“Legendary” Germantown co-chair, Rikki Boyce, snags top honor
| By Brian Stephens on January 30th, 2010 | No Comments  |
We’re proud to have Rikki Boyce out singing the Rebuild Government song — and fortunate, too. Those in the advertising business know there aren’t many better than Rikki when it comes to making a message compelling and accessible, and she’s helping us spread the Rebuild Government message in her corner of Germantown.
The Commercial Appeal ran a great article and a great picture of Rikki receiving the Silver Medal from the local chapter of the American Advertising Federation — the highest honor a member can receive. AdFed’s national president, James Datri, was in town for the ceremony, as well. Here is how CA reporter James Dowd described it:
After excelling in every volunteer leadership role in the local chapter of the American Advertising Federation, Rikki Boyce probably should not have been surprised to be honored as this year’s AAF Silver Medal winner. But the Memphis marketing guru, described as “legendary” by family, friends and colleagues at Thursday’s award ceremony, found herself momentarily stunned upon hearing the news.
According to the article, the AAF Silver Medal “is presented each year to an individual who has made significant contributions to the advertising industry and to the community.”
An avid volunteer, Boyce has been involved with the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis Rotary, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, United Way and Youth Villages. “She’s extremely worthy of the honor and has given back so much to our community,” said Dan Conaway, a past recipient and member of the awards committee. “The decision was unanimous, and Rikki was it.”
Rikki runs a fine Web site of her own, a book blog called “Indelible Inc.”
Congratulations, Rikki. And thanks for helping Rebuild Government spread this important conversation.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...Reasons to feel good on a frigid Friday
| By Zack McMillin on January 29th, 2010 | No Comments |
The streets are all slushy, the freezing rain pellets are pinging off the windows and some of the tree branches are starting to labor under the weight and the strong wind. But we’re finding reasons to feel good here at Rebuild Government, even if “Winter Weather Freakout 2010″ has forced us to cancel meetings with people today.
First, there is this fine story on White Station High School basketball star Joe Jackson that you may have seen from talented Commercial Appeal sportswriter Scott Cacciola. It’s all about Jackson’s relationship to the city he loves — he’s got King of Memphis tattooed on his chest — and the reasons why he decided to accept a scholarship from the University of Memphis. Jackson radiates a sense of possibility — about his future and that of this entire community — and that is something people all across the community can embrace.
Then there is this New York Times feature on “Indie Memphis” that is up on the web and will be in the Travel section of the newspaper’s hugely influential Sunday edition, titled “Roll Over, Elvis. Meet Indie Memphis.” It provides a vivid look at a vibrant Midtown scene and the people who clearly hold deep affection for it. As those of us who have lived in Midtown well know, some of those great Midtown characters oft-as-not grew up somewhere in the suburbs, thought about moving away to a bigger city but chose to stay because they love the Midtown vibe. At Rebuild Government, we well understand that a healthy metro area must offer a little bit of everything when it comes to culture, and it’s refreshing to see The New York Times recognize the role Midtown plays for the larger community.
From the piece: “This is indie Memphis, a long way from the tourist crush of Beale Street and Graceland, in spirit if not in actual distance. Midtown, just a short drive from a downtown famous for its blues, jazz and barbecue hounds, is its hipster epicenter, a diverse area that is now home to posh cocktail bars as well as divey rock clubs and longstanding juke joints. It parties late, very late, and stays friendly through the night.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Commissioner Chris Patterson of Wiseman Bray a ‘rising star’
| By Zack McMillin on January 28th, 2010 | No Comments |
The Memphis Daily News featured Chris Patterson, one of the 15 members of the Memphis and Shelby County Charter Commission, for its Memphis Law Talk, pointing out that Patterson was the only Tennessean singled out by the industry journal Law and Politics as a 2009 Mid-South Rising Star. Patterson practices at Wiseman Bray, the group headed by Shelby County Republican Party chairman (and former Bolton and Tennessee hoops star) Lang Wiseman.
