What happened to Memphis? (Knoxville, Jackson: appointed, crime rates, transfer)
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We came here from Stone Mountain (Atlanta suburb) GA in 2002. After living in an apartment for 6 months we bought a home in Cordova. I love Cordova, however, Memphis has been going down the tubes every year. It has closed or lost a lot of the fun places we found here. Cordova High School was taken over by Memphis City Schools per the plan by which it was built. People told us it was going to change drastically. We didn't believe them. It changed. The bus fleet the brought in was in poor condition and staff performance was terrible. Teachers and administrators left and it was generally awful. My youngest will graduate this year thank God! It has been a frustrating time since MCS took the school over.
As for the city itself I can now drive down Poplar or Union or any other major street at any hour and not encounter any traffic. Where is everybody? Maybe they don't have jobs to go to anymore. Beale Street is bare except for some summer evenings and major event days. Memphis is becoming a ghost town and an ugly one. Yet they continue to talk as if it has some great future. If FedEx ever pulls out Memphis can call it a day. The politicians are too busy fighting to do anything to really help the city prosper. I think they've gotten rid of the corrupt ones but the racial divide amongst them is still as big as the Grand Canyon. Memphis needs a Dream Team to establish city growth and enhancement and fast. Beale Street is not going to do it. Go down there and watch the handful of tourists. Stop leaning on Sun Studios, Graceland, Beale Street and ribs. I can make ribs as good as the ones I've tasted here and I was NYC born and raised. Get busy. Stop BSing. You need better parks, a better looking downtown area, a populated central commercial district and a better school system. The kids don't have any vision. They go to school,meet, have babies and get into the welfare system. Someone told me I was the only African American woman they knew who wasn't getting food stamps. That said a lot. Pray for Memphis. It needs all the help it can get!
^^^ Hahaha . Yeah, all Memphis needs is Atlanta's soon to be unaccredited schools and some of the nations worst traffic. That will get us going in the right direction for sure!
Only FedEx? What about International Paper, Autozone, Thomas & Betts, Helena Chemical, First Horizon Bank, Morgan Keegan, Baker-Donelson, ServiceMaster, Medtronic Spinal Biologics, Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics, Wright Medical, Baptist Memorial, Methodist Le Bohneur, Plough Corp, etc.? The truth is Memphis has a handsome resume of companies that employ some of the brightest minds in their respective industries. How about pending manufacturing relocations like Electrolux, Mitsubishi and more on the way, providing thousands of middle-class jobs for Memphis' growing economy?
You're right, we should probably just bulldoze Graceland & Beale Street since only a handful of tourist visit them. Ya know, to stop leaning on our world-known history & identity. But of course, in reality they see hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world every year and generate tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the local economy and are beloved by so many.
This city will continue to move forward despite societal ills in some of its' poor neighborhoods. The city created more jobs last year (in a recession) than any time in the past 20 years and is seeing billions of dollars of investment in the Biotech & Transportation industries. In fact, it's happening right before your very eyes and you still don't see it. These are the facts. So please, shut off and back away from the computer.
We will never come anywhere remotely close to what atlanta has become. We missed that opportunity in the early to mid 90s. We've been stagnant way too long. This whole school merger thingy is bringing this backwards county's mentality to the forefront. There will NEVER be one unified memphis.
Someone told me I was the only African American woman they knew who wasn't getting food stamps. That said a lot. Pray for Memphis. It needs all the help it can get!
Hey GG. I've found it to be in my best intrest to try and avoid any Memphis threads related to schools, neighborhoods, politics and religion...they never end well
We will never come anywhere remotely close to what atlanta has become. We missed that opportunity in the early to mid 90s. We've been stagnant way too long. This whole school merger thingy is bringing this backwards county's mentality to the forefront. There will NEVER be one unified memphis.
Someone told me I was the only African American woman they knew who wasn't getting food stamps. That said a lot. Pray for Memphis. It needs all the help it can get!
It certainly does say a lot!!!!!!!
I see your reputation slowly going up. Must be a lot of closet racists here. These are the same people who claim they have black friends. I wish they would stop being cowards and reveal themselves.
Someone told me I was the only African American woman they knew who wasn't getting food stamps. That said a lot. Pray for Memphis. It needs all the help it can get!
It certainly does say a lot!!!!!!!
Yea, it tells me the person who said that does not know many black people.
Sucks when people make generalizations about a whole race, huh. Sorry you were offended. But you see one of the points I was making.
Yes it does. I saw your point and I wasn't offended. No problem.
I don't live in Memphis so I cannot state what has happened to Memphis over the years with any distinct qualifications. However, I do live close to Memphis and do see general problems such as the schools and corruption.
I do see alot of beating up on yourselves. Sometimes that is good because it leads to improvement but in this case I am not so sure.
The funny thing with Memphis is that you would think that there would not be so much self-degradation when considering the amount of negative feelings for Memphis in the adjoining region. You think you would see an us angainst the world attitude leading to improvements.
Having lived in all grand divisions of our state, I can tell you that there are widespread feelings of disgust for Memphis and West Tennessee as a whole in other parts of the state. Not from everyone....but it is with alot of people. The big differences after you cross the Tennessee River heading west are topography and demographics. You think the feelings are based on the lack of substantial hills over here?
Yes it does. I saw your point and I wasn't offended. No problem.
I don't live in Memphis so I cannot state what has happened to Memphis over the years with any distinct qualifications. However, I do live close to Memphis and do see general problems such as the schools and corruption.
I do see alot of beating up on yourselves. Sometimes that is good because it leads to improvement but in this case I am not so sure.
The funny thing with Memphis is that you would think that there would not be so much self-degradation when considering the amount of negative feelings for Memphis in the adjoining region. You think you would see an us angainst the world attitude leading to improvements.
Having lived in all grand divisions of our state, I can tell you that there are widespread feelings of disgust for Memphis and West Tennessee as a whole in other parts of the state. Not from everyone....but it is with alot of people. The big differences after you cross the Tennessee River heading west are topography and demographics. You think the feelings are based on the lack of substantial hills over here?
Not sure if this is empathy or an insult. It's quite condescending and arrogant though.
In my defense, I don't degrade myself. But I do degrade this city's pervasive dysfunctional mentality. We still believe racism is okay as long as all Memphians accept it as a way of life. This place is sick. Trying to get people to be honest and think isn't a crime. But if it makes me a misfit in this "group-think" era, so be it. Guess the new "Zeitgeist" is to go along with even if you don't agree. Sorry! People like me don't go away. We never do!! We keep the balance.
To answer the OP's question,....nothing of significance has "happened" in Memphis for quite some time. That's why the city is so behind.
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. Yeah, all Memphis needs is Atlanta's soon to be unaccredited schools and some of the nations worst traffic. That will get us going in the right direction for sure!
