The reason we are so exorcised about I-269 and other sprawl-inducing highway projects are because they deepen the economic segregation that holds back Memphis’ progress.
Memphis is #1 in economic segregation among the largest 50 metros in the U.S.
Here’s the kicker: sprawl is a major cause of economic isolation, and economic isolation in turn exacerbates poverty and creates obstacles for residents to connect with the social networks that are often essential to employment and improved lifestyles. So we hope all the cheerleaders for an unnecessary interstate looping around Shelby County will forgive us, but their justifications are strained and their promises for thoughtful planning along its route are vague and hyperbolic.
Well-connected cities have less division between economic groups, and based on the recent decibel level here, it shouldn’t be too surprising that we are at the top of the list of economically segregated cities.
Cross Purposes
Meanwhile, the economic segregation results in concentrated poverty that is the seedbed for our city’s most serious problems and derails our best efforts to address them. Projects like I-269 promise only to make them worse, because every problem becomes harder to deal with in cities that are economically segregated.
In other words, at the precise time when every city, county and state agency should be focused on encouraging infill redevelopment that revives and stabilizes Memphis neighborhoods, our transportation investments hollow them out, and leaders appear unable to turn the tide and abandon the idea that sprawl is “growth.”
At the same time, the cause and effect — connecting the dots — between sprawl, the climbing Memphis tax rate, and an economically polarized city are overwhelmed by the influence of those who drive these transportation projects.
The inattention to the urban center that fuels our regional economy is symbolized by I-269, but its impact will be real and immediate. It will further produce an economically polarized city where fewer and fewer Memphis workers are paying more and more in taxes — including those spent for services and amenities that are in truth regional.
Green-washing
Let us say this clearly and unequivocably: there is no economic or social benefit to City of Memphis as a result of I-269. Don’t believe the propaganda or the breathless media headlines.
Wrapping I-269 in a shroud of terms like smart growth, knowledge economy jobs, New Urbanism and open space protection, supporters of the interstate suggest with straight faces that Memphis will benefit from new economic growth and development that the interstate will provide. If our past teaches us anything, it is that the I-269 corridor will be characterized by unwalkable, car-centric sameness.
Someone from North Mississippi said in an article in The Commercial Appeal that the task now is to apply smart growth principles to I-269. We’re not sure when we’ve heard such a contradiction of terms. It reminds us of the story on NPR about the developer proudly boasting of the region’s most sustainable residential development – green energy, walking trails, etc. There was only one problem: it was an hour commute to New York and an hour and half commute to Philadelphia.
It’s the kind of green-washing that’s being done by developers and economic development types to try to put a pretty face on projects that are clearly unsustainable.
Making It Worse
Here’s the thing: Memphis’ ability to compete in the new economy is undercut by the hollowing out of the middle class, by the worst economic segregation of the 50 largest metros, by the quickening loss of college-educated 25-34 year-olds, a 15% house vacancy rate that’s doubled since 2000 and 20% of Memphis families living on less than $8,700 a year.
These are the forces driving Memphis’ trajectory and defining our future. There is nothing in I-269 that does anything to improve these trends that are threatening the future of our city. More to the point and despite the denial by our suburban cities, the trends of Memphis will in fact determine the future of the entire region.
If Memphis must live with the problems that are exacerbated by I-269, we must do more than all pledge our commitment to regional planning. More to the point, we must change policies so that the interstate does in fact mitigate its negative impact.
For example, we’ve said previously that I-269 and Tennessee 385 should be toll roads. They would produce more than $100 million a year that could be invested in strategies to strengthen our core city and to make Memphis a city of choice.
Nontraditional Thinking
There are other innovations like a higher sales tax along the route to establish a tax-sharing program that could direct money into the improvement of Memphis neighborhoods. Or perhaps there’s a way to pass impact fees and sustainability guidelines for development along the interstate route, to set up land trusts and to require the same level of public investments in public transit.
