Memphis pitch: Former World Cup goalkeeper Tim Howard makes case for soccer stadium funding
Former U.S. national team and English Premier League goalkeeper Tim Howard met with Tennessee lawmakers this week to make the pitch for state funding to build a new soccer-specific stadium in Shelby County. Howard is a part-owner of Memphis 901 FC, which plays in the second-tier United Soccer League. The club currently plays its home games at AutoZone Park, the minor league baseball stadium of the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. As part of a “big ask” to state lawmakers, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has proposed replacing the moribund Mid-South Coliseum with a new soccer stadium.
Here is what Howard had to say about what he was up at the Cordell Hull Building and the plans for a now field for the Memphis team:
TNJ: So what’s the sell to state lawmakers?
Howard: You know, the fact that we have private funds going into it is a big deal. And Memphis needs a soccer stadium, we can no longer coexist with the Redbirds. We’ve done that, but the team needs its own space. With all the business coming in and the workers that are coming into the city — Memphis and Shelby County — this is what soccer’s future is for them. It’s important.
TNJ: How big does the stadium need to be to fit the team’s needs now and moving forward?
Howard: It’s going to be about 7,500 seats with a total capacity of 10,000. But there’s room to grow. We would be remiss and silly to not create a building that has the opportunity for expansion. From a construction standpoint, we’ll make sure that we have that so that we can get to a level that MLS requires in the future, if that’s what we want to do.
TNJ: Is Major League Soccer a prospect, or is that just too far down the road to contemplate?
Howard: Right now, baby steps. We’ve got to get this thing moving back in the right direction. Pre-pandemic, we felt really good about what we’d done from a marketing and ticketing standpoint. Post-pandemic, what we’ve done on the pitch has been brilliant. And now we’re trying to marry those two together. So MLS is not even something we can really contemplate at this point. But it is something where we’ve seen that if you make enough noise and you create the product that gets enough attention, then there’s going to be that possibility.
TNJ: What’s the estimated price tag for the whole project?
Howard: It’s, give or take, $80 million to build. We’re asking for half of that from the state, and the rest will be the taxes and private funding.
TNJ; Compared with the $2.2 billion NFL stadium they’re talking about building down the street from the state Capitol, that’s almost a drop in the bucket. But do people just get skittish when the talk turns to soccer?
Howard: There’s a lot more to it. We see outdoor concerts that we could have going to Mississippi, unfortunately. Anything over 10,000 people is going to the FedExForum. But there’s an opportunity for concerts under that size in Memphis.
TNJ: People in Memphis have an emotional attachment to the Mid-South Coliseum, even if it’s been closed for more than 15 years. How do you get over that?
Howard: What we’re proposing is going to help revitalize that portion of the city. And currently there is no work that can be done on the Coliseum. It’s a difficult hurdle for people to get over, because when you talk about what it’s meant to the city, you know it’s a big deal. There’s a lot of history there. But we are trying to honor that history and pay homage to that with the new stadium.
TNJ: A new minor league baseball stadium under construction in Knoxville is also being billed as the home to a new professional soccer team. How rigid is the rule against baseball and soccer sharing a facility?
Howard: When we talk to USL – and we have a great relationship with them, as they do with most of the clubs — the idea is that it’s a nudge in the direction that most teams should have their own stadium. Soccer should be played in a soccer-specific stadium. That is obviously the best way to view the game. That’s where clubs have seen the biggest growth . . . AutoZone Park made sense for a few years. It just no longer does. A soccer-specific stadium is a completely different gameday experience. The game is meant to be experienced in tight confines. [A representative later added the Knoxville team is slated to play in the lower USL division, which has different stadium guidelines.]
Democratic Rep. Torrey Harris charged with domestic assault, theft
Freshman Rep. Torrey Harris (D-Memphis) has been charged with domestic assault and theft. His first court date is scheduled for Oct. 10, well after the House District 91 primary in which he faces Democratic challenger Barbara Farmer-Tolbert.
Harris was arrested on Sunday in Nashville after an ex-boyfriend told police the lawmaker had scratched his arm while trying to prevent him from leaving his apartment. Harris had been at the home to return the man’s dog after a pet-sitting stint. The former partner left the apartment and found on his return that Harris had taken the dog, a gaming console, computer, earphones, and other items. Harris later confirmed to police he had taken the dog but told officers the other items he had taken had been gifts he had purchased.
The assault charge is a misdemeanor, while the alleged theft is a felony.
Harris said he plans to plead not guilty. Here’s his full statement:
I first want to say thank you for all the support and to those who have reached out during this time.
