Tag: Shelby County

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Seeing Red

The 2024 presidential election results by precinct (Photo: Courtesy Don Johnson)

The Shelby County Republican Party is scheduled to hold its biennial convention in January, and the party has a bona fide chairmanship race on its hands.

One candidate is Bangladesh-born Naser Fazlullah, manager of a food-and-beverages firm and the local party’s vice chair, who has been highly active in Republican outreach efforts over the years. Most unusually, he professes a desire to “bring both parties together” for the benefit of Shelby County and has numerous friends both inside and outside GOP ranks.

The other candidate is insurance executive Worth Morgan, the former city council member who in 2022 ran unsuccessfully for county mayor and had been rumored as a possible candidate for Memphis mayor the next year before deciding not to make the race.

Both candidates are running as the heads of slates for a variety of other party offices.

Morgan’s campaign in particular, run under the slogan “Revive,” is in the kind of high gear normally associated with expensive major public races and has employed a barrage of elaborate online endorsements from such well-known party figures as state Representative Mark White, state Senator Brent Taylor, and conservative media commentator Todd Starnes. 

The GOP convention is scheduled for January 25th at The Venue at Bartlett Station.

• Morgan’s choice of the campaign motif “Revival” is interesting. Not too long ago, Republicans dominated county government, but demographics now heavily favor Democrats in countywide voting. As one indication of that, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris outdistanced the GOP’s Donald Trump in November by a margin of 201,759 to Trump’s 118,917. 

In a series of post-election analyses, however, veteran Republican analyst Don Johnson, formerly of Memphis and now with the Stone River Group of Nashville, has demonstrated the GOP’s supremacy virtually everywhere else in Tennessee. He has published precinct-specific maps of statewide election results showing areas won by Trump in red. Patches of Democratic blue show up only sporadically in these graphics and are largely confined to Memphis, Nashville, and the inner urban cores of Knoxville and Chattanooga. Even Haywood County in the southwest corner of the state, virtually the last Democratic stronghold in rural Tennessee, shows high purple on Johnson’s cartography.

Post-election analysis shows something else — a shift of the Republican center of gravity eastward, toward the GOP’s ancestral homeland of East Tennessee. For the first time in recent presidential elections, Republican voting in Knox County outdid the party’s totals in Shelby County.

Looking ahead to the 2026 governor’s race, it is meaningful that a recent poll of likely Republican voters by the Tennessee Conservative News shows two Knoxvillians — Congressman Tim Burchett and Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs — leading all other potential candidates.

• The Shelby County Commission ended its year with a full agenda of 89 items, several of which were matters involving schools and school funding. The commissioners navigated that agenda with admirable focus and aplomb, considering that the bombshell news of Tuesday’s scheduled Memphis Shelby-County Schools board meeting regarding the potential voiding of superintendent Marie Feagins’ contract exploded midway through their discussions.

• One of the more inclusive political crowds in recent history showed up weekend before last at Otherlands on Cooper to honor David Upton on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Upton is the proverbial man-behind-the-scenes in Shelby County politics and has had a hand — sometimes openly, sometimes not — in more local elections and civic initiatives than almost anybody else you could name. 

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Letter Condemns County’s Decision Regarding Juvenile Court Transportation and Transition

Photo: Juvenile Court of Memphis & Shelby County via Facebook

Community partners are urging the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Youth Detention Center to be transparent about their decision to stop transportation of youth to court, and their decision to transition Youth Justice and Education Center (YJEC) operations to the Juvenile Court.

An open letter issued on behalf of youth justice and community organizations asked Sheriff Floyd Bonner to address these issues, while also shedding light on how these decisions affect both young people and the community. 

“Just days before Juvenile Court resumed operations following a five-month closure, the Sheriff’s Office announced it would no longer transport youth to court hearings, forcing an emergency shift to virtual proceedings,” advocates said. “This decision comes amid ongoing disputes about the sheriff’s unilateral announcement to transfer detention center operations to Juvenile Court by December 2024, despite mid-budget cycle constraints and the need for proper transition planning.”

In October, it was announced that juvenile court would remain virtual due to lack of transportation from deputies. Prior to this, Juvenile Court was closed in April for “remedial work.” 