In a perfect world, our local and state officials would simply turn down the federal money for I-269, calling Mississippi’s bluff as it is faced with the interstate version of an oxbow lake. Perhaps, it’s not too late to call on our leaders to say enough is enough and make the most important decision facing them – doing what’s right for Memphis.
But, I-269 exists because of politics. That’s why we think the answer needs to be found in the same place.
These are difficult times for the Memphis metro – let’s say it again, metro. Unlike most other metro areas, the cancerous problems that threaten our economic health are regional and not just the problems of the city. Unless we start to figure out how to avoid self-indulgent projects like I-269 and make the investments that strengthen our entire region so that it is prepared for the fundamental restructuring of the economy that is well under way, we will prove that the road to hell is indeed paved with intentions that aren’t always good.
In the end, it’s not great roads that will draw jobs to Memphis. It’s great quality of life, a culture of creativity and a willingness to support dreamers and entrepreneurs that will attract the talented people that in turn attract jobs to our community. The blind pursuit of more lanes and more roads without the fuller context for community in time creates an incomplete plan for transportation and replicates the same mistaken policies of the past.
“the task now is to apply smart growth principles to I-269. We’re not sure when we’ve heard such a contradiction of terms.”
I almost couldn’t get past that first sentence. Tax dollars are being spent on infrastructure, that we cannot afford, which will encourage further housing development outside of the city. The reason that cities exist is that they make life, and all the transactions related to it, more efficient. Commuting an hour each-way each day, is the equivalent of giving up one day of your weekend. This ‘solution’ will support ever increasing decentralization, making realistic mass-transit impossible. That is some stellar smart growth.
I must have been living in a bubble for the past decade, because I thought that most Memphians had grown tired of wasting their income and free time on long commutes. Oh well, there’s always hope for this decade.
Thank you for sharing, and thanks for reading this comment
Memphis is not a growing city, nor is this metro area growing. We’re merely speading out.
Seeing how the anti-urban State legislature seems to be using every tool they can to punish Memphis, I don’t think that an I-269 toll road is in our future for awhile. I would think that the County Commission can help by not allowing zoning changes for sprawl around I-269 exits, which developers will inevitably clamor to get. there should be no more “The Avenue Carriage Crossing” type developments that erode Memphis’ tax base, no Walmarts, no large tract housing developments. They can’t do much in the Fayette County portions but at least restrict these developments in Shelby.
can’t do much to stop it in shelby either, thank God.
When the Road is open it will begat development pressures on the interchange locations, begatting demand for infrastructure improvements to support said development, begatting demands on the responsible suburban municipalities wherein these interchanges exist to annex said land, begatting private/public partnerships to extend public services to these areas,thus fueling most of the economic development (sprawl to the birkenstock crowd) on the horizon for Shelby, Fayette and DeSoto.
Of course the county (read memphis-it’s the same government nowadays) will still control the Eads area and some other vague parts where they hamstring their own interchange development all they wish.
funny interested ob
some other poster said the same thing, and her post got deleted.
I agree with you, the whole interstate US road system spurred huge econmic growth around the nation. To me and many others it’s a good positive thing, not something to be feared for chirst sake.
Memphis needs to get its head out of its own azz when it comes to trying to promote some inner city fantastic plan. Build the damn highway and watch the sprawl…lol…the sprawl will create jobs !
I know you guys have just been baiting some of us lately. Well, I’m falling for it again. I think regions that celebrate urban densities and the amenities that come with them while protecting rural areas and the benefits they provide are the most sought after places to live today. Some of you who think sprawl is the way to growth are flat wrong and here is why.
The Memphis METRO Area is not growing by any statistically significant rate in terms of economy or population when compared to other cities. Our growth has been a whopping 0.65% annually for the MSA or region. Since when is less than one percent considered good? Why on earth would anyone make an infrastructure commitment of over a quarter of a billion dollars in this environment? If the last loop didn’t fix this then why should we believe the next loop will?
