It seems like a good time to swear off the Memphis-Detroit comparisons once and for all.
They are a staple of online comments and the ultimate self-loathing putdowns. Although Memphis has always had more in common with the gritty cities of the industrial Midwest than booming Sun Belt cities, it would take an awful lot to go wrong for Memphis to become Detroit South.
The new confidence and optimism flow from the elections of new mayors and the feeling that things are moving in the right direction, fueled by Electrolux and Mitsubishi recruitments, President Obama’s spotlight on the Booker T. Washington High School turnaround, and the Grizzlies’ play in the NBA playoffs.
Second (Chance) City
While the national television commentary and Grizzlies’ comments regularly cast Memphis as a blue collar, if not hard scrabble, city, the more accurate narrative these days is about a city where one person can make a difference, a city prepared to outwork its competition, and a city of second chances.
It’s easy for a city to develop a negative narrative – one about a city that is failing or floundering – and once the news media define it that way, it’s difficult to change. Just ask Cleveland. Or Pittsburgh.
That’s why it’s timely that Memphis is now changing a narrative that was shifting noticeably in the wrong direction. The change is attracting new interest – from the Brookings Institution, National Endowment for the Arts, and the White House – and sending the message that something is happening in Memphis.
Pivoting to What Matters
It’s hard to remember when Memphis has received as much positive press as it did from the Grizzlies games and the Obama commencement speech. It’s the best kind of public relations, because what Memphis needs to do isn’t just to tell its story better but to have a different story to tell.
None of this means that Memphians should be Pollyannish about the forces that ultimately will shape the future of the city: intractable poverty, shrinking numbers of middle class families and college-educated young people, sprawl, economic segregation, erratic public schools, and lethargic economic growth. That’s why the real test of Memphis leadership is the ability to leverage the momentum and new enthusiasm to attack these nagging problems.
Detroit does in fact face similar threats. They’re just deeper and wider, and they are unlikely to change, primarily because of a city government that is arguably the most dysfunctional and inefficient in the U.S. Detroit chewed up time and money chasing the large-scale silver bullet projects that tempt so many cities looking for easy answers, and it did it as its neighborhoods emptied out – 500,000 people left in 30 years.
Motown Blues
There are some signs of hope in Detroit but they rarely come out of City Hall. Instead, they come from artists rebuilding neighborhoods, from eds and meds working together to revitalize their part of the city, and from incentives to bring 15,000 new students to Wayne State University over 15 years. It’s a tall order considering that just in the past decade, Detroit has lost about 100,000 more people than New Orleans did after Hurricane Katrina – 237,500.
Many of the negative comments comparing Memphis to Detroit clearly spring from the fact that African-Americans are the majority here and control city politics. The Detroit analogy is often invoked in criticisms of Memphis City Hall, but the numbers tell a totally different story.
While Detroit has only about 50,000 people more than Memphis, the budget of its city government is $3.0 billion, roughly five times larger than the Memphis city budget. Detroit’s bonds are below investment grade, and Detroit has twice as many city employees – 13,100 city employees. The nine Detroit City Council members have 88 employees and a budget of $13.4 million, compared to the 25 employees and the $1.6 million budget for Memphis’ 13 Council members.
Home Sweet Home
As a result, it’s unsurprising that the property tax rate in Detroit is three times higher than Memphis, and when all taxes are totaled up, a family of three earning $50,000 in Detroit pays 11.4 percent of its earnings in taxes, compared to 5.9 percent in Memphis.
There are dozens of other factoids that highlight how different Detroit is from Memphis: Its poverty rate is 37 percent higher, house values are 46 percent lower, per capita income is 29 percent lower, and median family income is 20 percent lower.
Detroit is in fact a cautionary tale for what can happen when a city isn’t paying attention to what matters. Hopefully, that’ll be the biggest difference of all for Memphis.
Previously published as the monthly City Journal column in the July edition of Memphis magazine.
Memphis!
Unlike Any Other City in the World
a city of second chances.
Felon?
no problem.
We has an opening at the Dog Pound.
Unfortunately for Detroit, we as a nation almost needed an example to illustrate to civic officials and residents everywhere how the consequences of decades of neglect would manifest themselves. No city’s success is definite and guaranteed just as no place is doomed to failure and stagnation.