I have retained legal counsel and myself and the team are working diligently to cooperate with the investigation. I maintain my innocence and will plead not guilty to the charges. I know that at the end of this I will be cleared of all allegations.
My focus will remain on serving the people as it always has been, but my ask is that if someone you know – loved one, friend, or neighbor is battling with mental health, that you help them as best as you can. Never deter from supporting those who need us even at their toughest moments.
As for me, I want to say thank you for all the calls and to those who have reached out during this time. This has been a lived example that will help me better help those I serve. Trust me, I have already noticed steps in policy that lawmakers like myself must work to improve throughout the justice system.
Over the next couple of weeks you will learn more about this matter and I look forward to moving on after it is all said and done.
Judge grants acquittal motion on 15 of 20 charges against state Sen. Katrina Robinson
A federal judge has granted a motion for acquittal on 15 of 20 charges in the fraud trial of state Sen. Katrina Robinson (D-Memphis).
U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman said she would make an an oral ruling in court on Monday morning, with the jury set to return later in the day to hear the defense’s case. Robinson’s attorneys had made the motion to dismiss the entire case after the prosecution had rested last week, arguing the government had failed to prove she had misspent federal grant money meant for her nursing school on personal expenses.
The dismissed counts include allegations Robinson had illegally spent grant money on her 2018 Senate campaign, legal fees for her divorce, and contributions to her retirement account.
What remains of the more than $600,000 prosecutors had alleged Robinson misspent are two counts of wire fraud related to $2,326 she paid an artist through a booking agent and $1,158 that went to a wedding makeup artist. Also surviving the judge’s ruling are three counts of wire fraud alleging Robinson made fraudulent representations in annual performance reports from 2017 through 2019.
Jury seated in Democratic Sen. Robinson’s fraud trial
A jury has been seated in the federal fraud trial of state Sen. Katrina Robinson. The Memphis Democrat is charged with spending more than $600,000 in federal grant money meant for her nursing school on personal expenses.
Opening statements are expected to take place on Tuesday. The trial could last more than three weeks.
Students at Robinson’s Healthcare Institute gathered outside the courthouse.
“We’re here to support her. She’s been nothing but great and amazing and we’re just going to support her,” Jennifer Taylor told WREG-TV. “But to be here together, standing for her, I’m very proud and very honored to be a part of the Healthcare Institute.”
The judge last week denied prosecutors’ motion to move the trial to Jackson or to bring in a jury pool from outside Shelby County.
Robinson, who was elected to the Senate in 2018, has pleaded not guilty.
The Tennessee legislature in 1879: Secret meetings, prison outsourcing, political rivalries
Taking a page from sports broadcasters showing archived games to make up for the lack of live programming during the COVID-19 pandemic, the TNJ: On the Hill blog is engaging in our own throwback legislative coverage. Today’s offering, a report by the editor of the old Daily Memphis Avalanche, a precursor of today’s Commercial Appeal, about legislative happenings on Feb. 9, 1879.
The author touches on some familiar themes at the General Assembly: legislative secrecy, the need for the Shelby County delegation to stick together, efforts to reduce incarceration costs through outsourcing, rivalries between local officials, and “the doings of lobbyists.”
Here’s the dispatch:
Our Legislative Solons : A Good Word from Them by an Occasional Correspondent
Retrenchment and Reform – A Desire to Do Something
NASHVILLE, February 9, 1879 – Notwithstanding the terrible legislative abortions and the rip-pell-mell style of action of the present General Assembly, it may well be characterized as one of economy, retrenchment and reform. Men of observation concede the fact that more business has been consummated so far during the present session than in some entire sessions of General Assemblies.
The bills passed with special reference to Memphis seem to be necessities and will probably be followed with good results. It is said that additional legislation will be required in order to perfect, if possible, the changed conditions of affairs. The necessary legislation will be enacted without trouble, if the Shelby delegation remains united on the various propositions in the future as in the past.
Committees during recess are working earnestly and sedulously, and if credit and be accorded rumor their labors will produce desirable and satisfactory results. Two committees are at work investigation all the alleged frauds subsequent to the war – by the issuance of bonds, the funding scheme, the Torbett or new issue of the Bank of Tennessee, the leasing of the penitentiary, the doings of the lobbyists, the trading of offices; in fact, their investigation apparently has no limit. But as they sit with closed doors and their proceedings secret nothing will be known until they report.
