WEBVTT 00:03.003 --> 00:04.238 - (female narrator) Production funding for 00:04.238 --> 00:05.439 Behind The Headlines 00:05.439 --> 00:09.610 is made possible in part by the WKNO Production Fund, 00:09.610 --> 00:13.814 the WKNO Endowment Fund, and by viewers like you. 00:13.814 --> 00:15.249 Thank you. 00:15.249 --> 00:18.886 - One year after the bridge protests, Memphis 3.0, 00:18.886 --> 00:20.988 Great Streets come downtown. 00:20.988 --> 00:24.691 Those stories and more, tonight on Behind The Headlines. 00:24.691 --> 00:28.262 [dramatic orchestra music] 00:41.508 --> 00:43.577 I'm Eric Barnes, publisher of the Memphis Daily News. 00:43.577 --> 00:45.078 Thanks for joining us. 00:45.078 --> 00:46.880 I'm joined tonight by a round table of journalists, 00:46.880 --> 00:49.449 starting with Toby Sells from the Memphis Flyer, 00:49.449 --> 00:50.417 thanks for being here again. 00:50.417 --> 00:51.685 - Thank you, Eric. 00:51.685 --> 00:52.686 - (Eric) Madeline Faber from 00:52.686 --> 00:53.820 High Ground News, thanks for being here. 00:53.820 --> 00:55.355 - Thanks for having me. 00:55.355 --> 00:56.356 - (Eric) Bernal Smith from The New 00:56.356 --> 00:57.291 Tri-State Defender. 00:57.291 --> 00:58.792 - Glad to be back. 00:58.792 --> 00:59.793 - (Eric) And Bill Dries with the 00:59.793 --> 01:00.827 Memphis Daily News. 01:00.827 --> 01:03.030 - So, we'll start, Bill, it is one year, as I said 01:03.030 --> 01:05.299 at the top of the show, give or take a year 01:05.299 --> 01:07.434 since the bridge was shut down as part of a national 01:07.434 --> 01:11.071 set of protests, tangentially related, 01:11.071 --> 01:13.373 there was a ruling in Federal court this year 01:13.373 --> 01:16.376 over the so called unauthorized list or the protestor list, 01:16.376 --> 01:19.146 the people who are being arguably monitored by the 01:19.146 --> 01:20.614 police department. 01:20.614 --> 01:23.183 Tell us, go back in time to what that list was about 01:23.183 --> 01:25.485 and what did the federal judge rule this week? 01:25.485 --> 01:29.389 - Okay, as one of the series of protests leading up 01:29.389 --> 01:33.560 to the bridge protest last July, there was a die in protest 01:34.995 --> 01:39.132 on the front lawn of Mayor Jim Strickland's house. 01:39.132 --> 01:43.837 He signed what's known as an authorization of agency 01:43.837 --> 01:47.174 that says in effect these people are trespassers. 01:47.174 --> 01:50.944 If they come on home, on my front lawn again, 01:52.679 --> 01:56.283 and he left the people on that list, who were 01:56.283 --> 01:59.286 specifically on that list up to the police department. 01:59.286 --> 02:02.022 The police department not only put the names 02:02.022 --> 02:05.859 of those protestors on that list, they also put it 02:05.859 --> 02:09.429 on the city list that said you can't go anywhere 02:09.429 --> 02:13.533 in city hall without a uniformed police officer 02:13.533 --> 02:15.202 by your side. 02:15.202 --> 02:19.106 And it was not just the people who conducted the die in. 02:19.106 --> 02:21.408 It was some of the people who had been on the bridge. 02:21.408 --> 02:24.211 It was people who had been involved in other protests. 02:24.211 --> 02:28.882 Once the city hall list was made public, there was a lawsuit 02:28.882 --> 02:32.319 That filed in Memphis Federal Court that said these people 02:32.319 --> 02:35.555 were on the list, put on the list by the police 02:35.555 --> 02:39.426 because the police had been conducting illegal surveillance 02:39.426 --> 02:40.427 of them. - Which goes back to a 02:40.427 --> 02:41.795 consent order from the 70s. 02:41.795 --> 02:44.031 - From 1978 when the police had 02:44.031 --> 02:46.433 a domestic intelligence unit. 02:47.834 --> 02:51.838 So this suit and another suit over it had been pending 02:51.838 --> 02:55.409 in court, the other one was settled in June 02:58.145 --> 03:01.014 between those protestors and the police department. 03:01.014 --> 03:02.182 There's one that's still pending, 03:02.182 --> 03:03.784 and Judge Jon McCalla 03:03.784 --> 03:06.219 has that lawsuit in Federal Court. 03:06.219 --> 03:09.923 And he has now said okay, the four protestors 03:09.923 --> 03:12.626 who were plaintiffs in this suit, they are dismissed 03:12.626 --> 03:15.362 from it because they do not have standing. 03:15.362 --> 03:19.032 But the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee 03:19.032 --> 03:22.903 remains as a plaintiff and the suit will go forward. 03:22.903 --> 03:25.772 - And all this, you know, it's one year Bernal, 03:25.772 --> 03:27.774 since there were again, the protests as I said, 03:27.774 --> 03:29.242 around the country. 03:29.242 --> 03:31.545 Officer involved shootings, there have been at least 03:31.545 --> 03:33.180 one or two, or three here. 03:33.180 --> 03:35.082 There was such an outcry. 03:35.082 --> 03:39.619 Mike Rallings, there was the huge event, I forgot 03:39.619 --> 03:43.557 the name of the church, very, very a lot of anger 03:43.557 --> 03:46.093 among the African American community, among others 03:46.093 --> 03:49.229 at the city government, at the police about how 03:49.229 --> 03:51.098 people are being treated. 