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Old 12-05-2013, 11:12 AM
 
433 posts, read 844,959 times
Reputation: 279

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Let me first start out by saying I overall enjoy living in Memphis and will be living in Memphis for at least the next 25 years at which point I can retire. Even then I will still be in the metro I will just move to the Mississippi suburbs and keep a vacation house in Orange Beach, AL which my employment currently prohibits because of a ordinance passed by the lovely citizens of Memphis before I moved here. That being said after living here for a year this is a list of things I do understand about Memphis. Please see if y'all can answer these for me. If you cannot answer all try for one.

1. Why do people drive so slow on the expressway or whatever y'all call freeways here?

2. Why do people not know how to merge? Every weekday there is backlog from 3pm to 6pm where the 40 east and 240 west split. Also the same thing happens at the 240 and 385 the kirby on ramp and the riverdale on ramp. Unnecessary traffic because everyone slows down.

3. Why does traffic stop to a crawl when I car accident has been moved to the side road and all lanes on the freeway are open but everyone slows down anyway in every lane?

4 Why do streets change names 3 or 4 times within the city limits. For example Frayer to Frayser-Raleigh to yale?

5. Why does Memphis hate the shelby county suburbs and the shelby county suburbs hate Memphis? And why do both hate Desoto county?

6. Why is the city so splintered? For example here are things I hear on an almost daily basis "I live in Whitehaven. Everything I need is in Whitehaven. Frayser oh no that's to far." "I live in Orange Mound my whole life I ain't never been to Frayser." "Wolfchase galleria oh no thats to far." "You commute from Hickory Hill to frayser? Wow that's a long commute." It is only 20 miles. People in Los angeles commute sometimes 80 miles out. I have noticed a lot of people do not know where things are here in other parts of the city because they do not venture out of their neighborhoods.

7. Why so negative? I tell people I moved here and the first question is why? Then they proceed to tell me how boring it is here and I proceed to tell them how much fun I have here and all the things to do.

8. Why is there beef between West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and East Tennessee?

9. Why is there no booklet sent out before elections telling each issue and the pro's and con's along with each candidate and where they stand? Also why are elections held on odd dates and who is Kenneth Whalum?

10. Why do people still talk about things that happen 50 years ago or 150 years ago like they are happening or matter today? For example MLK and sanitation strikes? Or removing confederate history from downtown but now talking about creating an African American history trail downtown. As if Memphis does not already have a lot of African American history attraction already. I mean come on it is a chocolate city.

11. Lastly where does the city of Memphis get its phantom money. Let me explain: city employees are told there is no money for pension but then there is 15 million dollars for sears crosstown, money to buy autozone park, and give sanitation workers a pension after their union chose to opt out a longtime ago. Was there not a budget crisis a few months ago?

Last edited by SippiStateBulldogs; 12-05-2013 at 11:45 AM..
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Old 12-05-2013, 01:32 PM
 
Location: Seattle
7,503 posts, read 17,113,817 times
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Quote:
1. Why do people drive so slow on the expressway or whatever y'all call freeways here?
These are all really good questions. But this one especially drives me nuts. I've never been to a major city where everyone is driving 60 mph on a six-lane freeway.
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Old 12-05-2013, 01:57 PM
 
Location: Saint Louis
56 posts, read 105,861 times
Reputation: 23
Why does Sycamore View change into Bartlett Blvd, only to change into Billy Maher? Bartlett also forks off and then becomes Sycamore View again, only to change in Memphis-Arlington, then Mem-Arl turns into Altruria, and then breaks up into multiple sections as Mem-Arl and other names?
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Old 12-05-2013, 02:00 PM
 
Location: Memphis, TN
52 posts, read 120,151 times
Reputation: 72
I don't have much of an answer for the traffic woes. Traffic is bad in most cities. I have a commute up and down Poplar Ave. every day. It drives me insane. Why do people brake at green lights? I'll never understand. All the more reason to live and work downtown someday.