Ala’a Alattiyat, youth justice coordinator of the Youth Justice Action Coalition, emphasized that these decisions negatively impact the youth and their families.

“When we deny youth proper court access and rush critical transitions without adequate planning, we’re not just affecting their legal rights —we’re sending a message about how little we value their future opportunities.”

Aries Newton, government affairs director of Stand For Children, called the December 2024 deadline “arbitrary and hasty” and said these choices seem to prioritize convenience over wellbeing.

The four-page letter was signed by several community organizations such as Stand for Children Tennessee, Memphis For All, and Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH). Not only did the document express concern, but it included a call to action on transportation, “transition planning,” and the entire experience.

“We write with profound concern about how recent operational decisions affecting the Youth Justice and Education Center are damaging the rehabilitation and development of young people in our community,” the letter said. “The abrupt cessation of youth transportation services and rushed timeline for transitioning the detention center reflect choices that not only violate constitutional protections but, more critically, threaten to create a cycle of disconnection and recidivism that impacts all of Shelby County.”

Advocates emphasize that the obstacle of transportation affects multiple facets of the rehabilitation process. The letter asserted that familial connections and “comprehensive support” can reduce recidivism rates according to research.

They went on to state that when the YJEC was built, it was meant to be a place for “rehabilitation and hope.” It represented a $30 million investment that included a kitchen, computer lab, and outdoor spaces for “young people to develop skills and envision different futures for themselves.”

The letter also advocates for expanded in-person visitation, activated educational and vocational facilities, wellness programming, mental health and counseling support, and more. According to the letter, the decision to not be intentional about facility operations sends a negative message to the youth and implies that they don’t matter. 

Earlier this year, a different letter was sent from a consortium of organizations urging Bonner to address these changes. Their biggest concern was their decision not to allow in-person visitation, while also criticizing the fact that their education did not parallel mainstream public schools.

Another major point of concern is the December deadline, as the current budget cycle doesn’t allow for proper funding.

“Your office’s threat of litigation regarding budget modifications creates further barriers to proper resource allocation,” the letter said. “The transition timeline doesn’t align with the fiscal year, creating funding gaps that could compromise youth services.”

In addition to being sent to Bonner,  Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, and the Shelby County Commission, and other partners are cc’d on the letter.

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Sharing the Spotlight

Democrats Johnson, Huseth at High Point (Photos: Jackson Baker)

As was surely to be expected, the next-to-last weekend of the climactic 2024 election campaign was filled with feverish activity of various kinds — with early voting into its second week and candidates trying to get as many of their partisans as possible to the polls.

A case in point was a pair of events involving Gloria Johnson, the Knoxville Democrat who is trying to unseat incumbent Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn. 

Johnson, the state representative who gained national attention last year as a member of the “Tennessee Three” proponents of gun-safety legislation, has raised some $7 million for her bid — almost all of it from in-state sources, she contended proudly.

While that is no match for the incumbent’s $17 million or so, it has been enough to buy Johnson a series of concise and well-produced TV spots pinpointing Blackburn’s alleged shortcomings. And it even gives her some of the kind of influence that politicians call coattails.

Opponents Nordstrom and White at Belly Acres

Johnson was in Shelby County on Saturday, sharing time with two other Democrats, District 83 state House candidate Noah Nordstrom (like Johnson a public schoolteacher) and District 97 House candidate Jesse Huseth. 

The first event was a joint rally with Nordstrom and state Democratic chair Hendrell Remus just outside the perimeter of the New Bethel Missionary Baptist early-voting station. Next, Johnson met up with Huseth at High Point Grocery for some joint canvassing efforts, after which Huseth, who opposes GOP incumbent John Gillespie, set out on some door-to-door calls on residents in that western part of his district.

The most unusual pre-election event on Saturday didn’t involve Johnson, nor was it, in the strictest sense, a partisan event at all. It was a meet-and-greet at the Belly Acres restaurant in East Memphis involving both Nordstrom and his GOP adversary, incumbent Republican state Representative Mark White.