It’s easy to notice that, in Commission meetings, Patterson has chosen carefully when to speak, but usually gets right to the unambiguous point. We also note in his biography that Patterson earned bachelor’s degrees at Tennessee in microbiology and history, suggesting someone with keen attention to small detail and the scientific method blended with a big-picture interest in how and why important events took their course.
A few of Patterson’s comments to the Daily News, though focused on his primary professional interest of construction litigation, provide some insight into the kind of contributions he can make helping build a new government for the community.
On what attracted him to his field: “I enjoy the technical aspect of these types of cases, learning how and why things are built in a certain way. Also, I get to meet a lot of interesting people.”
While talking about some of the underlying challenges he often faces as an attorney, Patterson was making a point Rebuild Government often raises when we talk about how important it is that citizens become engaged in this process.
“It puts even greater emphasis on how important it is for all parties to have a thorough contract and to actually understand what the contract says,” Patterson said. “I can’t tell you how many times I have sat down with contractors to review their contracts and had them be surprised by what their own contract said. Unfortunately, it is usually after a serious dispute has arisen.”
Right now, we have the opportunity to produce a charter for new government that includes real protections for the people, real ethical standards with bite, safeguards that promote greater accountability for spending taxpayer dollars. Get involved in the conversation and make sure the contract between the government and its citizens says what you want it to say.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Popular radio hosts get Rebuild Government spirit
| By Zack McMillin on January 26th, 2010 | No Comments |
Two of Memphis’s most popular morning radio programs got the Rebuild Government spirit last week when executive director Brian Stephens made appareances on Drake & Zeke (FM 98.1 The MAX) and Young & Elder (FM 105.9 KIX 106). While acknowledging that Rebuild Government has much work ahead of it to get people engaged in the conversation, the hosts of both shows responded to the message Brian delivered.
On Drake & Zeke, the hosts offered this: To really clean this up, short of a bomb, it may take awhile but if you get all this in one document and its voted on, it’s a start, it’s a giant step.
On Young & Elder: Is there a kind of government you are in favor of? Are you so in love with the way it’s working now that you don’t want to change it?
Some excerpts are below:
From Drake & Zeke
BRIAN STEPHENS: If we get involved, get off the sidelines and into the game and let the charter commission know what we want as a community, it might be able to pass and it might be better for us.
DRAKE & ZEKE: How do you go out and canvas people?
BRIAN STEPHENS: I know this sounds cheesy, my wife always gets onto me, but this is an historic opportunity for we the people to have a say in what our government looks like.
D&Z: It is.
BRIAN STEPHENS: I don’t like the way our government is working. I think we have great people, we’ve got a great county but we’ve got to do something to become better than what we are now. What we are doing is reaching out and having hundreds of little group meetings to find out what people want in their new government. We’ve had 60-something and hope to have 2,000 by August.
We’re asking what do people want in their new government and then let’s make sure the charter commission puts it in.
D&Z: The other thing you’ve got to reiterate to the other towns in Shelby County, that it’s all good. People in Germantown and Bartlett, Lakeland and Millington, they aren’t going to be gobbled up.
BRIAN STEPHENS: It’s important for all of us to understand, that we all live in one community. If you pick Germantown to live in or Cordova to live in or Collierville, we still live in this one community. When people think about moving here or businesses think about relocating here, they think about do I want to move to Memphis or Nashville, they don’t think about, as a business like Nike, do I want to move to Germantown or Franklin?
We need an opportunity to clean the slate up, create a new government that is much more responsive and able to bring new businesses in our areas. That’s pretty critical. But I should say, we really want to create the win-win so we’ve got to have these people in the suburbs and the city involved so they can have their voices heard.
D&Z: So how did Jefferson County and Louisville do it (in 2000). That changed the entire landscape of that area.
BRIAN STEPHENS: It did. They had tried previously and it had failed, kind of like we had, and they went back to the drawing board and they said . . . we are competing not just on a regional scale but on an international scale, we’ve got to be more competitive to drive business, more competitive to keep our talent in our cities. They really made the initiative they would not be afraid of change, not be scared to jump into the deep end and make themselves better.
