WEBVTT 00:00.467 --> 00:01.435  - (female announcer)   Production funding for 00:01.435 --> 00:04.671  Behind the Headlines   is made possible in part by 00:04.671 --> 00:06.840  the WKNO Production Fund, 00:06.840 --> 00:08.942  the WKNO Endowment Fund 00:08.942 --> 00:11.011  and by viewers like you. 00:11.011 --> 00:12.412  Thank you. 00:12.412 --> 00:13.547 - Budget season, 00:13.547 --> 00:16.350 removal of the Forrest remains, and much more 00:16.350 --> 00:18.886 tonight on Behind the Headlines. 00:18.886 --> 00:22.055 [intense orchestral music] 00:35.135 --> 00:36.937 - I'm Eric Barnes with The Daily Memphian. 00:36.937 --> 00:38.505 And thanks for joining us. 00:38.505 --> 00:40.707 I'm joined this week by a roundtable of journalists 00:40.707 --> 00:44.645 starting with Toby Sells, news editor from the Memphis Flyer. 00:44.645 --> 00:45.612 Toby, thanks for being here. 00:45.612 --> 00:47.147 - Thanks for having me Eric. 00:47.147 --> 00:50.851 - Omer Yusuf is a reporter with The Daily Memphian. 00:50.851 --> 00:52.052 Omer, thanks for being here. 00:52.052 --> 00:53.820 - Thanks for having me, Eric. 00:53.820 --> 00:55.589 - And Bill Dries is also a reporter 00:55.589 --> 00:57.491 with The Daily Memphian. 00:57.491 --> 00:59.326 We'll talk through you mentioned a number 00:59.326 --> 01:00.827 of things at the top. 01:00.827 --> 01:02.229 The removal of the Nathan Bedford Forrest remains, 01:02.229 --> 01:03.397 the budget 01:03.397 --> 01:04.965 and maybe an update on the bridge. 01:04.965 --> 01:06.767 Omer has been doing a bunch of interesting work 01:06.767 --> 01:09.770 on redevelopments and Frayser, the pipeline. 01:09.770 --> 01:11.772 There's a lot of things going on. 01:11.772 --> 01:14.007 Let's start Bill though, with probably, I guess 01:14.007 --> 01:15.242 I don't know if it's the newsiest thing 01:15.242 --> 01:17.010 but the budgets we over the last couple 01:17.010 --> 01:20.681 of weeks have had the City Council budget chair 01:20.681 --> 01:23.450 on we've talked to what the 01:23.450 --> 01:25.285 the county folks about the budget. 01:25.285 --> 01:28.055 It is a strange year and a surprising year in my many years 01:28.055 --> 01:30.557 in Memphis where tax rates potentially are going down 01:30.557 --> 01:32.759 and potentially going down substantially. 01:32.759 --> 01:33.994 There's also a lot of confusion 01:33.994 --> 01:37.264 about where the federal money that is flowing 01:37.264 --> 01:38.532 through to the city and county. 01:38.532 --> 01:40.634 Exactly what can and can't be done with that. 01:40.634 --> 01:42.135 I don't think anybody's complaining about it 01:42.135 --> 01:43.870 but the rules are still not clear. 01:43.870 --> 01:45.772 Maybe we start with what you want with the county? 01:45.772 --> 01:47.074 Which we'll be voting on Monday. 01:47.074 --> 01:48.642 It, it looks like. 01:48.642 --> 01:52.112 - Yeah. It looks like the county is going to be the first to 01:52.112 --> 01:54.381 close the budget season. 01:54.381 --> 01:57.451 Although I think things are changing as we speak. 01:57.451 --> 01:58.719 This has gone 01:58.719 --> 02:00.787 from probably a more stable situation when 02:00.787 --> 02:03.056 the budget hearings began to a lot 02:03.056 --> 02:06.560 of changes toward the end here for it. 02:06.560 --> 02:10.597 And as you mentioned, a lot of the uncertainty deals 02:10.597 --> 02:13.600 with some new guidance that the city 02:13.600 --> 02:18.605 and the county got on how to use the federal ARPA funds, 02:19.773 --> 02:23.076 American Rescue Plan Act funds that are, 02:23.076 --> 02:25.245 in the case of Shelby County, 02:25.245 --> 02:28.882 that's $180 million from the federal government, 02:28.882 --> 02:30.117 and the case of the city, 02:30.117 --> 02:33.687 it's $160 million from the federal government. 02:33.687 --> 02:36.023 And each of those governments have now received their 02:36.023 --> 02:38.992 their first of two payments of that. 02:38.992 --> 02:42.095 But the guidance changed on May 10th 02:42.095 --> 02:47.100 and it has basically punched a $23 million hole 02:48.301 --> 02:51.371 in the city's budget, the county, not so much 02:51.371 --> 02:53.807 but there probably won't be the final word 02:53.807 --> 02:57.744 on how to use the money and what revenues you can make up 02:57.744 --> 02:59.713 and how the calculations are done 02:59.713 --> 03:02.749 until mid-July in Washington. 03:02.749 --> 03:05.852 - And we're looking at tax rate proposals, 03:05.852 --> 03:08.321 given that it's a reappraisal year 03:08.321 --> 03:09.589 and you know, the the 03:09.589 --> 03:12.159 the tax rate can't move to create a windfall 03:12.159 --> 03:13.894 the City Council or the County Commission 03:13.894 --> 03:17.030 they can vote to increase taxes, but as it is right now 03:17.030 --> 03:18.365 it looks like the city tax rate will drop 03:18.365 --> 03:20.133 from 3.19 to 2.71. 03:20.133 --> 03:24.771 County will drop from 4.05 to 3.45, give or take. 03:24.771 --> 03:27.941 - That is, those are the tax rates 03:27.941 --> 03:29.443 that produce the same amount 03:29.443 --> 03:31.078 of revenue for city 03:31.078 --> 03:33.980 and county government respectively taking 03:33.980 --> 03:38.852 into account the 2021 reappraisal of property. 03:38.852 --> 03:40.487 Neither County Mayor Lee Harris 03:40.487 --> 03:44.991 nor City Mayor Jim Strickland have proposed a tax increase. 