MEMPHIS TENN. RUNNERS

Well, I've been here since 1962, so I think I'm qualified to comment on it.

I'm not sure what the exact numbers are on racial makeup, but that's not the point. The problem is racial tension, made worse by extremely poor leadership in the local government.

The public high schools are horrible, except for Houston, Germantown and White Station.

It's one of the most obese cities in the nation. It has some of the lowest test scores and school ratings in the nation. It has some of the worst crime. Probably ranks in the top five in each of those three categories. Maybe first or second in a couple.

The city is largely controlled by a small group of people, however, that live in a corridor that runs along Shady Grove Road inward to Tuckahoe, stopping at Goodlett. You'll find all the big names within 1 to 2 miles north or south of there. Belz, Smith, Hyde, Dobbs, Rose, Snowden, Boyle, McVean, Treadwell, etc. It's the old Memphis Country Club scene you have to be born into.

Their kids are at MUS, CBHS, St. Mary's and Hutchison, so I guess the schools don't matter to most of 'em. Kudos to Charlie McVean for donating over $1 million dollars to East High School.

If you want something done in the city, it's those folks that have to get behind it. They got behind the NBA and guess what? We have a team and a damn nice arena. If they'd produce some viable political leadership and stop allowing thugs and racists to run the city (and the worst racists in Memphis are often black), we could really do something.

But look at the mayoral candidates. They're terrible!\

And if you want to hike or backpack or ride rivers, you have to drive for hours. There's nothing close for an outdoor enthusiast.

I can't wait to get the hell out of here.

It's funny; living in North Mississippi, about 75 miles from Memphis, I've spent a moderate amount of time there. I've spent time at the restaurants and blues clubs; I've seen a chiropractor and done a lot of shopping in Germantown; I do all my natural food shopping, such as it is, at the Wild Oats on Poplar, and buy my running shoes at a running store around the corner. I've run several dozen races in Memphis over the past five years, which is the period of time I've been living in Oxford, MS after moving down from NYC.

As depicted on the tabloid local TV news, Memphis is crime-infested, corrupt, and frightening. My wife and I have a kind of in-joke when the 9 PM news comes on, because the local coverage invariably finds a way to top itself, night after night, with stories that make you laugh when they don't break your heart. "John Ford's Abandoned Pit Bull Tears Face off 2-year-old before Hijacking Car" is typical, and I'm not exaggerating. John Ford is merely one of the many Fords, a local black political family--Harold Ford, Jr. is the one notable exception--that seems to end up in the news every night, charged with corruption or bizarre acting-out in the State House or both.

But that's the tabloid news.

In all my trips to Memphis, I've never once witnessed any of that mayhem. Maybe I've just been very lucky, or maybe things aren't quite as bad as the sensation-mongers would have you believe. Certainly the running scene is healthy. And there ARE, actually, quite a few parks and even a bit of unspoiled wilderness (Shelby Meeman Forest) in the Memphis area. I can't speak as a resident, obviously, and I haven't been in the bad areas at night. But I've been outside of the Beale Street entertainment zone, and I haven't felt that I was dealing with anything more dangerous than New York.

I'd encourage anybody thinking about relocating to Memphis NOT to make assumptions, but to actually visit the city, run a race or two, talk with a lot of people, and gather information from a wide range of sources. The tourists who flock to Memphis from around the world can't be entirely deluded. The city has a lot to offer.

I can't believe you think Shelby Forest is "unspoiled" wilderness!

Memphis does have some good qualities. There are lots of trees, good places to eat, parks and whatnot, but as someone stated earlier, San Francisco it's not.

It's not a progressive community by any stretch of the imagination. Running scene isn't bad. Knoxville's is better.

Funny you mention Oxford. The fastest non-collegian runner around here (unless Mike Power decides to start running area races) is a guy in his mid-40's that lives in Oxford and ran at Ole Miss. Brian Pope. I think he got second at the Elvis race. Maybe Brian Baddorf is faster. Definitely younger.

But old age and treachery often overcome youth and enthusiasm.

Whatever you do, make sure you stop by Payne's for the best pulled pork sandwich of all time for lunch, and then hop on over to Central BBQ for the best ribs of all time.

PS. Don't go to Rendevous

I've lived in KC and Texas, and not one place I've tried holds a candle to Memphis. I make trips there just for the BBQ (and Tom Waits was playing the Orpheum).

