MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Moving Memphis forward.
We’re less than three months away from Memphis Mayor-elect Paul Young taking office and he told FOX13 that he’s getting to work now to start tackling some of the city’s biggest problems.
Some of his priorities include crime, development and creating opportunities for our young people.
The biggest challenge is crime, he said.
Young said his plan is to work in collaboration with Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis, Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner and all other public safety figures and entities to create a more aggressive enforcement plan.
“We want to reduce the indications of chaos,” Young said. “We want to see more done to stop these car break-ins. We also have to figure out where we’re going to be more efficient with the time of the officers we have so that they’re spending more time on the street and less time processing paperwork.”
He added that part of the way to tackle the crime is giving our young people things to do.
“I firmly believe that our young people just need more opportunities to be engaged,” Young said. “They’re looking for things to do, activating our community centers, our parks, supporting our non-profits that are already doing the work so they can scale up and provide more services to more young people. There are churches on every corner; what resources can they provide?”
An annual event that proved to be a safe place for kids and families was the Beale Street Music Festival, which will no longer be happening in 2024.
But on Friday, a new music festival was announced at Tom Lee Park for the first weekend in May.
Young said it begs a bigger question: “We should celebrate that. But we also see we think about how do we move forward in years into the future? How do we think about festivals in Downtown Memphis in more creative ways? Maybe festivals that aren’t necessarily stationed in one place but take place all throughout downtown or all throughout the city?”
Young will officially take office Jan. 1, along with a handful of new Memphis City Council members.
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