And I tell you what they are growing by leaps and bounds. Louisville is just rocketing and getting business and people are moving there. Young people are not wanting to move here. You talk to graduating classes and they want to move to somewhere else that’s more exciting, more progressive, that’s got jobs. This is our opportunity to change it, this is our shot and I hope we can take advantage of it.
We’re going to be reaching out to everybody we can talk to and find out what they want, what would be a win-win and help this community take off.
D&Z: It’s a heckuva task. Somebody has to do it. It’s quite admirable you are taking this on. So good luck. This place really needs an injection of something. Some hope. Some energy. There are good things. Mayor Wharton I think is a good thing. And there are good people. But we have to get rid of some of the longstanding traditions and negativity has got to go away.
From Young & Elder
Y&E: It is quite in vogue in the suburbs to just be blanketly against it. If you go to Rizzi’s in Arlington you won’t get much of a conversation. … But it’s a matter of thinking to yourself, ‘Are we so in love with the government now, do we love the way things are going now? What’s wrong with the way it’s going now?’
BRIAN STEPHENS: I’m going to say something a little shocking to everybody right now. I don’t think our current governmental structures are working. I know people are shocked by that statement. The reality is we are not living up to our potential and we are really not achieving the kind of economic success we should as a community. We’ve got great people here but I think our government is a mess, the Memphis government and the Shelby County government. This is just an opportunity over the next nine months to have input on how we can build a better government.
We are not talking about meshing two governments together. We are talking about wiping the slate clean and really getting the protections for us in the county and us in the city. If it’s not a win-win it’s going to lose but this is our chance to redo it.
I’m always shocked at people who will say I don’t like where we’re going, I don’t like what we’ve got, but don’t do anything to CHANGE it. This is our opportunity to at least try.
Y&E: The government is only as good as the people who run it. That’s what we’re afraid of.
BRIAN STEPHENS: But people in the county, they were for years being controlled by the model of the Memphis mayor, and they had no vote in who that mayor was. Under a metro mayor system the people in the county would actually have a say in who the mayor is going to be for the metro government. And it’s really the metro government, the biggest municipality in an area, that controls our future. Nobody moves to a suburb of Nashville, they move to Nashville and they might pick a suburb to live in. But in my mind, we have got to do something to get our economic engine going.
Y&E: There is nothing to be against yet.
BRIAN STEPHENS: When Lousivolle consolidated government, they had a new legislative body and had to have new elections and 240 people ran for those spots. Only four incumbents were re-elected. Four. Everybody else was new on that legislative body. You had a lot of new blood and a lot of new talent come in there because of the way it was structured. We don’t have a charter yet. It is our opportunity right now to say what we want in that charter, and to get all those protections we want and make sure that people in the entire county have a say in how the elections are going to work and how governments are going to be structured and maybe, just maybe we can get that win-win out of it.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...If the ‘Big One’ hit, would one new government respond better than the current model of two, separate bureaucracies?
| By Zack McMillin on January 25th, 2010 | No Comments |
This story from The Commercial Appeal’s Amos Maki over the weekend brings up some crucial issues when it comes to local government. Everyone in the Mid-South worries over how a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, would affect the region. The news and images out of Haiti make that omnipresent fear even more relevant.
To Mayor A C Wharton’s credit, this was one of his top priorities as Shelby County Mayor, and, to the extent he is able, he’s brought that focus with him to City Hall as Memphis’s mayor. His administration with the county gave us Ready Shelby, a campaign to help prepare our various communities in the event of a disaster. Check out their Web site, www.ReadyShelby.org, for more information and vital tips for your business or family, or check out this piece from The Commercial Appeal in November about ReadyShelby.