Crime is not so bad in Memphis as long as you stay away from the innercity, where gangs feed off a couple of decades of single mother births, drugs and 40% HS dropout rates with no alternatives. But you have to be careful where the overlaps occur - I think over the years I've been called honky/cracker/mf about 30 times for stuff ranging from car jockeying, accidentally cutting in a checkout line to just walking down the street and being heckled by some black teens. The political elite have done a poor job on damage control regarding the schools, the welfare question and the rank patronage that occurs in all government entities. But just so everyone knows, I lived in New Orleans way before Katrina, and nothing will ever come close to the crime, violence and pestilence found in that gawdforsaken city. Miami is bad also. What you get there, in Memphis, Miami and US urban areas and innercities everywhere is this society's most aggressive cancer - one that continues to grow because nobody, regardless of race, has the political cojones to address it and deal with it.

karma police wrote:

I can't wait to get the hell out of here.

Go and go as fast as you can...

I'm near Nashville and I can say that I know quite a few people that have left Memphis and once they are out they never- EVER go back. I ve never spoken to someone that moved from that city that yearns for a trip "home."

areas to stay away from:

Frayser takes the cake on this one. Actually most of north Memphis is ghetto. Stay away from South Parkway, Shelby Dr/Kirby Pwky (Hickory Hood), Whitehaven, Orange Mound, and anything near the airport. However, finding section 8 tenants will not be a problem.

If you want suburbia try Cordova, Bartlett, Germantown, Arlington, Oakland.

IMO Midtown is good place to buy. It's been going through gentrification for a while.

Sure, Brian Pope is a force around here. He did indeed come in second, this year, in the Elvis 5K race. (I came in second in the 45-49 AG, but that's not the same thing. Don DiDonato, my age, came in 3rd OA, I think, and he was about three minutes faster.) Brian still holds the record for a nasty, hilly little 5K in Holly Springs, MS called the Killer Kudzu--something like 14:45 at age 41. Near the end it goes up at a 40 degree angle through a graveyard--thus the name.

This afternoon I ran into Barnabas Kirui on campus. Oxford is a pretty good place to be a runner these days.

well there were anout 5 or 6 replys that actually had info that would help me out (reason for starting this thread)...the rest of you have too much time on your hands and are the reason I hardly ever post on here...everybody else, thanks!

Out of state, I lived in Memphis for 34 years and recently moved to Arlington, TN. My wife sells commercial real estate, but has sold a few houses. Your original post did not indicate whether you would be renting or flipping these houses. House flipping is big in the Midtown area (Cooper Young/Central Gardens). We have flipped a few houses in this area several years ago when the trend was just getting started; however, the prices in that area have sky rocketed and, because of the age of most of thoses houses, there are numerous problems (i.e. plumbing/electrical/etc.) we have strayed from that.

We moved from Cordova, TN. and rented our house. I would not personally buy my personal home in this area, but a rental would be fine. The UofM (Highland) area is always a good area to buy in. They are older homes also, but a good many of the students rent in this area. If you are renting, you better research your prospective tenants, as getting them out is difficult to say the least (I know firsthand)!

I couldn't live within the city limits anymore due to many of the reasons of the previous posters (schools, gov't, taxes). Bartlett, Lakeland, Arlington, Collierville are still good and should stay that way. We thought about Germantown, but there are many bad areas in Germantown. The high school has one of the highest populations of gangs in the area. Yes, there are some nice homes in Germantown and it has a reputation of being upper class, but there's some trash there as well.

KudzuRunner wrote:

This afternoon I ran into Barnabas Kirui on campus. Oxford is a pretty good place to be a runner these days.

Pope was the fastest guy in Oxford, including Ole Miss' men's team, for a long time. I remember talking with their coach once and he mentioned that the guys on the team couldn't run intervals with him. Great for him. Sad for Ole Miss.

Barnabas has definitely given them something to smile about. I was at the SEC outdoor meet and that was an amazing performance. Not quiet as over the top as Alistair's triple a few years back, but damn close.

Congrats on your race, btw. Maybe I'll see you at Wild Oats.

:)

Jizzmo wrote:

Believe me- it's Chocolate City. You can call me a racist, but until you've lived in Memphis and seen how they do things (or more than often DON'T do things) you will come to some of the same conclusions.

