The following is an excerpt from our April issue:

By City Councilwoman Carol Chumney

Memphis should leave the issue of a new football stadium to the University of Memphis

An empty Pyramid, a historic and empty Coliseum, a Fed Ex Forum with a team whose ownership is up for sale with the city on the hook for bond payments if attendance and other financial goals aren’t met. Poorly maintained city properties, parks and recreational facilities. And now, instead of resolving these issues, and after investing millions of dollars in the $250 million dollar Fed Ex Forum, the Mayor wants to demolish the Coliseum and Stadium, and move on to another huge multi-million dollar capital project.

And this is the same Mayor who was first elected on a platform of putting human needs over bricks and mortar.

Mayor Herenton announced on New Year’s Day his plans to support an expensive $175 million new football stadium to be located on the fairgrounds site. For many reasons, this undertaking should be best left in the capable hands of the University of Memphis, and the State of Tennessee.

We must remember that the city’s bond rating has dropped twice in the past two years, in part due to the fact that the City’s capital budgets have exceeded the City’s own debt policy. And, the ratings agencies have noted that the City’s 1 billion dollar debt is excessive in comparison with recommend levels of debt per capita for similar-sized municipalities. Just last year, large projects such as the proposed light rail from downtown to the airport, and the riverfront development project were delayed in order to bring the city’s capital budget in line. To now add a new capital project of this magnitude to the city’s budget, will force other needed and long-awaited projects off for many years, such as renovations to aging senior citizen and neighborhood centers. It could also result in a third drop in the city’s bond rating. Certainly, this is not in the best interest of the citizens of Memphis.

A better plan is to get a quality tenant or buyer for the Pyramid and finalize the deal, bring the Coliseum into ADA compliance and secure its own tenant as well, and either fix-up the Stadium, or let the University of Memphis take the lead on a new one that would be funded by sources other than the City of Memphis. As a life-long University of Memphis fan, graduate, and with a father on the faculty for over four decades, it seems to me that since the Tigers are the main tenant for any proposed new stadium, then the University of Memphis should take charge of this issue. If it wants a new stadium, then it makes more sense that it build its own facility in a campus setting with state and private funding.

The City of Memphis has a lot of work to do to simply take care of what it already has, and has some heavy lifting to do merely to get its bond rating up to where it used to be. And, if the proposed new stadium has a dome, then the City may have to obtain HOOPS approval prior to contributing any funding, and once built, the new stadium could be subject to the controversial noncompetition clause of the agreement.

Moreover, a better use for the space at the Fairgrounds is a Youth Sportsplex, or other youth venue that will help our youth to stay off the streets and out of trouble after school and in the summer, and also to gain some work experience. The crime rate in Memphis is high, and youth need wholesome activities in a venue that is used more often than a handful of times a year.

We’ve just completed a large capital project in the Fed Ex Forum, which we all hope will be a success. Now, the City should leave this issue of a new football stadium in the hands of the University of Memphis, and instead focus on taking care of the needs of the people of Memphis for a change.