a series of bills aimed at stiffening crime/control procedures, some of which may also try to roll back recent changes in Shelby County’s bail/bond practices.
Oh, and there will be both a presidential primary vote and an election for General Sessions Court clerk in March. — Jackson Baker
Music
No sooner does yuletide appear than it’s gone again in a wink, as we turn to face a new notch on life’s yardstick. Yet even before 2024 dawns, Memphis has great music brewing on this year’s penultimate day, December 30th, from the solo seasoned jug band repertoire of David Evans (Lamplighter Lounge) to the revved-up R&B-surf-crime jazz-rock of Impala (Bar DKDC) to Louder Than Bombs’ take on The Smiths (B-Side).
Ironically, DJ Devin Steele’s Kickback show at the Hi-Tone is keeping live music on the menu with a six-piece band alongside the wheels of Steele. Down on Beale Street, bass giant Leroy “Flic” Hodges and band will be at B.B. King’s, and the Blues City Café will feature solid blues from Earl “The Pearl” Banks and Blind Mississippi Morris.
Susan Marshall (Photo: Jamie Harmon)
While New Year’s Eve seems particularly DJ-heavy this December 31st, there are still some places to ring in the new year with a live band. Perhaps the most remarkable will be when three of the city’s most moving women in music — Susan Marshall, Cyrena Wages, and Marcella Simien ringing in midnight — converge at the freshly re-energized Mollie Fontaine Lounge. A more up-close, swinging time will be found at the Beauty Shop’s meal extravaganza set to the music of Joyce Cobb. Orion Hill’s Mardi Gras Masquerade will feature Cooper Union (with Brennan Villines and Alexis Grace), and Blind Mississippi Morris will hold court again at Blues City as a gigantic disco ball rises up a 50-foot tower outside on Beale. For that Midtown live vibe, Lafayette’s Music Room’s elaborate festivities will feature the band Aquanet.
For many Memphians, the new year will begin with a look backward as a smorgasbord of bands — from Nancy Apple to Michael Graber to Oakwalker and beyond — gather at B-Side to honor the late Townes van Zandt on January 1st. The revival of the 1970 musical Company, opening at the Orpheum the next day, also honors an earlier era’s muse, but its five Tony Awards suggest that even today it “strikes like a lightning bolt” (Variety). And the historical appreciations continue: On January 14th, Crosstown Arts’ MLK Freedom Celebration will feature the Mahogany Chamber Music Series, curated by Dr. Artina McCain and spotlighting Black and other underrepresented composers and performers; and on January 20th GPAC will host jazz trumpeter, vocalist, and composer Jumaane Smith’s Louis! Louis! Louis!, blending his own compositions with those of Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, and Louis Jordan — three giants of the last century.
Who knows, maybe reflecting on all this past greatness will teach 2024 a thing or two? — Alex Greene
Coming Attractions in 2024
2023’s dual WGA and SAG strikes disrupted production, so 2024 should be an unpredictable year at the multiplex. Studios are currently engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken with the release calendar, so don’t take any of these dates as gospel. In January, an all-star apostle team led by LaKeith Stanfield and David Oyelowo tries to horn in on the messiah game in The Book of Clarence.
February has the endlessly promoted spy caper Argylle, a Charlie Kaufman-penned animated film Orion and the Dark, the intriguing-looking Lisa Frankenstein, and Bob Marley: One Love left over from 2023, as well as Ethan Coen’s lesbian road comedy Drive-Away Dolls.
March is stacked with Denis Villeneuve’s return to Arrakis, Dune: Part Two; Jack Black voicing Kung Fu Panda 4; Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire; and Focus Features’ satire The American Society of Magical Negroes.
Monsters will collide in Godzilla x Kong.
April starts with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Alex Garland’s social sci-fi epic Civil War.
May features Ryan Gosling as The Fall Guy and Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse in Back to Black. On April 24th, we have a three-flick pile-up with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, The Garfield Movie (animated, thank God), and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. ALL HAIL IMPERATOR FURIOSA!
Anya Taylor-Joy in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
June brings us Inside Out 2, which adds Maya Hawke as Anxiety to the Pixar classic’s cast of emotions. There’s another Bad Boys film on the schedule that nobody has bothered to title yet. Meanwhile, Kevin Costner goes too hard with punctuation with Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One. (Chapter Two drops in August.)