Lived here for 26 years, thank you.

I lived in Frayser as a toddler in the early 60s. My Dad was finishing up his medical residency. it was a very nice newly developed suburb and was quite safe. guess some things have changed in 40+ years.

No its not wrote:

[quote]Jizzmo wrote:

Lived here for 26 years, thank you.

I feel for you. But then again, it's nice to know that Stockholm syndrome really exits.

Jizzmo wrote:

I feel for you.

Please, don't.

Is Memphis the best place in the world to live? No, probably not. For some people, though, it may be. Is it the worst place to live? Definitely not.

This city is what you want it to be. Like one of the above "locals" said, if all you want to see is the crime on the news, then that is all you will see.

Of all the things that bother me about this city, besides the government, the one thing that bothers me the most is people like you and Karma Police above. You refuse to see that there could possibly be any good in this city. Karma Police says he has been here since 1962, but can't wait to get out. Forty-five years is a long time to live someplace that you cannot wait to leave. What's stopping you? People that simply complain about what happens/does not happen in this city do nothing to help it. Get out and support something. Make a change. Living in your mother's basement would suck in any city in the world.

You can say bad things about any city. They all have their problems. Nashville is a place I would definitely consider living, but I would be mistaken to think I would escape all of the problems of Memphis. Where you are and what you do are simply what you make of them. I choose to make the most of where I live. I could do a lot worse.

Good post. I enjoy living here, and always have. There are great parks, food, culture, fishing, people, housing, etc. Most of the trash is in isolated areas anyway.

Nope. Didn't say that. In fact, I pointed out some of the positives. Your charge without merit.

However, if you read the local paper today and noticed the absolutely ridiculous attack on Cohen by a bunch of racist vipers, that's an example of what I'm talking about.

I don't see any chance of that changing any time soon, and I don't have time to wait for it. That cultural aspects permeates our city to the CORE.

Not only that, it's also dominated by religious fundamentalists living in a fantasy land.

Like most folks, family and business interests; however, that's getting ready to change.

I've been involved in this city and county. I've worked at the MSPJC, served on commissions and served on the board for a youth sports organization for seven years. Been to environmental meetings.

The place I'm going doesn't have serious racial problems. It has outdoor recreation. Mountains. Hiking. Good biking. More than one organic food store. A much smaller population. Low humidity. Snow! An educated populace with low crime. It's a progressive community that doesn't have Palo Alto or Boulder prices.

You stay here. I'll go there.

I miss seeing the Dempsey's !!!! Best band ever! Everytime I go back I have to see them.

It is funny, I couldn't wait to move away, but I have learned that there are a lot of things about Memphis that I miss. I lived on the edge of Midtown/East Memphis near UofM and it was decent. Definitely hear about crime vey close to where I lived but I guess since none of it happened to anyone I knew it didn't bother me as much.

People are friendly for the most part, traffic isn't bad, you can actually park downtown for nearly nothing, great festivals, TUNICA is close by, the running community is a lot of fun with a lot of fun races. You can golf all year round so what more can a person ask for???

Any large city over 300,000 is going to have its problem areas. You can choose to dwell on those, choose to look at the positives, or move on. I guess it took karma police 40 years to make that decision.

i just moved to midtown (right by rhodes) a month ago and i haven't had much of a problem with anything yet (and i working at a city school, so i'm not totally sheltering myself from what's out there). i don't watch the news or read the paper, but in my memphis life so far i haven't had any problems with crime or race. i think it's relatively nice for a big city, lots of trees, a couple big parks (including shelby farms), big roads that aren't ever that crowded.

i also think the racial mix is a welcome change from what i knew in philadelphia. back in philly, there were areas of the city that you never had to go through and there was nothing there for you, and they happened to be where most of the city's black population lived. in memphis, everything seems to be mixed up. you can drive south on east parkway and there's a row of mansions immediately to your west, then make a left turn, drive for 1-3 minutes and be in a really dumpy part of town. there's no hiding from people of another race in this city, you shop at the same grocery store as them and you're pumping gas at the same place. if anything, i feel safer here in memphis near these 'bad' areas than i did going through parts of philly where young white males rarely travelled.

i look forward to getting to know the city a bit better.