It’s a tale of two cities, and only a short drive is needed to come face-to-face with the telling.
In Nashville, the drive takes you to Williamson County, the 11th wealthiest county in the U.S., with a median family income that’s a staggering $95,470. Four nearby counties shatter the $55,000 mark.
Outside of Fulton County, Atlanta has five counties with median family incomes of more than $60,000, peaking with Fayette County’s $85,794 and Cobb County’s $77,447. In Indianapolis, Marion County gives way to Hamilton County and its $90,119 median family income. Three others top $55,000.
A Red Flag
Here, things are different. The other counties in the Memphis metro do nothing to improve income and education levels, raising a red flag for companies evaluating the region for new operations and investments.
Shelby County is ranked 200th in median family income, and in its Metropolitan Statistical Area, only DeSoto County manages to eke out over $50,000.
Meanwhile, 19.2 percent of Shelby Countians do not have a high-school degree and 25.3 percent have at least 16 years of education. That compares to 26.3 percent and 12.4 percent respectively for the other metro counties.
More Talk Than Walk
It’s a troubling reality, particularly in light of a decade’s worth of talk – and little walk – about the importance of the region.
Five years have passed since the Memphis Regional Chamber released the Memphis Region Sourcebook, the product of more than two years of work and costing almost $500,000. Intended to give form to the Governors’ Alliance on Regional Excellence, the unique tri-state organization cheerleading the report, its 27 oversized pages of gripping graphics, key facts, an inventory of assets, and recommendations are artifacts of a flirtation with regional thinking.
That’s too bad, because the report went to great lengths to identify opportunities for the region to learn how to work together on issues every one should care about: air and water quality, farmland preservation, heritage tourism, transportation, and workforce development. It was always hoped that the experience on these issues would inspire confidence to tackle the really tough ones — think taxes.
Smart Taxes
More and more, some kind of regional tax pooling makes sense here. Without it, Memphis and Shelby County will inevitably be forced to take unilateral action like a payroll tax on the 88,000 people who commute into Shelby County.
Despite all conventional wisdom to the contrary, cities like Portland, Minneapolis, and Denver have actually used regional taxes as a way to unify their regions, and here, it could delight commuters by taking the payroll tax off the table as an option for city and county governments’ ailing finances.
The existing tax structure is outdated and unfair, treating each jurisdiction as if it’s self-contained and its interests are walled off from its neighbors. There’s no connection between who uses roads, arenas, and museums, and who pays for them.
A Better Way
With no rationality and no imperative for regional cooperation, multiple jurisdictions claw for more of a finite tax pie, as Collierville did in pursuing a huge shopping center to get the huge sales taxes that came with it, and in the process, fueling sprawl and commercial zoning designed to create optimal taxes, rather than the optimal community.
In Minneapolis, where the suburbs subsidized the central cities 30 years ago, that situation was reversed when older suburbs were in decline and needed help. Governments put 40 percent of the growth of their commercial and industrial property tax base into a regional pool, and from it, several hundred million dollars a year are redistributed on regionwide priorities like public transit and light rail, parkland, water quality, and smart growth.
In Portland, a three-county, 24-city regional agency makes land use and trans-portation decisions and helps pay for regional services like the convention center, performing arts center, stadium, exposition center, and regional parks. In Denver, seven counties and 31 cities agreed to a regionwide sales tax to pay for light rail.
Future-Sharing
The Mid-South has the muscle to get it done. The Sourcebook called for creation of the Regional Congressional Caucus, which would take advantage of the Mid-South’s six U.S. senators and six congressmen inside the Beltway, and the Mid-South Legislative Caucus to fight for shared priorities in the capitals of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
Challenges to the Memphis region are no respecters of state or county lines — an aging workforce, too few 25- to 34-year-old workers, low educational attainment, racial divisions, and unsustainable sprawl. Sadly, there’s a sense in the region outside Memphis that if the future of the city is about a middle-class exodus, entrenched poverty, and hollowed out, deteriorating neighborhoods, that is Memphis’ problem, not theirs.
It’s what psychiatrists call “magical thinking” with little connection to reality. There’s nothing magical about the fact that regions are the competitive units for the new economy, and without a stronger regional platform, any economic growth plans for any part of the region are in jeopardy before they even begin.
But it’s often forgotten here that there is no strong regional platform without an equally strong urban core. Too often, regionalism ends up being an olive branch held out by the largest city to the rest of the region, but sadly, it is often unreciprocated. The region can talk the talk of regionalism, but there’s little change in behavior (think North Mississippi’s recruitment of Memphis companies across the state line and the sprawl-inducing I-269 interstate).
