The 901: Mayor Strickland says deal on One Beale bonds could come soon
Good morning, Memphis, where we are a month away from seeing the Tigers football team return to field, and in the meantime the team begins its preseason practice later today.
But, first, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said his administration continues to review a deal that would involve the city of Memphis backstopping 100% of the bonds issued to build the Grand Hyatt Hotel as part of the One Beale project, our Samuel Hardiman reports.
"It's still under review. We are literally working on it every single day. Worked on it this weekend and yesterday. I've asked for some more information for my team to review but I'd like to come up with an answer this week," Strickland said.
The Memphis City Council approved such a backstop on July 14, but Strickland said at the time that it involved "too much risk" to the city taxpayer.
"It's definitely primarily, maybe, solely backstopping the bonds to some degree. But we got to consider everything. Obviously, we want to encourage development. The developers have really been good to Memphis and we want to encourage that," Strickland said. "But also, if we come to an agreement on some kind of incentives, backstopping the bond for instance, you have to be prepared that other developers are going to want the same deal. So you have you have to take all that into account."
Tennessee tourism, Memphis leaders discuss civil rights tourism during Stax Museum panel
Stax Museum of American Soul Music hosted an event to discuss the success of civil rights tourism in Memphis and included a panel from local and state tourism leaders, as well as a live performance from Stax Music Academy students, our Niki Scheinberg reports.
The program celebrates the addition of the Stax Museum to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, a tour of places and landmarks in the South that feature prominently in the history of the civil rights movement. The trail previously included these other Memphis landmarks: the National Civil Rights Museum, Clayborn Temple and I AM A MAN Plaza, Mason Temple Church of God in Christ, WDIA radio station, and Beale Street Historic District.
“Preserving the history, historical landmarks like this, is so vital to the identity of a city,” said panelist Elaine Lee Turner, founder of Heritage Tours, director of Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum and a civil rights activist. “It says who we are and what we value, what we think is important.”
Mid-South, Tennessee groups get $37 million for workforce development
Two Memphis-based organizations were awarded a collective $36.9 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce to further ramp up workforce development operations in the Mid-South and across Tennessee, our Corinne Kennedy reports.
The Mid-South Center for Occupational Innovation will receive a $21.5 million grant from the federal government to focus on workforce development in building and construction, manufacturing, transportation, distribution and logistics; while Persevere will receive $15.4 million to focus on workforce development in the information technology sector.
"We're bringing employers to the table as partners to ensure that we're building pipelines that lead to real high-quality in-demand jobs," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.
Olive Branch residents vote for hotel, motel tax to fund park and recreation improvements
Olive Branch residents voted to require hotels and motels in the city to charge an extra 1% levy on stays. The money is set to go to fund park and recreation improvements, our Gina Butkovich reports.
Ninety percent of voters voted in favor of the tax, according to Olive Branch People For Parks.
Officials said the new tax is expected to generate about $500,000 annually for use in local parks.
Elvis Week 2022: Events fans won’t want to miss
Elvis Week 2022 events kick off next Tuesday and continue through Aug. 17, and with this year marking the 45th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death as well as the renewed interest thanks to the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic, the festivities will likely be well attended, our Bob Mehr reports.
Not surprisingly, many of the official Elvis Week events are already sold out, and others require purchase of high dollar ticket packages. However, Bob created a list of events that are still open, affordable and more than worth attending for Elvis fans or the musically curious in Memphis.
Father-son duo behind the money as Memphis makes its NIL push
The Presley men might be the most important figures you’ve never heard of entering a Memphis football season that will be unlike any before it because of the drastic changes afoot in college sports, our Mark Giannotto writes in his latest column for subscribers.
Here’s an excerpt:
Jeff Presley sat in the back of the audience Monday night in his own folding chair, only noticeable because of the 6XL Hawaiian shirt he wore and the procession of Memphis football players who came by to say hello.
Those players were getting paid to be at the Highland Hundred’s Kickoff Party because of Presley and his son, and because of the 901 Fund, a name, image and likeness collective they’re operating in order to help Memphis compete in this new era of college athletics.
So when Memphis athletics director Laird Veatch took the microphone, when he immediately admitted he was about to say something he never thought he would say during his 30 years in college sports and pleaded with the most ardent Memphis football supporters to “please pay our players,” he went out of his way to also thank the father-son duo behind the apparatus making sure they get money.
“Can we take something that’s a greed-fest and turn it into something that’s great for the city,” Presley said once Veatch, and new university president Bill Hardgrave, and football coach Ryan Silverfield were done pitching the crowd.
Lausanne football transfer Zamariyon Kendall motivated by his late mother
Transferring from Henry County, Zamariyon Kendall is a three-star running back and is the No. 48 prospect in the state and No. 86 running back in the country.
However, Kendall’s talents go beyond football and he’s earned the No. 10 spot on The Commercial Appeal’s Dandy Dozen, our Alexis Davis reports.
Read Alexis’ story to hear about Kendall’s move to Memphis and how his family has supported the young football prospect.
The 901 is written by Ray Padilla, digital producer for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at raymond.padilla@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @Ray_Padilla_.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: The 901: Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and One Beale bonds deal