03:44.991 --> 03:47.160 However, there are some discussions 03:47.160 --> 03:48.762 on the county and city side about 03:48.762 --> 03:53.767 about possibly a tax hike, which we which can be done 03:55.235 --> 03:57.571 but it has to be proposed and voted on separately 03:57.571 --> 04:00.340 once the tax rate is reset. 04:00.340 --> 04:02.742 At this point, it doesn't appear 04:02.742 --> 04:05.512 that raising taxes beyond that re-certified amount 04:05.512 --> 04:08.148 has the seven votes necessary to pass 04:08.148 --> 04:10.417 on either the city or the county side 04:10.417 --> 04:13.653 but there has been some discussion about that. 04:13.653 --> 04:15.856 And the discussion has centered on 04:15.856 --> 04:19.659 in the case of the county raising the taxes 04:19.659 --> 04:24.097 but keeping it below the $4 mark and on the city side 04:24.097 --> 04:27.234 it's about keeping it below the $3 mark. 04:28.335 --> 04:29.169 - It is interesting. 04:29.169 --> 04:30.637 I'll go to you Toby. 04:30.637 --> 04:33.106 But one thing, I, two municipalities are looking 04:33.106 --> 04:35.709 at raising taxes, Bartlett and Collierville. 04:35.709 --> 04:37.944 Bartlett is looking at a 15 cent increase 04:37.944 --> 04:42.582 after the reappraisal adjustment Bartlett 24 cent increase 04:42.582 --> 04:46.019 which is totally counter to how it was, maybe I'm old 04:46.019 --> 04:50.657 but you know, 10, 15, 20 years ago when the, 04:50.657 --> 04:52.359 the municipalities kept their taxes very 04:52.359 --> 04:53.860 low and very stable. 04:53.860 --> 04:56.229 And the city and county seem to constantly be raising them. 04:56.229 --> 04:58.799 We'll have the mayors of Collierville 04:58.799 --> 05:01.401 and Bartlett on in two weeks to talk about their budgets 05:01.401 --> 05:02.702 school systems and all that stuff. 05:02.702 --> 05:04.437 But Toby, what did you want to add? 05:04.437 --> 05:05.906 - It was just interesting this year 05:05.906 --> 05:08.375 that there was kind of a new voice in budget season. 05:08.375 --> 05:11.378 I've covered a lot of budgets over the years, but this year 05:11.378 --> 05:12.779 the Moral Budget Coalition I wrote about 05:12.779 --> 05:14.714 and I know Bill wrote about it. 05:14.714 --> 05:18.752 It's this group of groups, including MICA out there 05:18.752 --> 05:21.288 Memphis Tenant's Unit, Stand for Children Tennessee 05:21.288 --> 05:23.657 and a lot of others out there, BLDG Memphis. 05:23.657 --> 05:26.159 And they wanted to have the city 05:26.159 --> 05:29.362 and the county to keep the tax rate 05:29.362 --> 05:32.299 as it is right now, which would create, as they said 05:32.299 --> 05:33.833 it would create $40 million in the city 05:33.833 --> 05:35.402 and then $100 million for the county. 05:35.402 --> 05:39.472 And they wanted this money invested in the community 05:39.472 --> 05:41.474 which is uh, you know, what you will remember 05:41.474 --> 05:44.344 from the Black Lives Matter of, of last summer 05:44.344 --> 05:47.147 you know, when, when activists would say "defund the police" 05:47.147 --> 05:49.282 they didn't mean we don't like the police. 05:49.282 --> 05:51.017 They said, you know, let's, you know 05:51.017 --> 05:53.720 reduce the money that we spend on police and, and put it 05:53.720 --> 05:57.524 into the community and this, and, and what they want for 05:57.524 --> 05:59.125 you know, affordable housing services 05:59.125 --> 06:03.129 for the homeless, mental health education, a raft 06:03.129 --> 06:05.966 of these things that this group is pushing for. 06:05.966 --> 06:09.002 So at this stage, in, in the, in the budget game 06:09.002 --> 06:11.471 it doesn't seem likely that they would go back to the 06:11.471 --> 06:14.741 you know, to the tax rate that we have right now. 06:14.741 --> 06:17.477 But it's an interesting new voice that 06:17.477 --> 06:19.012 that arose during budget season. 06:19.012 --> 06:20.580 Like I said, I've covered a lot of these, not as closely 06:20.580 --> 06:23.250 in years past, but it's interesting to see kind 06:23.250 --> 06:25.752 of a new voice wanting to have a seat 06:25.752 --> 06:28.221 at the table during budget talks. 06:28.221 --> 06:30.557 - Yeah, we had Cordell Oren from Stand for Children 06:30.557 --> 06:34.160 and Deveney Perry from BLDG Memphis 06:34.160 --> 06:36.596 on last week to talk about them, their advocacy 06:36.596 --> 06:39.766 for keeping the tax rate the same as it is now 06:39.766 --> 06:43.737 and seeing a pretty significant windfall in taxes, windfall 06:43.737 --> 06:45.272 or tax increase. 06:45.272 --> 06:46.606 However you want to look at it and do those investments. 06:46.606 --> 06:48.808 Omer, you want to weigh in 06:48.808 --> 06:52.245 on any parts of this and, and where things stand. 06:52.245 --> 06:54.948 - Well, I cover Bartlett, so I can give some insight 06:54.948 --> 06:57.450 on the tax rate discussion on over there. 06:57.450 --> 07:01.454 So, the 24 cent tax hike is for 3 reasons. 07:01.454 --> 07:04.124 One, they want to maintain the city's service levels. 07:04.124 --> 07:07.994 Another is they're proposing 4% increase for employees 07:07.994 --> 07:10.563 and they also have to pay some debt service. 07:10.563 --> 07:12.799 So they kind of think that they're at this point now, where 07:12.799 --> 07:14.734 if they don't do it now, they're gonna have to do it later 07:14.734 --> 07:16.603 and the cost may be much bigger. 