All that said, Wharton clearly is concerned about all the various agencies in the city bureaucracy, the county bureaucracy and elsewhere staying on alert and creating coordination that would save lives and limit sufferiing in the event of a catastrophe here. We have heard some people suggest to us that this is one reason they want to consider a charter that would give us one new, unified government. After all, tornadoes and earthquakes and floods do not respect political boundaries.
This section of Amos’s article would seem to lend credence to that argument that the current model of two big bureaucracies can create fractured, confused services — the area’s troubled 911 system being a prime example:
- The Shelby County 911 District board unanimously approved a resolution in December 2008 committing to fund up to $20 million of a nearly $40 million facility, which would allow dispatchers from the city, county and other municipalities to work together.City and county governments were supposed to fund the rest of the project, but the two sides could not come to terms and the project has stalled. “We’ve got to get that done,” said Wharton.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Commissioner Sandoval to suburbs: ‘Bring concerns to us’
| By Zack McMillin on January 22nd, 2010 | No Comments |
Much of Thursday’s Charter Commission meeting was devoted to engaging the mayors of suburban towns. Charter Commissioner Richard Hodges, who is the mayor of Millington, presented a list of concerns he felt are shared among mayors of the six Shelby County cities outside of Memphis. Bartlett mayor Keith McDonald and Germantown mayor Sharon Goldsworthy were also in attendance.
Hodges and McDonald both expressed some frustration with not having any suburban representation on the Memphis, Light Gas & Water board, despite the suburban towns’ reliance on their services. They advocated that, in a structure whereby the new government is parent to MLGW, the suburban towns receive more say.
“If metro government is passed and then is the owner of MLGW, we would want to be sure there would be some change to that so instead of us being at the whim of someone who doesn’t represent our citizens, we would at least have a voice in that,” said McDonald, who Charter Commission chairman Julie Ellis praised for having perfect attendance at all six meetings thus far. “Right now we are second class and don’t have a seat — don’t even have an honorary seat — on the board.”
Commissioner Carmen Sandoval, an administrator at St. Jude Children Research Hospital, spoke directly to the suburban mayors with an appeal to get involved and help the commission.
“We need this type of feedback from the mayors and suburban communities,” Sandoval said. “When we set the values of this commission, the one we put at the very front is inclusiveness. We want to look at the area and Shelby County and these seven areas together. We have to work together as a region if we want to be here 30, 40, 50 years down the road.
“No decisions have been made. We don’t know what this charter is going to look like. It’s crucial now more than ever you bring concerns to us. It’s so important to hear from you and thank you for explaining. The more concerns you bring to us, the better product we are going to file Aug. 10. We hope you will invite us into your communities to meet and hear concerns of your citizens.”
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Longterm commission goals: Economic development, reducing crime, efficiency, strong ethics
| By Zack McMillin on January 22nd, 2010 | No Comments |
At Thursday’s Charter Commission meeting, vice-chairman Andre Fowlkes shared with a decent crowd of about 25 people what commissioners listed as “end goals” a charter would help Memphis and Shelby County achieve.
The top two, by far, were economic development and creating a safer community. Also prominent was greater government efficiency and a more ethical government.
Given the prominence of economic development, Fowlkes read a quote from the economist Benjamin Friedman:
“Economic growth – meaning a rising standard of living for the majority of citizens – more often than not fosters greater opportunity, tolerance of diversity, social mobility, commitment to fairness and dedication to democracy.” In contrast, when an economy stagnates, “the resulting frustration generates intolerance, ungenerosity, and resistance to greater openness of individual opportunity.”
It’s hard not to notice Vice-Chairman Fowlkes’s determination to incorporate longterm vision into the charter process.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...‘Always doing something good for somebody’
| By Zack McMillin on January 19th, 2010 | No Comments |
Kudos to another of Rebuild’s co-chairs, Pat Carter, for being the subject of a project The Commercial Appeal is calling “Good News.” The long profile, written by prolific Memphis freelance writer Richard Alley, details Mr. Carter’s many philanthropic causes and explains what motivates him to get involved with efforts to improve his community.