Future Shock
In other words, it’s time to understand that there is no such thing as a bright future for Germantown if Memphis doesn’t have one. There is no such thing as DeSoto County’s succeeding if Memphis fails.
That’s why the economic stimulus package for our region is so important. It needs to be less about the region and much more about the city. It’s a historic chance to strengthen the urban engine of our economy and to make sure that the rising tide most of all rises our urban boat.
“In other words, it’s time to understand that there is no such thing as a bright future for Germantown if Memphis doesn’t have one. There is no such thing as DeSoto County’s succeeding if Memphis fails”
You’ll never convince some people around this area of that, even when Fedex finally folds the tent and moves, they’ll still be acting like Arlington or Hernando is so ‘wonderful.’
You point out exactly why Memphis can’t and won’t get out of its own way, and is plainly on a trajectory of continued exodus, mediocrity, and in some cases, downright failure when fairly compared to many other cities in the south and perhaps southwest.
Let the bifurcation continue ! Memphis will be in Jackson in a very short time. Heck, it’s already in another STATE ! Planners and politicians don’t get it. They are fighting an upstream current of dispersion and exodus. The smart alternative is to accept the reality that has been taking place on the ground since about 1980 or maybe 1979, and plan for embracing less of an urban density platform, not more, thereby doing an “end-around” all those folks who don’t want to work or live in such environment in the first place. In other words, WHY “FIGHT THE TAPE” ? in this poster’s opinion, that’s crazy to attempt to superimpose what may have worked in totally different cities, upon a Memphis example. Why ? Of course you can learn from various examples, but many of those have no relevance in W TN it seems, so WHY beat your academic head against the wall ??
It ain’t happening in Memphis. Memphis will not become a Portland, or a Nashville, or an Austin, or a Raleigh, or a Tampa..never. The sooner residents and “real smart people” truly accept the reality, the better. Memphis needs “fresh thinking” about preservation of the region…it doesn’t need more “borrowed thinking” from some egg-head bureaucrat or planner with grandiose “visions” that are truly “foreign” to what is happening on the ground, all around us, every day, since about 1980 or so.
What’s the complete solution ?? heck, probably understanding number one, that people/residents of Memphis aren’t likely to change their “mobility” of “choices”. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The smart thing might be for the city to ‘cash in’ and participate in the obvious “wave”, perhaps through important interlocal agreements, identity marketing, consolidation, and bolstering of building new , fresh and intelligent choices already on the suburban/ex-urban edge of the geographical city limit. This does not mean the abandonment of an urban center, either. It means that the planners and politicians are smart enough to “play into” the exodus in an intelligent, thoughtful manner….while not losing all the tax base.
it’s easy, Memphis is not going to turn into lower Manhattan, near north Chicago, Boston, or a Coastal town.
If a small, formerly rural bs Mississippi city can turn into the fatest growing suburb in the United States of America (Olive Branch), and the folks in Memphis don’t understand the driving sentiment and force, then the planners and bureaucrats in Memphis are dumb as a box of rocks in terms of what the future is likely to look like.
Wake up, the horse left the barn a long long time ago….but it doesn’t mean horses won’t continue to look at “different”, new and exciting “barns” far away from the Plantation “Big House”. People are clearly voting with their feet, and finding what they really really want.
Give them a bit of what they want…what the hell is wrong with that ?
LIke I said, some people will keep burying their heads in the sand….
Completely agree. Such a regional approach for larger quality of life issues may actually be slowly manifesting itself at present. Recent projects such as the groundbreaking to link the Memphis and Germantown portions of the Wolf River Trail and the inter-state cooperation occurring to study the potential for a 3rd river crossing all hint of new realities beginning to come into play. Mayor Wharton certainly strikes a more cooperative tone and current progress may yet erode the politically advantageous anti-city bent of certain narrow minded suburban officials. Afterall, the children of these same suburban residents are now, in large part, choosing to live within the city proper. It is hard to isolate oneself from a place as a whole when one’s family chooses to live there.
“More and more, some kind of regional tax pooling makes sense here. Without it, Memphis and Shelby County will inevitably be forced to take unilateral action like a payroll tax on the 88,000 people who commute into Shelby County.” (SCM)
Call it a payroll tax, a privilege tax, or an infrastructure user fee. We need to do it.
