The Early Word: MATA’s new board takes the wheel, and Aloft hotel lifts off
Here’s hoping your week is already off to a great start. It’s Monday, Oct. 21, and Baptist Health Sciences is hosting a symposium for girls interested in health and science careers. Jamila Smith-Young, the first lady of Memphis, is the keynote speaker.
Looking ahead, you have a little more than 24 hours to get your name in the proverbial hat for free tickets to the Memphis Tigers football homecoming game against Charlotte, set for this coming Saturday. Enter to win here before midnight tomorrow. And speaking of looking ahead, This Week in Memphis will help you plan your week.
The Memphis Area Transit Authority’s new board will meet for the first time on Tuesday, and the main order of business will likely be TransPro’s scathing consultant report on the state of the troubled transit system. The report suggests MATA needs more buses, even though route cuts were approved by the previous board just weeks ago. Memphis Mayor Paul Young, who scrapped that old board and appointed the new members, hopes the MATA board will pause the approved route and staff cuts. The TransPro report also recommends MATA shelve its planned high-frequency bus line “until they can meet the basic needs of the customer.” We’ve also got a look at all of MATA’s new board members.
There’s a new 154-room hotel in Downtown Memphis with a rooftop bar, a movie theater, a Topgolf Swing Suite and several other amenities. The three-star Aloft Memphis hotel, located in the former Tenoke Building on B.B. King Boulevard, was supposed to open about 20 years ago, but the 2008 recession and the pandemic both pushed the timeline way, way back.
Plus, gun thefts from cars are way up, Yuki is sticking around and a big quake could shake us up at any time.
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. In her days as a reporter, she covered everything from local government and crime to LGBTQ issues and the arts. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South,” a cookbook of vegan Southern recipes.
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