The key tax paying age group has not been leaving just Memphis, they have been leaving the entire region. This population of 25 to 44 year olds consistently shrinks by 2,500 people EVERY YEAR. This is who drives the sales tax and property tax that pays for all of our government services. In no scenario is this decline good and again, certainly doesn’t justify an outer loop. Few people with any mobility want to live in the environment we are offering and they are voting with their feet… not by moving to Hernando or Marion or Oakland, TN. But by moving far, far away.
For comparison sake, here are the annual population growth rates for some other regions: Austin 4%, Atlanta 3.5%, Dallas 3%, Nashville 2%, Indianapolis 2%, Little Rock 2%, Knoxville 1%, Oklahoma City 1%, Chattanooga 1%. The Memphis Metro Area is barely topping ½%.
Memphis will soon have an outer loop larger than all of the above cities AND larger than other similar sized cities like Portland and Birmingham; major riverport cities like Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Huntington and New Orleans; other airport cities like Anchorage, Louisville and Denver; railroad cities like Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis and Kansas City; and much larger cities like Los Angeles and Charlotte. Every one of these cities manage to move people and freight without an infrastructure commitment as large as this and every one of them appears more prosperous regionally than we are… speaking of getting our heads out of our behinds.
Geez Pensacola,
We
We all know you are the one that made the other post that was deleted. The fact that you need to make up so many personalities simply because no one is willing to support your nonsensical rants says it all.
Geez Pensacola,
We
We all know you are the one that wrote the other post that was deleted. The fact that you need to make up so many personalities simply because no one is willing to support your nonsensical rants says it all.
stuttering on the keyboard again eh, planner?
Pensacola:
We deleted all your other posts under different names because (we don’t know how to say this politely) you bore us. Remember, we see your IP address so we know you are one and the same with a variety of alleged commenters.
i/o you’re right about one thing, not much can be done to stop it. Notwithstanding that JOhn pretty much blew right out of the water (with actual facts) the idea that this kind of sprawl is good for this region. Sure it’s great for the adjacent property owners and developers, but since Memphis as a region isn’t growing, and in real terms is probably shrinking, it’s a pretty piss poor economic development strategy overall. We’ve been trying to road-build our way out of economic mediocrity for decades, hasn’t worked yet. Hasn’t kept people from leaving this region in droves has it?
The problem with John’s argument, one of them anyway, is that many of those metros he lists are not the high density locales that he claims everyone wants to move to. Have you driven in Atlanta lately? It is the opposite of dense. Dallas? I’m not saying this road is a great idea, but the idea that we all want to live in high rises in NYC just isn’t born out by the facts. What’s the fastest growing areas of the country – south and west. Areas not known for their density.
If we were more concerned about our housing price in Piperton over the next five years, is this road a good or bad thing? Beyond five years (and outside of Piperton) I do not care.
We’re not particularly concerned about housing prices in Piperton. We think that the absolute lack of dependable county services should stunt any serious growth in Fayette County.
Sorry I/O, we cannot all be as brutally efficient as you. You have managed to fall for one of the oldest misuse of terms in the realm of city building- economic development. It only serves as economic development as long as economic growth is actually occurring. Relocating from one side of town to the other is not growing or developing the economy in anyway. It only serves to expend money that could be utilized in all sorts of ways that would either improve one’s personal/ organization’s competitive edge.
My actual response was going to be an agreement with a mix of the posts made thus far. The only waste I see in I-269 is in the expense of actually building an unnecessary roadway around the city. Aside from that, if no sprawling development were approved, then the road would simply serve as a bypass (with very low traffic counts). The “evil” is in the land use practices that accompany such highways.
I might be a little softer on the issue if the region was displaying the net positive population growth that suggested new residents were moving to the region as opposed to simply moving around within the region. As long as it is the latter, we are simply wasting resources and money that could be spent by individuals to further their education, improve their own financial situations or invest in their children’s future.