07:16.603 --> 07:18.538 So that's kind of why alderman, 07:18.538 --> 07:20.640 Mayor McDonald are kind of discussing this right now. 07:20.640 --> 07:22.342 And there is a final vote scheduled 07:22.342 --> 07:24.377 for June 8th of next week. 07:24.377 --> 07:25.245 So we'll see how that goes. 07:25.245 --> 07:26.279 - Right. 07:26.279 --> 07:27.847 Bill, anything else on budget 07:27.847 --> 07:29.449 or we'll shift gears. 07:29.449 --> 07:30.950 Where, where do we go next? 07:33.520 --> 07:34.788 - The City Council will try 07:34.788 --> 07:36.623 to close out its budget season 07:36.623 --> 07:38.258 at their June 15th meeting. 07:38.258 --> 07:41.027 They were originally going to have that vote scheduled 07:41.027 --> 07:44.397 for, for this week, this fiscal year for city and county 07:44.397 --> 07:48.902 and all six of the suburban governments starts on July 1st. 07:48.902 --> 07:52.272 There are usually some line items that are moved around 07:52.272 --> 07:54.607 within the budget, by the process, 07:54.607 --> 07:57.444 by the County Commission and the City Council. 07:57.444 --> 08:01.381 And this year is certainly no exception to that. 08:01.381 --> 08:02.982 - Bill, over on the City Council side. 08:02.982 --> 08:04.784 You know, when I used to cover this stuff, gavel to gavel 08:04.784 --> 08:07.420 this was a really tense, contentious time 08:07.420 --> 08:09.189 of the year right here at the end of budget season. 08:09.189 --> 08:11.358 I remember the council meetings going to, you know 08:11.358 --> 08:14.194 midnight, one in the morning, are they still like that 08:14.194 --> 08:16.863 did they, are they still like that anymore? 08:16.863 --> 08:19.199 - So far not. 08:19.199 --> 08:22.001 Fingers crossed, you know, on that, 08:22.001 --> 08:24.637 but the County Commission did have about 08:24.637 --> 08:27.674 a seven-hour discussion on this, on this yesterday. 08:27.674 --> 08:30.543 You know, some of that is 08:30.543 --> 08:34.614 that the Council has just started meeting in person again. 08:34.614 --> 08:37.517 So, so there's that kind of factor into it. 08:37.517 --> 08:40.920 Overall, the discussions have been pretty amiable. 08:40.920 --> 08:44.858 No one's gotten really frustrated by it on 08:44.858 --> 08:47.327 on either side, city or county 08:47.327 --> 08:52.031 but these are, even under the best circumstances, 08:52.031 --> 08:55.769 budget season is a complex undertaking. 08:55.769 --> 08:58.872 How much is one cent on the tax rate worth? 08:58.872 --> 09:02.842 Even on the county side, they were not allowed to go 09:02.842 --> 09:06.046 to three digits on the tax rate. 09:06.046 --> 09:10.517 In other words, they wanted to do explore a basic tax rate 09:10.517 --> 09:15.522 of $3.45. 09:17.056 --> 09:20.627 Three point four five one as the tax rate. 09:20.627 --> 09:22.695 Well, the state said you can't do that. 09:22.695 --> 09:25.565 You have to round down in this case 09:25.565 --> 09:29.269 because it's 1/100th or something like that of a penny. 09:29.269 --> 09:30.737 Yeah. 09:30.737 --> 09:33.506 - As a last question, you, Omer, has it been contentious 09:33.506 --> 09:36.976 in Bartlett or is it, as the board 09:36.976 --> 09:38.711 and the mayor, have they all been pretty, you know 09:38.711 --> 09:41.614 aligned in terms of that, the direction of the conversation? 09:41.614 --> 09:42.749 - Well, on the first two readings 09:42.749 --> 09:45.084 it's been 6-0 both times 09:45.084 --> 09:46.653 on both the tax rate and the budget. 09:46.653 --> 09:48.688 If there is this common understanding 09:48.688 --> 09:50.290 that something does have to be done now. 09:50.290 --> 09:52.525 So if there is going to be any pushback 09:52.525 --> 09:55.028 that June 8th meeting ahead of the July 1 deadline 09:55.028 --> 09:57.263 will be the most likely time you'd see anything. 09:57.263 --> 09:58.998 But the early indications seemed to be 09:58.998 --> 10:02.268 that this will pass either by 6-0 or 5-1 vote. 10:03.203 --> 10:05.939 - Let me move on to the, the 10:05.939 --> 10:08.808 the remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest, obviously 10:08.808 --> 10:12.078 what some years ago now the statue itself was removed 10:12.078 --> 10:15.715 from Health Sciences Park, but the pedestal 10:15.715 --> 10:18.284 and then the remains underneath that had to still have been 10:18.284 --> 10:19.953 in limbo for quite a few years now. 10:19.953 --> 10:23.423 The process of removing those remains started this week. 10:23.423 --> 10:26.826 Bill, you were there, it was a strange process. 10:26.826 --> 10:28.795 It was a very ugly scene. 10:28.795 --> 10:31.631 We have some video that we'll show in a bit here. 10:31.631 --> 10:33.600 Tell us what you saw and we'll talk about it. 10:33.600 --> 10:35.435 And we'll take a look at that video in a bit. 10:35.435 --> 10:37.103 - Well, I made two trips 10:37.103 --> 10:39.038 to Health Sciences Park that day. 10:39.038 --> 10:40.874 The first was when we heard that 10:40.874 --> 10:43.743 that the parts of the pedestal were being dismantled 10:43.743 --> 10:45.144 and there was a crane in the park. 10:45.144 --> 10:48.314 So I went over and talked to Van Turner, 10:48.314 --> 10:49.816 who's the head of Memphis Green Space, 10:49.816 --> 10:52.218 the private nonprofit that owns the park 10:52.218 --> 10:55.421 and had the equestrian monument removed, as well 10:55.421 --> 10:57.657 as Lee Miller of Sons of Confederate Veterans, 10:57.657 --> 11:00.293 who was overseeing the removal of the statue 11:00.293 --> 11:01.861 and the disinterment 11:01.861 --> 11:04.531 of the remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest, and his wife 11:04.531 --> 11:06.432 all of this to be moved 11:06.432 --> 11:10.737 to a new Confederate park in Columbia, Tennessee. 