The construction projects linked below may be temporarily causing traffic delays but should drastically enhance the driving experience once completed:

Interstate 240 Widening Project - Tennessee Department of Transportation
Tennessee Department of Transportation - I-40/240 Interchange - Memphis

7. Why so negative? I tell people I moved here and the first question is why? Then they proceed to tell me how boring it is here and I proceed to tell them how much fun I have here and all the things to do.

I've found that most of the negativity comes from within the city and perhaps other areas of the state. As I've lived in Memphis most of my life, I've never had the question "why did you move there," but I do get the "why would you want to stay in Memphis?" from Memphians themselves. I will say, though, that I think that trend is slowly decreasing as the Memphis "renaissance" continues.

8. Why is there beef between West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and East Tennessee?

I'm not exactly sure, but I wish it would stop. Tennessee is a great state, and each region/city contributes to that. But they're all so different, so I don't understand the need for comparison or ranking.

9. Why is there no booklet sent out before elections telling each issue and the pro's and con's along with each candidate and where they stand? Also why are elections held on odd dates and who is Kenneth Whalum?

This is a great idea. There might be something out there similar to this. Perhaps someone else can enlighten us.

11. Lastly where does the city of Memphis get its phantom money. Let me explain: city employees are told there is no money for pension but then there is 15 million dollars for sears crosstown, money to buy autozone park, and give sanitation workers a pension after their union chose to opt out a longtime ago. Was there not a budget crisis a few months ago?

I believe that the AutoZone deal has been delayed, but the Crosstown vote was passed. Most of that funding is coming from the federal government in the form of grants, not the local government. Read this: http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news...e-and-federal/
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Old 12-05-2013, 03:11 PM
 
Location: 91105
171 posts, read 353,839 times
Reputation: 90
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissStateDawg View Post
9. Why is there no booklet sent out before elections telling each issue and the pro's and con's along with each candidate and where they stand? Also why are elections held on odd dates and who is Kenneth Whalum?
This one also left me scratching my head! It seems that the most recent election on Nov. 21 was a special election to replace a member of the TN House of Representatives who passed away.

11 File for State House District 91 Special Election - Memphis Daily News

But I really can't figure out why the School Board and sales tax votes weren't held on 11/5 (Tuesday) like most other states. Also, what is the deal with early voting? I tried to read the Shelby Co. election website and could not figure out where/when/how to vote early. Then I forgot it was election day when it finally rolled around.
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Old 12-05-2013, 08:46 PM
 
263 posts, read 611,103 times
Reputation: 557
Your traffic complaints could appear on any city forum. Seriously, I've never lived in a place where people didn't think the drivers there were the worst drivers anywhere.

Street names change for a number of reasons. 1) You may be going from one municipality to another or from one municipality to the unincorporated county. Street names are determined by each separate government. 2) Just because a street continues through an intersection now doesn't mean it did so historically. Like most cities, Memphis has made an effort to line its streets up, making them continuous. Two different streets with different names that previously did not align may now align; in that case, unless the City Council goes through a renaming process, then the original names remain. 3) Memphis has a number of 'honorary' street names, which may be confused with the actual street names.

On the matter of people being down on Memphis -- It's a poor city. It has a funky history that includes some pretty bad stuff. On the 50th anniversary of JFK being killed, NPR ran a story about the decades it took Dallas to recover any sort of civic pride and move beyond being the 'city of hate.' A heck of a lot changed in Memphis in 1968. Most folks in the city don't realize how much a singular event and the days/months/years following that event contributed to making Memphis what it is today.

As far as 'removing Confederate history' -- That's a crock. Folks in Memphis have a right to determine what they want to celebrate about their city and what they don't want to celebrate about their city. If they don't want to celebrate 'Confederate history,' they don't have to do so. It's their city, not Nathan Bedford Forrest's. When Mr. Forrest or any of his Confederate pals start paying taxes in the city and can get the voters behind them, then they can have a say, too. History is for remembering; it is not something to which people should be held hostage.

