This blog contains new measurement insights with questions that might be asked in a typical political discourse where an anti-taxpayer conspiracy was not at play. There is no social justice or fiscal conservatism with the persistence of runaway elitism that supports $90M in recurring annual tax incentives. 

Furthering local decline, there is an ongoing, elitist and premeditated conspiracy occurring in Memphis and Shelby County. Amidst new budget concerns, that have been in the pipeline for some time, the elitist conspiracy is being carried out by a vast and diverse public-private complex on the back of a Memphis community in need. 

It’s premeditated because the public-private complex thrives without measurement, legislative oversight or course correction when public funding initiatives fail to achieve desired results and while the same people are rewarded. A conspiracy only takes 7 votes in local legislative bodies. But with regard to the County Commission, the conspiracy is unanimous. 

Abating boards, such as the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE), routinely appear before legislative bodies where data supported concerns of bogus projection accounting, excessive incentives or botched workforce development efforts are never confronted or investigated while the same people are sustained when achieveing deficient results. All of this occurring, while corporate/real estate interests, for the small few, thrive on the back of a Memphis community in need. 

As an example, the same person, Al Bright was recently reappointed to Chair the EDGE Board for another 8 years with a unanimous vote and without any questioning ! Bright, a corporate attorney, could hold no jockstraps in defending the deficient results of the EDGE Board while the reappointment insults taxpayers on so many levels.

Local legislators, in effect, disregard checks and balances found in rotating board appointments while rewarding Bright with a 16 yr overall term with the reappointment. Then, taxpayers are further insulted with the messaging that there is no one else capable in all of Shelby County in Chairing the EDGE Board. And investigative questions by legislative bodies or the press are never posed.

Below are some questions with new data insights that would typically be posed, on the record, in a non-conspiratorial legislative environment (with some rhetorical spin).

How Much Is being abated and spent on economic development Countywide ?

Nobody knows the answer to this question. First, because the question is never posed by legislators and secondly because there are no published reports that reveal the answer. Taxpayers can get a gauge of local incentives excessiveness by reviewing the 2019 State of TN Comptroller Report.

The report reveals that Shelby County has 512 parcels under PILOT contract, Davidson 35, Knox 68 and Hamilton 38. Review of this report, should lead one to conclude that the use of tax incentives are excessive in Shelby County. This reality thwarts tax revenue growth.  

Another report that can be used is the 2018 Shelby County Trustee Report. The above analysis assumes City/County participation in abatements and makes calculations for City taxes if City taxes are not broken out in the report, on page 6, as is the case with Arlington and Millington. If this assumption is incorrect, please let me know and I will correct the above analysis. 

Based on the former assumption, almost $90M in taxes are being abated across all of Shelby County per year. And that $90M does not include TIFs and local government grants. There is not a known report for TIFs and grants. Nor is there a report that forecasts PILOT revenue and abatements going forward. So the total for all incentives for all of Shelby County appears to be well north of $90M per year and will be for some time to come.  

With respect to the Shelby County budget, its safe to conclude there is $25M+ excess in tax incentives per year based on previous benchmarking done by this blog. But no one seems to know the total amount of local incentives countywide as the conspiracy prevents discussions and comprehensive consolidated reporting on the matter while such reporting should relate PILOT recipients to their landlord. The previously proposed local small business  tax incentive fiscal note impact (TIFNI) platform solution would have provided consolidated reporting and a tool for right sizing abatements. But that solution was kneecapped by the conspiracy. 

The closed Memphis elitist system and conspiracy hates problem solving, taxpayer advocacy and local small business solutions that will help move Memphis forward. That is one reason why Memphis has a struggling small business sector and slow economic growth. 

And also, current questions for the City of Memphis regarding their 2018 PILOT Report involve the absence of a Valero PILOT payment and low tax rate based on their reported capital investment and the absence of the 2013 Nike PILOT appearing in the report. 

Can Anyone Hold a Jockstrap ?

No. Nobody can hold any jockstraps on defending the FedEx/Memphis Tomorrow public-private complex that is down in all categories. It now appears former County Chief Financial Officer, Chris McLean, came in saw what was left over from the Luttrell Administration and fought through one budget year. Then McLean, picked up, booked and got the hell out.

In addition to the excessive corporrate/real estate incentives, the collective conspiracy botched the workforce development system while stifling the small business sector resulting in deficient total wage growth leading to $27.5M in annually recurring Shelby County Tax revenue shortfalls. 