The State debt will be thoroughly examined, so that holders of the State bonds are likely to learn what class of bonds the State will good and what fraudulent. If any are classed as fraudulent, the people will be warned. The funding scheme and the practice resorted to impair the created of the State, will receive attention. […]
Happily for the State Government there is enough money to in the treasury to pay the current expenses for nearly a year to come; therefore the frauds, if any, in leasing the penitentiary will be thoroughly sifted and the guilty, if any, exposed. Continue reading
State approves $69M in water infrastructure loans for Memphis, Johnson City, and Lebanon
Gov. Bill Lee speaks to reporters following on Dec. 13, 2019. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner David Salyers announced three cities will received $69 million loans for water improvements through the Tennessee Local Development Authority.
Memphis will receive $48 million under the program, $15 million goes to Johnson City, and $5.7 million heads to Lebanon.
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan will address wastewater treatment plant improvements in Memphis and rehabilitation of sewer interceptors in Johnson City and Lebanon.
The state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program has awarded more than $2 billion in low-interest loans since 1987.
Former lawmaker, lobbyist Rufus Jones dies at 79
Rufus Jones, a former chairman of the House State and Local Government Committee, has died. He was 79.
Jones, a Memphis Democrat, was elected to the state House in 1981 and served in the chamber until 1996. He then embarked on a lobbying career until beginning treatment for lymphoma in 2006.
Jones’ lobbying clients included Tennessee Bankers Association, Memphis Light, Gas & Water, and Memphis Basketball Partners, a group pushing for funding for a new arena when the Vancouver Grizzlies were first mulling their move to Tennessee.
Jones challenged Riley Darnell for the secretary of state position in 2004, but lost a House Democratic Caucus nomination vote to the incumbent. Democrats at the time held a narrow 69-63 advantage over Republicans in the joint convention to elect constitutional officers and Darnell went on to win his fourth and final term.
Jones was succeeded in the House by Rep. Barbara Cooper (D-Memphis).
“Rep. Jones was a tireless public servant who always gave back and worked hard to open doors for the people of South Memphis,” she said in a statement. “He was a kind, easy-going person who loved his constituents and his community.”
Strickland re-elected mayor of Memphis, voters OK sales tax hike
Incumbent Jim Strickland was re-elected mayor Memphis and voters in the city approved a proposal to hike the city’s local option sales tax from 2.25% to 2.75% to restore benefits that had been cut for for police and firefighters in 2015.
“Politics can be pretty toxic… Today’s vote shows that it doesn’t have to be,” the Commercial Appeal quoted Strickland as telling supporters after the vote. “We can disagree without being divisive. That is the campaign I have run. That is the way that I lead. I have been and will continue to be everybody’s mayor.”
Strickland took 62% of the vote. Willie Herenton, a former 18-year mayor, received 29%. County Commissioner Tami Sawyer got 7%. None of the other eight candidates (including the eternal Prince Mongo) received more than 0.5%.
The sales tax referendum passed on a 52%-48% vote. Officials were quick to point out that voters can’t dictate how sales tax money is spent, but that they will follow the will of the electorate in dedicating the money toward police and firefighters.
New FedEx Logistics HQ to add 689 jobs in downtown Memphis
Gov. Bill Lee has announced that FedEx Logistics will consolidate its headquarters in downtown Memphis. The move will involve a $44 million investment in the former Gibson Guitar factory and the creation of 689 jobs.
Here’s the full release from the Lee administration:
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and FedEx Logistics announced today that the company will move its headquarters to downtown Memphis, where it will invest $44 million and create 689 jobs.
“With FedEx Logistics creating more than 680 jobs, and investing more than $44 million in Shelby County, they are once again showing that Tennessee is a great place to do business,” Lee said. “FedEx and its subsidiaries have been a true Tennessee success story, and we as a state are proud to see this company continue to grow and call Tennessee home.”
“I congratulate FedEx Logistics on its decision to move its headquarters to downtown Memphis,” Rolfe said. “FedEx Logistics has been located in Memphis since its creation in 2000, and it means a great deal that this company continues to call Memphis home. I appreciate FedEx and FedEx Logistics for choosing to create nearly 700 high quality jobs in downtown Memphis and for its continued commitment to Tennessee.”
Lee to make first economic development announcement in Memphis?
UPDATE: An updated public schedule has the governor attending an “economic development announcement” in Memphis at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. The location for the announcement is outside the old Gibson Guitar building on South B.B. King Boulevard.
___
The Daily Memphian reports Gov. Bill Lee is expected to make his first economic development announcement in Memphis on Tuesday.
Speculation surrounds whether the announcement will have to do with FedEx Logistics and a potential move into the Gibson Guitar building downtown.
FedEx’s possible plans for the Gibson building came into discussion after the sold it in 2017. But the company issued a statement in November to say “FedEx Trade Networks can confirm it is no longer considering the Gibson Guitar Factory building as a potential option for relocation of its headquarters.”
FedEx Logistics currently has corporate offices in East Memphis and around the area.