Notwithstanding what happened with the animal shelter employee, it stands to reason that if felons who are released from prison have no employment and no means of making a living, recidivism is guaranteed to be 100%. I’m sure CCA would love that.
that’S THE POINT, Dee-troiyt is a caustionary tale for sure !
and they in Dee-troiyt were not “paying attention”
I can honenstly say, based on years of experience. Mammfesss hasn’t been “paying enough attention” either, or it would not have that negative national and media Dee-troiyt-like comparison.
everybody in the media (nationally), or outside the media/outside of Memphis is not stupid, blind or somehow automatically ‘biased’ against poor ole Mammfesss.
Based on my observations over the years, Memphis did in fact totally abdicate its role as being a progressive southern city…it allowed other cities in the SE and SW absolutely blast past them in “deeds”, “attitude”, and certainly “perception”.
Perceptions are realities to lots of Americans. If you think that Memphis has shaken the negative image of instiutionalized racism, prejudice, hatred, and the city that “killed” Martin King, then you are one triple-A rated buffoon. A similar assessment could be made about The City of Birmingham (aka “bombing-Ham”) in re Kluxer killings of three little black girls in a local House of God, Bull Connor, Police abuse, etc. These two cities will never be viewed in the same light as other progressive or sensible southern cities (even with the same effects of Jim Crow and isolated violence).
Nope, Birmingham made its bed, Memphis made its bed as well. There are always consequences and prices to pay. Some debts take longer to “pay off”. This has certainly been the case in Memphis, and to a greater degree Birmingham.
Majority black cities will always be regarded by many whites, and white establishments as somehow remedial….why ? racism….and sometimes because those environments might be truly and rationally described as in need of “remediation”. Many blacks who are transplants to Memphis also have expressed “culture shock” of the “black climate/community”…just ask most any black professional (doctor, attorney, accountant, bank executive, teacher, corporate FEDEX exec) who came to Memphis from say, Atlanta, Charlotte/Raleigh, Chicago, NOVA, NYC, Tampa, Miami, Dallas or ANY WHERE on the west coast ! you’ll get an earfull to say the least.
Memphis’ problems and Detroit’s problems are not solved by clever marketing, cheerleading, and PR.
Those numerous problems certainly won’t be solved by a specious “swearing off putdowns” , placing a veil over the obvious, or calling a “timeout” on highly negative comments/criticisms emanating from the local population, tranplants, visitors, or the national media. That’s laughable and sad at the same time….but not unexpected.
Anonymous: Thanks for a vapid commentary. We didn’t say that Memphis’ problem are solved by marketing. We simply said people should shut up with the Detroit comparisons because the facts, not marketing, show them to be specious. No one said to call a timeout on honest comments – different than negative rants, by the way. sometimes we wonder if you actually read the posts before you start commenting.
“Majority black cities will always be regarded by many whites, and white establishments as somehow remedial….why ? racism”
Which is exactly what you do, shekel. BTW, why did you lie and claim to be a United States Marine?
If your point of view is that Memphis and Detroit should not be compared, and people should ‘shut up’ because you contend that the so-called ‘facts’ don’t bear out making comparisons, and that other peoples’ PERCEPTIONS across the nation, within the same State of TN, within the region, etc should be ‘silenced’, is just plain stupid it seems.
Other peoples’ perceptions and opinions don’t have to ‘pass muster’ with anyone, right ? It’s their own perceptions formulated by what they experience, witness or see.
The only truth must come from YOU ? hardly. If that were true, then your own efforts are patently ineffective or we would hear and see more national evidence to the contrary. Sorry, I don’t see it or hear it anywhere outside of Memphis, pal. Heck I don’t even see your efforts working up the road in Nashville…and certainly not in Knoxville…no where in VA, the Carolinas…not in Atlanta, Tampa, Indianapolis or Dallas….come to think of it, hardly anywhere else.
Your pleas must be falling on deaf ears nationally, and especially on the media.
Memphis’ wounds are self-inflicted…no one is “targeting Memphis”. Many other cities don’t give a crap about Detroit or Memphis in the FIRST place.
Get real mane.
You can’t go anywhere on the web and NOT see comparisons of Memphis to Detroit.
