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| "The people of Memphis called for a change, and that call has not gone unheard," Mayor Jim Strickland told a capacity crowd after he was sworn in on Jan. 1 at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. (Photo: Wiley Henry) |
The campaign was intense, but Strickland had promised to
shake up government if the electorate would send him to city hall to govern
from the seventh floor suite overlooking downtown Memphis and the Mississippi
River.
“You are looking at
the biggest shakeup in Memphis city government in a quarter of a century – and
we are just getting started,” said Strickland, speaking to a capacity crowd at
The Cannon Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 1, the day he was sworn in as
mayor of Memphis.
Strickland was given the oath of office by his law school
ethics professor, Judge Bernice Donald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Sixth Circuit. She also gave the oath to Kay S. Robilio, the new City Court
Clerk, and all 13 new and re-elected members of the Memphis City Council.
Kemp Conrad, the incoming council chairman, compared the New
Year to a blank page that could be filled with “a better government…more open,
more responsive, more cooperative…and more focused on results.”
“Let us set aside
ambivalence and misunderstanding,” he said. “Let us put away indifference and
division and let us cast out isolated concerns. Let the next chapter be about
cooperation. We’re greater as a sum when all of us work together.
Strickland recognized his predecessor, mayor A C Wharton
Jr., before laying out his agenda for the next four years. “Mayor Wharton, you
are, and have always been, a credit to your family, the profession of law, and
the city you love,” he said.
Strickland beat the incumbent 2-to-1 in the no-holds-barred mayoral
contest and won the favor of voters who tapped him as a change agent who could lead
Memphis to fiscal responsibility while curtailing violent crime.
“The people of
Memphis called for change, and that call has not gone unheard,” Strickland said.
Wharton had served as Shelby County mayor for seven years
prior to being elected mayor of Memphis. He served six years, but lost a second
term in the Oct. 8, 2015, election, presumably, because he’d reduced the city’s
pension plan and increased the city’s health benefits plan.
Wharton drew the ire of Memphis policemen and firemen in
particular who vehemently protested the revamped pension plan and health
benefits. As a result, 10 percent of the police force called in sick in what
was known then as the “Blue Flu.” The mayor would grow battle-weary and find
himself mired too deep in debate.
Memphis is approximately 65 percent black and nearly 30
percent white, comprising a total population of 646,889, according to the latest
data from the U.S. Census Bureau. However, there are 364,669
registered voters – and 101,679 of them split the votes between 10 candidates.
Elections, past and present,
have been racially
polarizing, but Strickland is the first to break the color barrier since Dr.
Willie W. Herenton beat Richard C. “Dick” Hackett in 1991 by a mere 142 votes.
Wharton would succeed Herenton, who’d served five terms.
After assembling a 150-member transition team, Strickland
began moving people into key positions. He replaced many of the holdovers from
the Wharton administration with his own team to build his administration.
“On Election Night, I told the people of Memphis that on
Jan. 1, we would have ‘new eyes to solve old problems.’”
Strickland kept his eyes on the prize (City Hall), promising
to reduce and restructure city government. He reiterated that point in his
address, saying, “We have restructured government in an unprecedented way to
save tax dollars.”
He also said more women will be brought into his administration
in leadership positions than ever before.
Charles Nelson, an employee with Memphis Area Transit
Authority (MATA), who stumped for Strickland on the campaign trail, could be
heard between applauses shouting, “Go, Jim, go!” He seemed to relish every word.
Strickland continued, revving up his address and punctuating
it with key points.
“Over the next four years,” he said. “I will do
everything in my power to restore trust where it is broken and hope where it is
lost. I will work every day to make our streets safer and our city
stronger – to create jobs and increase wages – to provide better roads and
transportation, and to improve the quality and service of city government.”
He noted that public safety is
at the forefront of rebuilding Memphis. “We will focus on the goal of retaining
and recruiting quality police officers and firefighters,” he said, promising to
bring both departments up to their full complements.
He also said families should
feel safe and children should have a chance. “It is unacceptable that because
of a child’s circumstance or station in life, they too often become the victims
or perpetrators of crime; and we know of them only through a mug shot or
memorial – a child we failed to reach.”
The problems are too vast to
be solved by government alone, said Strickland, and too big to be solved
overnight. The solutions, he added, rest with each of us, doing our part, and
that the responsibility is now ours – Memphians.
The mayor said he’ll work
with public and private partners to expand early childhood programs, provide
greater access to parks, libraries and community centers, and increase the
number of summer youth and jobs programs to help young people.
Strickland will announce this
month a partnership with the State and the West Tennessee Drug Taskforce to target
and remove gang leaders from the streets and to force those who are threatening
and recruiting kids out of the neighborhoods.
He also plans to introduce a
legislative package that will include enhanced sentences for repeat domestic
violence offenders, and will allow law enforcement to seek immediate emergency
orders of protection for victims.
“Let this be crystal clear; it is a new day in
Memphis,” the mayor said matter-of-factly. “We will no longer tolerate
those that violate the safety of our citizens.”
Nelson approved.
“Go, Jim, go!”
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