By Tony Jones
MEMPHIS, TN — Mayor-Elect Paul Young is scheduled to give a dramatically anticipated inauguration speech at his official swearing in ceremony Monday, Jan. 1, 2024, 11 A.M., at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.
Young’s speech highlights a celebratory weekend leading up to the installation of the new city government. The Inauguration Parade & Block Party kicks it off Saturday, Dec. 30th, 10 a.m., at Tiger Lane. Sunday, Dec. 31st, 3 p.m., the 901 Unity Choir Concert begins at the Greater Community Temple Church of God In Christ (COGIC). Both are free, but require website registration. The Inauguration Gala, Monday, Jan. 1, 7 p.m. at the Renasant Convention Center closes out the celebration. Individual admissions are $150 plus an $8.00 service fee, reserved tables $2,000 plus $70 service fee.
Selected Thursday, Oct. 5 following a tough, some felt ridiculous, 11 candidate race, Young was chosen to lead the city’s next electoral era by a slim margin, ably emerging as the voice of a new, competent Black political mindset finally freed from the old guard. His speech will outline the mountain the new administration has to climb—or dismantle—to create a saner and safer civic playing field in Memphis.
Indeed, his administration’s first term may be as critical to the future of Black people in Memphis as that of former congressman Harold Ford, Sr. and former mayor Dr. W. W. Herenton. Herenton placed third in the 2023 mayor’s race.
The day after his election, Young told well wishers on the Stan Bell Morning Show, “I’m a numbers guy.” He certainly has an alarming slate of them to try to re-engineer. His administration has inherited the mantle of a city sick with many ills, led by record setting crime rates revealed in blaring headlines. Murders are up 35 percent, totaling 330, car thefts have risen 155 percent in the past year, group shoplifting and smash and grab burglaries have become the talk of the town. The Memphis Police Department reported 42,000 teen led incidents to a City Council committee Tuesday, Dec. 19th.
Additionally, MPD’s Public Information Office press time figures report: Aggravated Assaults 7,307 in 2023, up from 6,853 in 2022; Auto Thefts increasing from 10,540 to 15,388; Rape 325 to 353; Robbery of an Individual 2,056 to 2,420; Robbery of a Business 228 to 280. Car jackings were down from 411 to 336.
Young put out an internet statement pledging support for embattled Police Chief Cerelyn Davis a couple of weeks ago, but several pre-Christmas developments illustrate critics’ views that law enforcement here is inept.
District Attorney Steve Mulroy blindsided the city with a press conference stating he was creating a new initiative to “vigorously” prosecute the 12 worse violent crimes, saying that details would be forthcoming in January. “Shouldn’t he have done that first?” one viewer shouted at a television in a downtown office. State Sen. Brent Taylor called for an investigation of Mulroy and Shelby County Judge Bill Anderson earlier this month. Mulroy calls it “baseless.”
Second to Young in the mayor’s race, Sheriff Floyd Bonner also went on television saying it was time for a new jail. The current facility at 201 Poplar currently holds nearly double its designed 1,200 inmate capacity. “Duh,” the same news watcher responded.
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