Conclusion – Its a Revenue Problem

While there are always ways to reduce spending, the primary Shelby County Budget challenge stems from excessive abatements and slow total wage growth that lead to tax revenue shortfalls. The total Shelby County revenue shortfall from excessive abatements and slow total wage growth is approximately $52.5M per year. 

But the conspiracy does not allow for investigations or discussions regarding revenue shortfalls from deficient economic and workforce development initiatives. So taxpayers can look forward to service cuts or significant increases in taxes/fees occurring on the back of a Memphis community in need. There is no social justice or fiscal conservatism in the face of runaway elitism…..

With structural budget problems, local social justice and fiscal conservative government efficiency efforts are a pack of lies in the face of runaway elitism. On balance, such efforts in Memphis are merely symbolic while serving as camouflage for runaway elitism. There is no social justice or fiscal conservatism in the face of runaway elitism.

The creation of the fiscally liberal Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) was sold on the basis of government efficiency and fiscal conservatism. And Black History Month was capped off last week with the unanimous reappointment of Al Bright as EDGE Board Chair.

EDGE was born out of the FedEx/Memphis Tomorrow complex that is down in all categories over 20 years while their initiatives use taxpayer money. And as EDGE Chair, Bright has marshalled 8 years of runaway elitism on the back of a majority black community in need. During the last 8 years, excessive corporate/real estate incentives have roared for the benefit of the small few, while small business has struggled and the workforce development system has been systematically botched using taxpayer funds. 

Getting the tax rate right will help but it won’t make up $85M. The data suggests, the chief challenge is confronting a rigged elitist system where there is no legislative division. Productive division, rhetoric and political blame is needed in the system to check runaway elitism. In legislatures outside of Memphis, one will hear productive rhetoric within debate such as “corporate welfare”, “elitist giveaway” and “elitism”. But not in Memphis. 

Local legislators will not even consider the data, discuss the existence of excessive tax incentives or the perils of an unchecked FedEx/Memphis Tomorrow public-private complex that has resulted in competitive ecosystem decline over the last 20 years. Fred Smith and Pitt Hyde are celebrated as “visionaries” when the truth is they are not even “revisionists” over the last 20 years which would be exercised through course correction within the public-private complex. 

The above mutes taxpayer advocacy while labeling data supported taxpayer outrage as name calling within a rigged system. In the current environment, introducing legislation that appropriately blames the FedEx/Memphis Tomorrow complex for 20 years of deficient results would be a productive oversight check of the public-private complex. After all, the taxpayer in a Memphis community in need, takes the blame everyday while over $1B in deficient community investments can be accounted for under the unchecked FedEx/Memphis Tomorrow complex. 

Structural Budget Issues and No Oversight

Based on testimony from County Chief Financial Officer, Mathilde Crosby, Shelby County has structural budget issues or not enough projected revenue in relationship to projected spending. This problem has been brewing for a while. Legislators questioned Crosby on an increase in assessment appeals and tax collections. But they did not address the structural revenue issues that pertain to economic development where legislative oversight has not occurred over the public-private complex. 

The fact is in Shelby County, a lack of legislative oversight enables deficient public-private corporate community leadership. The former enables deficient economic development results and that begets deficient revenue with growing expenditures to support growth. All occurring in a closed system, while rewarding the same people for deficient results.

Given the  Shelby County Trustees Report $51M in PILOTs and previous benchmarking done here, $25M per year can be shown to be excessive. Couple that that with deficient below peer average total wage growth, that equates to $27M per year in deficient Shelby County tax revenues and the total is $52M. That $52M is approximately 6.5% in property tax revenue or a 26 cents property tax increase. $27M in total wage growth deficiency can be attributed to a botched workforce development system and a culturally stifled small business sector as corporate elitism thrives. 

The structural budget issue is predictable and has been brewing for a while in the economic development complex. But the FedEx/Memphis Tomorrow system operates unchecked while taxpayer advocacy is muted and ecosystem decline is normalized while the small few prosper. 

Conclusion

Its unfortunate that local legislative bodies so readily dismisses data driven dissent, the local citizenry, community activism and its own small business sector.

In a recent crowd sourcing project, regarding the reappointment of Al Bright, participants that included locally known leaders were polled on how they would label such reappointments of the same people while abandoning checks and balances found in rotating board appointments. The following rhetorical terms were returned in the poll: “runaway elitism”, “racist elitism”, “assholism” and “institutional oppression”. 