11:10.737 --> 11:15.708 And at that point, it was pretty much how do you do this? 11:15.708 --> 11:17.176 What do you know? 11:17.176 --> 11:21.147 Why are there bricks at the center of the pedestal? 11:21.147 --> 11:23.950 Because, you know, no ones, there are no 11:23.950 --> 11:25.718 there are no drawings or 11:25.718 --> 11:29.122 or plans for how the grave site was erected. 11:29.122 --> 11:32.392 And the monument was erected more than 100 years ago. 11:32.392 --> 11:33.793 So it was that kind of an angle. 11:33.793 --> 11:36.296 Then pictures started popping up 11:36.296 --> 11:38.898 on social media of some Confederate flags 11:38.898 --> 11:41.701 and the chain link fence that is around the monument. 11:41.701 --> 11:45.338 So I went back over, Commissioner Tammy Sawyer, 11:45.338 --> 11:47.240 Shelby County Commissioner Tammy Sawyer 11:47.240 --> 11:49.242 who led the Take 'Em Down 901 movement 11:49.242 --> 11:54.214 which along with the city's moves in court were, 11:55.648 --> 11:58.251 were the two factors that surrounded the removal of 11:58.251 --> 11:59.752 of the monument. 11:59.752 --> 12:04.524 And there was a really tense and ugly confrontation 12:05.892 --> 12:09.028 and threats made towards Sawyer by one of the workers who 12:09.028 --> 12:12.165 who was there working on the, on the monument. 12:13.566 --> 12:18.238 So Patrick Lantrip, our photographer shot some video 12:18.238 --> 12:20.673 of kind of the height of the confrontation. 12:23.409 --> 12:25.912 [man singing] 12:28.147 --> 12:30.917 - He's going to stand behind me and sing Dixie Land. 12:30.917 --> 12:34.621 And I just told y'all that my ancestors picked cotton. 12:34.621 --> 12:36.789 I'm not making this up. 12:36.789 --> 12:39.125 I have slave records, my ancestors picked cotton. 12:39.125 --> 12:43.796 While his ancestors beat and raped my ancestors. 12:43.796 --> 12:45.131 [man singing Dixie's Land] 12:45.131 --> 12:46.633 ♪ Away in Dixie Land I'll take my stand ♪ 12:46.633 --> 12:48.201 - But guess what? 12:48.201 --> 12:51.871 Dixie is dead, and it was killed by the descendants 12:51.871 --> 12:53.172 of black people. 12:54.073 --> 12:55.341 The descendants of black people. 12:55.341 --> 12:57.243 Van Turner and Tammy Sawyer and others, 12:57.243 --> 12:59.212 we took your hero down. 13:00.980 --> 13:05.985 - It is ugly and, and really not good to watch. 13:07.453 --> 13:09.422 Toby your your thoughts on it. 13:09.422 --> 13:10.757 You watched it when it was first posted. 13:10.757 --> 13:12.525 We've seen it again now. 13:12.525 --> 13:14.060 - And read Bill's story. 13:14.060 --> 13:17.463 And it's unbelievable that somebody at a public site 13:17.463 --> 13:22.268 like that can so publicly attack a public official 13:22.268 --> 13:25.438 like that, you know, to be so emboldened. 13:25.438 --> 13:27.373 I think that really shows how emboldened 13:27.373 --> 13:28.875 these people still are. 13:28.875 --> 13:30.309 You know, we think that that maybe they have kind 13:30.309 --> 13:32.145 of gone back into wherever they were 13:32.145 --> 13:35.748 before the election and all that, but, you know 13:35.748 --> 13:37.283 the Southern Poverty Law Center just came 13:37.283 --> 13:38.951 out with a report that Memphis is home 13:38.951 --> 13:42.689 to more hate groups in any city in Tennessee, you know 13:42.689 --> 13:44.290 and two of those are white nationalists, 13:44.290 --> 13:47.694 one is Neo-Confederate, and these people are still embolden 13:47.694 --> 13:49.262 to go out and to say things 13:49.262 --> 13:51.664 like that with a bank of television cameras going 13:51.664 --> 13:53.900 I think it shows how emboldened they are. 13:53.900 --> 13:56.836 I think it also shows just how not desperate we are 13:56.836 --> 14:00.606 but how ready we are to have this monument completely gone 14:00.606 --> 14:03.276 that, that we would subject ourselves 14:03.276 --> 14:06.546 to this over and over and over again, to get this gone 14:06.546 --> 14:09.349 into and to kind of turn the page on this chapter. 14:09.349 --> 14:12.018 And I hope that I'm just really glad that it's happening 14:12.018 --> 14:14.620 and hopefully it'll be over soon and we won't have to deal 14:14.620 --> 14:17.790 with ugly situations like we had in the park the other day. 14:17.790 --> 14:19.225 - Omer, your thoughts, your thoughts 14:19.225 --> 14:21.360 on where the park goes from here? 14:22.361 --> 14:23.596 - Well, um 14:23.596 --> 14:25.498 So, Juneteenth, which is coming up in a couple 14:25.498 --> 14:28.701 of weeks, Lisa Franklin and Van Turner 14:28.701 --> 14:31.070 with Memphis Green Space announced several weeks ago 14:31.070 --> 14:33.206 that the annual Juneteenth celebration will take place 14:33.206 --> 14:34.540 at Health Sciences Park. 14:34.540 --> 14:36.743 And the reason that they're moving it 14:36.743 --> 14:39.779 from Robert R. Church Park to Health Sciences Park 14:39.779 --> 14:41.280 is part of that symbolization 14:41.280 --> 14:43.683 that this is our space now. 14:43.683 --> 14:46.052 That we're going to start this next chapter. 