03:51.098 --> 03:53.300 Again, it's amazing that a year has gone by, 03:53.300 --> 03:54.601 but has anything changed? 03:54.601 --> 03:56.369 Has anything moved in a different direction? 03:56.369 --> 03:58.772 - You know, it's interesting when you think about it 03:58.772 --> 04:02.042 that what sort of facilitated that particular protest 04:02.042 --> 04:05.679 was the shooting of Philando Castille, 04:05.679 --> 04:09.983 and it was his fiance actually broadcast it on Facebook, 04:09.983 --> 04:12.819 and you know it was just a significant outcry. 04:12.819 --> 04:16.656 Ironically, almost a year later, in that case, 04:18.024 --> 04:20.694 the officer who did the shooting was essentially exonerated 04:20.694 --> 04:21.628 and let go. 04:22.796 --> 04:26.333 And so as we reflect back, we don't really, 04:26.333 --> 04:28.768 it's hard to say if much has really changed 04:28.768 --> 04:30.303 on the national landscape. 04:30.303 --> 04:33.974 It's arguable with Jeff Sessions leading our 04:35.408 --> 04:37.210 Department of Justice. 04:37.210 --> 04:39.513 - The new Attorney General under Trump Administration. 04:39.513 --> 04:42.315 - Under Trump Administration that we've actually 04:42.315 --> 04:43.717 gone backwards to a degree. 04:43.717 --> 04:47.521 And then locally, it's kind of hard to say. 04:47.521 --> 04:51.992 We did usher in a new Police Director with Rallings 04:51.992 --> 04:53.994 and the move he made on the bridge-- 04:53.994 --> 04:57.731 - Which seemed in some ways to satisfy some frustration. 04:57.731 --> 05:00.834 That he had handled the bridge protest so well. 05:00.834 --> 05:03.136 Some people were critical that Strickland didn't just 05:03.136 --> 05:04.938 make him the police director right at the moment, 05:04.938 --> 05:08.141 but he ultimately did and that did seem from my seat 05:08.141 --> 05:09.609 to kind of calm things down. 05:09.609 --> 05:13.446 - Yeah, I thought it was what the protestors called for. 05:14.848 --> 05:17.284 At that time, I think they felt that he was the right guy 05:17.284 --> 05:20.287 and it seems that going on, that he's done a fairly 05:20.287 --> 05:22.923 good job of continuing to be in the community 05:22.923 --> 05:25.959 and working with community groups and protestors 05:25.959 --> 05:29.229 to make sure that there's an ongoing relationship 05:29.229 --> 05:32.432 between the police department and folks on the streets. 05:32.432 --> 05:35.802 - Well, you mentioned Jeff Sessions and I'll go to 05:35.802 --> 05:38.338 Madeline, you've written about at High Ground, 05:38.338 --> 05:40.307 I think we've all written about it. 05:40.307 --> 05:42.309 The question of whether the Federal Government, 05:42.309 --> 05:43.944 the Justice Department under Jeff Sessions, 05:43.944 --> 05:46.213 the Attorney General should remain under oversight 05:46.213 --> 05:47.747 by the Federal Government. 05:47.747 --> 05:49.316 I can't remember when this was put in place but some 05:49.316 --> 05:53.119 time ago, some county officials would like that 05:53.119 --> 05:56.256 oversight to go aways, others would like it to continue. 05:56.256 --> 05:57.691 What have you learned? 05:57.691 --> 05:58.959 - Yeah, that's a very critical thing bouncy around 05:58.959 --> 06:00.527 Shelby County right now. 06:00.527 --> 06:04.598 In 2012, the Memphis Shelby County Department of Juvenile 06:04.598 --> 06:08.768 and Justice entered into a memorandum of agreement 06:10.103 --> 06:13.440 with the Department of Justice saying, admitting that 06:13.440 --> 06:16.676 there was racial disparity in how youth were sentenced. 06:16.676 --> 06:19.980 Black youth, they got harsher, longer sentences 06:19.980 --> 06:22.082 for similar crimes of white youth. 06:22.082 --> 06:24.985 People were not given proper representation 06:24.985 --> 06:27.721 and because of that, we had to enter into a federal 06:27.721 --> 06:30.490 agreement under federal oversight. 06:30.490 --> 06:34.861 In April, Jeff Sessions dropped a few of the points 06:34.861 --> 06:36.896 of the oversight, about 17 of them. 06:36.896 --> 06:39.733 But the crucial ones still remain. 06:39.733 --> 06:44.104 Those being oversight of due process and detention issues 06:44.104 --> 06:47.274 and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell wants to 06:47.274 --> 06:48.908 drop those entirely. 06:48.908 --> 06:51.611 So just get the DOJ out of our business altogether. 06:51.611 --> 06:55.548 The Shelby County Commission, everyone voted against this, 06:55.548 --> 06:59.286 but Mayor Luttrell says he's going to veto that 06:59.286 --> 07:01.054 and move forward with the move anyway. 07:01.054 --> 07:02.555 - Your thoughts on all this. 07:02.555 --> 07:05.058 We've done any number of shows this year about, 07:05.058 --> 07:07.927 in the last two years probably, about conversations 07:07.927 --> 07:12.299 about criminal justice reform, about how the challenging 07:12.299 --> 07:14.267 mandatory minimums, the history of that, 07:14.267 --> 07:15.435 we've done all kinds of shows. 