The reason 7 counties around Memphis/Shelby are part of the Memphis Metropolitan Area is because their populations receive most of their economic benefits from Memphis. They should pay their fair share. Progressive regions you cite have figured it out.
It seems like the fact that 3 states are involved in this “metro” area complicates your suggested approach, which crosses state lines. Is there an example out there of a section of 2 or 3 states that are part of a regional entity that shares taxes raised in the multi state region?
If it is a foregone conclusion that such a tax is necessary at this point, the question is how does one pursue such a tax? To enact one without a lot of healthy and constructive discourse beforehand risks alienating the suburban leadership whose cooperation would greatly enhance efforts to increase the region’s quality of life. However, the more we wait, the longer we delay a reversal that the entire region can appreciate and benefit.
Mayor Wharton is hardly perfect, but he seems especially inclined to help facilitate such relationship building and dialogue.
Anon 2:58,
Their purposes and thus projects may differ, but each example below is a regional entity whose funding is derived from multi-state areas in order to better serve a metropolitan area that does the same:
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission
Metro Transit (St. Louis) which was created by the Bi-State Development Agency
Kansas City Area Transportation Authority
Bi-State Regional Commission (Quad Cities)
There are others, but these are the ones I can recall off the top of my head.
I don’t believe a regional tax will ever work in this area. You’ll never get the outlying areas (and across state lines) to agree to it. It took years to get Mississippi and Arkansas to agree to contribute to help fund the Med, all while their citizens were using it and not paying, and that was a no-brainer.
To pass a privilege tax, people across state line don’t have a voice, and for that matter, people outside Memphis won’t either although it would work better if it is countywide. If it were passed, local option sales tax could be eliminated, property taxes could be cut in half, and have tens of millions left over.
fair enough, but how do you get past the Tennessee state legislature with a privilege tax, SM? It’s my belief you can’t. They’ll shoot it down. That’s political reality.
Pack-
Perhaps, but never underestimate the combined influence of the states 5 largest metropolitan areas- especially when 3 of those metros straddle state lines.
As I stated, let the bifurcation continue !! that is if you still want to pit “the city” against everyone else in the region…which is doomed to fail ! (can you tell yet ?….again look at Olive BR and beyond)
Memphis could easily “deflate” the wind of people “sailing” out. But many don’t want to…many think they have all the “urban answers” which somehow must be “exclusive” to the welfare of the entire REGION.
Too bad, most so-called leaders haven’t figured this shit out, that this attitude and plan won’t work NOW or in the future, given the clear fact the foundation for continued exodus is firmly afoot…very firmly afoot.
Memphis could bolster the attraction of the ‘move’, and participate in it, rather than lamenting it, and hand-wringing over the loss or tax base, etc.
The planners could start by selectively re-vamping satellite communities and make them destinations cleverly marketed and designed as perhaps “New Memphis”, or other designations designed to develop more community true and new identities or themes…the consequences could be interesting…that of providing community exclusivity and pride of those particular destination neighborhoods already on the fringe of the city or Perimeter.
People like a feel of exclusivity and specialty (not to be confused with financially “expensive” either !)
Some people don’t want to be labeled as “living in Midtown”…for example…or it conjures various crazy images to suburbanites whether correctly or incorrectly…but it does.
Some of the solutions can be found in marketing and branding for those ‘communities’ to be massaged, and further developed….but it’s more than that too…developers have known for a very long time how to affect the identity of a specific community with mundane things such as “special street signs”, which “special design and colours” , things such as “street lamps” that are all dramatically different in a particular community…..the use of “logos” painted on community facilities/police sub stations…..coded parking logos for vehicles, special bus stop shelters, massive color-palettes for community businesses (or even negihborhood schools), community agreed upon business signage,,,,,special community services developed only for those residents of that “New Memphis _____Community”…..heck, maybe you can bring back some of the great community of Memphis “names”….Neshoba, Cotton Plant, Galloway, or come up with totally new nomenclature for thoughtful “non urban/city” Memphis (but STILL Memphis)…..look, people are REAL quick to tell you they don’t “live in Memphis”…they will tell you in a heartbeat, “I live in Germantown”, or “I live in Collierville”, or even “Ilive in EAST MEMPHIS”….right ? so why not capitalize on the pervailing sentiment rather than “force-feeding” the “Memphis Mantra” on residents ? heck everybody knows it’s Memphis already ! this could be done without “forsaking” what Memphis is all about ! it’s providing a multitude of real choices within a region without insisting everyone buy-in into some sort of “urban dream” which has served only to be a nightmare to those who have EXITED the city, the county and the STATE…and losing that base is utterly CRAZY it seems to me.
