WE should care about how Memphis looks, how we function and move throughout the city, and how safe we feel. WE should care that there are quality jobs that offer newcomers and returning Memphians upward mobility, and WE should care that we have quality amenities, such as exceptional healthcare and education, that reflect what 21st-century, forward-thinking, competitive cities offer. If WE don’t care to invest our time, talent and treasure, what happens to Memphis?
Will our Past be Prologue?
Memphis has been blessed with strategic leaders who have planned and directed our city from its founding in 1819 and incorporation in 1826. Beginning with our planned and platted 1820 Mississippi Riverfront and downtown by city founders Andrew Jackson, John Overton and James Winchester, to our current two outer highway loops moving goods and people efficiently around and through our city; to the Memphis International Airport, our major international airport and the largest cargo airport in the Americas; to one of the largest inland water ports, the Port of Memphis; and five of the six Class I rail carriers moving intermodal and agricultural products worldwide, Memphis has been recognized as a critical commercial center to our nation and the world. Do most Memphians recognize these as assets?
Memphians are resilient and tenacious investors going back in history. Memphians even survived and prospered from the Union occupancy during the Civil War, during which it became a Union supply base moving cotton and goods. Shortly after the war, in the 1870s, Memphis survived the yellow fever epidemic, prompting tens of thousands of residents to flee and bringing profound loss to the city. The city went bankrupt, lost its charter from 1879 to 1893, and operated as a mere Taxing District of the State. But in the 1890s, Memphis investors found an abundant source of pure artesian water, which helped the city recover from the epidemic and gave new investors a reason to come. Our Memphis water resources today, referred to as “liquid gold,” offer not only exceptional water quality but attract investors who provide services and build manufacturing and business concerns, bringing jobs. We must be good stewards of this treasure.
Memphians have always known trade requires a Mississippi River crossing. In 1892, the first Mississippi River bridge opened in Memphis, and Memphis soon (around 2030) will celebrate the opening of Kings Crossing, a modern replacement of the current antiquated I-55 bridge. This new crossing investment illustrates the foresight of Memphians and will be named for three legends—Martin Luther King, BB King and the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Elvis.
The twentieth century saw Memphis develop into the world’s largest spot cotton and hardwood lumber market, moving commodities from the Mississippi Delta. That same entrepreneurial spirit saw Memphians Clarence Saunders open the first self-service grocery store, Kemmons Wilson launch the first national motel chain, Holiday Inn, and—by the 1970s—Fred Smith pioneer just-in-time package delivery with FedEx, establishing Memphis as its national hub and headquarters.
Meanwhile Memphis has lived, survived and learned through significant moments in racial strife from its founding, making it stronger and more welcoming. It is a testament to the people of Memphis who recognized wrongs and changed. Today Memphis is a proud majority-minority city with African American civic, religious and government leadership.
Philanthropy is a known quality of Memphians, and investor Danny Thomas’ election to open St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis in 1962 remains one of the great gifts to Memphis. Its large downtown campus and continually growing investment in Memphis attracts patients, doctors and researchers worldwide to our city. St. Jude is not the city’s only famous asset, however. Memphis’ talent in the arts is robust, as we claim some of the best-known artists of all time like BB King, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Otis Redding and Justin Timberlake. These icons and others, such as filmmaker Craig Brewer, attract the growing tourism Memphis enjoys.
What is Memphis’ Prologue?
As we look at Memphis’s rebound from COVID, we have much to celebrate, but what will get our great city and region to the next level? The answer is very simple. WE as Memphians must believe in ourselves and roll up our sleeves.
There is hard work in front of us:
EDUCATION
Early education through high school is critical to our city’s future, and it is failing our children. It is failing all of us, for if we are not graduating thoughtful, intellectually inquisitive young people, where are our entrepreneurs of tomorrow? All our children deserve no less. Without a quality school system, the ability to lift those struggling in poverty to a job and sense of purpose is quashed. WE must care about how our schools operate and hold them to produce outstanding results. If we win on improving education, we all win; our city wins!