While small savings and improvements in revenue collection can be found, deficient corporate community leadership and runaway elitism that feeds on a Memphis community in need is the chief structural budget culprit. 

Meanwhile, mere citizen taxpayer advocacy in the local discourse and in the face of runaway elitism is dismissed and not engaged while being seen as “inappropriate”. That is what they do here. The elitists carjack and rip people off and when folks publicly complain, they are labeled “inappropriate”. 

Maybe that is a good bit of the problem…..

Local workforce development practitioners are being asked to be productive effectively blindfolded and without data. Since October, I have attended 4 workforce development meetings, led by highly competent professionals and facilitators, that I know would not choose to convene a large number of professionals on multiple occasions without any data. In fact, such gatherings without data, results in diminished productivity while costing taxpayers. 

In the pipeline, since October after 5 years without data and the persistence of disconnected workforce development efforts, the community awaits a report from Burning Glass. Burning Glass is a company out of Boston who does labor market analysis. Labor market analysis is endless and never perfect, while in most environments, at least some form of summary data is provided to local professionals so they can be productive in their work while awaiting final report production.  But not in Memphis. 

To that extent, routinely it is said by practitioners in these meetings, that go back well beyond October that “we meet all the time and nothing happens”. It’s true. Disconnected workforce development efforts have persisted for 5 years in Memphis costing taxpayers an estimated and now recurring $15M per year.  Additionally, fundamental questions and themes commonly emerge from such meetings with no specific answers while wasting valuable time and taxpayer money. Some of these questions are below. 

What’s The Goal and How do We Measure it (Data Requirement) ?

Concerns of showing up on time and drug use, which are voiced throughout the country, are often voiced as obstructions to employment. But, in many ways, those areas reside outside of the control of the education sector. At the same time, increasing post-secondary completion rates resides within the control of the education sector while targeting grades 8 thru adult. The fact is, when compared to its peer counties and based on its population, Shelby County needs to increase post-secondary completion rates by 6,000 per year across all award levels.

Sample Goal: Increase post-secondary completions across all award levels by 1,500 per year with an increased focus on 1 and 2 year awards over the next 4 years.

What about career planning, awareness and soft skill development ?

This is a data, curriculum and marketing requirement. In order to increase the post secondary completion rates, career planning and navigation must be implemented in the standards based academic curriculum for all students starting in middle school and continuing in high school. This curriculum work is not limited to career and technical education participants but is for ALL students so that enrollments and completion rates will increase for in demand post-secondary career pathways.

In this way, through curriculum integration, its not additional content for educators to deliver but just part of the academic curriculum where the discrete in demand soft skills, as identified by data, are integrated into the academic curriculum experience.

This curricular experience alerts students and parents to in demand career opportunities that align to students interests, preferences and skills while educators address academic standards and promote State of Tennessee measured Early Post-Secondary Opportunities (EPSOs)

Sample Goal: Develop initial standards based curriculum templates that promotes EPSOs by the end 0f 2019-20 school year for initial implementation in 2020-21 with supporting professional development occurring in the Summer of  2020

What about professional development for educators ?

Because most educators career paths consist of them going to school, college and going to school to work, they lack confidence in discussing career content that resides outside of academia. To that extent,  professional development and standards based academic content is needed to help them increase their confidence. There are programs to support this need such as this Pennsylvania Teacher in the Workplace Program.

At the same time, Memphis is fortunate to have the Junior Achievement (JA) Biz Town facility that is designed to model the local economy through scenario based learning. This facility, typically used for student learning, would be excellent for educator professional development to expedite educator career content professional development at scale while boosting the revenues and visibility of Memphis JA. This JA experience would of course coincide with other professional development opportunities. 

Sample Goal: Design educator professional development that leverages JA Biz Town for Summer 2020 delivery

What about Funding and Wraparound services ?

Locally, wraparound services have come to mean all of those services that financially complement the traditional education experience in areas like public transit, child care and  funding for books in for example what is found with the Southwest Community College Foundation. Wraparound services is largely a funding requirement to boost and improve existing programming for increasing post-secondary completion rates. Additionally, greater funding is needed for workforce development within the context of overall economic development. 

Sample Goal: Equipped with an economic development business case,  publicly advocate for increased public-private funding for workforce development, in legislative Chambers on a regular basis, while requesting specific amounts of funding.