Memphis has allowed itself to be painted with a braod brush..it’s the enemy of itself. It’s a sin to allow this sort of exodus given the vast surface area of the city itself (in land mass).
In fact it’s stupid to allow this to go on. This city needs an enema about what people really want. Stop force feeding people and residents some high density urban CRAP…..it work work in the region….yes, some of it is a good thing no doubt…but look around your dumbassses and pay attention to what you are losing, and WHY.
Capitilize on the trend, don’t fight the tape…use it, make money on it….invest in it…sell it…market it….brand it….embrace it….tax it….take pride in developing strong new fresh and innovative choices in the city itself…..
Great Satellite communities with their own identities within the city proper can give reason for people NOT to move.
Image is everything.
That assumes the 4 other metros would be willing to combine their influence to help us pass a privilege tax. A big assumption.
taken from the janice fullilove playbook.
payroll = privledge= occupational tax.
are all unconstitutional under State of Tennessee law.
Of course, you could get the legislature to ‘grant’ shelby the ‘right’ to tax suburbanite commuters……..
“That assumes the 4 other metros would be willing to combine their influence to help us pass a privilege tax. A big assumption.”
Exactly.
The only reason I would suggest that there are other metros in the state that might share the same interest is that Chattanooga, Clarksville and the Ti-Cities also serve as centers of employment for residents in neighboring states whose and thus the financial support of these residents is largely lost. I would not suggest such an approach to capturing these funds is likely, just that it may not be as implausible as it first appears. A way to actually perk the interest of the state would be to share a percentage of such a tax with the state as a whole in order to subsidize infrastructure that is the responsibility of the state government but utilized by all area residents on a daily basis.
my point has been and continues to be is how big a dummy do you have to be to ‘allow’ TN to ‘lose’ to damn Mississippi ?
losing to a state WITH high FEES AND an INCOME TAX ??? geezus, how do you manage to lose THAT ‘tug-a-war’ ??? that’s absolutely incredibly stupid for not knowing how to stem that tide/exodus ! losing to the goddam poorest, dumbest STATE in THE UNION ??
all of the politicans, planners, paid developers, etc ought to be fired ! get rid of these laggards, psuedo-eggheads, and so-called ‘big-thinkers’ ! they have failed TN, Memphis, and the W TN (n) region. . . and Nashville simply laughs while it goes forward with speed….and Knoxville acts like Memphis is already a part of Mississippi….
being associated with Mississippi is quite bad enough….people embrace more ‘things Mississippi” than ‘things Tennessee’, which should come first, not an afterthought.
Memphis’ identity is waay too closely aligned with MS. Therein lies a huge problem if you have not noticed.
Memphis might be better off embracing Arkansas across the river…at least it has marketing ‘name recognition”…i.e. “West Memphis”…..but nooooooooo, people in good ole Memphis seem to like being associated with poor ass Mississippi, but ignore an obvius affinity with its name-sake neighbor of West MEMPHIS……which in fact is CLOSER to the URBAN CENTER of Memphis !
now that’s screwed up ! West Memphis even has the BEST VIEW of center-city MEMPHIS !! but noooooooo, we ignore that fact, we don’t incorporate them in being part of the urban landscape and vista……nooooooooo, we reach across to goddam Mississippi suburbs, when we could be cultivating development relationships from the banks of the other side of the great RIVER (with the abosolute best view even !)
now that’s stoooo-pid if I’ve ever seen it….
Arkansas is not a Hollywood, but it still has a better national image than ANYTHING in goddam Mississippi.
Embracing “West MEMPHIS” sounds better in marketing and growth, than embracing “North MISSISSIPPI”…….anyday.
some of this stuff is past stoopid it seems to me
my vote for effective regional growth that is ‘reflective’ of ‘all things Memphis’ is “West MEMPHIS is MEMPHIS WEST ”
if we’re going to give away tax base, at least get some positive ‘affinity marketing’ in return….north Mississippi doesn’t give you shit (but a bad regional image)
for all of you doubters about the futility and embarassment of being “coupled” to Mississippi, I hope you watch a new TV Special, I think it is going to be on this week, about Mississippi ….
Everyone realizes you can’t change geography, so that’s not an excuse….folks in Louisiana (noLA) don’t ‘own’ Mississippi, neither really do the folks in Alabama (in fact, years previous used to say ‘thank god for Mississippi” because of national rankings that always put AL ahead of MS !)..
