Is Memphis Really that bad (Central: house, rent, hotel)

[CTownNative]

Usually cities that are all around terrible don't gain population and city-data's demagraphics siad Memphis gained around 22,500 new people.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by CTownNative

Usually cities that are all around terrible don't gain population and city-data's demagraphics siad Memphis gained around 22,500 new people.

Memphis gained the new people through annexation. Essentially, it forces people to live in the city limits. If Memphis hadn't annexed since 1970, its population would probably be half what it was.

[Pearlbob]

It depends on what you are reading, but yes, Memphis is pretty bad. One reason Memphis population keeps going up might be because "Memphis" keeps annexing other suburbs, thus increasing the city's population by thousands overnight. Almost the entire city of Cordova is now Memphis.

Memphis has a lot of huge companies that bring in people for work, despite those people maybe not wanting to live here. UT Medical, St. Jude, Fed Ex, Autozone, to name a few. Fed Ex employs around 40,000 people here (something like that) and I know many of the corporate employees are transferred here for work from other cities. There are also lots of schools here that bring in students an maybe a lot of those students just end up staying here out of convenience, thus increasing population.

I think the idea that thousands of people are willingly moving here because they love the city so much is incorrect. The only reason I live here is because of my job. I would much rather live elsewhere, and after another few years and I'm able to save the money, I do plan on moving out of Memphis and TN.

[highliner]

Annexation is only part of the picture. Three different sources show me an increase in Shelby county's population, as well as in the city of Memphis. I've been to Memphis 8 or 10 times in the last decade for work, and I didn't notice any greater amount of violent crime than , say, Cincinnati or Indianapolis. Are there any specific things that you really dislike about this city, or are you just fed up in general? I really would like to know- if this transfer comes about, then I'll be spending much time dealing with the undercurrents of Tennessee's population- and I am hopeful of a response. Thank you.

[Pearlbob]

Shelby Co population probably increases due to the fact that Memphians move out to the burbs to get away from the city. And, that most people who move to the area move to the burbs and not the city. I really doubt there is any data to explain it, but that would be my guess as to why both Shelby Co and Memphis populations have increased.

Memphis is always Top 10 of the most violent cities, most crime, most murders, etc etc. Always. I've been to Indy and it's a far cry from what I see here. The city looked so much nicer overall.

When you're only here for a week a few times over the years, you probably don't notice the crime. Hard to notice when you're at a hotel and eating out in nice restaurants and doing the touristy things. It's when you live here for decades that you see it.

Specifically, the education system here is the worst in the state, one of the worst in the country. That creates a whole lot of uneducated adults. And lots of crime. There is way too much crime here. Way too many bums. The city itself is dirty. EXTREMELY crooked government. For example, it turns out that our utilities company was given one of our city's historic family politicians free utilities, up to about $15,000 worth. When the story broke, the MLGW president, who was appointed by our crooked mayor, tried to resign but the mayor won't let him. It's all BS, frankly. It's an embarassment that these people get into office. Another politician from that family was arrested for taking tons of bribes, and he had also shot and killed someone years before that was deemed "justifiable." (not so sure on the details, but still...it's all just a circus here)

I've had my car broken into, people tried to break into my house, I see homeless people going through my yard all the time, my elderly neighbor was punched and had her purse stolen in broad daylight in the middle of a good grocery store a few months ago, every high school in town seems to have gang violence and drug problems, etc etc. I could go on.

If you don't mind living in a city that has a high risk of crime, I think Memphis is okay for the younger folk. I would never raise children here. I wouldn't want children to grow up in a city like this and to think this is all that there is to offer in the US.

[JMSTiger]

Originally Posted by Pearlbob

Shelby Co population probably increases due to the fact that Memphians move out to the burbs to get away from the city. And, that most people who move to the area move to the burbs and not the city. I really doubt there is any data to explain it, but that would be my guess as to why both Shelby Co and Memphis populations have increased.

Memphis is always Top 10 of the most violent cities, most crime, most murders, etc etc. Always. I've been to Indy and it's a far cry from what I see here. The city looked so much nicer overall.

When you're only here for a week a few times over the years, you probably don't notice the crime. Hard to notice when you're at a hotel and eating out in nice restaurants and doing the touristy things. It's when you live here for decades that you see it.