IO-
…and I apoligize for the double take. I do tire of reading the posts authored by an individual that espouses such misinformation such as the idea that Memphis is “90% black” and refers to NYC as Hymie town.
Anon 5:27 has a reasonable point. We can look around and see with our own eyes that sprawl isn’t exactly giving way to massive repopulation of most city cores. However, evidence does suggest that many of the nation’s favorite cities are, in fact, growing more dense.
I just took two lists simply because they came up quick when googled. Forbes Most Livable Cities (which actually looks at Metros not city limits) and Forbes Fastest Growing Cities (also a Metro assessment I think). Then I added Atlanta, Dallas and Little Rock because I mentioned them before. I then looked at the population density change in each of their core municipalities from 1990 to 2000 (I don’t have the 2010 numbers). This is calculated in terms of people per square mile.
It shows that some people do want to live in a more dense, inner city area. Perhaps not in NYC high-rises but certainly a lot closer to one another. This is relevant because this SCM column was originally about Economic Segregation.
The Memphis Metro is not on either list and the core city became less dense. Of the 22 other cities on our list… 16 are growing more dense in their core area, 3 are maintaining their population, 2 are losing population density and one I didn’t have info on.
Austin 22%, Ogden 18%, Dallas 18%, Provo 18%, Alexandria 16%, Oklahoma City 14%, Salt Lake City 14%, Nashville 12%, Little Rock 8%, Stamford 8%, Indianapolis 7%, Manchester 7%, Atlanta 6%, Columbus 2%, Raleigh 2%, Omaha 1%, Ann Arbor even, Lincoln even, San Antonio even, Memphis -2%, Trenton -3%, Pittsburgh -10%, Harrisburg N/A
I agree that these aren’t exactly known as centers for urban culture with elbow to elbow population. But, despite this, for some reason they are building more densely… while ten years later we are still trying very hard not to.
where is the evidence that Memphians actually want to live closer to each other ??
funny, everybody I talk with don’t wish to live on top of each other
The influx of new residents into downtown should be proof enough. Of course the continued evolution of Midtown and its diverse land uses along with certain older neighborhoods increasing in popularity such as High Point, Normal, Joffre and the University District also support the notion. All one must do as look at the new, increasingly dense nature of infill built within the city limits, specifically downtown and within the I-240 loop over the past decade to recognize the market driven pattern.
Perhaps the real need is to diversify the crowd with which you associate and you will find an increasingly diverse perspective on the matter.
Frank, Pensacola, et al:
The only reason we’d prefer that you don’t use a lot of screen names in comments to the same post is that you seem to be trying to indicate a groundswell of support for your point of view when you have been essentially having a conversation with yourself in consecutive comments. We welcome your comments when they are on point and on subject and you aren’t just trying to provoke people.
I know very few families that wish to live on top of each other. That’s fine if you want to do that, but I think Memphis is big enough all over, not to have to do that. I mean there is nothing inherently superior for families to rush to live in Midtown for heavens’s sake.
However, if you wish to live in such a cluttered and tight enivornment, that should be available for you to choose for yourself, and not be ‘sold’ on the concept or design because some politico, developer or designer is selling snake oil as parfum.
One good thing is that Memphis has always been dispersed across the county and outside the county. That’s the history, not high density living. Neither choice for families should be demonized.
I simply see high quality family life and safety in dispersed and not highly concentrated urban-like areas.
If you don’t have children, this concept may escape you. Things like back yards, Swing sets, swimming pools, tree houses, bicycles, tricycles, neighborhood cookouts, block parties.
Memphis is not just the city ccenter or Midtown, and it will never be. Families will continue to choose way outside the center city and Midtown. That’s not reversing in the next 50 years. The bulk of family life will not be anywhere close to Midtown and downtown. If you think that will change with families who grow, and perhaps move to Memphis for business, etc, then you must be in a time warp of the near north Chicago/NYC/old Philly/Boston/ model.