In July, there’s the horror of Despicable Me 4 and Twisters, a sequel to the ’90s tornado thriller that lacked the guts to call itself Twister$. Ryan Reynolds returns as the Merc with a Mouth in Deadpool 3, the first Marvel offering of the year.
In August, Eli Roth adapts the hit game Borderlands, which, if you think about it, could actually work. James McAvoy stars in the Blumhouse screamer Speak No Evil. Don’t Breathe director Fede Álvarez directs Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny in Alien: Romulus.
September is looking spare, but Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, and Winona Ryder are getting the band back together for Beetlejuice 2, so that could be fun.
October looks a tad more promising with Joker: Folie à Deux, a psychosexual (emphasis on the “psycho”) thriller with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. There’s also the cheerful Smile 2, evil clown porn Terrifier 3, and a Blumhouse production of Wolf Man.
November sees a remake of The Amateur, Barry Levinson’s mob thriller Alto Knights, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 with Denzel Washington, and Wicked: Part One, led by Tony Award-winner Cynthia Erivo.
Then, the year goes out strong with Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, an anime Tolkien adaptation from Kenji Kamiyama.
This time next year, we’ll be gushing over Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa: The Lion King, Robert Eggers’ boundary-pushing Nosferatu remake, and an ultra-secret Jordan Peele joint. — Chris McCoy
Memphis Sports
Here’s a one-item wish list for Memphis sports in 2024: Ja Morant videos that are exclusively basketball highlights. The city’s preeminent athlete stole headlines this year with off-the-court drama that ultimately cost him the first 25 games of the Grizzlies’ 2023-24 season. Morant’s absence was more than the roster could take, particularly with center Steven Adams sidelined for the season with a knee injury. More than 10 games under .500 in mid-December, the Grizzlies must hope the star’s return can simply get them back to break-even basketball. If that happens — and with the rim-rattling displays that have made Ja a superstar — the new year will have brought new life to the Bluff City’s flagship sports franchise.
And how about a first regular-season American Athletic Conference championship for Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers? The AAC is a watered-down version of the league we knew a year ago (no more Houston, no more Cincinnati), with Florida Atlantic now the Tigers’ primary obstacle for a league crown. A controversial loss to FAU in the opening round of the NCAA tournament last March created an instant rivalry, one that will take the floor at FedExForum on February 25th. David Jones is an early candidate for AAC Player of the Year and sidekick Jahvon Quinerly gives Hardaway the best collection of new-blood talent since “transfer portal” became a thing.
Seth Henigan (Photo: Wes Hale)
With Seth Henigan returning to quarterback the Tigers for a fourth season, Memphis football should also compete for an AAC title and an 11th consecutive bowl campaign. AutoZone Park will hum with Redbirds baseball and 901 FC soccer throughout the warm-weather months, and the PGA Tour will make Memphis home when the FedEx St. Jude Championship tees off on August 15th.
But let’s hope 2024, somehow, becomes the Year of Ja in this town. The heart of Memphis sports echoes the sound of a basketball dribble. And one player speeds that heartbeat like no other. — Frank Murtaugh
Oscar Jimenez will suit up for 901 FC next season. (Photo: Courtesy USL/Louisville City FC)
Meanwhile, 901 FC can look forward to welcoming some unfamiliar opponents to the confines of AutoZone Park next season. A restructured United Soccer League means Memphis will bid adieu to the Eastern Conference and kick off its 2024 season as part of the Western Conference. That means that 22 of 901 FC’s 34-match schedule will be against Western Conference opponents, starting with a March 9th home season opener against Las Vegas Lights FC. There’s a new COO in Jay Mims, while we can expect plenty of new players to suit up before Stephen Glass leads the team out for its first game.
One thing that soccer fans will not be looking forward to, however, is a new stadium, with plans for a soccer-specific Liberty Park arena scuppered after $350 million in state dollars earmarked for sporting renovations did not include any provisions for 901 FC. — Samuel X. Cicci
I have a single wish for newly elected Memphis mayor Paul Young, and it’s a big one. I hope Paul Young becomes the most memorable mayor in Memphis history.
Let’s not call Young’s election a mandate. Not by a long shot. In a city with a population of more than 630,000 people, a paltry 24,408 voters decided this town’s new CEO. That’s 4 percent of the citizenry firmly behind you, Mr. Young. Now get to it, and make 100 percent of us happy.