Not a debate between the two, mind you. A joint meet-and-greet, at which both candidates circulated among the members of a sizeable crowd, spending conversational time with the attendees and with each other.

The event was the brainchild of one Philip D. Hicks, impresario of something called the Independent Foundation for Political Effectiveness. Hicks says he hopes the Nordstrom-White encounter, his organization’s maiden effort, can serve as a precedent for other such joint candidate efforts to come — presumably in future election seasons.

Inasmuch as political competition is, by its nature, an adversarial process, it’s somewhat difficult to imagine such events becoming commonplace, but, all things considered, this first one went amazingly well.

It wasn’t the same kind of thing at all, but there were elements of such collegiality between potential election opponents at an earlier event, a meeting of the Germantown Democratic Club at Coletta’s on Appling Road during the previous week.

That event included Memphis City Council Chair JB Smiley as its featured speaker, and Smiley, who is reliably reported to be thinking of a race for Shelby County mayor in 2026, spent a fair amount of time comparing notes on public matters (e.g., MLGW, the future of the erstwhile Sheraton Hotel) with attendee J.W. Gibson, a businessman who has basically already declared for that office.

Take heed, Mr/Hicks.

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A Deepening Divide

Photo: Srdjan Randjelovic | Dreamstime.com

A local study of poverty rates in Memphis and Shelby County confirms what most people, local and otherwise, probably already suppose to be the case.

The incidence of poverty is higher in the city proper than in the county as a whole, and both Memphis and Shelby County have a higher rate of poverty than does Tennessee, while the state itself has a higher incidence of poverty than pertains in the nation. 

Poverty as a percentage of population (Photo: Courtesy Delavega and Blumenthal)

The study, entitled 2024 Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet, was prepared by local analysts Elena Delavega and Gregory M. Blumenthal, a husband-and-wife team who undertake annual statistical reports on the incidence of poverty.

If there is a surprise in the study, based on 2020 census figures, it is that poverty rates for non-Hispanic whites are higher in Tennessee at large than in the United States, Shelby County, and the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of Memphis.

This might seem to suggest a rising affluence gap between the state’s white residents and its Black and brown residents. It also has implications concerning the effects of out-migration from the Memphis area.

Poverty has increased since last year, the authors find. “This is true for most groups, including children and minorities, but not for whites in Memphis or Shelby County,” they say. “Poverty for non-Hispanic whites has fallen since 2022. It also appears that the population size of non-Hispanic whites in the city of Memphis has dropped more than for other groups, suggesting that those non-Hispanic whites who left were those in poverty.”

It is “not a surprise,” say the authors, that the poverty rate among minorities is higher than among whites. Indeed, they find that structural disparities based on race seem to have accelerated in 2023. “[These] disparities remain and will require deliberate efforts to dismantle. Solving poverty will require regional solutions and regional investments.” 

One possible explanation for what seems to be a deepening divide locally is that the labor market in Memphis tends to consist of unskilled workers in the warehouse industry. “The lack of comprehensive, effective, and efficient public transportation also makes progress against poverty quite difficult,” the authors maintain. 

“An additional problem has been that of external firms acquiring Memphis housing stock and renting it to Memphians at inflated prices, which makes it almost impossible for local families to afford housing.”

Finally, say the authors, “The divide between the city and the county, as evidenced by the racial and geographical differences in poverty, tends to deprive the city of Memphis of the funds it needs to support the region.”

Apropos the racial divide, the authors note that while Memphis ranks second in overall poverty and first in child poverty among large MSAs (urbanized areas with populations greater than 1,000,000) and second in overall poverty and child poverty among cities with over 500,000 population, it ranks significantly better when only whites are included.

Ranked only by its white population, Memphis is positioned significantly lower in the list, ranking 25th among 54 large MSAs (populations greater than 1,000,000) and 61st among 114 MSAs with populations greater than 500,000. 

Ominously, the authors conclude that while the long-term poverty trend provides evidence of the structural nature of poverty in Memphis, five-year trend graphs suggest that disparities are increasing along racial lines.

• Meanwhile, on the eve of the pending presidential election, an equally fraught finding comes from a new poll by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. The survey, conducted from September 20th to 23rd, based on responses from 1,030 adults across the nation, concludes that most Americans think that democracy is in danger.

