Recent editorials from Tennessee newspapers:
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July 15
The Memphis Daily News on Beale Street security and cover charges:
Beale Street doesn’t need a cover charge, with or without rebate coupons, to solve its problems. Two summers into the policy, and after several crowd stampedes in the entertainment district before it, Beale needs a better security plan that probably includes a mix of Memphis Police and private security. But linking that to a cover charge, and the resulting checkpoints to enforce it, is sending the wrong message at the wrong time.
Beale Street’s image is in one of its periodic states of flux three years after the exit of Performa Entertainment, the real estate firm that under John Elkington’s leadership developed and managed the district from its 1983 renovation onward for the next three decades.
The district’s way forward involves protecting its hard-won success over those three decades and building on it. That means continuing to draw tourists and finding new ways to include Memphians in a district that should reflect the city’s diversity more than any other place we cherish for its history.
This is the Beale Street that James Clark - the owner of the street’s longest-running business since the renovation, Eel Etc. Fashions - is talking about when he explains why he doesn’t agree with the cover charge. To charge Memphians and visitors just to get on the street to encounter this history and culture is not only a questionable crowd-control measure, it’s also bad business.
No matter what the intentions were, the cover charge is an immediate reminder of the rigid racial segregation that old Beale Street always tried to find a way around, in the name of commerce if not altruism.
The way forward also keeps in mind the reality and need for order as well as the important role perception plays in a district that is all about entertainment.
Jim Holt, the CEO of the Memphis in May International Festival and a member of the city’s Beale Street Task Force, makes a good point when he warns against confusing a cover charge with security. Memphis in May charges admission to some of the largest crowds that come Downtown, but it isn’t in the name of security. When Tom Lee Park reaches what is judged as capacity, the park is closed until there is enough room for everyone to be comfortable.
Memphis Police can do that now on Beale, and we saw evidence of crowd counts at the different checkpoints on three consecutive Saturday nights after 10 p.m. Technology that can do more precise crowd counts for just this purpose is also available.
Soon enough, the task force will give the Memphis City Council its recommendations about possible methods of crowd control that differ from a cover charge.
We hope those recommendations lead to firm leadership in a district where merchants don’t always have the same vision of what Beale Street can become. The way forward begins with a unified voice.
Online: https://www.memphisdailynews.com/
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July 13
Johnson City Press on school administrators urging parents to vaccinate children:
Local students will be returning to the classroom in early August. That means many parents are preparing by buying new clothes, school supplies and backpacks for their children.
There’s one other very important thing school administrators are urging parents to do before the first day of school: Make sure their children are properly protected against measles, mumps and rubella, varicella, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, hepatitis A and B and poliomyelitis.
School officials know there are still parents in this country who refuse to have their children vaccinated against these communicable diseases. Given what we know from proven medical science, it’s hard to understand why parents would want to place their school-age children at such a risk.
Many of today’s opponents to immunizations are people who stubbornly cling to the discredited notion that vaccines are linked to autism and other disorders. Parents who believe such nonsense are putting both their children and their classmates in danger.
Unvaccinated children have led to recent outbreaks of measles in Arizona, California and West Tennessee.
We know that vaccines have saved many lives. Epidemiologists and other medical experts warn personal belief exemptions to vaccinations represent a bad public policy with no basis in science.
You can learn the facts about autism by going to autismsociety.org to read more about a disorder that the government estimates afflicts about 1 in 150 children in this country.
We urge parents to ignore the misinformation being spread on the internet by irresponsible politicians and by uninformed celebrities and make sure their children are up to date on their vaccinations.
Online: https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/
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July 12
Kingsport Times-News on upgrades needed for Bays Mountain Park:
Kingsport’s greatest asset, Bays Mountain Park, has been beckoning residents to an experience not available in many of the nation’s larger cities for just shy of 50 years. And in all that time, the park has changed little from the initial design which included a nature center and planetarium, adventure course, animal habitats and other outdoor experiences such as now, 38 miles of trails.
It is welcome news then that plans are afoot through the city’s capital improvement schedule to begin some much-needed upgrades at Bays Mountain. Kingsport will spend about $1.3 million over the coming years on replacing animal habitats at the 3,600-acre preserve.
About 200,000 people visit the park annually, and that’s a revenue stream that could be expanded with a larger park that would attract more users, and support increased fees. Currently, a carload of visitors to the park costs but $5. While there are additional fees for various park offerings, they must rank among the best bargains available considering what the park offers.
Local visitors to Bays Mountain say not much has changed over the years, which translates into diminished appeal. The work planned is focused on “a redesign of all of our animal habitats,” says Rob Cole, park manager. “Like the rest of the park, we’re 46 years old and have aging facilities. Our animal enclosures are not immune to that.”
Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium opened in 1971, and most of the 3,600 acres of the property remains in a natural, forested condition. The animal exhibits have an outdated style as enclosures for mostly close-range viewing while providing a natural setting. The update will replace all of the habitats except the herpetarium.
“We want our animal habitats to be aesthetically pleasing, have natural features that will obviously give the wildlife a sense of belonging and mimic their natural habitat the best we can,” Cole said. “We also want to enhance the visitor experience the best we can, too.”
Kingsport can’t support a full-fledged zoo on the order of that found at Knoxville, but it can and should add to the animal habitats, and through a master plan, fund other expansions to make Bays Mountain not just the largest city-owned park in Tennessee, but one of the best.
Online: https://www.timesnews.net/
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