Families will dictate the pace for Memphis, not young single professionals, empty nesters, or retirees either.
“Families will dictate the pace for Memphis, not young single professionals, empty nesters, or retirees either.”
Those young single professionals are the ones who start the families……I agree that living choices shouldn’t be demonized, but perhaps they shouldn’t be subsidized either, and when unnecessary and politically motivated road projects and sewer extensions are made to greenfield areas in a city and region that ISN’T GROWING AT ALL at the expense of existing taxpayers and citizens, then the sprawl is being subsidized. If the region of Memphis were actually
growing in economic areas and in population, then these projects might be justified. But when an area is merely stagnating and spreading out, they aren’t. Moreover, plenty of studies show that density actually leads to safer communities, as you do not have police spread out over large areas for enforcement and for other reasons as well. You’ll feel much safer walking around Manhattan than walking around most of Memphis, and in fact, you’ll be safer.
I know I am going to regret saying this but perhaps soon what we want to do will not be at all relevant to anything. I WANT a 1,000 acre ranch with a giant mansion in the middle of it with bikini models serving me mimosas for breakfast by the pool. But I am not asking you to build a road to my mansion, connect my sewer, protect me from crime and fire or to pay for the models’ kids to go to a new school built just for them. That would be ridiculous.
Memphis, shelby county and the region are at a point of being unable to pay for the basic needs of its citizens. Yet we keep building infrastructure that makes it more expensive to provide basic services to its citizens.
I don’t care how anyone wants to live. But, I am sick and tired of paying extra for it. I live in the city, in a 100 year old house with neighbors 10 feet away. I pay a stupid high tax rate (when compared to other Tennessee cities) in order to pay for the service provided to me PLUS to the rest of the low density population that actually pays LESS for the same stuff.
I paid to build your sewers, roads and schools so you can move around willy nilly putting excessive stress on the police/sheriff’s departments, fire departments and school systems.
Now… cities that recognize that this is unsustainable, are reforming themselves in more livable places that are also cheaper to run and oddly bring in more tax revenue. This is the most basic of conservative political values, good city planning and nice, freindly placemaking.
If anybody wants to go build their home on a plot of land seperated from society, hot dog, go for it. Get a well, a septic tank and throw some gravel down for a road. But if you want the citizens of Memphis to keep paying extra so you can have nice new stuff while we hang on by a thread, I am afraid those days are over. If you are living in Memphis, then you are extra dillusional.
Part of living in a community is making compromises. I’m not suggesting that anyone set their car on fire and move into a 500 unit apartment building. I am asking our leaders to at least make some better urban living options available so we can start to turn the ship. Otherwise we all lose because no one will be around to pay for the stuff that makes a city a city.
hey scm
what ? geezus, I could not care less about creating some ‘groundswell of SUPPORT’ …are you kidding me ?
That’s crazy my friend. That’s something rolling around in your own HEAD. I don’t care if others agree or diagree…again, you CAN’T be serious.
This is not some sort of third grade competition is it ?? Man o Man, I’ve heard some ridiculous logic, but I’m not trying to PROVOKE anyone, that’s crazy too…..Anyone reading anybody’s posts have to give THEMSELVES permission to be ‘provoked’…..whew….
Is this some contrived, private ‘battle’ or wits ? or who can recite so-called facts and figures ?? man, you’ve got to be kidding once more.
Stop personalizing disagreement, let’s see if you can do THAT
my opinions are my own…maybe some people are trying to ‘solicit’ support or garner attention for their own purpose, again, my friend, I don’t care if some one posts something I don’t necessarily agree with, and I don’t take it personally like some others…that too is crazy. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
I’m not competing for attention like some seem to be. This is not a contest IS IT ??
Surely, some of you are brighter than this ?….without devolving into a highly personalized snide attack ?? over a poster using different names ??????? or disagreeing with you ? expressing a highly personal opinion about Memphis’ future ??? The future doesn’t belong to just you, right ?