More than 50 percent of Americans think that our democracy is “under attack” in the run-up to the election. The Unity Poll is meant to offer “regular snapshots of Americans’ sense of national political unity and their faith in the country’s democratic institutions,” according to Vanderbilt professor John Geer. 

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State vs. Local

JB Smiley at Germantown Democrats’ picnic (Photo: Jackson Baker)

Most people are familiar with an adage, often attributed to the late Speaker of the U.S. House Tip O’Neill, that “all politics is local.”

Until it isn’t. 

Tennesseans are becoming uncomfortably aware that state government is muscling into as many local government prerogatives as possible — in areas ranging from education to healthcare to social policy to, increasingly, law enforcement.

A number of current circumstances reflect what seems to be a war of attrition waged at the state level against the right of Memphis and Shelby County to pursue independent law-and-order initiatives.

Memphis City Council chairman JB Smiley spoke to the matter Sunday at the annual picnic of the Germantown Democratic Club at Cameron Brown Park.

Said Smiley: “You know, recently, I’ve been, against my will, going back and forth with someone in the statehouse who doesn’t care for Shelby County called Cameron Sexton. Yeah, he doesn’t believe that Shelby County has the right to exercise its voice.“

Sexton, of course, is the Republican speaker of the state House of Representatives who recently threatened to withhold from Memphis its share of some vital state revenues in retaliation for the city’s inclusion on the November 5th ballot of a referendum package soliciting citizens’ views on possible future firearms curbs.

The package lists three initiatives — a reinstatement of gun-carry permits, a ban on the sale of assault rifles, and the right of judges to impose “red-flag” laws against the possession of weapons by demonstrably risky individuals.

All the initiatives are in the form of “trigger laws,” which would be activated only if and when state policy might allow the local options. As Smiley noted, “That’s what the state did when they disagreed with the federal government when it came to abortion rights. As soon as the law changed in the country, [their] law became full and effective. That’s what we’re going to do in the city of Memphis.” 

Simultaneous with this ongoing showdown between city and state has been a determined effort by Republican state Senator Brent Taylor and others to pass state laws restricting the prerogatives of local Criminal Court judges and Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy.

One piece of Taylor-sponsored legislation, passed last year, would transfer authority over capital punishment appeals from the DA to the state attorney general. Litigation against the law pursued by Mulroy and an affected defendant resulted in the measure’s being declared unconstitutional in trial court.

But the state Appeals Court reversed that judgment last week, seemingly revalidating the law and causing Taylor to crow in a social media post over what he deemed a personal victory over Mulroy, whom he accused of wanting to “let criminals off of death row” and whose ouster he has vowed to pursue in the legislature.

The fact is, however, that there will be one more review of the measure, by the state Supreme Court, before its ultimate status is made clear. 

Some of the immediate media coverage of the matter tended to play up Taylor’s declaration of victory over Mulroy, ignoring the ongoing aspects of the litigation and overlooking obvious nuances. 

One TV outlet erroneously reported the Appeals Court as having found Mulroy guilty of “inappropriate” conduct when the court had merely speculated on the legalistic point of whether the DA had appropriate standing as a plaintiff (a point that was conceded, incidentally, by the state Attorney General).

Mulroy’s reaction to the Appeals Court finding focused on the issue as having to do with governance: “The Tennessee Constitution says local voters get to elect a local resident DA to represent them in court. This law transfers power over the most serious cases, death penalty cases, from locally elected DAs across the state to one unelected state official half a state away. This should concern anyone, regardless of party, who cares about local control and state overreach.”

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College-Going Rate Increases For State of Tennessee

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Tennessee’s high school graduates are headed to college at an increasingly higher rate, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission announced. The THEC said this is the largest “year-over-year” increase since 2015, when the Tennessee Promise scholarship was introduced.

This announcement is the result of a collaborative goal from THEC and other state partners to make a “Momentum Year” for the class of 2023. According to Steven Gentile, THEC executive director, they wanted to encourage more adults to enroll in higher education through Tennessee Reconnect, a return to higher education initiative.