I’ve yet to meet Paul Young, but from what I hear and read, he’s been a capable leader at the Downtown Memphis Commission. Most importantly, he wants to lead on a larger scale and is young enough (44) to map out a long-term, big-picture agenda that can lift this city and region at a time when we need lifting.
Where to begin? I’ve got three recommendations, Mr. Mayor-elect. Start with the first of what will be an annual summit of Memphis clergy. Make it a two-day gathering of leaders from every church, synagogue, mosque, and temple in the city. And make it mandatory. (If a faith organization chooses not to attend, it will be made conspicuously absent with a publicly shared list of attendees. If you have nothing to say at this summit, it’s important that you hear what is said.) Why is such a gathering so important? There may be no time of the week taken more seriously by more Memphians than Sunday morning. And there’s certainly no more segregated time of the week in Memphis than Sunday morning. For at least two days, let’s ask leaders to share their thoughts, priorities, concerns, and, yes, wishes with their peers from different worship groups. And this is where the magic will happen: We’ll discover, I’m convinced, that most thoughts, priorities, concerns, and wishes are parallel to one another, guided by the same proverbial North Star.
We also need a summit of educators. (Maybe three days for this one.) If Sunday morning is uncomfortably segregated in this town, so are our children, public schools being predominantly Black and private schools predominantly white, and for more than two generations now. We simply have to make smarter efforts at blending Memphis youth, particularly across economic gaps that often feel too vast to bridge. If crime (read: guns) is a weight on the shoulders of this community, educators must be part of the solution. What kind of programs — involving both public- and private-school communities — can reduce the pull of street life and the desperation of poverty? We have too many bright people of impact in too many institutions of learning for there not be some worthy ideas we’ve yet to consider. Again, attendance is mandatory. We need every Memphis school rowing the same direction.
Follow these summits, Mr. Mayor-elect, with a sit-down in which you share what was learned with the Memphis Police Department. This won’t take two or three days, as it will be a time to tell (as opposed to ask) law enforcement how they can serve the community better. Because I promise you, the MPD will be among those thoughts and priorities for both clergy and educators.
Why do only 85,000 Memphis voters take the time to choose the city’s new mayor? Because apathy seeps. The feeling that a single vote won’t make a difference as crime numbers rise is a form of communal cancer. And a memorable Memphis mayor will battle that apathy every day he serves in office.
I interviewed Kerry Kennedy a few weeks ago. The daughter of Robert F. Kennedy is a 2023 Freedom Award honoree, a personification of the National Civil Rights Museum’s global mission. To gain ground in the fight for human rights requires the collaboration of myriad agencies (public and private) and human beings. It’s a reasonable starting point — collaboration — for a city like Memphis, and would be the kind of priority that makes a city leader unforgettable. In all the right ways.
Frank Murtaugh is the managing editor of Memphis magazine. He writes the columns “From My Seat” and “Tiger Blue” for the Flyer.
Muralists from the across the country descended on the Ravine and the Edge District last weekend for the annual Paint Memphis festival.
Tweet of the Week
Posted to X by Paul Young
“THANK YOU MEMPHIS!”
Scary!
Posted to X by @songsbychaplin
Spooky season is upon us and, yes, we know how some of you feel about the phrase “spooky season.” Either way, amazing yard decorations have sprung up all over town.
One Central Gardens home outdoes itself every year with a blend of horror and political commentary. This year’s design has former President Donald Trump behind bars.
Keep an eye on our Insta this month for a reboot of our series on the best Halloween yard decorations in Memphis. If you know of some good ones, send them please to toby@memphisflyer.com.
Mayor-elect Paul Young and wife Jamila (Photo: Jackson Baker)
In the end, we still don’t know who our mayor-elect is, not entirely. We know his name, of course, and we’ll soon enough have a chance to catch up with his biography and intentions.
In any case, his vote total, though not a majority, was a convincing enough plurality as to make it clear that, running for a year or more against three other solid contenders (and 13 others on the ballot), Paul Young was the People’s Choice.
“I don’t care about politics,” candidate Young would say. “I just want to do the work.”
Well, there’s lots of it to do — regarding, to start with, crime, which we have too much of, and economic development, which we don’t have enough of, at least in the right places. And how the new mayor approaches those two subjects will determine a dozen other outcomes, all of them urgent.