14:46.052 --> 14:47.820 And that won't be a place 14:47.820 --> 14:51.090 where specifically black Memphians don't have to worry 14:51.090 --> 14:53.025 about the fear, any more that they can be welcomed here, 14:53.025 --> 14:55.762 that they can have joy here, that they can celebrate here. 14:55.762 --> 14:57.597 And I think that'll be a really important moment 14:57.597 --> 15:00.299 in obviously the past few years. 15:00.299 --> 15:02.034 And then it's all building up to this and hopefully 15:02.034 --> 15:06.639 that first step in really making that next chapter start. 15:07.774 --> 15:09.175 - And, and just some logistics Bill 15:09.175 --> 15:10.476 it's going to take them a couple of weeks, 15:10.476 --> 15:12.879 is that right, to disassemble and so on? 15:12.879 --> 15:14.380 - Right. 15:14.380 --> 15:16.916 It's going to take a couple of weeks, the, the panels 15:16.916 --> 15:21.721 on the side of the pedestal were removed for restoration 15:21.721 --> 15:24.557 and some repair work as a part of this. 15:24.557 --> 15:28.194 The remains of Forrest and his wife, 15:28.194 --> 15:29.829 as we said, are about 10 feet 15:29.829 --> 15:31.364 below everything. 15:31.364 --> 15:35.301 So this is going to take some time to work out logistically. 15:35.301 --> 15:38.104 There is actually an archeologist that is working 15:38.104 --> 15:41.808 with the group on this during the removal. 15:43.209 --> 15:47.814 So on the one hand, you have a story that really remains 15:48.981 --> 15:52.952 about the divisions in our, in our society and 15:54.320 --> 15:58.524 and the resistance to, to change and the whole fake history 15:59.992 --> 16:04.130 of the Confederacy that began after the Civil War and 16:04.130 --> 16:06.732 and that some people want to preserve to this 16:06.732 --> 16:08.267 to this very day. 16:08.267 --> 16:11.304 And then you have the story about, well, how do you go 16:11.304 --> 16:15.575 about something like this, no matter who the individual is. 16:15.575 --> 16:17.610 - And, and again, I think you alluded 16:17.610 --> 16:18.878 to this and it was in your story 16:18.878 --> 16:21.581 but this was being paid for by, whom? 16:21.581 --> 16:23.382 - The Sons of Confederate Veterans 16:23.382 --> 16:24.917 and the Forrest family. 16:24.917 --> 16:27.820 There's no public funding that is involved in this. 16:27.820 --> 16:29.655 And that's easy to forget 16:29.655 --> 16:33.426 because this was once a city park up until 2017. 16:33.426 --> 16:36.896 It is now land that is owned for public use 16:36.896 --> 16:40.233 by Memphis Green Space as is the other park where 16:40.233 --> 16:42.235 there was a statue of Jefferson Davis 16:42.235 --> 16:46.105 which is now Fourth Bluff or Memphis Park. 16:46.105 --> 16:47.440 - Yeah. 16:47.440 --> 16:48.274 Let's switch to 16:50.443 --> 16:51.911 Frayser. 16:51.911 --> 16:53.679 And some of the stories you've been doing up there, Omer, 16:53.679 --> 16:55.014 it's another part of your beat. 16:55.014 --> 16:57.917 And there's some big investments that have happened. 16:57.917 --> 16:59.952 I mean, hundreds of millions of dollars in investments. 16:59.952 --> 17:01.587 If you go back 17:01.587 --> 17:04.457 to Nike expanding its distribution center, Amazon. 17:04.457 --> 17:05.591 Talk about a bit about 17:05.591 --> 17:07.260 what you've been writing about up there. 17:07.260 --> 17:08.794 - So you've kind of got these three buckets 17:08.794 --> 17:10.997 I'll start off with the big ones. 17:10.997 --> 17:12.999 When we, of course you had Nike a few years ago. 17:12.999 --> 17:15.835 Now Amazon has invested more than $200 million 17:15.835 --> 17:19.739 in both a fulfillment center and a delivery station. 17:19.739 --> 17:23.676 You had Ampro recently add another $30 million 17:23.676 --> 17:25.478 into its Frayser business 17:25.478 --> 17:27.580 which is a hair manufacturer company. 17:27.580 --> 17:30.616 And it's a really important step in creating hundreds 17:30.616 --> 17:33.052 and hundreds of more jobs for people in Frayser. 17:33.052 --> 17:35.388 And they're actively trying to recruit people 17:35.388 --> 17:37.256 in Frayser to go work there. 17:37.256 --> 17:38.491 And on the other hand 17:38.491 --> 17:40.760 you also have the City of Memphis investing 17:40.760 --> 17:43.496 in a new Ed Rice Community Center 17:43.496 --> 17:45.097 and Frayser Library 17:45.097 --> 17:47.500 and then renovating Rodney Baber Park. 17:47.500 --> 17:48.968 And those are really crucial 17:48.968 --> 17:50.369 because those are things that people 17:50.369 --> 17:51.938 in the community really value 17:51.938 --> 17:53.806 and that value them for a really long time. 17:53.806 --> 17:55.408 But they're also spaces that have been there, 17:55.408 --> 17:57.176 because they've been there for a really long time, 17:57.176 --> 17:58.644 they're due for an upgrade. 17:58.644 --> 18:00.780 And they're also quite excited about that. 18:00.780 --> 18:04.016 And then you have this final part, which is the investment 18:04.016 --> 18:05.518 coming more or less from the outside. 18:05.518 --> 18:08.087 You have early it's that it's investing 12 million 18:08.087 --> 18:12.591 $12 million in a new early childhood education facility. 