Conclusion

At least some recognized summary form of labor market data is needed to facilitate productive workforce development planning and goal setting efforts. Without it, taxpayers time and money is being wasted…

I 

Using research, anyone can become an expert in proving excessive corporate/real estate incentives exist in Memphis and Shelby County. These 3 below documents provide support for the existence of a minimum of $300M+ in excessive incentives. The former results in $25 to $35M in annual Memphis/Shelby tax revenue shortfalls due to excessive incentive policy. This represents $25-35M per year not going to true economic development like public transit, workforce and small business development. See below:

Tennessee Comptroller 2018 PILOT Report – One only has to count in the PILOT report the number of parcels under PILOT contract in each of the municipalities in the State of Tennessee. If one does that, it will be revealed that Shelby County has 431, Davidson 25, Knox 52 and Hamilton 38 parcels under PILOT contract. Benchmarking against the greatest holder in Knox County at 52 parcels under PILOT and prorating based on Shelby County’s greater population by 2x the existence of 104 parcels under PILOT contract could be defended for Memphis/Shelby. The excess from this evaluation results in a 327 parel PILOT excess when compared to Knox County and greater when compared to Nashville/Davidson County.  

Making Sense of Incentives – Dr. Timothy Bartik’s research, primarily on state tax incentives programs, provides a methodology for evaluating local job incentives programs. If one applies Bartik’s research, as modeled in his research, they will multiply EDGE Scorecard claimed revenues by 12.5%. As of 2/23/20. EDGE claimed revenues are $1,426,974,324. This will translate into the following evaluation: $1,426,974,374 x .125 = $178,371,796 in adjusted revenue. Next one takes adjusted revenues and subtracts $592,846,121 in abatements to arrive at net tax revenue in the following evaluation:  $178,371,796 – $592,846,121 = $(414,474,325) in projected taxpayer losses. This equates to approximately $35M per year in defiicient Memphis/Shelby tax revenues due to excessive incentives.

Benchmarking Research –  The following benchmarking research conducted by this blog reveals a $320M excess in EDGE awarded incentives. Using data as of the end of 2018 from EDGE, The Indianapolis Business Journal, Nashville.gov and The Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Memphis/Shelby incentives are benchmarked against two municipal peers in Indianapolis and Nashville. Additionally, macroeconomic data regarding small business vitality and gross domestic product is also contained which reveals tax incentive policy has not worked for the overall Memphis/Shelby economy. $320M equates to approximately $25M in deficient Memphis/Shelby taxpayer revenue shortfalls dues to excessive incentives. 

The above can be used as research based tool in making the business case to redirect economic funding more toward true economic development in workforce, transit and small business. After all, workforce and small business are the chief economic growth drivers of local economies. 

Everyone’s heard, “Memphis would be nothing without FedEx”. Stated over and over, in various ways, the former becomes a governing belief system that fuels a public beat down and corporate runaway elitism on the back of a Memphis community in need. With documentation, this blog will discuss how a beat down leads to an actual up to $3M FedEx taxpayer “carjack” involving its World Trade Center. It’s a metaphorical carjacking, in the sense, that it is financially what might as well be happening to the taxpayer. 

Fred Smith created and administered the growth of FedEx. But the fact is, the Memphis taxpayer built FedEx. This fact is missing from the local discourse. Recently, in a story on Fred Smith, Michael Nelson of the Daily Memphian (DM), reminded locals that Memphis is Shreveport without FedEx – a beat down that paves the way for excessive incentives and runaway corporate elitism. Michael, C’mon Man, the Memphis taxpayer built FedEx !

The local press and university community avoids raising questions of elitist policies. And the Daily Memphian’s, Dr. Otis Sanford who serves as University of Memphis Hardin Chair of Economic Excellence and Managerial Journalism, who one would think would write about such economic subject matter, instead go, focuses on political commentary for the DM. 

All the while, corporate elitism remains unquestioned in the local discourse, even though research based documentation reveals $300M+ in excessive local tax incentives. In this way, there is no progressive social justice or fiscal conservatism while leaving corporate elitism locally unchecked.

But the Shelby Count Mayor and County Commissioners are well on their way to the indefensible reappointing of Al Bright as EDGE Board Chair and one of the primary authors of local runaway elitism. And if reappointed, Bight will serve 16 yrs, longer than local officials can serve. Mayor and County Commission, C’mon Man !

The Carjack

So how does this metaphorical FedEx WTC carjack occur? Well like any other carjack occurs, with a beat down vulnerable target and an unlocked door or window as an access point. In this case, the public sector is beat down believing they are nothing without FedEx. Then their is ambiguous PILOT contract language as the access point. 