Memphians and West Tennesseans moreover (NW TN esp) should make a mental, overt effort to “de-couple” from such a shitbird State (MS)..
some people are so delussional that they believe or think of the University of Mississippi as a “southern” IVY League school….imagine that ignorance…a freekin STATE of MIssissippi public university believing that crap….heck Univ of PA/wharton (another state school) is certainly in anther “league” than the only school in the nation that officially goes by a “nick name”…reminiscent of a sorry plantation past.
what is strange is that native Memphians don’t actually SEE the real and perceived “damage” it does to the NW and W TN region, by ‘snuggling’ up to a Mississippi genre, position and rather nasty and reprehensible past and RECENT past…folks around here are BLIND or indifferent to why this is an albatross around the necks of Memphians and especially West Tennesseans of the region…..Nashville dismisses Mississippi in a very direct and purposeful manner, and unfortunately they also “tag” Memphis at the same time..
it’s strange why W TN natives can’t or won’t wake up and smell the coffee…..and engage in Tennessee ‘branding’, and not allow themselves to be tainted by smell of the cesspool to the south….Memphians would do themselves proud in bolstering their OWN identity ! that identity should be separate and apart from Plantation Mississippi and the Delta…..in the 21st century, they need NOT be automatically “linked” …no way is that a necessity (other than an obvious physical proximity which is unavoidable……but making your own style, your own business and cultural identity is NOT difficult for truly thinking people, or people with pride in being TENNESSEANS FIRST, or MEMPHIANS FIRST.
Funny thing, no matter where you’ve lived or are from, if you live for any time in Atlanta, you’re ATLANTAN (not a “Georgian” strangely enough..ha !) but the identity is there …in CAPITAL LETTERS ! ditto NYC…ditto Miami to a lesser degree……but not so in shitbird cities such as Birmingham.
Get the picture yet ?? there is a REASON why some people use the term “Memphis, Mississippi”…..and I assure you that outside the region, their motivation is not complimentary one bit.
As long a residents and newcomers endorse, enjoy and even promote Memphis and W TN’s identity in tandem with the cesspool of Mississippi, a true world-known laggard, Memphis will continue to be a third-tier, second-rate city.
Forget goddam Mississippi…..let them find their own way. Tennesseans should become more possessive about their true identities, direction, and brand…
Wanna see good branding ? check out Chicago, NYC, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, the Twin Cities, New Orleans, Orlando (ok, Mickey helped, but still), Paris, London, Cote D’Azur, Hong Kong, Berlin, Montreal, Big “D” (er, Dallas), Houston (how ’bout sum oil ?), St Louis (yep, the arch is seen on waay too many commercials…lol..but it works ! ), San Francisco ! , Boston , even shitty Destin (can you say “beach” ?)
But WTF does the State of goddam Mississippi have so much of, that W TN wants to share its ‘branding’ ????
Cotton Plantations ?? Sugar Ditch ? Slavery ? Lynchings ? Discrimination ? World-class Poverty ? World-Class ignorance ??
West Tennesseans should have more personal, family, and community pride than to want to be “linked” to such a pathetic, miserable and vile “image” …but in fact, they don’t seem to mind one bit ..lol
Again,, Image is everything.
Everything gloriously “southern” is NOT synonomous with ‘Mississippi”…. the “South” is not Mississippi, there is no “Solid South”….it’s insulting to insist we all southerners must embrace the worst among us.
The South is quite diverse (east TN is different than Nashville, eg)
You need your head examined if you think Charleston is like Jackson MS, or Birmingham is like Charlotte, or huntsville is like Montgomery.
Memphians and specifically West Tennesseans holding up a mirror to look at themselves should not see a Mississippian in ‘drag’…
That’s another reason why my ‘affinity vote’ goes to “West Memphis/Memphis West”…at least Arkansans seem to have more pride of identity than to purposefully snuggle up to Mississippi…
If Memphis wants more “bang for the buck”, then “Go West Young Man, Go West” !! (all the transport also goes through West Mem, NOT through goddam MS too….just imagine want connectivity and growth could emerge with far more “connectivity” and AFFINITY !) Man ! talk about regional growth ?? wow !!!! but noooooooo, this stupid city and region has exxentially IGNORED the possibilities in favor of Olive Branch, Hernando and other shitbird State of Mississippi towns…..all at the ‘expense’ of our own Namesake..
big dummies