Give me a break Memphis intelligent fellas…you’re beginning to look a bit paranoid and a bit too narrow.
Finally , I obviously have no nefarious motive …I could have used a proxy ISP …..hell, I’m not hiding…not disguising my posts, style, anything else, right ??
So what’s eating on some of you ?? don’t like divergent thought in Memphis, eh ?
BTW, you don’t know anything about me, don’t know me at all…..what’s in a name ?? screen name ??? you certainly don’t know my ‘legal’ name, right ? and what idiot would post their legal name ? not me.
should I post a CV for you ??
“One good thing is that Memphis has always been dispersed across the county and outside the county. That’s the history, not high density living. Neither choice for families should be demonized.”
Just for the record, that has not been the history of Memphis and Shelby County at all.
The decreases in density occurred directly because of government subsidies to sprawl. Nothing more, nothing less.
As we have written before, our polling of young professionals show us that they are the ones who prefer more urban lifestyles by a significant percentage.
Your ‘polling of young professionals’ ??
what’s the breakdown ? by race ? age ? residential longevity/native/transplant ??
We they majority black like the city itself ?? mostly black young professionals ??
Was it a statistically representative sample ?
Let’s see the acftual numbers on your poll please, and the methodology used please.
Here is the study compliments of Google and the search string “young professionals brookings institution city.”
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/0509_metro_america.aspx
And an article that distills the report you:
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/401574/abel-harding/2010-05-10/new-report-young-professionals-fleeing-suburbs-city?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JacksonvillecomNews+%28Jacksonville+Local+News+%E2%80%93+Jacksonville.com+and+The+Florida+Times-Union%29
Enjoy.
John & others,
Very interesting re: the correlation between cities with healthy economies and central city population growth. It is such an easy concept to understand. Sprawling development is less efficient to service than sprawling low(est) density development. This inefficiency is reflected in the tax rates applied to both property and sales which of course effects the cost of doing business or locating in an area. It is such a simple concept, yet we sometimes need to be reminded of the relationship.
It underscores the primary assertion of the main post.
Pack- well noted, eyes on the street and such results in safer streets.
John- perhaps, as unlikely as it is to occur, it is time to reform our tax assessments to those that were imposed at the beginning of the 20th century. If a sidewalk was built, the properties directly affected were assessed the cost of the sidewalks construction. Perhaps the direct costs of sewers, roads, increased police and fire services and school expansion should be directly assessed on properties that these improvements benefit. That would include general assessments made to widen existing roads that serve the “traffic shed” of the roadway to be widened. When the market accurately reflects the cost of sprawl for an area with stagnant population growth, then perhaps we will see individuals begin to reevaluate their housing and options.
whe gas goes to 5 bucks a gallon later this summer, we’ll all be doing some re-imagining, I imagine.
anybody want to buy an Escalade?
IO-
I don’t know. At that price oil would be somewhere around $250 a barrel range(seeing as one estimate is that each additional $1 increase in oil per barrel equates to a 2.5 cent price increase at the pump range) and seeing as even bike tires utilize petroleum based products, I might be switching to a unicycle let alone purchasing a car.
Anonymous: It was a national poll that showed little variation across geography, race, etc. The polling was featured in New York Times and was conducted by a subsidiary of Yankelovich.
SCM
How on earth would a ‘national poll’ be truly ‘indicative’ of resident thought and preference in 60% Black City of Memphis, in Tennessee. Frankly, you can’t ‘control’ for that in that kind a sample, right ??
You want truth ? it’s reasonable to expect that intelligent polling be done LOCALLY, and employ solid statistic methods/controls.
No reasonable person would contend that there would be ‘little variation across race’ in Memphis, Tennessee or any where there is a majority Black Culture.
That’s silly to even suggest that a national poll would provide much postive correlation with what’s truly believed and valued in the City of Memphis.