Among the candidates we came to regard as the Top Four, Young was the one we were least familiar with at the start. Essentially he was known as someone who had performed credibly in a number of essential city and county appointive positions. A technocrat, if you will, and that he had so much backing among the influential minority (commercial interests, significant governmental doers) in a position to evaluate him was helpful in getting his campaign — and his fundraising — going.
Once launched, he sustained that campaign with nonstop energy and zeal. He was never off the clock. Needful of developing his name recognition, he made himself ubiquitous.
Given the relative closeness of the leading contenders, one can only wonder what might have happened: if Sheriff Floyd Bonner, previously known as a teddy bear and a top vote-getter in county elections, had not gotten branded, fairly or otherwise, as lax in his oversight of inmate safety; if former Mayor Willie Herenton had deigned to stoke his popularity with appearances in more public situations; if former county commissioner and NAACP head Van Turner had been able to activate his role as a Democratic avatar earlier and perhaps less abrasively.
Meanwhile, the city election remains unfinished.
There are three council positions which require a runoff, on November 16th, to determine a majority winner. In District 2, in northeast Memphis, voters must choose between former Councilman Scott McCormick, whose support base is significantly Republican, and Jerri Green, an advisor to Democratic County Mayor Lee Harris.
In District 3 (Whitehaven, Hickory Hill), the remaining candidates are activist Pearl Eva Walker and James Kirkwood, a pastor and former MPD official. And in District 7 (Downtown, Mud Island, parts of North and South Memphis), incumbent Michalyn Easter-Thomas faces businessman Jimmy Hassan.
In council elections already determined, the key outcome was in the District 5 race between former Councilman Philip Spinosa and activist newcomer Meggan Wurzburg Kiel. That was a classic showdown between conservative Spinosa (the winner) and progressive Kiel.
What’s the opposite of a landslide? Land that doesn’t move? A stable pile of dirt? A hill? There really isn’t a satisfactory answer that I could find. Whatever you might want to call it, the Memphis mayoral election last Thursday was anything but a landslide. It was more like 17 random stones rolling down a driveway.
Let’s get the doleful numbers out of the way first. There are 373,091 eligible voters in the city of Memphis according to the Election Commission. Of that number, 88,668 voted in the mayor’s race, meaning around 24 percent of us who could have voted bothered to do so. That’s some weak sauce, folks. But it gets weaker.
There were, yes, 17 candidates on the ballot, most of whom had no business being there and had no real chance of winning. Some perhaps entered the race because they were bored and/or just seeking attention; others because they are delusional nutcases; others, who can say? Maybe six of those 17 were legitimate candidates. Of these, four emerged as front-runners in the early polling: Paul Young, Floyd Bonner, Willie Herenton, and Van Turner.
I wrote a column three weeks ago about how I was conflicted because as a progressive I was leaning toward Turner, who has genuine Democratic Party bona fides and had garnered the endorsements of several elected officials whose opinions I respect on such matters. But as a pragmatist, I was leaning toward Young because he was leading in the polling I was seeing and he seemed like a solid guy with business and activist connections and no baggage to speak of. But mainly, I was thinking Young because I was dead set on making sure neither Bonner nor Herenton won — one a cop whose jail had major issues and the other an 83-year-old five-time former mayor whose platform was “I’m Willie Herenton, damn it!”
After that column came out, I got calls, texts, and emails from supporters of both Young and Turner, all of them pitching me on the merits of their guy. In the end, I decided to go with my gut and voted for Turner. He came in fourth, right behind Herenton and Bonner, all three of them drawing in the neighborhood of 18,000 votes. So much for my gut. To sum it up: Young won an election to lead a city of 628,000 people with 24,400 votes, which is 6.5 percent of eligible voters. Ridiculous.
I’m not saying Young didn’t deserve to win. He won, and he did so fair and square, and probably as convincingly as one could, given the system. But the system is absurd — nonpartisan with no runoff. It encourages rather than discourages various loose fruits and nuts to enter. With 17 candidates and a low turnout any one of them could get lucky and stumble into the mayor’s office.
It’s not like we didn’t try to change the system. Not once, but twice, the citizens of Memphis approved IRV (Instant Runoff Voting), also known as ranked-choice voting, a system in which voters select their top three choices in order, the idea being to assure that a winner gets 50 percent of the vote, and that voters don’t have to make calculated guesses like I did when selecting a candidate.
But, as with so many good things in the state of Tennessee, our GOP legislature decided to kick that bucket over and ban IRV in the state. Because … well, because they could. And it would tick off Memphis, so why not?