“It is gratifying to see those efforts pay off in helping even more Tennessee students and adult learners pursue their dreams and careers with college degrees and workforce credentials beyond high school,” Gentile said.

THEC’s college-going rate shows the percentage of public school students who enroll in postsecondary education after high school, officials said. 56.7 percent of the class of 2023 will attend college in the fall, a 2.4 percent increase from 2022. 

Shelby County’s graduating class of 2023 consisted of 8,557 people, the largest class in the state, and had a college-going rate of 52.8 percent. While this rate was lower than the state average, it  increased by .5 percent from 2022.

Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS) said after further research that they did not have specific information on MSCS’ college-going rate, acceptance rate, or impact on dual enrollment as it relates to this report.

While the commission celebrated a state-wide increase in college going, their report Tennessee College Going and the Class of 2023, showed certain trends for some racial demographics and gender pairings. They group found that  white females, hispanic males, and females identifying as “other” saw growth above their state average.

The report also showed that students who participate in dual enrollment courses contributed to high college-going rates. They also found that while the number of college-bound students enrolled at in-state public schools decreased, they found that-out-of-state students enrolled in schools.

THEC said this growth is a “positive outcome,” however they highlighted that there was opportunity for growth when examining “economically disadvantaged” students, who enrolled in school at lower rates.

“Economically disadvantaged is a designation used at the K-12 level to indicate socioeconomic status and includes students who are in foster care, homeless, migrant students, runaway students, and students who participate in federal/state income/nutrition programs,” THEC said.

Students in this category contributed to a 39.3 percent college going rate, while non-economically challenged students saw a 65.3 percent college rate.

This report not only measured the rate at which students enrolled in post-secondary education, but it also looked at barriers preventing students from doing so such as navigating the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA.)

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Mulroy Responds

DA Mulroy in Germantown (Photo: Jackson Baker)

Some six days after District Attorney Steve Mulroy was verbally eviscerated at the Shelby County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day banquet, Mulroy had the opportunity, before a Democratic audience, to be celebrated instead and to respond to GOP calls for his official ouster.

Mulroy had arrived as an attendee at last Wednesday night’s monthly meeting of the Germantown Democratic Club at Coletta’s on Appling when the event’s designated speaker, state Senator Sara Kyle, temporarily ceased speaking and invited him to come to the front of the room and address the large crowd on hand.

He began by thanking the audience for an extended round of applause — “It stiffens my soul” — and acknowledging his current predicament — “These are trying times right now.”

Even before the events of the last few weeks, he said, “Strangers come up to me all the time. And they say, ‘Man, I wouldn’t have your job.’ I get it. There’s no lack of stress in the job. But, you know, obviously, things have ratcheted up lately.” 

He pronounced a vow by Republican state Senator Brent Taylor to launch an ouster mechanism in the next General Assembly as “pure partisan politics” and continued, “It’s unprecedented in Tennessee history to remove somebody over what are essentially policy differences. It’s never been done. Under what we call the ‘for-cause standard,’ you have to identify specific acts or omissions that are official misconduct, or wholesale dereliction of duty.

“You know, the triggering event” — a tentative proposal to offer official diversion to nonviolent felons caught with illegal firearms — “was a program which I’ve now withdrawn. So as far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to talk about it anymore. But if anybody wants me to explain it, either now or one-on-one, I will, but the main takeaway is, don’t get caught up in arguments about these discrete little issues here and there. There’s a lot of misinformation out there. But the overarching theme is there’s no official misconduct.”

Mulroy professed to be “offended on behalf of my staff … because I happen to have 230 hardworking staff in those courtrooms every day, doing the best they can to keep Shelby County safe.”

“But, you know,” he said, “nothing’s going to happen for another six months. Six months is a long time. A lot can happen in that time. What I would ask you to do is spread the word. There’s going to be a lot of BS on social media. Over the next six months, I’d like to deputize you all to be my social media warriors, as it were, and counter the BS because at the end of the day, either Shelby County’s district attorney is chosen by the voters of Shelby County or is chosen by politicians in Nashville.” 

