A cadre of Memphis business executives is seeking urgent help from the State of Tennessee on Shelby County’s crime issues and is raising questions about the city’s economic future without that aid. 

The Greater Memphis Chamber’s Chairman’s Circle — a group of about 170 executives from the city’s largest businesses — delivered a version of a letter addressing the issues to the state’s leadership Wednesday morning, Jan. 10.

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Richard Smith, CEO of FedEx Airline and International, a subsidiary of Memphis-based FedEx Corp., was one such signatory in the series of letters to Gov. Bill Lee, House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally. 

“This community has become untenable for many of our team members and their families, and if something isn’t done to get the crime epidemic under control, I fear for Memphis’ viability as a city where businesses choose to locate, or remain,” Smith said to The Daily Memphian.

The executives asked for changes to state sentencing laws, the possible appointment of outside judges to try criminal cases in Shelby County, aid for the Shelby County Public Defender’s Office, $50 million for “Tourist zone” safety, stiffening prison sentences, making possession of a stolen firearm a felony and exposing cars caught drag-racing to civil forfeiture. 

The letter also asks the Tennessee General Assembly to pass State Sen. Brent Taylor’s “bail reform measures,” legislation aimed at raising cash bail and who sets it and removing considerations for the person’s economic status. 

“In the aftermath of the global pandemic, our businesses and personal practices have normalized; meanwhile, two civic pillars have not rebounded — our local judicial system and law enforcement agencies,” the letter said. “The data is clear. Shelby County is experiencing a resurgence of organized crime, an increase in violent crimes committed with a firearm, and a sustained lack of criminal prosecution originally caused by the global pandemic.”

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Memphis’ business community also singled out the city’s gang problem. 

“Organized crime has played an outsize role in Shelby County. Street gangs are actively recruiting ‘opportunity youth,’ terrorizing everyday Tennesseans, and brazenly acting with impunity due to the lack of criminal prosecutions,” the letter said. 

The executives cite former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s paid study of the criminal court system, which concluded that only about 40 trials had occurred in 2023 compared to 200 or so before the pandemic. They also note comments from Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court Division 11 Judge Karen Massey, who called the Shelby County Public Defender’s office and its staffing issues a “sad state of affairs.”

“We wanted to get these requests in early,” Ted Townsend, CEO of Greater Memphis Chamber, said Wednesday of the letter and the specific requests. “We wanted leadership in both the Legislature as well as Governor Lee’s office to understand that the business community is leading from the front with these expectations or more resources and more partnerships.” 

The chamber executive noted Shelby County’s importance to the state and regional economy, and amid crime concerns, it needs investment from a government with more resources than local governments. 

“We want a co-investment partner. We want a policy partner in Nashville because we know that the best interest of the state’s economy is for Memphis to be a thriving economy itself,” Townsend said. 

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Business class push comes after years of declining sentiment

The worried message from a slew of executives to the state’s Republican leadership follows months of public statements from some who signed the letter that the city’s future hangs in the balance.

The letter and legislative push also comes after 2022 and 2023 saw a rash of car break-ins in Memphis and coordinated burglaries of shopping centers and retail stores, including the repeated burglaries of Hibbett Sports/City Gear chain locations by groups of thieves and robbers targeting multiple FedEx trucks.

For months, Smith has warned Memphis was at a perilous point in his comments about what the future of Downtown Memphis would look like without retaining the Memphis Grizzlies, the city’s NBA franchise. He expanded on those comments to The Daily Memphian.

“Just look at the recent outmigration numbers. We were the only city in (the state) to lose population. That’s called taxpayers voting with their taillights, and it’s not a good trend,” Smith said Monday. “It is clear that our local government needs some help from the state, and the local area employers are petitioning them for that help. We are aligned with Mayor (Paul) Young and heeding his call for everyone to get engaged in solving this issue.” 

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Since 2000, Memphis has lost about 60,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It has lost about 20,000 since 2010. 

Strickland’s administration challenged those results and an appeal of the Census Bureau’s rejection of that challenge is pending. The city argued that the Census did not count many new apartment residents in the city’s core neighborhoods. 

“This community has become untenable for many of our team members and their families, and if something isn’t done to get the crime epidemic under control, I fear for Memphis’ viability as a city where businesses choose to locate, or remain. ”

Richard Smith
FedEx

Two 2023 measurements showed residents feel the city is on the wrong track, and many Memphians have considered leaving. Separate polls from The Daily Memphian and WREG News Channel 3 have shown negative feelings about the city.

A combined 58% of respondents to The Daily Memphian’s May 2023 scientific poll said they had considered leaving the Memphis area altogether or moving to a suburb or another part of the city because of crime. 

Townsend noted that his job is to attract business to Memphis and such a letter could send the wrong narrative about the city as it tries to attract outside investment.

But he said the message needed to be sent anyway.

“It would be more of a risk if the business community didn’t act in this space. If the voices were silenced and resigned to an outcome of not seeing better results. Then that worries me more,” Townsend said. “They’re going to move their operations. Businesses have a choice. I would rather them be vocal and participatory than to be silent and not weigh in.”

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Townsend said the push for changes to bail, further resources for the Public Defender’s Office, the $50 million in cash and the potential addition of outside judges was not a critique of local government.

He said the chamber and the executives that make up Chairman’s Circle had met with many in local government. 

“This is not necessarily an indictment of the local authorities not doing what they need to do,” he said. “Listen, the people that we have met are very dedicated to their professions. They are incredibly professional. And they want to do more. But resources are required to do that.”

Young has said crime needs a “pandemic-level” response. Townsend agreed. 

“We are in a crisis,” Townsend said. “This does require a pandemic-level response.”

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Downtown could be focus of $50 million in safety funds

In asking for the $50 million, the business community’s letter does not specify where the “Tourist” zones are.

Townsend said the “where” could include Downtown Memphis. 

“You’ve had events Downtown that have occurred, that kind of really run off opportunity, whether that’s, you know, conventions coming into our beautiful Renasant Convention Center because of concerns about crime Downtown to businesses and having employees come back to work,” Townsend said.

“We have to fortify our corridors of commerce, and Downtown is a critical one.”