Memphis Metropolis

Memphis Metropolis returns after a break! This week, Lauren Bermudez of Downtown Memphis Commission visits to talk about the Groove On-Demand Shuttle, an on-call van service connecting downtown and the medical district with neighborhoods in North and South Memphis. Groove is being piloted by a partnership between DMC, the Memphis Medical District Collaborative, and Memphis Area Transit Authority, and has the potential to make transit more accessible and useful to both existing and new riders. 

Later in the program, regular commentator Charlie Santo joins Emily to talk about the role of technology in the future of transit (could self-driving transit vehicles be in the future?) and whether or not services like the Groove On-Demand Shuttle could increase ridership from populations MATA hasn't traditionally served. 

Information and Resources

Learn more and sign up for the Groove On-Demand Shuttle

For the second show in our Endangered Structures series, Memphis Metropolis sits down with Angela Barksdale and Roy Barnes of the Coliseum Coalition to discuss why the Coliseum is so important to Memphis and particularly, the Orange Mound neighborhood; how the Coalition is working to support its redevelopment; and how the building can enhance and support the Liberty Park development at the Fairgrounds. Later in the program, regular commentator Cole Bradley from High Ground News comes back to share childhood memories of the Coliseum and discuss the Beltline, a smaller but equally historic neighborhood that is also adjacent to the Fairgrounds.

Resources and Information

Coliseum Coalition website

Coliseum Coalition on Facebook

Liberty Park website

Anton Mack from Explore Bike Share pays a visit to Memphis Metropolis to discuss the organization's new fleet of electric bikes, how their program and ridership shifted during the pandemic, and their long-range plans to integrate more seamlessly into local transit and overall transportation systems.  Later in the program, commentator Charlie Santo joins Emily to define and discuss micro-mobility - the use of shared transportation modes like bikes and scooters to make short trips - and its potential for Memphis.

More information

Explore Bike Share

Community land trusts are a cooperative form of land ownership that keeps property affordable in perpetuity. Most commonly used to preserve housing affordability in a neighborhood where prices are appreciating (and threatening residents with displacement), CLTs can also be used for commercial, industrial, or agricultural purposes. This week, Magaly Cruz and Joni Laney visit Memphis Metropolis to talk about the city's first-ever CLT, in Binghampton, the development of their first housing unit, and the partners that helped them along the way. Later in the program, commentator Austin Harrison does a deeper dive into the history of CLTs and how real estate market dynamics may help determine what structure and purpose work in different neighborhoods. 

Resources

Binghampton Community Land Trust

Grounded Solutions Network

In this week's show, Josh First from the VECA neighborhood talks about the historic structure on Vollintine Avenue that was built in the 1950s by the Baron Hirsch synagogue along with an adjoining residential neighborhood - Vollintine Hills - that housed many of its members. The enormous structure, currently occupied by Gethsemane Gardens church, recently went on the market, and its future is uncertain. Josh and Emily also talk about the Volline Evergreen Community Association (VECA) which is celebrating 50 years of neighborhood activism, as well as the creation of neighbor-led amenities such as the VECA Greenline. 

Later in the program, commentator Charlie Santo returns to discuss how VECA's strong understanding of and connection to its history has helped the organization stay engaged and relevant over the past decades. 

More information:

Then and Now: Baron Hirsch Synagogue

This week, the city's Parks and Neighborhoods director Nick Walker visits Memphis Metropolis to talk about a new master plan for parks, the first that has been produced since 1999. 

Many of Memphis's older neighborhoods - such as Cooper Young and South Memphis - were laid out with lots that are considerably narrower than what would be allowed today. Managing the redevelopment of those properties in a way that responds to real estate market pressures and is, at the same time, compatible with a neighborhood's look and feel, has presented challenges to both local government and community stakeholders. Josh Whitehead, zoning administrator of the city's Division of Planning and Development, joins Memphis Metropolis to discuss the history of some of the city's earliest subdivisions, and how both DPD and neighborhoods are working to ensure that infill development fits in and meets the desires of current and future residents of all older neighborhoods, from Midtown to Orange Mound. 

This week, Memphis Metropolis gets deep into the weeds to understand the causes of blight and how community developers are using innovative tools to eradicate it, one property at a time. First, Leslie Smith, executive director of Blight Authority of Memphis, explains what a land bank authority can do and how BAM's creation brought some new tools to the table in the city's efforts to fight blight.

Later in the show, regular commentator (and self-described 'blight nerd') Austin Harrison returns to discuss the economic impact of blight on neighborhoods and the city, and why acknowledging the racist causes of blight - including public policies that supported redlining and predatory lending - are key to developing equitable ways to eradicate it.

Resources

Blight Authority of Memphis

Memphis Fights Blight

This week,  Felicia Harris of the city's Division of Housing and Community Development and Jimmie Tucker of Self Tucker Architects visit Memphis Metropolis to talk about the upcoming revitalization of Historic Melrose School. Deeply informed by years of community advocacy for the building, the plan for Melrose calls for a new branch library, a genealogy room, affordable senior apartments, and other amenities. 

Later in the show, commentator Charlie Santo, director of the University of Memphis Department of City and Regional Planning, joins Emily to talk about Mayor Strickland's recently announced Accelerate Memphis initiative, which will invest some $200 million in civic assets (such as Melrose), parks, and neighborhoods. Among many promising aspects to Accelerate Memphis is the resources it will allocate to supporting the city's recently adopted Memphis 3.0 comprehensive plan. 

What happens when an urban congregation moves or closes, leaving a neighborhood with a large empty building? Conner Walker from Commercial Advisors and Dane Forlines with The Heights CDC visit Memphis Metropolis to talk about the redevelopment challenges presented by former church buildings, local success stories, and how congregations and neighborhoods can proactively encourage adaptive reuse, so important buildings are not lost to the wrecking ball. We also do a deep dive into the recent closure of Highland Heights United Methodist Church on Summer Avenue, and strategies the CDC is using to encourage the building's redevelopment and prevent its demolition.

Later in the show, commentator Austin Harrison comes back to talk about the many different kinds of large buildings that can create blight in a neighborhood if empty - including schools, factories, and big-box stores - and how accumulated back taxes and liens can pose additional challenges to the feasibility of their redevelopment.