But enough Election Day replay. Paul Young is the new mayor. He’s put in solid work as president and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission. He’s smart. His victory speech was inclusive and inspiring. He’s a family guy, only 44, young enough to walk onstage after his win to the sounds of “Who Run It” by Three 6 Mafia. Which is cool, if you don’t read the lyrics, or at least don’t take them literally. But hey, if hip-hop can get young people engaged in city politics, I’m all for it — anything that can get more than 25 percent of us to the voting booth is a win.
Paul Young at his HQ opening (Photo: Jackson Baker)
Downtown Memphis Commission leader Paul Young will be Memphis’ next mayor, a position that gives him no formal authority over Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS), but could allow him to revive the relationship between city and district if he follows through on his campaign plans.
Such a change would come at a pivotal time, bringing additional dollars to the district as it faces hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance projects and seeks to develop a facility plan that better supports academic improvement.
“We need new revenue sources for our schools, and I want to bring my track record of creating coalitions to City Hall to do just that,” Young told Chalkbeat in September.
Those funds would support capital investments and upgrades to MSCS buildings, Young said, a proposal that aligns with the interests of the MSCS school board and interim Superintendent Toni Williams. A 14-person committee of government officials and nonprofit sector leaders is set to convene later this fall to develop the new facilities plan.
Young will take office on January 1st. The success of his plans would depend on support from the Memphis City Council, whose makeup will be settled after runoff elections in November. And the MSCS school board will need to carry the torch for the district’s infrastructure plans through the expected leadership transition this spring, when Williams’ tenure ends and a permanent superintendent takes over.
Young’s proposals distinguished him from several other frontrunners in the race, which he won with 28 percent of the vote Thursday, according to unofficial results from the Shelby County Election Commission. (There are no runoffs in Memphis mayoral elections.)
Others who got more than 20 percent of the vote include Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner (23 percent), former Memphis Mayor and school Superintendent Willie Herenton (22 percent), and attorney and former Shelby County Commission Chair Van Turner (21 percent).
Among them, only Turner proposed that the city fund MSCS through annual appropriations, the same way the county currently does.
Here are the responses Young submitted on September 1st:
I am committed to providing a strong foundation for our youth through quality education and investing in youth development. This means equitable access to resources, teacher support, and innovative learning environments that empower every student to succeed. I believe in engaging directly with educators, parents, and community members to collaborate on and champion effective policies that address the unique challenges our students and young people face.
My mayoral administration will draw insights from a diverse range of stakeholders including educators, students, parents, and community advocates. Through open dialogue and collaboration, we will craft informed policies to continue to do better by our young people. Progress will be measured through data-driven indicators such as improved graduation rates, literacy and test scores, and increased community engagement. Transparency and accountability will guide us toward achieving our educational goals.
Many Memphis students and families confront barriers like poverty, gun violence, and over-policing that hinder learning. By offering comprehensive support services such as mental health programs, after-school initiatives, and community-centered efforts, we will create safer environments where learning can thrive. Collaborating with local organizations and promoting restorative justice practices will contribute to holistic development and improved educational outcomes for our youth.
I believe that the city can support MSCS through capital investments, and also through improving and upgrading facilities’ infrastructure. The city can also support through after school enrichment and extracurricular programs. We need new revenue sources for our schools, and I want to bring my track record of creating coalitions to City Hall to do just that.
We would continue to support early childhood efforts and seek to grow the number of spaces available for young people in our community. Our efforts would be informed by MSCS and our partners.
I think that MSCS should have a strong collaborative working relationship on the types of programming that is taught to children in our community. The city should support investment in facilities, infrastructure, and extracurricular activities. The relationship between the mayor and the superintendent should be a strong partnership where they advocate for Memphis children together at every level.
A high quality school is one where there are various approaches to educating children where they are. We must meet the individual needs of children while not holding them back. This work must take place in and out of the classroom, and schools can and should offer holistic services to help support the whole child and their unique needs. Crosstown High, East High School, White Station are a few schools that come to mind.
I went to East High School — Ms. Foster was my geometry teacher there and she made the subject matter fun and interesting to me. She pushed me further than I thought I could go. As far as leadership, she showed me we can always be better, we can always do more. I learned from her that intellectual curiosity can make work seem like fun, and I try to bring that spirit to everyone on the team with me.
Laura Testino covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Laura at LTestino@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