18:12.591 --> 18:15.928 And then you have Renaissance at Steele Apartment complex 18:15.928 --> 18:18.230 which is a $17 million renovation. 18:18.230 --> 18:20.066 So they talk about employment. 18:20.066 --> 18:22.835 And you're talking about business expansion and talking 18:22.835 --> 18:25.304 about housing and education, all these things in that 18:25.304 --> 18:27.873 in a neighborhood that had gone through years 18:27.873 --> 18:29.308 of disinvestment 18:29.308 --> 18:31.944 and it's really creating some optimism in Frayser now. 18:31.944 --> 18:34.213 - One interesting thing I thought about it was, 18:34.213 --> 18:36.916 you know, we've debated on 18:36.916 --> 18:39.885 had people on the show, debating low wage jobs. 18:39.885 --> 18:42.355 Obviously the Flyer has written about, Daily Memphian, 18:42.355 --> 18:43.956 others, you know, that, that we 18:43.956 --> 18:46.759 Martavius Jones is a big advocate of City Councilman 18:46.759 --> 18:49.662 that we, you need to be not pursuing these lower wage jobs. 18:49.662 --> 18:51.897 The Amazon jobs are start at $15 an hour. 18:51.897 --> 18:53.599 I can't remember what the Ampro ones are 18:53.599 --> 18:56.402 but you did speak to a community leader up in, in 18:56.402 --> 18:58.671 in Frayser who said, this is fantastic. 18:58.671 --> 18:59.605 These are jobs. 18:59.605 --> 19:01.007 This is, these are people here 19:01.007 --> 19:02.708 in Frayser who can be employed. 19:02.708 --> 19:03.643 And this is, I think he said 19:03.643 --> 19:06.379 our prayers have been answered. 19:06.379 --> 19:08.647 - Yes. I spoke to Pursuit of God Church 19:08.647 --> 19:09.915 Pastor Ricky Floyd. 19:09.915 --> 19:11.550 And if you talk to a lot of the community leaders 19:11.550 --> 19:12.785 in Frayser 19:12.785 --> 19:14.120 they're just excited to have jobs that, 19:14.120 --> 19:15.788 start at $15 an hour. 19:15.788 --> 19:17.289 Are they the ideal jobs 19:17.289 --> 19:19.925 that'll transform Frayser right away, not necessarily. 19:19.925 --> 19:21.560 But it's a step in the right direction. 19:21.560 --> 19:23.729 And if you talk to them, that's how they view this. 19:23.729 --> 19:25.731 They don't view this as an overnight transformation 19:25.731 --> 19:27.900 but they do these first steps 19:27.900 --> 19:30.102 as crucial to getting this neighborhood back on its feet 19:30.102 --> 19:31.971 that's got an estimated population 19:31.971 --> 19:33.305 of about 50,000 people. 19:33.305 --> 19:34.040 So we're talking about one 19:34.040 --> 19:36.042 of Memphis' largest black neighborhoods, 19:36.042 --> 19:38.944 and it's important that it gets back on its feet. 19:38.944 --> 19:40.780 - I think this was simultaneous with, I'm gonna put you 19:40.780 --> 19:42.048 on the spot Bill. 19:42.048 --> 19:44.450 We have Accelerate Memphis, which is 19:44.450 --> 19:49.055 this $200 million kind of, it's a debt restructuring plan 19:49.055 --> 19:52.024 with the city that they can take $200 million and put it 19:52.024 --> 19:54.427 towards capital improvement projects across the city. 19:54.427 --> 19:56.996 I think Frayser, there are areas all across the city 19:56.996 --> 20:00.466 very much follows the Memphis 3.0 map and the strategic plan 20:00.466 --> 20:02.034 that which includes Frayser. 20:02.034 --> 20:04.970 And then also this week, the Office of Planning 20:04.970 --> 20:06.972 and Development, I believe it was, started talking 20:06.972 --> 20:09.608 about this three to five-year plan to expand broadband 20:09.608 --> 20:12.845 to underserved areas, which includes Frayser in terms 20:12.845 --> 20:14.313 of its access to broadband. 20:14.313 --> 20:17.383 So thoughts on that and you're, you're from Frayser, right? 20:17.383 --> 20:19.251 Didn't you, you went to school in Frayser? 20:19.251 --> 20:20.853 - I went to school. 20:20.853 --> 20:23.522 Alumni of Westside High School. 20:23.522 --> 20:24.356 Lived there. 20:24.356 --> 20:26.325 Grew up there. 20:26.325 --> 20:31.263 Yeah, the broadband plan is actually the Division 20:31.263 --> 20:32.965 of Planning and Development, as well 20:32.965 --> 20:35.468 as Housing and Community Development for the city. 20:36.669 --> 20:41.006 And it's based in part on the Memphis 3.0 plan 20:41.006 --> 20:45.277 and specifically the, the centers or, 20:45.277 --> 20:47.646 or the "anchors" as they're called in the plan, 20:47.646 --> 20:51.484 that are in areas where there is low access to 20:51.484 --> 20:56.455 to broadband and digital access there. 20:57.623 --> 20:59.425 And that's where this is going to start. 20:59.425 --> 21:02.828 There's a, there's a PILOT in Soulsville as well. 21:02.828 --> 21:07.566 And they're going to proceed with some funding here 21:07.566 --> 21:12.571 to map out likely spots for the spread of that access. 21:13.739 --> 21:15.641 And of course we've seen how important that is 21:15.641 --> 21:18.077 during the pandemic that we've just been through. 21:19.545 --> 21:21.547 - I'm going to skip over one of the biggest stories going 21:21.547 --> 21:24.483 on right now is the bridge and the repairs to the bridge. 21:25.651 --> 21:29.021 And we've, 'cause we've got Pete Buttigieg, 21:29.021 --> 21:31.590 The Department of Transportation Secretary 21:31.590 --> 21:33.492 is in town as we're taping this, 21:33.492 --> 21:34.994 may have some announcements today. 21:34.994 --> 21:38.197 So if we talk too much about it, it could be off-track. 