What's all the dirt about?

It's your tax dollars at work

Beale Street Landing under construction. $7.4M of city money has been spent so far. $14.9M is requested in the City's CIP budget. The total estimated public cost is now at $33M.

Click below for John Branston's May 15th "Flyer" article that takes a look at the project and cost overruns and for the RDC hand-out to City Council.Read more »

Squabbling Ends, Boat Ramp to Re-Open

Good News: The boat ramp under the Auction Street Bridge will re-open for public use. Congressman Steve Cohen worked with the City and Coast Guard to structure the deal:

* Boat ramp is federally owned.
* City leases the property for 20 years for $10.
* Cost Guard has right to control parking, limit access during heightened security, and is released from liabilities associated with public use of the boat ramp.

Happy Boating, and thanks Congressman Cohen!!

Cobblestone Landing "Restoration" - Letters to RDC & Corps of Engineers

FfOR wrote to:
1) the RDC in April 2008 requesting discussion of the proposed Cobblestone Landing project
2) the Corps of Engineers in May 2009 requesting a public hearing on the project.
We have not yet received responses. Several people have asked for more information about those letters, so we have posted their text here for you to read. Read more »

Mud Island River Park - 2nd stage of meetings on a plan

The 2nd round of public meetings to determine a plan for the future of Mud Island River Park:

* Tues. (5/12), 5:45 pm, Memphis Botanic Garden (750 Cherry)
* Thurs. (5/14), 5:45 pm, Harbor Landing in Mud Island River Park

Click HERE for Commercial Appeal article and comments.

The initial 4 public meetings were in March: Mud Island/attendance 125, North Memphis/attendance 8, South Memphis/attendance 8, Memphis Botanic Garden/attendance 125. Comments from meetings and online survey were combined into a report.
Click HERE for the report.

Quick!! REQUEST A PUBLIC HEARING on the Cobblestone Landing project

The cobblestone landing in Memphis has functioned continuously as a free and public landing for 150 years, and it's currently eligible to be a National Historic Landmark. The current plans by the Riverfront Development Corporation involve changes that will end all of this.

The RDC plan has a poor engineering design that fails in its primary purpose: to extend the life and use of the cobblestone landing. The proposal that is on the table will not only end the landing's eligibility as a National Historic Landmark, it will end its use as a landing, period.

The design is far along (95% complete), but it shouldn't move one step forward before hearing from the people it is supposed to serve.Read more »