07:15.435 --> 07:16.970 There's a new operation safe community out 07:16.970 --> 07:19.072 and of course the murder rate has spiked. 07:19.072 --> 07:21.274 And yet at the same time, you've got these issues 07:21.274 --> 07:25.378 at the jail that I think unrelated to the consent 07:25.378 --> 07:27.047 or that Madeline mentioned. 07:27.047 --> 07:29.649 They lost some kids, they lost some prisoners, 07:29.649 --> 07:32.786 they had software that wasn't working in the prison system, 07:32.786 --> 07:34.454 I mean, I don't know, your take Toby 07:34.454 --> 07:35.955 on what's been going on. 07:35.955 --> 07:38.391 - I think the outcry that has been going on underneath 07:38.391 --> 07:40.260 the surface I believe is starting to bubble up. 07:40.260 --> 07:44.130 I think we're starting to see organization of some folks 07:44.130 --> 07:45.298 around those issues. 07:45.298 --> 07:46.833 You've got Justice City now, you've got a 07:46.833 --> 07:49.302 Black Lives Matter group that's really organized and pushing 07:49.302 --> 07:50.537 a lot of things. 07:50.537 --> 07:52.038 A lot of outside groups coming in. 07:52.038 --> 07:53.340 I think we're gonna start seeing criminal justice 07:53.340 --> 07:55.408 reform really start bubbling up to the top. 07:55.408 --> 07:58.411 I know Raumesh Akbari, she's working on a lot of that 07:58.411 --> 07:59.879 stuff in the state legislature. 07:59.879 --> 08:01.448 So I think we're gonna see a lot of movement 08:01.448 --> 08:02.849 around some of this stuff. 08:02.849 --> 08:04.351 And it may get uncomfortable for a little while. 08:04.351 --> 08:07.053 - Right, and some of that segues to what sounds like, 08:07.053 --> 08:09.155 I think in the news business, whenever we talk about 08:09.155 --> 08:11.391 marijuana legalization, we write funny headlines 08:11.391 --> 08:12.625 and we make a joke of it. 08:12.625 --> 08:14.361 And so I'm gonna try not to do that this time. 08:14.361 --> 08:16.930 The medical marijuana bill in Arkansas is about 08:16.930 --> 08:18.164 to go in effect. 08:18.164 --> 08:19.432 - (Toby) Yeah. 08:19.432 --> 08:20.967 - Which for some people is not just a business, 08:20.967 --> 08:22.702 and it's not just letting people smoke pot, it is a 08:22.702 --> 08:24.838 form of criminal justice reform, of taking, 08:24.838 --> 08:27.841 it's a step towards decriminalizing marijuana 08:27.841 --> 08:31.144 instead of throwing people in jail for possession or use. 08:31.144 --> 08:33.146 - Right, so on this past Friday, the Arkansas 08:33.146 --> 08:36.383 medical marijuana program got underway. 08:38.618 --> 08:41.020 They started, they let applications for patients, 08:41.020 --> 08:44.124 for potential growers, for potential dispensaries, 08:44.124 --> 08:46.459 so these people are going to start to apply 08:46.459 --> 08:47.894 and get approved. 08:47.894 --> 08:50.597 The folks in Arkansas believe that probably about 08:50.597 --> 08:53.366 20,000 or 40,000 patients are going to sign up 08:53.366 --> 08:56.202 to get a medical marijuana ID card 08:57.537 --> 08:59.973 and as soon as the dispensaries are approved 08:59.973 --> 09:02.675 and they go into business, they're thinking about 09:02.675 --> 09:06.713 early 2018 is when those are going to go into effect 09:06.713 --> 09:08.214 in Arkansas. 09:08.214 --> 09:10.016 And how that's going to effect Memphis I think is 09:10.016 --> 09:11.818 yet unknown, but in a little bit of research 09:11.818 --> 09:15.021 that I've done so far, you know, those border areas 09:15.021 --> 09:17.056 and border states that have medical marijuana 09:17.056 --> 09:18.525 against a state that doesn't. 09:18.525 --> 09:20.894 Those borders get porous and things happen 09:20.894 --> 09:24.264 and it affects across the bridge, so we don't know yet. 09:24.264 --> 09:27.033 But to your point, in a lot of the discussions 09:27.033 --> 09:28.468 that I've had with people. 09:28.468 --> 09:30.236 I've talked with people who run dispensaries 09:30.236 --> 09:31.805 in California and other places, 09:31.805 --> 09:33.540 and they talk about Marijuana very soberly. 09:33.540 --> 09:35.775 They don't use all the funny words that we use 09:35.775 --> 09:37.010 in the headlines. 09:37.010 --> 09:39.512 They talk about how it helps patients all over 09:39.512 --> 09:41.781 the country with all their issues. 09:41.781 --> 09:44.551 And so it's a very different conversation 09:44.551 --> 09:47.320 that I've been having with folks that have 09:47.320 --> 09:49.255 marijuana than I have here where there's still 09:49.255 --> 09:50.924 a bit of a stigma. 09:50.924 --> 09:53.026 - Thoughts on any of all this Bill, in terms 09:53.026 --> 09:55.395 of all this criminal justice, and you and I have done 09:55.395 --> 09:57.130 all these shows, we've written about it a lot. 09:57.130 --> 09:58.698 How all these things come together. 