21:38.197 --> 21:41.901 But one, I mean, there are a couple of big questions 21:41.901 --> 21:43.602 I guess I'll do a couple of minutes on this Bill. 21:43.602 --> 21:46.205 What do we expect from Pete Buttigieg? 21:46.205 --> 21:47.473 And again, I'm putting you 21:47.473 --> 21:48.941 in this bad place where we're taping 21:48.941 --> 21:50.476 before he speaks 21:50.476 --> 21:53.846 and what comes next with the bridge, real briefly. 21:53.846 --> 21:57.283 - Well, what comes next is how long is this going 21:57.283 --> 21:59.952 to take to get the bridge reopened to traffic? 21:59.952 --> 22:02.454 But beyond that, there are some larger discussions. 22:02.454 --> 22:05.758 This has revived discussion of the possibility of a third 22:05.758 --> 22:07.960 vehicular traffic bridge 22:07.960 --> 22:09.995 across the Mississippi River at Memphis 22:09.995 --> 22:11.964 which the last serious discussion 22:11.964 --> 22:13.699 of this was about 20 years ago 22:13.699 --> 22:17.436 that shows you what kind of the timeframe is for that. 22:17.436 --> 22:18.938 What we're expecting out 22:18.938 --> 22:23.475 of Secretary Buttigieg's visit to Memphis is 22:23.475 --> 22:26.178 probably a lively discussion at the forum at FedEx 22:26.178 --> 22:28.881 which will feature Republican U.S. Senator 22:28.881 --> 22:30.316 Marsha Blackburn 22:30.316 --> 22:32.251 among the people involved in that discussion. 22:32.251 --> 22:33.686 And she's been highly critical 22:33.686 --> 22:36.121 of the administration's infrastructure plan 22:36.121 --> 22:39.792 as not being about roads and bridges enough. 22:39.792 --> 22:42.828 And of course, the secretary will be here flying the banner 22:42.828 --> 22:44.296 of the Biden administration 22:44.296 --> 22:48.901 and promoting that still forming infrastructure plan. 22:48.901 --> 22:50.936 - I still think also now when I move to Toby 22:50.936 --> 22:52.538 for some other things, but that one 22:52.538 --> 22:55.040 of the big unanswered questions, I know the inspector 22:55.040 --> 22:57.710 from Arkansas who had inspected the bridge and missed this 22:57.710 --> 22:59.712 that from, it looks like potentially a couple 22:59.712 --> 23:02.448 of years was fired, but what happens next 23:02.448 --> 23:03.983 with bridge inspections? 23:03.983 --> 23:05.985 How did the whole, maybe it was 23:05.985 --> 23:07.886 that person's fault, but that person had bosses and 23:07.886 --> 23:11.090 and a whole structure that allowed a, not a crack 23:11.090 --> 23:14.293 but a massive fissure to go unnoticed for so long 23:14.293 --> 23:16.495 that those are the next questions 23:16.495 --> 23:17.730 that need to be answered. 23:17.730 --> 23:19.632 But, but Toby, I wanted to switch to you if we could. 23:19.632 --> 23:21.500 'Cause you've got a big story coming up in The Flyer 23:21.500 --> 23:23.769 about the legislative session 23:23.769 --> 23:25.804 and some of the workings there. 23:25.804 --> 23:26.639 - That's right. 23:26.639 --> 23:27.906 And as I was watching 23:27.906 --> 23:30.943 the session, this year, I started to kind 23:30.943 --> 23:35.547 of notice a theme in a lot of the GOP actions up there. 23:35.547 --> 23:38.350 Not all bills necessarily 23:38.350 --> 23:40.519 but that were happening separately. 23:40.519 --> 23:42.021 But then when you take them together, you kind 23:42.021 --> 23:44.590 of see this theme emerge, that they were really aimed 23:44.590 --> 23:46.892 at poor people, at low-income people. 23:46.892 --> 23:49.094 And in three big moves there 23:49.094 --> 23:52.765 were cuts to the state unemployment benefits 23:52.765 --> 23:54.900 which will take it, you know 23:54.900 --> 23:57.603 basically cut the time that we have for those in half. 23:57.603 --> 23:59.138 And that doesn't start until 2023. 23:59.138 --> 24:00.372 I'll talk about that in a minute. 24:00.372 --> 24:02.875 But the second thing was Bill Lee's decision to 24:02.875 --> 24:07.379 cut the federal unemployment benefit 24:07.379 --> 24:10.015 from September to July 24:10.015 --> 24:11.951 and those are kind of taken together. 24:11.951 --> 24:13.185 But then the third one was, you know 24:13.185 --> 24:15.187 the failure once again to expand Medicaid. 24:15.187 --> 24:16.855 And I know we kind of talked about this, you know 24:16.855 --> 24:19.925 newspaper reporters have talked about this all session 24:19.925 --> 24:21.694 but when you bring them together, you do kind 24:21.694 --> 24:25.264 of see this theme of, of who these bills are aimed at. 24:26.699 --> 24:31.603 And so I asked some insiders up there to see, you know, 24:33.038 --> 24:35.574 is this, is this some kind of concerted effort, right? 24:35.574 --> 24:39.812 To prove some kind of Republican economic theory about 24:39.812 --> 24:42.715 you know, the work ethic of people or not. 24:42.715 --> 24:45.818 And that person said it is not, 24:45.818 --> 24:49.822 only because the Republican Party at the State Capitol, 24:49.822 --> 24:51.256 they're just not that organized. 