Public-private model shines at Shelby Farms
One of the more significant public-private partnerships in this community is coming to fruition with a series of events, beginning this weekend, trumpeting the completion of $52 million worth of improvements to Shelby Farms Park.
One of the smartest moves made by Shelby County government in recent years was to turn management of the 4,500-acre urban green-space oasis over to the nonprofit Shelby Farms Park Conservancy, which has made some $70 million worth of improvements.
Some $60 million of the $70 million was raised privately, with the public money coming from the state of Tennessee ($5 million), the county ($3 million) and city of Memphis ($150,000).
What the conservancy has been able to accomplish probably could not have been done by a county government that has more pressing funding obligations, ranging from public safety to education.
The grand feature of the improvements is the “Heart of the Park” project, which includes a new visitor center, a performance stage, an events facility and restaurant, thousands of newly planted trees, a major expansion of Patriot Lake and other amenities.
The initial event signaling the end of two years of construction comes Saturday evening, as The Kitchen, an eatery touted as a “world-class neighborhood restaurant,” hosts a grand-opening and fundraising event in the space it leases inside the FedEx Events Center on the eastern edge of Patriot Lake.
Therestaurantopensforregulardinnersfournights later, on Aug. 31, while The Kitchenette, a smaller café operated by the same Colorado-based company, opens in the new First Tennessee Foundation Visitor Center in mid-September.
The official ribbon-cutting for the Heart of the Park project is slated for 9 a.m. Thursday. It kicks off a “30 Days of Celebration” of events, ranging from yoga to hikes to bird-watching, to mark the park’s rebirth.
Shelby Farms was once a county penal farm, where inmates raised crops to feed themselves or sell to the state. Part of it was even a landfill.
When those uses ended, the park languished as the county entertained various reuse proposals, ranging from selling most of it to private investors, a place to relocate the Memphis Zoo or to build an amusement park.
Shelby Farms became a nice recreation area, but no major improvements took place until the county turned over operation of the park to the conservancy in 2006.
The conservancy’s staff and board, free of the politics that colored potential redevelopment efforts, brought vision and fundraising prowess to enhance Shelby Farms into a very special place.
The conservancy’s partnership with the county has become a model for what can be accomplished when government realizes that there are just some things the private sector can do better.
The same kind of partnership is taking place on a smaller scale between the city of Memphis and the Overton Park Conservancy, which has been able to use city and private funds to make important improvements to that Midtown jewel.
There are other public-private partnerships, of course, that are making an impact on the city. The conversion of the old Sears Tower into the Crosstown Concourse urban village and Bass Pro Shops at The Pyramid easily come to mind.
From a pure public amenity standpoint, `though, the enhancements to Shelby Farms make it a special place. “God accepts the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and repent soon afterward; to them will God turn in mercy.” 4:17
Memphis International Airport president Scott Brockman says “we’re going to get victories, but it’s going to be less than what they were a year ago” (Aug. 19 article, “Airport sees growth pace easing up; Carriers will monitor demand for added seats”). How encouraging .
This year I have flown out of Orlando, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and Charlotte, at all hours of the day and night, and all the shops, bars and restaurants were packed and hopping. Memphis was a ghost town. I flew into Greenville, North Carolina, which closes at midnight, and it was still more active than Memphis “International” Airport.
I’m going back to Las Vegas, and guess where I am flying out of? I would much rather drive to Little Rock and fly nonstop on Southwest for a cheaper fare than try to get multiple connections with much higher fares out of Memphis.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Brockman. Maybe we can get a cropduster company to make Memphis its hub.
In your Aug. 24 article “Council panel OKs pot ordinance,” Memphis City Council member Janis Fullilove said, “I think responsible weed smokers smoke their joints at home.”
This came from the woman who was busted more than once for driving under the influence. How does she think those responsible weed smokers get their weed home? Will she deliver it? Can she, legally, drive?
Councilman Joe Brown said: ”Drugs is a demon.” Brown and Fullilove were the ones who rejected a reduced penalty for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Free our police to deal with real crimes, like meth, crack cocaine, heroin and, yeah, drunken driving.
What exactly is the Memphis City Council’s Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee thinking? Marijuana is illegal at the federal and state level in Tennessee (Aug. 24 article, “Council panel OKs pot ordinance”).
Regardless of someone’s opinion on pot, passing an ordinance to decriminalize something on a local level that is a federal and state offense is just plain dumb.
This action will result in more local interference by the high and mighty egomaniacs in Nashville. Did anyone think about the deannexation situation while they were voting on this proposal?
The phrase “stupid is what stupid does” immediately popped into my mind when I read this article.
Regarding the Aug. 21 article “Haslam alters board guiding oil spill fund”: If this isn’t conflict of interest, then Webster’s needs to rewrite its definition.
It’s yet another example of Republican self-interest and corruption under the guise of government deregulation to stick it to the taxpaying public.
I’m embarrassed to live in a state where so many citizens can’t see the forest for the trees.
There is much in the news today about price gouging of essential drugs by unscrupulous and unethical drug companies. The people running these businesses should not only be prosecuted, they should be persecuted.
Our esteemed Republican legislators didn’t know they would run afoul of federal highway funds when they changed the DUI law (Aug. 25 article, “State’s flub of DUI law could be expensive”)?
What a bunch of idiot yahoos.