Your idea of 'splintered' is very different than mine. Sure, people acknowledge their neighborhoods. Can you name a city where people don't acknowledge the part of the city where they live? For example, if two people in Minneapolis meet, do you think they both say "I'm from Minneapolis." That wouldn't be very descriptive, would it? Here in Nashville, people quite often say they live in Antioch or Bellevue or Donelson or East Nashville or 12 South or wherever. I think that's a very, very typical thing.
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Old 12-05-2013, 10:11 PM
 
433 posts, read 844,959 times
Reputation: 279
I have one more. Why do Memphians freakout over ice storms. I've heard about the ice storm of 1994 but people are acting like this is a hurricane or something.
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Old 12-05-2013, 10:20 PM
 
433 posts, read 844,959 times
Reputation: 279
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_commuter View Post
Your traffic complaints could appear on any city forum. Seriously, I've never lived in a place where people didn't think the drivers there were the worst drivers anywhere.

Street names change for a number of reasons. 1) You may be going from one municipality to another or from one municipality to the unincorporated county. Street names are determined by each separate government. 2) Just because a street continues through an intersection now doesn't mean it did so historically. Like most cities, Memphis has made an effort to line its streets up, making them continuous. Two different streets with different names that previously did not align may now align; in that case, unless the City Council goes through a renaming process, then the original names remain. 3) Memphis has a number of 'honorary' street names, which may be confused with the actual street names.

On the matter of people being down on Memphis -- It's a poor city. It has a funky history that includes some pretty bad stuff. On the 50th anniversary of JFK being killed, NPR ran a story about the decades it took Dallas to recover any sort of civic pride and move beyond being the 'city of hate.' A heck of a lot changed in Memphis in 1968. Most folks in the city don't realize how much a singular event and the days/months/years following that event contributed to making Memphis what it is today.

As far as 'removing Confederate history' -- That's a crock. Folks in Memphis have a right to determine what they want to celebrate about their city and what they don't want to celebrate about their city. If they don't want to celebrate 'Confederate history,' they don't have to do so. It's their city, not Nathan Bedford Forrest's. When Mr. Forrest or any of his Confederate pals start paying taxes in the city and can get the voters behind them, then they can have a say, too. History is for remembering; it is not something to which people should be held hostage.

Your idea of 'splintered' is very different than mine. Sure, people acknowledge their neighborhoods. Can you name a city where people don't acknowledge the part of the city where they live? For example, if two people in Minneapolis meet, do you think they both say "I'm from Minneapolis." That wouldn't be very descriptive, would it? Here in Nashville, people quite often say they live in Antioch or Bellevue or Donelson or East Nashville or 12 South or wherever. I think that's a very, very typical thing.
You did not really answer my question. I was not asking about the confederacy this is not that type of thread. See other threads I've made for this topic. I was asking why do people here still talk about things that happen a long time ago as if they are still relevant today?

Secondly I did not say Memphis has the worst drivers. I asked why they drive so slow on the freeway. I know everyone those not drive slow in most other major cities.

Third I did not say when two people are talking about where they are from and both are from Memphis. Did you even read my post or did you jump the conclusion I am dissing Memphis and went in defense mode? I said in the beginning I like Memphis.

Fourth the street names I am talking about do not change from municipality they change names within the city limits of Memphis.

Next time try to comprehend my post before commenting please.
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Old 12-05-2013, 10:23 PM
 
433 posts, read 844,959 times
Reputation: 279
Quote:
Originally Posted by jabogitlu View Post
These are all really good questions. But this one especially drives me nuts. I've never been to a major city where everyone is driving 60 mph on a six-lane freeway.
Thank you. Its like everybody does the same slow speed in every lane and then you cannot even go around. Also I never lived in a city where the police department had officers stationed on the freeway ticketing people. Normally only highway patrol or state troopers do that.
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Old 12-05-2013, 10:33 PM
 
433 posts, read 844,959 times
Reputation: 279
Also on some of the questions I have they are obviously more rhetorical but some of them I really would like some answers from people who know Memphis history. I like to understand where I live. I grew up in Long Beach, CA and spent summers and went to college in Mississippi. If you ask me about those places I can answer things because I know the pulse. I am new to Memphis and would really like to know these things. Not stupid data forum troll answers but real answers. Like why do I hear people talk about how the state government is against Memphis? Is that true and if so why? What example are there of this? I am serious this was not a joke thread.
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