This email chain, obtained from the County, reveals the ambiguous contract language of “substantial completion” as the access point for the FedEx WTC PILOT extension.  It’s virtually impossible to verify or define “substantial completion” 20 years ago. But one can verify that more than 50% of the value of real property building permits were pulled 1 year prior to the FedEx WTC PILOT start date of 12/31/97 for a 20 year PILOT that was originally scheduled to expire on 12/31/17. 

If the public sector were not vulnerable and beat down, the answer to FedEx is: “FedEx, we appreciate your business but we can’t do that at this time based on our records that indicate there was substantial completion at the time the PILOT started on 12/31/97. With that stated, we are happy to begin your new 75% tax abatement that will expire in 2032. This will, in effect, give you a 35 year 82% tax abatement.”

But that is not what happened with an overall  82% 35 year PILOT not good enough for FedEx. FedEx wanted to stay on their old 100% PILOT and not go on the new 75% PILOT that was approved in 2016. Here is what happened:

In 2017, FedEx initiates contact with the Collierville Industrial Development Board attorney and requests an extension to the 100% PILOT based on ambiguous “substantial completion” contract language. 

Collierville IDB contacts Shelby County Assessors office and without negotiation, the Assessor’s office agrees to the extension without Collierville IDB public meeting approval.

In 2019, there must have been some type of lapse in implementation, where similar emails were sent, with this time, an attorney intervening notifying the Shelby County Trustee’s office of the PILOT extension.

Using values contained in the email chain, the total carjack potential cost of the original PILOT extension to Shelby County taxpayers is $3.3M. See below table. 

Hey FedEx, even with high property tax rates, Memphis is a nationally low business cost operation center. C’mon Man ! 

Conclusion

There is no progressive social justice or fiscal conservatism while rewarding and allowing a rigged system and runaway elitism to persist. Historical and research based root cause analysis reveals that flat property tax revenues exist due to excessive corporate/real estate incentives.

Blame should be assessed to the political advocates of such elitist policy while rewarding the public with greater political access,  genuine social justice and fiscal conservatism as expressed through rigorous oversight and taxpayer advocacy.

Besides, the FedEx/Memphis Tomorrow complex already owes the taxpayer $1.5B. Don’t listen to them or the donor driven Daily Memphian.  

And C’mon Man ! Memphis remember, you built FedEx……

Below are the properties for which FedEx gets City and County tax exemptions or abatements which amount up to approximately $14M per year. The exempt property list was obtained through a Shelby County Assessor public information request. If there are any disputes with the below calculations, please email me at jkent@pathtrek.net.

In the face of runaway elitism, data supported political rhetoric is not allowed in the Memphis public discourse. In fact, mere press reporting that would point readers to the existence of excessive corporate/real estate incentives, for the benefit of the small few, seems locally disallowed. 

While the Commercial Appeal and Tri-State Defender have allowed me to publish editorials on excessive incentives, their own writers have yet to persist in calling out excessive corporate/real estate incentives. And Eric Barnes, of the Daily Memphian, won’t even consider a data supported editorial, from me as a local blogger, that proves the existence of excessive incentives. Barnes rejects editorial submissions, without reading them, on the basis of “name calling” that appears in private blogs. 

The former keeps Memphis in a bubble resulting in an ignorant educated electorate, while sheltering runaway elitism that occurs on the back of a community in need. Barnes would perhaps prefer dissenting opinion on economic development to say, “misdirected” or something like that. But its much more than just “misdirected”. 

If one just progresses through the known facts of bogus accounting by EDGE to justify excessive incentives over 8 years ,which has been published by both reputable local and statewide sources and then couple that with the lack of legislative oversight, one logically arrives at “systemic” and “intentional” excessive incentives persisting on the back of a community in need. Rhetorically, there is no other way to describe this other than “carjacking the taxpayer” and”hack elitism”. 

After 8 years of excessive incentives, such provoking rhetoric should be expected in the public discourse through the fundamental practice of taxpayer advocacy where incentives can be shown to be $300M+ in excess. Instead, taxpayer advocacy and discussions of “elitism” seem crowded out in the public discourse with instead persistent discussions of “racism”. Basic taxpayer advocacy is blaspheme!

The overamplification of racism can have the effect of dividing middle class taxpayers along racial lines while elitism persists. After all, elitist policies are systematically being carried out and protected by a highly diverse public-private complex. This blog believes that social justice starts with taxpayer justice which has been sacrificed by a non-reporting press, lacking university thought leadership and legislative oversight.  

