We just left Memphis after a two week stay. We really looked forward to this trip, especially after the lovely surprise that Nashville had been, but as the two weeks came to an end, we were quite ready to depart. Memphis is currently a city in limbo- beautiful, ready to bloom, but with very few city residents.

People commute into the city during the day, they work, then go back to the towns outside of the city to their homes, spend time with their families, spend their money in local establishments and shop at local stores.

The downtown area is beautiful, the buildings are pristine and the bridges are lit. There are only a few restaurants, open mostly during the business hours to serve those working. We have a good friend who does live downtown, who was wonderful enough to take us around his favorite spots and also instruct us to be out of the city by a certain time. It was Sunday, still daylight, but the streets had few people in it. The view from the balcony of the three buildings we were lucky enough to view the entire city, including the riverfront and lit bridges.

He made it clear that we were to get out of town before midnight though, as the crime is too high for us to being hanging out.

This is hopefully going to change in the near future. The companies that are holding Memphis together, (Vanderbilt, AutoZone, Service Master, Bass Pro Shops and others) are now buying up the properties around town and reselling it to developers. The goal is for the redeveloped properties to bring in residences, which in turn, will bring in local businesses to support them.

This type of initiative has worked for numerous cities, like Chicago, Denver and others. I have high hopes for Memphis. Its a beautiful city and I would love to see it flourish with its rich history, hopefully keeping it’s incredible culture while it does it.