Such as on The Huffington POST !
One blogger writes:
MAJORKONG
“You wouldn’t want to live in Memphis. It’s like Detroit with humidity.”
another,INNAGADDADAVIDA
04:53 PM on 8/03/2011
Been to Memphis, it sucks more that OKC.
still another,HUFF POST SUPER USER
05:37 PM on 8/03/2011
it’s like atlanta with stupidity.
I mean, so what ?? people all over have their won opinions and perceptions, and I don’t think theyt really care what others choose to believe.
Perceptions about Memphis are EVERYWHERE, friend, and you can’t expect them to ‘shut up’ because it offends your own sensibilities or loyalties, mane.
Anon-
You speak for all these cities, regions and communities and yet no one I know in those places share your opinions. I are obviously obsessed with the city of Memphis. For a place that deserves so little consideration, you definitely allow the topic to occupy a large portion of your time. It must make social events awkward. Perhaps you should simply speak for yourself instead of this juvenile approach to support your opinions by way of a fictional group with all this “we”, “us” and “they” talk and the multiple personalities you have attempted to create on these pages. Employment of the group support approach (we, everyone, all those people in all those places) is a classic sign of a weak opinion/mind that cannot be substantiated via reality and life and is totally reliant on other to validate the position. Maybe it is time to simply think before you type seeing as more often than not, you counter your own points in your hard to decipher rants.
To SCM’s point- yes, Memphis and Detroit are two distinct cities that share little in common with each other. Making the comparison in the manner that anyone such as Anon chooses simply serves to highlight their lack of experience or knowledge concerning both cities.
Anon 1:44-
In all likelihood those mentioned were simply more of your invented personalities. However, you are correct “Perceptions about Memphis are EVERYWHERE, friend, and you can’t expect them to ‘shut up’ because it offends your own sensibilities or loyalties”. It is easy enough to cite posts on boards and comment sections praising the city and lavishing praise concerning life here. Once again, you seem totally obsessed with a city that you also state deserves so little consideration. I can find similar comments that are extremely critical of OKC, Atlanta, NYC, Paris and Moscow. It is the internet and no intelligence or education is necessary to utilize it- you are proof enough of that.
However, this post- seeing as you are still struggling to employ those weak reading comprehension skills- is concerned with the stupidity of comparing Memphis and Detroit seeing as the two cities share so very little in common.
Can you keep up? We’re not saying shut up about the challenges facing Memphis or the tough facts. We write about them here all the time, if you ever read the posts all the way through before you start typing.
But as long as we put up with the idiotic comparisons to Detroit, we’re part of the problem. And there are even racist posters on Huffington, as you have proven. We’ve worked in lots of cities and contrary to conventional wisdom here, most of them are negative about themselves. We’ve just taken it to an art form.
Memphis!
Like no other city in the world.
I can only speak for myself but I have never heard anyone compare Memphis to Detriot. I see it the comment section of the CA but that’s about it.
As Mayor would say:
New Orleans is a “chocolate city”
so is Memphis a “chocolate city”
so is Detroit a “chocolcate city”
looks like to any rational mind, Memphis DOES have something significant in common with Detroit
I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the vast majority of these posters, knowitalls, and civic planner ‘leaders’ spouting off on this “Smart City Memphis” webpage are a bunch of “non chocolate” inhabitants offering up their own brand of plantation-like “leadership” for the local second-class, lower educated peons who are begging for your “enlightenment” to bring Memphis out of the “darkness”.
How arrogant you are, but you don’t “see” it….but THEY certainly do, believe me.
If you have not read the voluminous opinions and perceptions calling Memphis the “Detroit of the South”, then you must not reading anything in magazines, periodicals and on the internet duting the last 25 years or so.
When I first moved to Memphis, hell, I even heard it out of Memphians’ own mouths !
Anonymous: Since you’re talking to yourself in the last three comments, we won’t bother to interrupt you.
PS: We deleted your comments because we don’t find the attempts at dialect particularly clever or interesting.
“WE don’t find the attempts..”
geezus, what is this “we” crap ?? are you in some sort of exclusive, whites only FROM MEMPHIS CLUB now ??
some of you seem beyond your own self-aggrandizing Memphis-like parochial selves !
btw, Urbanut, you should be more concerned about “weak comprehension skills” of people around you everyday in Memphis, pal……rather than patting yourself on the back for no good reason.