09:58.698 --> 10:01.734 - I think that the major event that's happened 10:01.734 --> 10:05.538 between the bridge protest and now is the election 10:05.538 --> 10:08.942 of Donald Trump as President in November. 10:10.109 --> 10:12.312 That really changed. 10:12.312 --> 10:16.149 We still saw more protests, but I think where we're at now 10:16.149 --> 10:19.919 is a lot of people who were new to protesting 10:21.521 --> 10:26.025 in what we saw leading up to November and after November 10:26.025 --> 10:30.029 up to the inauguration are now wondering is this 10:31.564 --> 10:32.999 all that there is. 10:32.999 --> 10:35.502 What is beyond the protesting? 10:36.936 --> 10:40.940 How do you get involved and stay involved and still 10:40.940 --> 10:43.610 live your life on a daily basis? 10:45.044 --> 10:47.714 Because most of the people who have participated 10:47.714 --> 10:50.950 in this last year of a pretty dramatic upswing 10:50.950 --> 10:54.621 in protest are people who have jobs, 10:54.621 --> 10:58.658 are people who have lives outside of their newly 10:58.658 --> 11:01.027 found political involvement. 11:02.529 --> 11:05.798 And we also have not seen any change in 11:07.467 --> 11:11.638 police training as a result of what happened on the bridge. 11:12.505 --> 11:14.507 And the issue's growing-- 11:14.507 --> 11:16.376 - That's a priority for Strickland, because he's trying 11:16.376 --> 11:17.877 to get back to 2,400 police, 11:17.877 --> 11:19.846 that's just been all in the news. 11:19.846 --> 11:23.550 - And he's been upfront about that. 11:23.550 --> 11:26.986 So has Rallings, that they think that the public 11:26.986 --> 11:29.756 needs to be more educated in how the police 11:29.756 --> 11:32.425 do their jobs, that the police don't necessarily need 11:32.425 --> 11:37.030 to dramatically change their tactics in handling protests. 11:37.030 --> 11:39.365 - You bring up the Trump... I'll turn to you Bernal, 11:39.365 --> 11:41.234 I remember, a year, a year and a half ago, 11:41.234 --> 11:44.237 so it was pre-election, being at law school for journalists, 11:44.237 --> 11:46.272 which had a lot of local journalists in town, 11:46.272 --> 11:48.875 and they brought in a deputy attorney general 11:48.875 --> 11:51.344 from the Obama administration, and he talked about 11:51.344 --> 11:52.946 new strategies for policing and community policing 11:52.946 --> 11:56.649 and it was very much again, and they were going into 11:56.649 --> 11:58.418 various communities including Memphis, 11:58.418 --> 12:00.520 I think in Chicago, places they were invited 12:00.520 --> 12:03.156 to talk about new strategies in policing, 12:03.156 --> 12:05.992 and what they thought was very forward thinking. 12:05.992 --> 12:08.428 Then you have an election and Jeff Sessions is the 12:08.428 --> 12:10.229 new attorney general and he's kind of back to 12:10.229 --> 12:13.600 law and order and lock them away. 12:13.600 --> 12:16.769 And I am sure there are people listening to this show saying 12:16.769 --> 12:19.439 well, the murder rate's up, violent crime is terrible, 12:19.439 --> 12:21.941 yeah there should be this kind of old school 12:21.941 --> 12:23.409 lock 'em up approach. 12:23.409 --> 12:25.111 I'm not sure which one's better but it is a dramatic 12:25.111 --> 12:27.246 shift that a lot of people didn't expect. 12:27.246 --> 12:28.748 - Yeah it is. 12:28.748 --> 12:31.918 And I think when I look at the protestors and of course 12:31.918 --> 12:35.588 as a commemoration sort of what happened on the bridge 12:35.588 --> 12:39.759 last year coming up, there they, they called for a number 12:41.160 --> 12:43.262 of things that I don't think has really happened. 12:43.262 --> 12:46.165 One was a sort of cultural sensitivity training 12:46.165 --> 12:48.968 for police officers here in Memphis. 12:48.968 --> 12:52.939 And many protestors were saying hey, we need outside 12:52.939 --> 12:56.242 entities to help connect police officers with the 12:56.242 --> 12:59.612 community so there's a greater understanding. 12:59.612 --> 13:02.849 But when you look at sort of what Jeff Sessions, 13:02.849 --> 13:07.253 the tone and tenor that he set, it's really, hey we're 13:07.253 --> 13:12.158 gonna go all out to make sure that we're giving the 13:12.158 --> 13:14.994 stiffest penalties and that we're having a higher 13:14.994 --> 13:17.163 level of sentencing. 13:17.163 --> 13:20.466 And I think that goes against everything that Eric Holder 13:20.466 --> 13:23.503 and under President Barack Obama had put in place 13:23.503 --> 13:26.339 and I think it's also affecting the tone and tenor 13:26.339 --> 13:30.243 with how local police departments are dealing with 13:30.243 --> 13:32.812 arrests and how they relate to the community. 13:32.812 --> 13:34.981 Hopefully that doesn't happen here in Memphis 13:34.981 --> 13:37.817 'cause I think we've made progress. 13:37.817 --> 13:40.620 - I was just gonna say as far as what the protestors 13:40.620 --> 13:42.488 were looking for, we may get a clearer picture 13:42.488 --> 13:45.091 of that on Sunday, they're having a reunion of that group. 