24:51.256 --> 24:52.991 A lot of them, the insider told me, 24:52.991 --> 24:55.127 that they see the job as kind of a social hour. 24:55.127 --> 24:57.496 They go along with whatever the speaker says. 24:57.496 --> 24:59.098 So as far as there being some kind 24:59.098 --> 25:01.834 of big organized movement against, you know 25:01.834 --> 25:04.737 low-income people, he said that it just wasn't there 25:04.737 --> 25:07.506 but a lot of the rhetoric you see 25:07.506 --> 25:09.675 around unemployment benefits 25:09.675 --> 25:12.411 especially the state's unemployment benefits 25:12.411 --> 25:15.614 the rhetoric there, you see one legislator called 25:15.614 --> 25:19.318 these checks that unemployment checks giveaway money. 25:19.318 --> 25:22.454 Another one said that, you know, we need to stop this money 25:22.454 --> 25:25.357 so we can get people out into the workplace, 25:25.357 --> 25:27.459 the work marketplace out there. 25:27.459 --> 25:29.528 So you see that time and again, where these people 25:29.528 --> 25:30.929 they blame the people that are 25:30.929 --> 25:32.097 on unemployment. 25:35.334 --> 25:37.202 And they think that they're just kind of being lazy 25:37.202 --> 25:38.437 and sitting around the house. 25:38.437 --> 25:39.671 And as long as they're getting these checks 25:39.671 --> 25:42.274 they're not going out and getting these jobs. 25:42.274 --> 25:45.277 And for them, that's kind of where, 25:45.277 --> 25:47.446 where their real heart is. 25:47.446 --> 25:49.048 I think they're seeing these businesses 25:49.048 --> 25:51.617 that can't find enough workers right now. 25:51.617 --> 25:54.353 And I don't think anybody really has their finger 25:54.353 --> 25:56.855 on why the shortage is right now, not even 25:56.855 --> 26:00.859 the Federal Reserve chairman knows exactly what to, how to 26:00.859 --> 26:03.028 how to put his finger on that. 26:03.028 --> 26:04.563 But a lot of the Republicans 26:04.563 --> 26:07.332 when they're talking about this, they talk in anecdotes. 26:07.332 --> 26:08.600 They say, well, there's a restaurant 26:08.600 --> 26:10.169 in my district that can't find workers. 26:10.169 --> 26:11.637 There's another guy 26:11.637 --> 26:13.138 with a trucking company that says I've got, you know 26:13.138 --> 26:15.474 fifty trucks idled because I can't find drivers 26:16.608 --> 26:18.944 but they never point to, you know 26:18.944 --> 26:22.648 a study done by somebody that says here's what's going on. 26:22.648 --> 26:23.782 And here's what it is. 26:25.384 --> 26:27.286 - Let me, I apologize. 26:27.286 --> 26:28.587 'Cause we're going to run out of time here Toby 26:28.587 --> 26:30.088 but I think it is an interesting debate. 26:30.088 --> 26:32.357 I mean, if you go to the, you know, what the, 26:32.357 --> 26:33.859 the pages of the Wall Street Journal 26:33.859 --> 26:36.762 or if you turn on CNBC, that's very much, and we've spoken 26:36.762 --> 26:38.797 to people in Daily Memphian who are unable to hire people 26:38.797 --> 26:42.668 and blame the extended unemployment benefits. 26:42.668 --> 26:44.670 And we are in the middle of a grand national experiment 26:44.670 --> 26:46.738 that we'll probably see six months, a year from now 26:46.738 --> 26:48.540 what held things back and what didn't. 26:48.540 --> 26:50.075 I want to take one quick moment 26:50.075 --> 26:53.045 as we wrap up to say, this is thankfully, thankfully 26:53.045 --> 26:56.215 the last show that we will be doing from, by Zoom. 26:56.215 --> 26:58.217 I am sick of looking at myself. 26:58.217 --> 27:00.986 I'm sick of looking at the background of my apartment. 27:00.986 --> 27:03.922 I want to thank everybody at KNO for making this work. 27:03.922 --> 27:07.159 We did 50 or 60 shows by Zoom. 27:07.159 --> 27:09.328 With case rates coming down we'll be back in the studio 27:09.328 --> 27:11.563 next week in person, and we really look forward to that. 27:11.563 --> 27:14.066 I want to thank Natalie van Gundy, our producer, 27:14.066 --> 27:16.135 and a huge shout-out to Peter Richards, our director 27:16.135 --> 27:19.538 who managed this situation with a tremendous, 27:19.538 --> 27:22.107 without annoyance and, and pretty seamlessly. 27:22.107 --> 27:23.475 We had very few problems. 27:23.475 --> 27:25.010 And so a big thanks to him and others. 27:25.010 --> 27:28.614 A last note, as we leave my apartment that this painting 27:28.614 --> 27:31.149 over my right shoulder, it's actually my, yeah 27:31.149 --> 27:32.084 my right shoulder. 27:32.084 --> 27:33.519 I recently wrote a column 27:33.519 --> 27:35.087 about my mother recently passing. 27:35.087 --> 27:37.756 A lot of viewers and readers were very kind to reach out. 27:37.756 --> 27:40.859 And I don't know, they call it 27:40.859 --> 27:42.160 it spoke to them in some way. 27:42.160 --> 27:43.395 And I really appreciate that. 27:43.395 --> 27:44.863 I wrote about my mother's paintings 27:44.863 --> 27:47.432 and I wrote about two of her paintings specifically. 27:47.432 --> 27:49.368 And that one right there is one of those. 27:49.368 --> 27:50.769 So thank you. 27:50.769 --> 27:52.604 I want to say to everyone who did reach out, 27:52.604 --> 27:53.839 y'all are very, very kind. 27:53.839 --> 27:55.841 But that is all the time we have this week. 27:55.841 --> 27:58.477 You can, as of course, as always get past episodes 27:58.477 --> 28:01.213 of the show at wkno.org or the full podcast 28:01.213 --> 28:02.581 of the show on The Daily Memphian site 28:02.581 --> 28:03.715 or wherever you get your podcasts. 28:03.715 --> 28:05.284 And we will see you next week 28:05.284 --> 28:06.518 from the studio. 28:06.518 --> 28:09.855 [intense orchestral music] 28:27.739 --> 28:29.741 [acoustic guitar chords]