Let’s stop making personal attacks…it serves no useful purpose to keep your focus on another writer..in fact, it makes you look silly….plus you’re impotent to do anything about what you can’t change or control…you certainly can’t control my own opinions..lol….that should be exceedingly obvious friend
Much to your chagrin, to can’t control “Memphis thought” or “Memphis opinion”….how dumb can you continue to attempt to discredit a poster in a personal attack ??
It makes me laugh….get used to it…no one has to like, endorse or give “stamp of approval” about some other posters’ stated opinion for godsake..
lol
Anonymous: Let us talk slower so you can understand. This we crap, as we’ve said to you before, is because this is a blog for a firm, not an individual. It represents our opinions and thoughts based on our work in and out of Memphis. And what makes you think that it’s white only or from Memphis club? That’s the problem. You have a lot of opinions but they are regularly based on fictions that exist only in your mind.
Got it?
I’ve got one thing for this anon fellow……..yawn.
got it
most if not all of you are white egoistes…
bet you’re a good ole white boy
bet urbanut is as well, and most other contributors who believe they “know best” for Memphis
how many non white voices are “HERE” in this “blog” about mostly black-populated Memphis ?
lol…that’S WHAT I’m claiming…it’s a one-sided white-dominated blog, right ? in a mostly black city…
LOL
I second that mtown- I’ve never seen someone that is obviously so infatuated with themselves and holds their own opinion in such high regard.
Anon- That is not a “Memphis” opinion. That is what this former New Yorker thinks about you and your childish shenanigans.
Oh and anon- you are the only one here basing your opinions on ethnicity. Pathetic. The world would/will be better off without your antiquated thinking.
Once again, anonymous, you make a lot of assumptions, and as usually, most of them fallacious.
We don’t presume to know what’s best for Memphis, but of one thing we’re certain: you clearly don’t. We just want to contribute to a well-reasoned conversation about new ideas, but clearly, you’re not interested.
roll call then….who’s white on this thing
come out from behind your sheets
the majority of the contributors are WHITE, right ?
the majority of the bloggers here are WHITE, right ?
urbanut ?
SCM ?
packrodent ?
and most all others, right ?
give me a damn break, this is no cross-cultural participation about Memphis’ future here, pal…lol
Well, we already know you are caucasian anon 12:02- you already stated as much. Of course there is no real reason for anyone to respond to your nonsensical whims seeing as you have been identified in the latest topic (African-Americans: Economic Battlefield Casualties) as both “Wolfgang” and “Anonymous”. You authored a post under one name that was based on an ethnic bias/ stereotype and immediately responded under a different pen name where you criticized yourself and your original post. Thankfully SCM no doubt checked the IP address for both posts and called foul. You are an unstable individual who really cannot demand much of anyone.
lol, what a goofball. Now tell me when did you go through Parris Island again?
shekel: “where’s my red Swingline stapler?”
Looks like anon is in deep this time and knows it!
I’m glad I don’t live in a city like Memphis . Nashville is okay but you guys got serious issues.
Yankee/anon or whatever you are calling yourself,
I wish you did live in Memphis. The idea that you might live near me is kinda scary!
Memphis is a terrible city ! been there
There are worse places , and there are better places of sort. KIPLINGER just named the top 10 best value cities for instance
1) Omaha 2) Charlotte 3) Nashville 4) colorado Springs 5)KNOXVILLE 6) Lexington 7)Little Rock 8)Wichita 9) ceadr Rapids 10) Cinn
Kiplinger also posted COMEBACK CITIES such as
1) Chatt 2) Nashville 3) Orlando 4_) Jacksonville 5) Charlotte 6) Flint 7) Vegas 8) Phoenix 9) Portland 10 ) seattle 11) San Jose
Sorry, Memphis is not in sight in these or many other rankings, but you seem to see Nashville and Charlotte all the time, whether it’s Moody’s rankings, CNNMoney, Forbes, Travel and Leisure, City Data, several health magazine surveys.