13:45.091 --> 13:47.994 It's the, Bill, the Memphis Coalition of Concerned Citizens, 13:47.994 --> 13:49.896 is that the name of the group? 13:49.896 --> 13:52.865 They're getting together at Tom Lee Park at 4:00 p.m. 13:52.865 --> 13:56.869 and they're gonna have a number of living newspaper 13:56.869 --> 13:59.439 kind of stuff and skits and activities down there. 13:59.439 --> 14:02.208 And they'll likely talk about some of those things. 14:02.208 --> 14:04.410 Hopefully, they'll say, here's what we asked for, 14:04.410 --> 14:05.945 here's what we have gotten and didn't get. 14:05.945 --> 14:07.747 And kind of get a checkup with those folks. 14:07.747 --> 14:10.383 But another thing that came up during all that was 14:10.383 --> 14:12.819 policing of course, but also economic opportunities 14:12.819 --> 14:15.154 that they were looking for in Memphis. 14:15.154 --> 14:16.923 And I'm not sure how far we've moved the needle 14:16.923 --> 14:18.424 on some of that stuff yet. 14:18.424 --> 14:20.393 - Well, and I'll segue a little bit to you Madeline, 14:20.393 --> 14:22.762 you've written a lot and High Ground's written a lot about 14:22.762 --> 14:25.231 the transformation about the South City area. 14:25.231 --> 14:28.401 We did a show last week with Paul Young, with Marcia Lewis, 14:28.401 --> 14:32.038 Archie Willis about this last of the big housing projects 14:32.038 --> 14:33.406 in Memphis. 14:33.406 --> 14:35.241 But your take on this transformation, what's about to 14:35.241 --> 14:39.011 happen, with the backdrop of, public housing has been 14:39.011 --> 14:42.515 concentration of poverty, concentration of crime, 14:42.515 --> 14:44.884 and as Toby was just saying, not a lot of 14:44.884 --> 14:46.119 economic opportunity. 14:46.119 --> 14:48.054 What's happened in the South City? 14:48.054 --> 14:50.156 - Well I hope that people keep in mind that 14:50.156 --> 14:51.691 what's going to happen with South City is a new kind 14:51.691 --> 14:53.559 of federal program, it's called Choice Neighborhoods 14:53.559 --> 14:55.895 as opposed to Hope VI, which has gotten a lot of 14:55.895 --> 14:59.298 criticism for not being accessible to the previous 14:59.298 --> 15:01.134 residents of public housing. 15:01.134 --> 15:03.970 They tear down the housing, build up nicer, better housing, 15:03.970 --> 15:05.938 but then also put in place all these restrictions 15:05.938 --> 15:07.940 that make it very difficult for the former residents 15:07.940 --> 15:09.976 to move in, so they don't really reap the benefit. 15:09.976 --> 15:13.479 Choice Neighborhoods has again those same restrictions 15:13.479 --> 15:15.615 but they're designed in cooperation with the 15:15.615 --> 15:17.116 former residents. 15:17.116 --> 15:18.551 So they have a say in the kind of people they want 15:18.551 --> 15:20.052 living as their neighbors. 15:20.052 --> 15:23.756 So I hope that that will make this project more accessible 15:23.756 --> 15:26.759 than previous renovations of public house have been. 15:26.759 --> 15:29.028 - Yeah, and South City I should say is basically 15:29.028 --> 15:32.532 to the southeast of FedEx Forum, the Foote Homes. 15:32.532 --> 15:34.433 I always mess these names up, and I got-- 15:34.433 --> 15:38.471 - Foote Homes and Cleaborn Pointe and areas beyond that 15:38.471 --> 15:41.107 that are not within the footprint of either 15:41.107 --> 15:42.542 of those developments. 15:42.542 --> 15:46.145 - It goes to Main, Crump, Walnut, and... yeah. 15:47.480 --> 15:49.415 - And all that demolition, most of the people 15:49.415 --> 15:51.217 have been moved out, that demolition starts based 15:51.217 --> 15:52.652 on what we talked about, 15:52.652 --> 15:55.054 which was a fascinating conversation, not for anything 15:55.054 --> 15:57.190 I did, but for Paul Young whose father had grown up, 15:57.190 --> 16:00.927 and Paul Young is the Head of Housing & Community Development. 16:00.927 --> 16:02.461 His father had grown up in Foote Homes, Marcia Lewis, 16:02.461 --> 16:04.497 and they just talked about how do you break the 16:04.497 --> 16:06.966 cycle of poverty, how do you break the cycle of what 16:06.966 --> 16:11.237 was meant to be housing to get people on the right track 16:11.237 --> 16:13.573 and became for a lot of people as Paul Young said, 16:13.573 --> 16:15.041 the kind of warehousing of the poor. 16:15.041 --> 16:16.943 And so thoughts on where that goes in terms 16:16.943 --> 16:20.112 of this last, will they do this one better than the 16:20.112 --> 16:24.383 10 or 11 other housing projects they've transformed. 16:24.383 --> 16:28.020 - Well, Memphis has certainly been on a foreground if you 16:28.020 --> 16:31.224 will of the transformation of what we've known to be 16:31.224 --> 16:33.059 housing projects historically. 16:33.059 --> 16:36.395 But I think in this particular instance, you still have 16:36.395 --> 16:40.466 the disruptiveness of having to get people to move out 16:40.466 --> 16:42.501 and then they're placed somewhere 16:42.501 --> 16:44.704 in the Memphis community. 