As Mr. Carter tells it, he’s been an entrepreneur since age 12, when he sold Kool-Aid to church-goers from his front yard in Raleigh. Many people will recall that Mr. Carter ran the Mid-South’s first black-owned car dealership, Pat Carter Pontiac, from 1980 to 1990, and, at age 71, he’s still going at it full-speed as president of Olympic Staffing, Inc., in East Memphis.
You’ve got to love this quote from his friend Roosevelt Hobson, who helps Mr. Carter do his annual Labor Day cookout for the homeless: “He’s always doing something good for somebody.”
His son, Trey, who is also a co-chair, had this to say: “In situations where there were problems or concerns, he didn’t wait for others. He tells me that ‘if you don’t like the situation, you should dictate it.’ ”
It’s that kind of spirit we believe can make Shelby County a better place to live, and we greatly appreciate Mr. Carter’s can-do attitude motivating Rebuild Government.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Citizen Blogger co-chair brings the education
| By Zack McMillin on January 18th, 2010 | No Comments |
Local blogger extraordinaire Steve Ross gives new meaning to the term “Citizen Blogger,” and we use capital letters for a reason. Admittedly, we like him in part because he is a co-chair, but we love how invested he is in helping explain the process. It’s also pretty cool that he’s been showing up at all the Charter Commission meetings. While we will not always agree with his personal views, we are deeply appreciative of the diligence and research that precede his conclusions.
That’s all a big leadup to steering you to Steve’s three-part epic analysis of the possibilities for a legislative body. Steve, like many people we have met in house meetings, very much likes the idea of smaller districts which he contends would lead to better, more direct representation for citizens closer to the neighborhood level (Steve tells us that in Nashville, it’s one representative per 18,000 citizens vs. one per 96,000 in Memphis and one per 70,000 in Shelby County).
It’s worth a read to get better educated, with the disclaimer that the opinions expressed on his blog are those held by Steve Ross.
Part 1: http://www.vibincblog.com/?p=1727/
Part 2: http://www.vibincblog.com/?p=1735/
Part 3: http://www.vibincblog.com/?p=1743/
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...We’re hearing you …
| By Brian Stephens on January 15th, 2010 | No Comments |
At Thursday’s Jan. 14 meeting of the Charter Commission, we were pleased to report that we had met with 220 people at 48 meetings, and the calendar keeps getting busier for the remainder of the month. Considering the holidays, we’re thrilled at the progress we’ve made, and our efforts are rapidly accelerating. People are concerned about the future of Shelby County, they are willing to engage in the conversation about what they would like to see in a new government — and they are bringing concerns about the process we are relaying back to the Charter Commision members.
Some topics we hear in almost every meeting include:
- Making sure the charter utilizes clear, unambiguous language;
- Protecting MLGW’s future;
- Reducing crime and ensuring safety – people understand that criminals do not recognize political boundaries;
- Tax uses – what services will the different tax districts provide?
- Concern about schools – How will the Charter Commission protect current systems?
- Show clear examples — possibly from places like Indianapolis, Nashville, Louisville and Jacksonville — of benefits a new government can provide.
Some of the most common questions:
- What will this do to my property taxes?
- What ethical standards will the charter include to guard against corruption & protect the people?
- Will the new charter provide comprehensive law enforcement structure that reduces crime?
We showed the video that is also a part of our outreach, and we listened with a great deal of interest to comments Joe Saino, aka the Shelby County watchdog, made near the end of the meeting. One very strong point from Mr. Saino — that the new charter should contain a more reasonable way for citizens to put petitions on the ballot. He also reinforced the view we’ve heard from many people about a new, more efficient government providing relief from rising taxes, as well as an emphasis on transparency and ethics standards with real bite.
We have a busy schedule next week and look forward to providing more details at this Thursday’s Charter Commission meeting (4 p.m., 4th floor of the County Administration Building on Main Street). What would you like us to tell the Commissioners? As always, please contact us at Talk@RebuildGovernment.org or 722-9900 if you are interested in hosting a house meeting.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
