Paul Young has 3 months before becoming the next Memphis mayor. What he's focusing on first.

The weekend after Paul Young’s victory in the Memphis mayor’s race, he didn’t slow down. Instead, the new mayor-elect conducted multiple media interviews, attended a Grizzlies open practice with his family, turned 44 years old, attended a golf tournament and took part in the Memphis Walk to Save Black Men's Lives.

Now, the week after the election, Young has to start brainstorming appointments to his transition team and his new administration.

On Monday, he also spoke with the chair of the Downtown Memphis Commission Board about starting the process of choosing a new president, Young’s current role.

Other conversations Young has had in the days following his election include a talk with Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland Tuesday and a brief talk with Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis Friday.

Tuesday, before his meeting with Young, Strickland said he expects a smooth transition to the next mayor.

“I really like how our system is made, where we have two-and-a-half months of transition,” Strickland said. “It took me a full two and a half months to build a team and, you know, just do everything that you need to do. So we will cooperate with the mayor-elect.”

Meetings will include giving Young a briefing on negotiations for stadium funding and inviting him to take part in negotiations over the final months of Strickland’s term, Strickland said.

For now, Young said his top priority is getting a new team together, and then “elevating the urgency around the issue of public safety.”

Focus on reducing crime and blight

As he begins his term as mayor, Young said crime will be a top focus, and that he wants to act as “chief convener” of people who can solve the issue.

Memphians want more law enforcement on the roads and “less chaos on the streets,” Young said, and evaluating how officers use their time will also be part of that process.

Young also reiterated to The Commercial Appeal in a recent interview something he has often said on the campaign trail, that he wants data sharing agreements with various entities to target troubled youth when they have their first interactions with law enforcement or truancy, working with them on interventions that are not punitive, but change the trajectory of their lives.

“I mean, if you look at the pathways of individuals that have gone down the wrong road, there's going to be early indications there's going to be suspension from school, there's going to be truancy court where they're going to be these indicators to show that you know, someone who's not here to down the positive path, and we want to try and be proactive as a city and as a community in finding ways to intervene,” Young said.

But crime isn’t the only issue Young wants to tackle. Another top priority will be focusing on neighborhoods and decreasing blight, he said.

“We want to see conditions change aesthetically in our community because we know that you know if things look like they're headed in the right direction, it changes the way it feels, it changes the way people behave,” Young said.

Building community support

Other top priorities will include engaging youth with things to do and leaning into the arts and culture scene, “the things that make Memphis special.”

On stadium funding, Young said his goal is “to find a path where we get both the Grizzlies to stay in Memphis with an improved stadium and get the University of Memphis into another conference with an improved Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.”

With campaign season over, Young said he wants to bring alongside him the people who voted for him, the people who voted for someone else and the people who didn’t vote at all.

It’s about “Team Memphis,” he said.

“We want to make sure that we are rallying together because we all want the same things,” Young said. “Everybody wants to see their kids have the ability to thrive, have the maximum quality of life for their families. And so I want to make sure that that is the focus for us and not focusing on the things that divide us, but the things that bring us together because we have a lot of work to do and the only way we're gonna overcome it is together.”

When people think of their new mayor, Young’s hopeful that people will think of someone who has a “passion and love for Memphis,” he said.

“Memphis is the city that made me. I have so many amazing experiences and memories, and I want our young people to have the same experience here,” he said.

Katherine Burgess covers Memphis City Government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis mayor-elect Paul Young turning focus to crime issues, blight