16:44.704 --> 16:47.139 And then potentially moving back. 16:47.139 --> 16:49.876 And I think those kind of things are unlikely 16:49.876 --> 16:52.678 to have people to make those kinds of moves. 16:52.678 --> 16:55.848 So I think the transition is difficult although I think 16:55.848 --> 16:58.551 the spirit of what they're trying to accomplish I think 16:58.551 --> 17:01.854 is there, but the actual carrying out of it I think 17:01.854 --> 17:03.756 is still a very difficult task. 17:03.756 --> 17:06.959 - When we talk about transformation, uh, Memphis 3.0, 17:06.959 --> 17:10.763 which is the city's plan to come up with a plan for Memphis. 17:10.763 --> 17:13.733 It hasn't had a comprehensive city strategic plan 17:13.733 --> 17:15.234 in many decades. 17:15.234 --> 17:18.671 There have been community meetings, a couple of rounds 17:18.671 --> 17:22.275 of that, you were partly hosting one, Bernal at the Brooks, 17:22.275 --> 17:24.744 at Midtown recently that I went to just as a citizen. 17:24.744 --> 17:26.546 Your thoughts on that process. 17:26.546 --> 17:28.881 I'll get everybody's thoughts but I'll start with you. 17:28.881 --> 17:30.850 We're about a year into, eight months to a year 17:30.850 --> 17:32.551 into Memphis 3.0. 17:32.551 --> 17:37.223 - Just about a year and they've done a lot of research. 17:37.223 --> 17:41.761 They've done a decent job of I think of engaging 17:41.761 --> 17:44.096 the community, I think that can be better in terms 17:44.096 --> 17:48.034 of really trying to communicate a wider section 17:49.201 --> 17:51.804 of the community to be engaged in this process. 17:51.804 --> 17:55.741 It's been since 1981, since we've even attempted 17:55.741 --> 17:58.778 a real strategic plan for the Memphis community 17:58.778 --> 18:01.914 and I think, so certainly we're overdue. 18:01.914 --> 18:05.051 But when you look at some of the preliminary results 18:05.051 --> 18:08.054 that they find, some of the findings and some of the 18:08.054 --> 18:10.489 input from the community, it's really telling about 18:10.489 --> 18:12.792 where we are as a community and certainly where we 18:12.792 --> 18:16.262 need to go and that's what that last discussion 18:16.262 --> 18:17.797 was really about. 18:17.797 --> 18:19.098 - And some of this stuff is on the Memphis 3.0 website. 18:19.098 --> 18:21.233 But they talked a lot about population shifts, 18:21.233 --> 18:23.669 it's a stagnant population in Memphis and through 18:23.669 --> 18:27.673 annexation, a very big footprint that that needs 18:28.874 --> 18:31.444 to be you know, that's a tough one to adjust. 18:31.444 --> 18:33.145 But Memphis 3.0, sometimes it's get real esoteric. 18:33.145 --> 18:34.447 What are we talking about, what's the plan? 18:34.447 --> 18:36.082 It's really about transportation. 18:36.082 --> 18:39.452 It's about where investments should be made. 18:39.452 --> 18:41.654 What kind of neighborhoods we should have. 18:41.654 --> 18:43.956 I think you've written some Madeline, about it. 18:43.956 --> 18:46.926 Your thoughts on Memphis 3.0 give or take a year into it. 18:46.926 --> 18:49.829 - You know, I hope that people don't succumb to 18:49.829 --> 18:51.998 what we feel as meeting fatigue about Memphis 3.0. 18:51.998 --> 18:54.834 It's gonna be awhile before we see some actual change. 18:54.834 --> 18:57.703 Though they have identified maybe some low hanging fruits, 18:57.703 --> 19:00.673 some you know, short term projects they could achieve. 19:00.673 --> 19:03.776 I think that the initial findings from Memphis 3.0 19:03.776 --> 19:06.345 confirms sort of what we just know living in the city, 19:06.345 --> 19:09.281 that we have a stark income disparity, 19:09.281 --> 19:12.351 that our employment hubs are difficult to access 19:12.351 --> 19:14.153 through public transportation. 19:14.153 --> 19:16.689 And that older parts of the city, older housing, 19:16.689 --> 19:20.226 they're not up to energy efficient methods. 19:20.226 --> 19:22.428 So that poorer Memphians, maybe who live in older 19:22.428 --> 19:24.030 parts of the city have to spend a lot more 19:24.030 --> 19:25.364 on their energy bill. 19:25.364 --> 19:27.967 - Right, and it's the meeting fatigue. 19:27.967 --> 19:30.236 I mean some of the earlier meetings I went to. 19:30.236 --> 19:33.272 It is interesting because you think this is sort 19:33.272 --> 19:35.608 of a lot of talk, a lot of consultants, a lot of plan, 19:35.608 --> 19:37.076 and then it gets put on a shelf. 19:37.076 --> 19:38.544 But cities who've done it right, 19:38.544 --> 19:40.513 Milwaukee had a plan, Denver had a plan, 19:40.513 --> 19:41.781 Nashville had a plan. 19:41.781 --> 19:43.582 These plans really do, if they're done right, 19:43.582 --> 19:45.117 and they bring the right input in, they get 19:45.117 --> 19:47.953 everybody on board, community activists on board, 19:47.953 --> 19:50.923 politicians on board to, not necessarily dramatically 19:50.923 --> 19:53.092 transform the city but to do some smart things 19:53.092 --> 19:55.728 and put in a multi- year process in place. 