The governing politicians of the Republican supermajority came in for criticism as well from Kyle, a candidate for re-election this year, when she resumed her remarks. She condemned a variety of alleged GOP misprisions, including corporate tax rebates granted at the expense of maternal healthcare, inaction on gun safety bills, and Governor Bill Lee’s push for student vouchers.

Although she didn’t address the matter in her speech, the senator is devoting significant time these days to caring for her husband, Chancellor Jim Kyle, who is afflicted with CIDP (chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy) and has had to suspend his judicial caseload. More on this anon. 

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Pawsitive Training Benefits Shelter Dogs and Incarcerated Women

Photo Credit: Shelby County Division of Corrections

Community organizations are partnering to build relationships between incarcerated women and shelter dogs through an intensive training program.

The Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County, Shelby County Division of Corrections, and Allegiance Canine recently announced the launch of the Pawsitive Training Program designed to emphasize the positive impact on both parties.

The program takes cues from a 2021 University of Washington study that found that programs like these help incarcerated people and pets alike.

“Studies have shown that canine training programs have mutual benefits,” said Deputy administrator of Shelby County Office of Reentry, Dominique Winfrey-McKinnie. “ The programs enhance inmates’ social and emotional IQ, accountability and sense of responsibility, and the trained dogs may find their forever homes quicker. It’s a beautiful exchange of empathy and understanding that transforms both hearts and minds.”

Winfrey-McKinnie said this is an “innovative and creative” initiative for Shelby County as it enhances the inmate population through rehabilitation programs. She notes that the Division of Corrections has done a “phenomenal” job with programs for women, however much of the training focuses on “hard skill” trades such as operating forklifts, welding and barbering. 

“We wanted programs that worked on responsibility and accountability and teach interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence,” Winfrey-McKinnie said. 

Ellen Zahariadis, executive director of the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County said they believe in the “transformative power of compassion,” and this program allows participants to build meaningful connections.

“Together, we are creating second chances for everyone involved,” Zahariadis said.

During the six-week program five dogs will be paired with five groups of two women. Organizers say they will go through a “rigorous interview and assessment process, while the dogs will undergo training from Allegiance Canine. All training will be held at the Shelby County Division of Corrections.

Zahariadis said the dogs will benefit from this “one-on-one, intensive training” as they’ll “learn their manners” before they’re adopted. In turn, this will make them more likely to be adopted by people who are looking to bring dogs into their homes.

“It’ll give them a better sense of being in a home and interacting with people out in the community,” Zahariadis said. “Anytime our animals are able to spend more time with people and have those kinds of interactions — it’s so much better for them.”

The dogs will learn marker words, recall and sit commands, manners around humans and other dogs, and more. Zahariadis added the participants also learn patience and other traits through positive reinforcement, which is the primary method used. 

“It really reinforces those personal skills in people. It could also turn out to be a career path for somebody when they’re learning how to work with animals,” Zahariadis said.

Not only will the program help women with accountability and responsibility, Winfrey-McKinnie said this program will also help participants to engage in meaningful relationships.

“Although it’s with an animal, animals have emotions, animals have character — they have personality,” Winfrey-McKinnie said. “Learning how to navigate those things while also being gentle, yet firm — it’s a skill that’s necessary for all of us as adults, which will be helpful for them as well when they come home.”

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris calls this program a “win-win training initiative.”

“Not only do inmates get to assist in transforming the lives of shelter dogs, but they also gain crucial skills and experience as canine trainers that may lead to future employment,” Harris said.

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Report: Shelby County Among the Most Vulnerable to Climate Change

Photo by Maxim Tolchinskiy on Unsplash

In the U.S., Shelby County is one of the areas most vulnerable to climate change.

That’s according to the new U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index, developed in partnership between the Environmental Defense Fund and Texas A&M University. The study shows, basically, which areas of the country will suffer the most as climate change continues, and continues to get worse.

Climate change vulnerability is more than just susceptibility to environmental disasters like droughts, wildfires, and floods. The new tool considered 184 sets of public data to establish how communities may suffer under climate change.

“Climate change will cause a range of related risks, including increases in infectious and chronic disease, intensified social and economic stresses, and more frequent extreme weather events,” reads the tool’s website. “Vulnerable groups will be disproportionately affected due to greater exposure to climate risks and lower ability to prepare, adapt, and recover from their effects.”

