Building Together: City of Memphis Weekly Update

Compromise is powerful. If used correctly, it negates the need for credit or blame and emphasizes the trust between parties. It allows all involved to win.

And in that spirit of compromise and trust, I believe our community won this week.

When I campaigned for this role, I said that I wasn’t a politician and that, instead, I was called to serve. This week that service meant standing solidly for the team I believe in - the team I believe will help create a stronger, safer Memphis. And together with the City Council, we found a path that allows our team to get to work.

We still have a couple of appointments up for approval, but I trust that we will find a path to get them approved so that we can get to work for the residents of our City. Because we are all ready for solutions, we have had enough of the conflict and we can all agree that our city needs peace.

So, how do we get there? This week, we heard a great suggestion from Councilwoman Green about the visual chaos created by construction and road closure apparatus being left on our streets and sidewalks when no longer in use. When our team heard it, it sounded like an obvious easy win, so they drove around downtown today and picked up all of the non-utilized barrels and barricades. Done. 

We have also developed a “Strike Team” to strategically tackle at least one project a day. This team is directed by the number of 311 calls we receive on a particular problem and the team will begin working next week. 

And there is more that we can do together. 

But first, we have to know about it. You can let us know about the issues that are bothering you by reporting them to our 311 Department. 

 

The ten people in this department - led by Director Carolyn Malone - are our front-line customer service and community advocates. They are responsible for helping to ensure your voice is heard and your problems are routed to the correct division or department. It isn’t easy to field complaint calls all day, so the next time you talk to one of them, remind them of how much we all appreciate the work they are doing! You can reach our 311 team in multiple ways, including: 

• visiting our 311 reporting center at MemphisTn.gov/call311
• calling 311*
• calling 901-636-6500 

*311 calls may be disabled on your cell phone if wifi calling is enabled

You can report any problem with a city of Memphis service from potholes to missed garbage collections. 

And, if you’ve reported an issue before, we want to know that, too. We can’t promise that we will get to your issue in a day - but we can promise that our team is working every day to address all of the issues that are reported. 

 

Quick stats from 311 

 

In partnership and progress

Paul A. Young