19:55.728 --> 19:59.065 - When you look at one of the telling components of it, 19:59.065 --> 20:03.202 it said that since 1974, the population growth of Memphis 20:03.202 --> 20:06.439 has been about 4% but over that same time, 20:06.439 --> 20:10.443 the land growth of Memphis was 55%. 20:10.443 --> 20:14.346 So it really tells we've basically had the same people 20:14.346 --> 20:17.650 just moving from place to place, as we've built 20:17.650 --> 20:19.618 these new neighborhoods and made these significant 20:19.618 --> 20:22.822 investments in infrastructure and utilities and so forth. 20:22.822 --> 20:24.957 So I think it even impacts this whole discussion 20:24.957 --> 20:29.428 about de-annexation, because again, the city 20:29.428 --> 20:31.697 and the county has invested many, 20:31.697 --> 20:33.632 many dollars to build infrastructure 20:33.632 --> 20:35.401 not for new people moving to the area, 20:35.401 --> 20:37.103 but for the same people that's moving from place to place. 20:37.103 --> 20:38.504 - Right, we were talking before the show trying 20:38.504 --> 20:40.039 to get a fix on that. 20:40.039 --> 20:42.108 That there's this proposal to de-annex about six areas, 20:42.108 --> 20:44.376 about 10% of the land mass, city council's not moved 20:44.376 --> 20:46.011 on that, I think there's still some behind-the-scenes 20:46.011 --> 20:48.380 negotiation with the neighborhood groups and the city 20:48.380 --> 20:50.082 is my sense-- 20:50.082 --> 20:51.917 - Yeah, I think the administration 20:51.917 --> 20:53.519 at City Hall is still 20:53.519 --> 20:56.088 counting votes to see if they have seven votes. 20:56.088 --> 20:58.924 There are some council members who I've talked to 20:58.924 --> 21:02.895 pretty recently who still have a fundamental problem 21:02.895 --> 21:06.398 with voting to de-annex any area of Memphis 21:06.398 --> 21:09.435 just on principle aside from the numbers. 21:09.435 --> 21:14.240 And beyond that, you also work out how does this work? 21:14.240 --> 21:16.509 Because you don't just do this overnight, 21:16.509 --> 21:19.211 if it's approved by the council. 21:19.211 --> 21:21.547 There are some financial considerations. 21:21.547 --> 21:25.184 The city has some kind of reimbursement that's involved 21:25.184 --> 21:29.054 in this for infrastructure that's in those areas. 21:29.054 --> 21:31.223 So all of that has to be worked out. 21:31.223 --> 21:35.094 Meanwhile, there is still de-annexation legislation 21:35.094 --> 21:38.831 that is ready to go in Nashville and the legislature 21:38.831 --> 21:40.533 goes back to work in January. 21:40.533 --> 21:43.636 - Yeah, we talk about investment and I mentioned 21:43.636 --> 21:45.304 at the top, the Great Streets. 21:45.304 --> 21:46.872 And you've written about this, I think most of us 21:46.872 --> 21:49.108 have touched on it at various points, but Madeline, what are 21:49.108 --> 21:50.910 the Great, this Great Streets program that's going on in 21:50.910 --> 21:52.511 downtown, what is it? 21:52.511 --> 21:54.180 - So if y'all haven't driven downtown in awhile, 21:54.180 --> 21:55.681 you should go check it out. 21:55.681 --> 21:58.651 Peabody Place where it abuts with South Main has been 21:58.651 --> 22:01.820 transformed into kind of this interesting way to reimagine 22:01.820 --> 22:03.455 infrastructure in Memphis. 22:03.455 --> 22:05.658 Seeing it more as an amenity than something that purely 22:05.658 --> 22:07.259 belongs to cars. 22:07.259 --> 22:09.028 So that street is very wide. 22:09.028 --> 22:11.931 They've taken every other lane or the lanes 22:11.931 --> 22:16.735 on the outside and put in chairs, tables, outdoor games. 22:16.735 --> 22:18.003 - It's all but European. 22:18.003 --> 22:19.271 (laughing) 22:19.271 --> 22:23.375 It's very striking, for better or worse. 22:23.375 --> 22:25.477 But it goes, I remember when they first announced 22:25.477 --> 22:27.746 this Bernal, I think we talked about this. 22:27.746 --> 22:29.682 You can say these things are sort of oh it's just 22:29.682 --> 22:32.952 for hipsters or it's kind of some foundation 22:32.952 --> 22:35.621 funded fantasy, but it's right across the street 22:35.621 --> 22:37.790 from Service Master which is real money 22:37.790 --> 22:40.593 and real investment in downtown Memphis. 22:40.593 --> 22:43.362 And you look at the other end of downtown with 22:43.362 --> 22:46.732 St. Jude planning billions of dollars in investment 22:46.732 --> 22:49.335 in the Pinch District in similar ways I think. 22:49.335 --> 22:52.438 Similar ways, reconnecting with the street, 22:52.438 --> 22:53.973 not just building parking lots and getting people 22:53.973 --> 22:55.441 off the street. 22:55.441 --> 22:57.209 This is how a new generation of people want to live 22:57.209 --> 22:59.345 and it's where they want to live and work and play, 22:59.345 --> 23:00.613 it's not just a slogan anymore. 23:00.613 --> 23:01.880 So this is real stuff. 