Weekly Update

Friends,

 

As I have written previously, the past few weeks have been very difficult for our community. The heinous acts that occurred were awful, heartbreaking, and they will never be forgotten. But despite the darkness those acts caused, we must also remember to see the light breaking through all around us.

 

While violent crime has been my most frustrating challenge as mayor, there are many areas that bring me hope for our city’s future.

 

Jobs: I’m proud to say that as it stands today, our employment numbers have fully recovered from the pandemic, and our tourism numbers are outpacing the national average. As noted recently by the Greater Memphis Chamber, we had an all-time record for jobs in the greater Memphis area this past June.

 

 

Earlier this week, it was announced that the local medical device industry has added nearly 2,000 jobs with an average annual wage of more than $103,000 and has had a $4 billion economic impact since 2015.

 

In addition to its recently completed $245 million renovation of Concourse B, Memphis International Airport issued a request for qualifications this week for a potential $800 million concourse modernization over several phases and multiple years.

 

Quality of life: Billions of new public and private dollars are being invested city-wide. For the first time in history, we set up free, universal needs-based Pre-Kindergarten for every child, and prior to the pandemic, our poverty rate had dropped to its lowest point in twenty years. Additionally, we gained population between 2010 and 2020—the first time in over 50 years!

 

Through Memphis 3.0, we have adopted the city’s first comprehensive plan in over 40 years with input from 15,000 citizens to guide development, transportation, infrastructure, and civic space over the next two decades and beyond.

 

From this comprehensive plan, Accelerate Memphis was born with more than $200 million worth of investment guided by Memphis 3.0 in our parks, neighborhoods, and infrastructure all across our city.

 

While we still have a way to go in public transit, in this year’s budget and also for the very first time ever, we established a dedicated transit fund for MATA which will allow us to implement Transit Vision. This funding will allow us to do our part to increase frequency of service and connect Memphians to the more than 10,000 available jobs in our community. 

 

Transit Vision provides:

• An increase in frequency – more buses arriving more often
• 39% more jobs reachable in an hour by transit for the average Memphian
• 45% more jobs reachable in an hour for minority residents and 49% for low-income residents
• 79,000 more people and 103,000 more jobs near frequent service (every 15 minutes); and
• More weekend and evening service

I wanted to remind you of just a few the great things happening throughout our city (and this is by no means an exhaustive list) because unfortunately when bad events happen, many times we are not able to see through the darkness and become engulfed in the negative thoughts it brings with it.

 

Even through our worst times, I believe in Memphis. I believe in Memphians, and I know our brightest days are ahead. May God bless our city!

 

Enjoy your weekend!

 

Yours,