Weekly Update

Friends,

 

Earlier this year, I told you about the Accelerate Memphis: Invest in Neighborhoods plan. Through this transformative strategic approach, we are making an unprecedented $200 million investment in catalytic community projects in every neighborhood and every city council district across our city. From Smokey City to Orange Mound, Raleigh to Whitehaven, Klondike to South Memphis every Memphian will see and feel the impact.

 

This past Tuesday, we kicked-off Accelerate Memphis by making an investment in our most precious asset—our children. Over the next several weeks, 13 playgrounds across our city will be resurfaced, and this is just the beginning. Over the next two and half years, we will be working to deliver on every aspect of this plan.

 

As it stands, proceeds from the $200 million in Accelerate Memphis bonds will be used in the following three main ways:

• Neighborhood Improvements — $75 million
• Improving our parks — $75 million; and
• Revitalizing citywide assets — $50 million 

The plan is guided by Memphis 3.0—our first comprehensive plan in 40 years and was drafted with input from 15,000 Memphians who came up with plans on what their neighborhoods should look like over the next 10-20 years.

 

To stay up-to-date on our progress and watch the transformation of our community assets, you can visit the Accelerate Memphis website.

 

Thanks to our partners on City Council. Without their support, none of this would be possible. I’m so excited to get to work on these projects and ready to see the impact they will have on our neighborhoods for years to come.

 

Summer Camps: As we’re quickly moving through the summer, I wanted to give you a quick snapshot of our summer camp utilization—who’s using, age ranges, and what parts of our city use them most. Check out the information below.

 

 

 

Thanks to Nick Walker and his team in Parks and Neighborhoods for all the great work they do for our community.

 

A rundown of your Division of Public Works: From time to time, I think it’s helpful to remind folks of exactly what your divisions of City government do you for you.

 

Today, I want to highlight Public Works.

 

Led by Robert Knecht, the division employs around 900 people and is responsible for neighborhood improvements including code enforcement, environmental enforcement, grounds and maintenance and Memphis City Beautiful. Additionally, the division also takes care of maintenance of city streets, right of ways, drains, heavy equipment services, and street sweeping. They’re also responsible for environmental engineering services for wastewater collection, wastewater treatment, industrial monitoring and pretreatment, flood control, and our lift stations.

 

One major and more noticed responsibility of Public Works is paving of our city streets. I hear about this one often, and since 2016, our administration has put a heavy focus on it. The City is responsible for roughly 6,800 lane miles. Since 1990, around $345 million in total has been spent on resurfacing. $168 million of that has occurred since 2010 and $96.5 million of the $168 million has been spent in the last five years alone.

 

Additionally, Public Works is responsible for 401 bridges, which are inspected every two years; 3,235 miles of sanitary sewers with 2,851 miles in the city; 3,000 food establishments' grease traps; and two major sewage treatment plants that treat 60 billion gallons annually.

 

While all the work they do may not be glamorous, it is critical to the daily operation of effectively running our city, and I thank Robert and the Public Works team for it.

 

Happy 4^th of July: The past year has been a difficult one, but with more and more people receiving the vaccine, things are continuing to head in the right direction. As we move into the holiday weekend, I hope we can all take a moment to pause, reflect, and be thankful.  

 

Enjoy the time with your family and friends, and be safe if you’re traveling.

 

Yours,