In short, I think that’s bullshit, and smoke and mirrors of a “poll” for the facts on the ground in Memphis TN.
We need something locally done to support those ‘national’ results. Anyone who doesn’t think race is not a huge determinant of urban thought, specifically for Memphis, TN, is trying to blow smoke up someone’s skirt, and doesn’t have a clue how race factors in political/cultural/planning thought in Memphis TN.
Anyone who has had a class in urban planning or statistical sampling would know better.
Let’s go get some REAL local numbers through intelligent, local ‘polling’….otherwise, it’s worthless. Furthermore it’s specious to suggest the conclusions are applicable to a city with demographics/histories as those found
in Memphis, TN .
How dumb and gullible can we get ?
Anonymous: We won’t waste our time responding to insults. Clearly, you know just enough about polling to be dangerous and aren’t really interested in what we learned as it pertained to Memphis.
It’s Sunday and we’re trying to keep a positive attitude. You might try it. It’s always baffling why someone would spend his precious time being disagreeable and seeking negative attention.
Why is asking you to explain how a national pool relates to what is relevant on the ground in re race, ‘insulting’ ??
You don’t believe you should be questioned aboiut anything ?? That was a legitimate query and you choose to balk.
And what does it being SUNDAY have anything to do with anything…I guess in your infinite yet narrow wisdom, everybody must be Christian, and ‘white’ as well in order for you to respond intelligently ?
Whew….
What’s this crap ‘being disagreeable’ ?? So now every poster has to be ‘agreeable’ viz your own standard and postings ? Gee…now that’s rich indeed, pal.
“Negative attention” ?? hey, I’ve said this before, what’s your beef ? no one is ‘seeking’ ANYTHING…but some of my posts and questions obviously irk the hell out of you, et al, so you seek to silence others by bullshit criticism, and censorship.
Now is that reflective of free thought and expression ? NO, because it just irritates you for some crazy reason.
By the way, today is MONDAY….does that matter too ?? It doesn’t matter to me in the least , pal.
And what do you care about how I spend my time ? LOL
There are others who POST HERE who clearly spend more time than I, offering up their so-called wisdom.
What’s eating on you bud ??
crazy stuff fella….
You’re not disagreeable. You’re immature, a bore, and acting like a kid whose parents won’t give him any attention. You make no sense and have to point to make that requires reasoning.
You tend to insult, not explain. You attack rather than discuss.
And you wonder why the rest of us don’t want to waste our time responding to you. Got any self-awareness at all?
Come to think of it, if you hate everybody here so much, why do you bother commenting at all. There are plenty of other simple-minded places for you to post – Commercial Appeal articles to name one.
You just again supported the ‘love it or leave it’ mentality so pervasive in Memphis TN.
Second, you are typically visceral and irrational in your retort….specifically I have never articulated ‘HATE’ of anything or anyone. Fella, that’s a red herring, and patently ‘stupid Memphis’.
It’s like, ‘if you don’t like our sycophants pontificating narrowly on OUR forum’ why do you go somewhere else ? Yeah buddy, that shows reeeaaal intelleignece, tolerance and fairness doesn’t it ? LOL You sound just like another unreconstructed, overbearing longtime Memphis redneck. I bet you think yoy think you know what’s best for all citizens in Memphis, especially black ones don’t you. You suffer from that instructional tone which is a vestige of your Memphis Plantation style, thought, method, and reaction , pal.
In short, your recoil smacks of another agenda. No rational thinker would internalize different OPINION whether on Memphis or any other city.
You are easily irritated, and a typical thin-skinned, no doubt southern good ole boy Memphian. I’m okay with that…LOL.
Don’t like what my opinions are ?? Ignore them you smart guy. How’s that for boring ?? Use your head and stop criticizing divergent opinion, if it bugs you so much …
Crazy stuff.
Thanks, Dumb City. Given those choices, we vote to ignore them.