Nonreporting Press

Otis Stanford, who writes opinion for The Daily Memphian (DM), also serves as the University of Memphis (UofM) Hardin Chair of Excellence in Economic and Managerial Journalism. The tentacles of the local press extend into the university community with also Michael Nelson, a Daily Memphian columnist, on staff at Rhodes. 

I don’t recall, mostly political journalist Sanford, ever using his DM platform to write about economic development other than cheering on the excessive incentives of the Union Row project. So much for Jabie Hardin’s, who I knew, contribution and Chair of Economic Excellence. And Nelson recently wrote, in an article about Fred Smith referencing another’s remarks “Memphis without FedEx is Shreveport”. This excerpt arguably helps to further the local subservient mentality. 

This local press’ extension into the university community makes one wonder, what is the next generation of journalist being taught? To not report and investigate ? The investigative journalism partnership between the Daily Memphian and The University of Memphis just seems to have never got off the ground. I once met with Marc Perrusquia, who is over the UofM investigative journalism partnership. Perrusquia seemed interested in my economic data for a potential investigative report but that story seems to have been squashed somewhere in the system. 

But just for a moment, forget about investigative journalism. How about just basic reporting from the traditional media that would reveal excessive economic development incentives ? After the recent excessive UPS award for $38M, for a mere 25 jobs and $260M in capital investment, all a local reporter has to do is google to find the recent UPS incentive awards for Atlanta and Louisville. 

Atlanta awarded $27M in incentives for 250 jobs and a $461M capital investment and Louisville awarded $40M for 1,000 jobs and a $750M capital investment prior to the Memphis UPS award. At the time of the Memphis award, it was clear that UPS was making geographic investments with arguably nowhere else to go other than Memphis but was locally awarded $38M in incentives for only 25 local jobs.

While considering the higher tax rate, the EDGE Board in one meeting, left at least $20M+ of the $38M on the table in excess. But no local comparative press reporting occurred. The socially driven local establishment hates comparative data on incentives, so the local press avoids its reporting, leaving the taxpayer ignorant and holding the bag.

Or then again the local press could just pull the State of TN Comptrollers report and find that Shelby County has 431 parcels under PILOT contract while Nashville-Davidson has 25, Chattanooga-Hamilton 38 and Knox County 52. This would be strong evidence for the existence of excessive tax incentives. But the press won’t report it. Nor will Otis Sanford, Daily Memphian columnist and UofM Hardin Chair of Excellence in Economic and Managerial Journalism, opine about the report in the Daily Memphian. 

Or the local press could have critically written about a $3M grant to the UofM for a $19M tennis center without hearing competitive proposals or considering any economic impact justification. And then there was the recent $3.3M Shelby County grant to Memphis River Parks Partnership that contained no taxpayer deliverables or time frames which the local press chose not to question. 

And last but not least, the local press could critically write about Memphis Tomorrow. But no one does while normalizing decline. 

Conclusion

Its much more about pageantry and symbolism in Memphis than progress. Taking down the statues took center stage and that works as the best argument for taking down the statues that I have read in effect states that there was momentum for taking the statues down, people wanted them down, they needed to come down and they came down. That works for the community as a whole ! 

But economic development substance is lacking in Memphis. It must be stated that Andrew Young, one of the primary early architects of the explosive growth of Atlanta, blew off spending time on taking down statues calling it symbols over substance. So Young and his peers focused on substance and Atlanta grew.

Meanwhile, in Memphis, overamplification of racism crowds out basic taxpayer advocacy in the news cycle while potentially dividing common folk as runaway elitism persists. I say elitism after witnessing a highly diverse public-private complex defecating on a Memphis community in need through unmeasured and botched taxpayer funded initiatives and excessive corporate/real estate incentives for the benefit of the small few. Memphis does not seem to know how to grow while only knowing how to feed on its own people in a community in need.

And I can’t say it enough., the FedEx/Memphis Tomorrow public-private complex is below average and down in all categories, over almost 20 yrs, while their initiatives use your federal, state and local tax dollars. The accumulated debt to the community is $100B in GDP shortfalls, $50B in wages and $1.5B to taxpayers. 

In the end the Memphis public-private complex follows the elitist corporate socialists in Pitt Hyde and Fred Smith. But just sayin, elitism is the parent of racism and deserves more attention in the public discourse along with basic taxpayer advocacy….