U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index

The U.S. Southeast is particularly vulnerable to climate change, according to the study. Areas in the Northeast, Midwest, and West were scored among the least vulnerable in the country. 

Shelby County scored in the 97th percentile of vulnerable counties in the nation. The score put the Memphis area only slightly behind Louisiana’s Cancer Alley for climate vulnerability. 

U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index

Shelby’s score did not, however, rank it among the country’s top-10 most vulnerable counties. Five of the top 10 counties ranked worse in the study were in Louisiana. Three were in Kentucky. Sites in Texas and South Carolina rounded out the top 10. 

Shelby County did not even rank first for potential climate suffering in Tennessee. It ranked 9th behind counties mostly in East Tennessee. 

Shelby County did earn the top spot in one national metric, however. Shelby had the most census tracts (21) concentrated in one county among the top 100 most vulnerable. 

These at-risk communities are in lower-income areas north of Downtown, like Frayser, Alta Vista, Douglass, and Hollywood. They can also be found in areas of the county south of Downtown like Riverview, Walker Homes, Valley Forge, and Whitehaven. 

Areas inside the I-240 Loop deemed to suffer less during climate change are inside the Downtown business and entertainment districts, and those along the Poplar Corridor. Most areas east of and outside of the Loop are less vulnerable to climate change, the report said. 

U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index

Areas less at risk of climate change vulnerability here are predominately more wealthy. One outlier, however, is a section of Collierville, which is seemingly more at risk thanks to the presence of a Carrier Air Conditioning Co. Superfund site.  

Shelby County scored high (which is bad) for exposures to harmful materials. Overall, the county scored in the 98th percentile of all U.S. counties for the total amount of toxic chemicals released into an area. 

Toxins released in the air are particular threats in Shelby County. The county scored in the 98th percentile for the amount of air pollution regulated by the government. The county scored near the top in categories showing how dangerous those toxic air pollutants and diesel particles are to the body’s nervous system (99th percentile), thyroid (99th percentile), and in increased cancer risk (94th percentile).

The county also scored high for the amount of land that is developed here, the number of payday lenders, affordable housing, traffic congestion, the total number of road miles per person, road quality, indoor plumbing, the cost of climate disasters, residential energy expenditures, and more. 

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U.S. Department of Transportation RAISE Funding Awards $38.2 Million to MATA and Shelby County

Photo: U.S. Department of Transportation via Facebook

Two Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants have been awarded to Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) and Shelby County. This grant program comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Congressman Steve Cohen announced that MATA will be receiving $25 million for its Crosstown Corridor Safety and Multi-Modal Enhancement Program, while Shelby County will be receiving $13.2 million for its Eliminating Barriers on North Watkins (Project ELBOW).

“These major projects, which both include important complete streets elements to ensure safety and accessibility for all road users, will transform our community, creating efficient and safe travel corridors where they’re most needed,” said Cohen in a statement. “This investment will lead to a bright future for Memphis drivers and transit riders. I’m also proud that this funding was made possible by the massive investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which I supported.”

MATA’s Crosstown Corridor Safety and Multi-Modal Enhancement Program will provide “complete street improvements and Bus Rapid Transit service along an approximately 26-mile corridor.”

This project will also include improvements to sidewalks, bus stations, intersection improvements, and signalization.

Project ELBOW will use funds to “design and reconstruct the 1960s-era bridge over the Wolf River,” said the U.S. Department of Transportation in a statement. 

“[The Wolf River] is rated in poor condition and will be upgraded to seismic standards and more accessible during emergency and evacuation events, and approximately 3.3 miles of complete street improvements.”

The grants are part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, said the U.S. Department of Transportation. The department also stated that 70 percent of the grants go toward projects “in regions defined as an Area of Persistent Poverty or a Historically Disadvantaged Community.”

“This round of RAISE grants is helping create a new generation of good-paying jobs in rural and urban communities alike, with projects whose benefits will include improving safety, fighting climate change, advancing equity, strengthening our supply chain, and more,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.