The editor made an interesting comment:
“Nashville is diverse and progressive — a “Southern melting pot of many different people and ethnic groups,” says resident David Pittman. The music industry gives the city a buzz and energy that lures people from across the country. A budding technology industry helps draw bright young minds. And the city’s low cost of living has attracted large numbers of immigrants, especially from Iraq. “People come to Nashville and just fall in love with it,” Dean says.”
The Kiplinger article also explained how well Nashville did even in the recession.
Also “Plus, Nashville has five professional sports teams and one of the South’s biggest film festivals.”
Every city has its strengths and weaknesses. Memphis is no where near what it should be by comparison and lots of people in the nation seem to grasp that, not just local critics.
Having lived in both areas I can’t resist chiming in or rambling a bit…
I guess I don’t follow all the “factoids” provided to support many of the claims, but Detroit is still significantly different in many ways:
As far as the cost of living… Detroit has a much lower sales tax and no tax on groceries. While property taxes are significantly lower in Memphis vs the SE Michigan ‘burbs, this is a just drop in the bucket. My Memphis/Tennessee dollar does not go very far on consumables. The family of three comparisons really don’t add up.
Detroit has the budget advantage as it taxes the suburbs through city income tax; work in the city, pay tax in the city. Suburbanites working in the core tend to spend very little there. Detroit has the significant advantage of an established corporate tax base. Compare the daytime “populations” of Detroit proper and Memphis proper during a weekday, and Detroit is significantly larger. Memphis could miss most of the benefits Mitsubishi and Electrolux may bring as the TN constitution prohibits income tax. I suspect the real estate used will be another Shelby County economic renaissance zone that funnels more money straight out of the city down I240, I55 and 385.
Oh, and artists rebuilding communities, LOL! Cooper Young, Cass Corridor, New Center… These are a small irrelevant islands of mildly inflated property values creating a safer place for hipsters to get drunk and buy weed.
Good grief, go find your red stapler, shekel.
Ever notice that cities to the west of Memphis, and cities to the east of Memphis seem to receive frequently decent, upshot ratings ? Those cities being Little Rock, and Nashville. Memphis is always “bringing up the rear”.
Here’s to “bringing up the rear”
Semper Fi
Swingline is calling, faux Marine.
Given some similarities in racial history of the two cities, i.e. Memphis and Little Rock, LR seems to have done a better job at shaking off the mantra of overt racism than Memphis has, and a case might be made for the same in Nashville. Memphians should have been asking themselves why this might be, in terms of outside business perception. Instead they seem to perpetuate a bad legacy rather than having a public attitude adjustment. You can witness the vestiges of that lack of change and improvement of consciousness even here on sites such as this, such as being overly focused on disagreement or even personalities. That brand of pettiness keeps Memphis on the remedial path and away from leadership roles – but it can’t help itself.
Semper Fi
Faux Marine, in Nashville there aren’t, and never have been, enough black people to threaten to usurp the white power structure. Anywhere in the United States where there are enough black people (and many of them in dire poverty) to actually threaten the local white power structure, you’ll see similar problems.
What’s your solution? Get rid of the poor black people? Or maybe all the white people should just move to Nashville (like they already have been doing).
You’re a one trick pony, Fake Marine. Got anything new to say? Or original? Anything? Didn’t think so.
fIn today’s Wall Street Journal (gasp), there is another reason I guess to make comment ..
In the section Small Business (The Journal Report) they describes ” WHERE THE ACTION IS” (across the country new industry hubs are drawing entrepreneurs and investors-and offering start-ups support and safety in a turbulent economy)
Here is where the said the “ACTION IS”
NASHVILLE
Kansas City
Ashville NC
Indianapolis
Ogden, UT
San Antonio, TX
Why no Memphis…again…no Birrmingham either…no Jackson Mississippi !
Why don’t you tell us? Why the cities with the highest AA populations and highest poverty rates? Why Shekel? Tell us.
Talk about a rant. I stopped at the second sentence. The poor grammar made it next to impossible to read.
Sorry, folks, we were in meetings all day and we weren’t available to delete what can only be called the BS ramblings of a troubled mind. We’ll try to do better.
It’s bad enough that he contributes ZERO to the discussion but the fact that he says the same things over and over is just a waste of too many precious minutes spent reading it.