Specifically, the education system here is the worst in the state, one of the worst in the country. That creates a whole lot of uneducated adults. And lots of crime. There is way too much crime here. Way too many bums. The city itself is dirty. EXTREMELY crooked government. For example, it turns out that our utilities company was given one of our city's historic family politicians free utilities, up to about $15,000 worth. When the story broke, the MLGW president, who was appointed by our crooked mayor, tried to resign but the mayor won't let him. It's all BS, frankly. It's an embarassment that these people get into office. Another politician from that family was arrested for taking tons of bribes, and he had also shot and killed someone years before that was deemed "justifiable." (not so sure on the details, but still...it's all just a circus here)

I've had my car broken into, people tried to break into my house, I see homeless people going through my yard all the time, my elderly neighbor was punched and had her purse stolen in broad daylight in the middle of a good grocery store a few months ago, every high school in town seems to have gang violence and drug problems, etc etc. I could go on.

If you don't mind living in a city that has a high risk of crime, I think Memphis is okay for the younger folk. I would never raise children here. I wouldn't want children to grow up in a city like this and to think this is all that there is to offer in the US.

What part of the city do you live in? Good God, I live smack dab in the middle of town and I don't experience any of the crime you describe and I don't have homeless people living in my yard. I think you need to visit some other cities because you will find most big cities have problems. You act as though once you enter the city limits, gunfire and car bombs break out and everyone is trying to throw rocks at your car.

[JMSTiger]

Originally Posted by Pearlbob

It depends on what you are reading, but yes, Memphis is pretty bad. One reason Memphis population keeps going up might be because "Memphis" keeps annexing other suburbs, thus increasing the city's population by thousands overnight. Almost the entire city of Cordova is now Memphis.

Memphis has a lot of huge companies that bring in people for work, despite those people maybe not wanting to live here. UT Medical, St. Jude, Fed Ex, Autozone, to name a few. Fed Ex employs around 40,000 people here (something like that) and I know many of the corporate employees are transferred here for work from other cities. There are also lots of schools here that bring in students an maybe a lot of those students just end up staying here out of convenience, thus increasing population.

I think the idea that thousands of people are willingly moving here because they love the city so much is incorrect. The only reason I live here is because of my job. I would much rather live elsewhere, and after another few years and I'm able to save the money, I do plan on moving out of Memphis and TN.

There never was a "city of Cordova". Cordova was never incorporated. Memphis annexed Cordova which was an unincorporated area of East Shelby County.

By the way, there are alot of people who live in Memphis or around Memphis who are perfectly happy. Plenty of people are moving into Downtown (it has experienced a 200%+ increase in population since 1995). Most of them are professionals. There are many well to do neighborhoods inside the city limits, including Harbor Town, South Bluffs, the South End, Central Gardens, Chickasaw Gardens, Red Acres, High Point Terrace, River Oaks, Evergreen, etc. You must live in Frayser with the way in which you throw around these wild generalizations about the city. If you hate Memphis, Shelby County, the Memphis metro area and the state of Tennessee so much, do us a favor and leave.

[JMSTiger]

Originally Posted by CTownNative

Usually cities that are all around terrible don't gain population and city-data's demagraphics siad Memphis gained around 22,500 new people.

Because it is not that bad. For some reason, this city (especially the suburbs around this city) are full of people who hate the city of Memphis and love to tear it down.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by highliner

Annexation is only part of the picture. Three different sources show me an increase in Shelby county's population, as well as in the city of Memphis. I've been to Memphis 8 or 10 times in the last decade for work, and I didn't notice any greater amount of violent crime than , say, Cincinnati or Indianapolis. Are there any specific things that you really dislike about this city, or are you just fed up in general? I really would like to know- if this transfer comes about, then I'll be spending much time dealing with the undercurrents of Tennessee's population- and I am hopeful of a response. Thank you.

Shelby County is one of only 8 counties in the state with a net out-migration, meaning more people are moving out of the county than moving in. The city of Memphis, in particular, continues to experience massive out-migration which creates a huge strain on the tax base in the city, a vicious cycle: the city taxes are high, so people leave the city, leaving fewer people to pay taxes, so the taxes are increased, and now the taxes are higher, so more people leave the city, leaving fewer people to pay taxes...

(For now, the city can continue to "grow" by annexing more areas in order to increase its tax base. But as we see with Hickory Hill and Cordova, it does nothing more than encourage people to leave the city and create more sprawl in Shelby County, although now people are leaving Shelby County entirely and moving to the ring counties, knowing that Memphis can never annex in a ring county.)

The only reason Shelby County's over-all population continues to increase is because of the natural increase, more births than deaths.

[JMT]

In spite of the negative things about Memphis--and there are plenty, to be sure--I absolutely loved living there. I knew what I was getting myself into when I moved there, I knew the crime rate was higher and the summers were miserably hot. But I loved the city. Memphis has awesome restaurants, the best movie theaters, funky neighborhoods, a big airport, very little traffic (for a big city), decent spectator sports options, nice museums, excellent community theater...