Weekly Update

Friends,

A quick set of items you should know from another busy week at City Hall:

Goal!: Earlier this week, the United Soccer League announced that it has selected Memphis as its next expansion market. Play will start in 2019. While there are a few details yet to be nailed down, I want you to know that we’ve worked hard with partners to make this a reality and we think it’s a great example of our momentum.

Helping our fellow Memphians: Not long after I took office, many of you reached out to pitch a program that had worked to reduce homelessness in Albuquerque. We put our heads together on it and connected with a group of Downtown stakeholders who were already heading that direction, and Work Local was born.

Work Local’s premise is simple: Our partners with the Hospitality Hub drive a van around asking homeless Memphians if they’d like to work on cleanup projects. They’re paid, fed lunch, and connected with social services.

When we launched, it ran two days a week. Earlier this year, it expanded to three. And I’m proud that this week, we announced that it will soon expand to five days per week — and we’ll increase the wage from $9 to $10 per hour.

It’s a great example of City government partnering with the nonprofit world to think outside the box and change lives. Thanks to everyone who’s involved.

Making progress: Retaining our police officers is a critical part of rebuilding MPD, which in turn is a major component of our crime plan. I’m proud to report that 611 of the 694 officers eligible for those four-year retention bonuses we announced earlier this year have signed up. That’s 88 percent.

Come by the Garden: Our friends at the Memphis Botanic Garden are lighting their Christmas tree a week from tonight as part of the Holiday Wonders at the Garden celebration. The ceremony will take place at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 24, and you can learn more here.

We need to hear from you: Our Memphis 3.0 Transit Vision process took another step this week, with the unveiling of this report and a second survey to see what you think of the options. Simply put, we’re looking to hear from you on what our bus route system should look like in the long term. Do you prefer longer waits and more coverage? Or would you like more frequent service that would require longer walks to the bus? Take the survey and let us know.

Changes: You probably saw the news about a couple of changes in our administration this week. Chief Financial Officer Brian Collins has accepted a new opportunity in his native Chicago; Division of Planning and Development Director Rick Copeland has decided to retire.

I’ve asked Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen to act as CFO until we hire a replacement; Mayor Mark Luttrell and I have nominated John Zeanah as a worthy replacement for Rick in that joint city-county office. I know these two offices won’t miss a beat.

But I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to say job well done to both Brian and Rick, who we’ll miss here at City Hall.

Yours,