CRIME
Looking at progress, WE must accept reality versus perception. Crime is trending to historical lows—that is reality, but local perception is questioning this proven fact. How do we manage a continued downward trend and ensure that Memphis is on the top of the list of safest cities in the U.S.? How do we get Memphians to believe we can achieve this?
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Economic development is incredibly robust. Memphis has led investment in the State of Tennessee, for the last seven years in a row! That is reality, but why are Memphians not proudly talking about that? Development in our region is everywhere: Tom Lee Park and the Riverfront, St. Jude, the new Convention Center, Kings Crossing, Beale Street Investment, Downtown Streetscape renovations, Major Airport renovations, Poplar Avenue corners under major redevelopments at Kirby, Mendenhall, and Perkins, MLGW infrastructure upgrades, and the list continues to grow.
Billions are invested and projects under construction inBartlett, Arlington, Germantown, Lakeland, Southaven, Olive Branch and West Memphis. This is all our reality.
WE must focus on the perception of our city and region. Only through our communicating the positive narrative, both locally and nationally, can Memphis be perceived as it is.
The impossible a few years ago is happening right in front of us.
TRANSPORTATION
We need to ensure we build a major internationally acclaimed entrance to our international airport at I-240 and Airways that is befitting a major airport gateway. What we have today is functionally unworkable and obsolete. Every Memphian should care how we look to newcomers and returning or departing citizens. During COVID a group of Memphians worked on a plan called the Memphis Interchange Design. Now adopted by TDOT, this plan incorporates highest-quality lighting and signage with indigenous, low-maintenance plants to ensure our interchanges are designed to a unified Memphis standard. We should demand no less for this entrance to our airport and the region.
We need to address how we get downtown. Sounds simple, but there are no easy or well-designed or known entrances downtown. Every great city has a great downtown with well-planned and functional access for people and goods. By contrast Danny Thomas Boulevard has F-grade bridges (the worst) which cross it to connect downtown with midtown and the city's critical medical centers. WE the citizens must care enough to demand from our elected officials–local, state, and federal–a plan that combines strategic thinking with a timely delivery.
We need to all think about the Poplar Corridor, which we all travel on, and suggest to our city fathers that the Poplar Viaduct, built almost 100 years ago to bridge the railyards, has reached its functional life, is “functionally deficient” and has been on the replacement schedule of the State Department of Transportation for well over 25 years. WE cannot keep saying “oh that is too hard and complex” until it is too late.
To all Memphis and to all who care about our region, it has been said that “nothing worth doing is easy,” and to quote Coach K: “The difficult is easy, the impossible takes a bit longer!” Today, Memphis must continue to do what many believe still impossible. Throughout history, Memphis has overcome great challenges and difficulties, but leadership has delivered good investments “worth doing.” They are the assets we take for granted every day. There is undoubtedly much more to accomplish. If WE all put our minds, hearts and Memphis Souls into being positive about our city, the message will resound up and down the Mississippi River, coast to coast and worldwide. Positivity gets us all a lot farther along the road to success and investment! WE ARE MEMPHIS!
William B. Dunavant III is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dunavant Enterprises, Inc. A third-generation leader, he has guided Dunavant’s growth as a leading supply-chain and transportation company while building on its family legacy. As well, the company is involved with its development and capital management groups. He is actively engaged in civic leadership, serving on boards including the Greater Memphis Chamber, the New Memphis Governor’s Board, Memphis University School, and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Julie Ellis is a senior regulatory attorney and former Managing Director and Senior Counsel for Regulatory and Industry Affairs at FedEx, where she spent more than 17 years shaping transportation and aviation policy at the national and international levels. Now Senior Counsel at Butler Snow LLP, she advises public and private entities on infrastructure, economic development, and government affairs and has held leadership roles in both downtown-focused initiatives and broader regional civic and policy efforts.
Memphians are resilient and tenacious investors going back in history.