|
This week, on behalf of the City of Memphis, UofM Neighborhood Preservation Clinic Law Students filed 15 lawsuits against blighted properties. This partnership gives the students the opportunity to get real-world experience doing something that will have a positive impact on our community - creating a cleaner, safer, more welcoming Memphis. And when we create a more beautiful Memphis, we also create a safer Memphis, because it is all related.
 Blighted properties - learn more by clicking the image.
 Law students filing lawsuits
Blight impacts the psyche. Regardless of where you live now, your opinion of Memphis and what is possible for our community is probably influenced by your childhood zip code. Let’s say you grew up in a neighborhood where the houses are all properly maintained, and trash was only seen in receptacles. Let’s say your neighborhood anchor was a bustling school with an active playground where kids played and learned to ride bikes safely away from traffic. After years of life in this thriving neighborhood, you probably believe that taking care of your neighborhood is the norm. You probably feel like everyone is paying attention. However, if you grew up in a neighborhood with an abandoned and blighted community center as a neighborhood landmark, with no change and no activation for decades, you might think no one cares. You might think no one is watching. And you might think that your efforts - no matter how grand - would not be enough to create change.
I believe it is up to all of us to show our entire community that someone is watching, that someone cares, and that our collective efforts will create change. I believe it is on all of us to break up the larger blight problem into something more manageable - like two blocks. I have been asking every church and every business I speak with to act like they own the two blocks surrounding their property. And I am challenging them - and you - to challenge each other. Be the leader in your community. Pick up the trash, cut the grass, remove graffiti, and ask your neighbors to join you in doing the same. Let’s meet our city-wide problems with hyper-local solutions. Let’s make our individual two blocks beautiful.
And we aren’t asking you to do it alone; our city teams are working across our entire city. We are coordinating Code Enforcement with the MPD Code Zero program to proactively cite blight violations in the Code Zero zones. This effort has resulted in 2,300 properties being cited over the past two weeks, alone. Normally, our inspectors respond to 311 calls, and the work is reactive to a blighted condition. Under this new initiative, our proactive strategy will increase the number of properties cited by at least 300%.
Beauty impacts the psyche. If you need a little extra motivation, Memphis will host the NCAA Tournament next week, with four first-round games on March 22 and two second-round games on March 24. And I think that gives us all the perfect motivation to give downtown Memphis a little TLC. So, if you have a downtown business or you live downtown, we are calling on you to step it up this week!
Let’s get downtown ready for the tens of thousands of visitors who will fill our streets, our riverfront parks, and the FedExFourm! If you have a restaurant, create an NCAA tournament special; if you have a retail establishment, extend your hours and open your doors. And if you have the opportunity to meet a visitor, remind them what you love about Memphis. Let’s show our visitors the most beautiful, Instagram-ready version of our city. Let’s shine, Memphis!
|