23:01.880 --> 23:04.316 - Yeah, I think it's interesting how they've 23:04.316 --> 23:07.152 laid it out, I mean the funny thing though, I just 23:07.152 --> 23:08.721 haven't seen many people engaged. 23:08.721 --> 23:11.624 Maybe we have to sort of warm up to this new layout. 23:11.624 --> 23:13.726 But they got all these tables and chairs there 23:13.726 --> 23:18.230 and so I think part of it is helping our own community. 23:18.230 --> 23:21.767 Sort of reimagining we engage with one another. 23:21.767 --> 23:23.936 - Well, they've done similar stuff in the medical district. 23:23.936 --> 23:26.005 I don't know how much you've written about that Toby, 23:26.005 --> 23:27.906 but it's interesting to drive through the medical district 23:27.906 --> 23:30.542 and they've put, it's just much more attractive. 23:30.542 --> 23:32.244 I mean, that was always kind of a dead zone, 23:32.244 --> 23:33.846 you just drove through, it was ugly. 23:33.846 --> 23:36.348 Bit by bit they are aesthetically improving it 23:36.348 --> 23:38.384 and it's a much more pleasant place to go through at least. 23:38.384 --> 23:39.952 - And the traffic is a lot slower. 23:39.952 --> 23:41.920 If you've driven through the medical district, 23:41.920 --> 23:44.123 you see people just piling through there, 23:44.123 --> 23:46.692 but on Great Streets, I know I've talked to 23:46.692 --> 23:49.928 some downtown business owners, and they just said 23:49.928 --> 23:53.432 any criticism they would have is the administration 23:53.432 --> 23:55.868 didn't get a lot of buy in from a lot of the business 23:55.868 --> 23:57.236 owners around there. 23:57.236 --> 23:59.204 And one day it just popped and it was there. 23:59.204 --> 24:00.739 And they were like well what's this? 24:00.739 --> 24:02.341 And so then they found out about it and they were like 24:02.341 --> 24:04.009 well this is great, but you know, 24:04.009 --> 24:05.210 if you would have asked me first. 24:05.210 --> 24:06.879 - The community strategy has to improve 24:06.879 --> 24:08.947 on many of these projects I think, 24:08.947 --> 24:13.018 just the level of engagement in terms of talking 24:13.018 --> 24:16.555 to stakeholders I think has to really improve 24:16.555 --> 24:17.990 all the way around. 24:17.990 --> 24:20.426 'Cause I think it was a surprise to many in downtown, 24:20.426 --> 24:23.228 many business owners in that area. 24:23.228 --> 24:25.864 - Right, just a minute and a half left. 24:25.864 --> 24:28.901 So as, we taped this on Thursday, as of this week, 24:28.901 --> 24:31.136 Zack Randolph from the Grizzlies is gone. 24:31.136 --> 24:33.472 Signed a contract with Sacramento. 24:33.472 --> 24:36.141 I mean, even if you're not a basketball fan 24:36.141 --> 24:39.845 in the Xs and Os, he really did embody the new Grizzlies, 24:39.845 --> 24:42.114 the what, seven or eight year playoff run Grizzlies, 24:42.114 --> 24:43.749 the whole grit and grind era. 24:43.749 --> 24:47.186 Again, as we tape this, it's likely that Tony Allen 24:47.186 --> 24:49.455 who is part of that same, who coined the phrase 24:49.455 --> 24:50.956 grit and grind will likely be gone. 24:50.956 --> 24:52.391 Thoughts on it, 24:52.391 --> 24:54.526 not from a basketball point of view, but just as a 24:54.526 --> 24:55.961 hometown team point of view. 24:55.961 --> 24:57.996 - I think it really reinforces the notion that 24:57.996 --> 24:59.398 basketball is a business. 24:59.398 --> 25:03.402 So as much as we get ingrained into these players 25:03.402 --> 25:07.239 and we ingratiate them, and we love them, we understand 25:07.239 --> 25:10.542 at some point, he's far along in his career, 25:10.542 --> 25:13.645 he's got a two year $24 million deal. 25:13.645 --> 25:14.847 - (Eric) Right. 25:14.847 --> 25:16.782 - I mean how can you argue with that? 25:16.782 --> 25:20.519 I mean, so we love Z-Bo but I understand 25:20.519 --> 25:22.154 that it's time to go. 25:22.154 --> 25:23.655 - Bill, thoughts? 25:23.655 --> 25:26.425 - We're still waiting to see what shakes out with this but 25:26.425 --> 25:29.995 this is I think the death of grit and grind, 25:29.995 --> 25:34.900 for some other type of style of play and branding, 25:34.900 --> 25:36.668 which has been emerging. 25:36.668 --> 25:41.407 - The Warriors forced that into being, gotta get that addressed. 25:41.407 --> 25:42.841 - (Eric) High scoring, yeah, right. 25:42.841 --> 25:44.710 Toby, thoughts? 25:44.710 --> 25:46.678 - I'm just going to miss Tony Allen and the airport man, 25:46.678 --> 25:47.679 that's it, you know. 25:47.679 --> 25:49.281 (laughing) 25:49.281 --> 25:50.516 - Madeline? 25:50.516 --> 25:51.450 - (Madeline) We're gonna miss him. 25:51.450 --> 25:52.484 - We're gonna miss him. 25:52.484 --> 25:53.952 Okay. 25:53.952 --> 25:55.154 Well, that is about all the time we have this week. 25:55.154 --> 25:56.789 Thank you all for being here, thank you. 25:56.789 --> 26:00.859 And thank you for joining us, join us again next week. 26:02.094 --> 26:05.664 [dramatic orchestra music]