I get it. Political pageantry is just simple and easier than problem solving. Instead of consulting the formal and conclusive Shelby County Assessor report, proving the need for PILOT reform, County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. has invited Mayor Paul Young to testify before the Core Neighborhoods Committee, likely in opposition to a moratorium on housing PILOTs. Sadly and pitifully, the Assessor's formal report has gone mostly ignored by elected officials, slamming data driven decision making.

Ford plans to feature Mayor Young’s economic development “expertise” as the former CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC). Young technically knows PILOTs and subsidies as the former DMC CEO. Such devices are excessive in Memphis and are the mechanics and cornerstone of elitist led Memphis ecosystem decline. Over the last 10 yrs, $400M in PILOT excesses have gone out the door to corporations and developers. Young was only 23 when the Memphis Tomorrow CEO organization came into being in 2002, where public dollars have since freely flowed to corporations and developers.  

Meanwhile, Memphis Tomorrow has failed in every one of their self-selected areas of public safety, economic development and education for over 20 yrs. In this way, professionally, Young only knows ecosystem decline, while indeed knowing how Memphis works for the benefit of the small few. Young will have no historic trend data to support his testimony but will have his “YES” platform.

For Mayor Lee Harris part, Harris has rhetorically been against PILOTs but in practice Harris devoutly approves PILOTs then “Turns the Page” to his next approval. In fact, Harris singularly approves suburban PILOTs without County Commission consideration. Harris suburban approval examples are multiple PILOTs for the billion-dollar Orgill corporation in Collierville. Orgill has profitably operated from the Memphis area for almost 200 yrs, with the new Chamber Chairman’s Circle Chair, Mike Keeney representing Orgill.

As far as Downtown, the guiding philosophy for massive downtown subsidies is the idiotic and reckless “so goes your downtown, so goes your city”. But the philosophy is simple and easy, for the benefit of elected officials, while resulting in higher taxes and generous local developer subsidies.

In high tax Memphis, under Young’s “YES” platform, public developer benefits have become more publicly expensive and generous with the $30M City grant of the Downtown Sheraton Convention Center Hotel to local developers.

Recently in City Council, Budget Chair Chase Carlisle was advocating for more expeditious economic development decision making. After all, it did take time to run three external internationally proven developers out of town in Hard Rock, Schulte and Starwood. Schulte and Starwood were the former Sheraton developers.These internationally proven developers were labeled “Bad” by local investors and effectively run out of town. This “Bad” narrative helped to send a $30M invoice to City of Memphis taxpayers for purchase and partial renovation of the Sheraton, for the direct benefit of local developers. The local developer team involves, in part, Chance Carlisle and Carolyn Hardy.

Additionally, both Carlisle and Young were behind, the today mostly empty $40M Downtown Garage Mahal and Young was behind the underwater Liberty Park project. All the former comes in the shadow of millions upon millions in taxpayer funds being BUNKERED in the Sports Authority for Downtown, far in excess of any rational amount for FedEx Forum renovations. Not one public elected official has dared to ask about the projected Sports Authority cash flows through 2050. 

So its simple and easy political pageantry driving public decision making. After all, the elitist learned years ago it was just easier to rip taxpayers than it was to do the work of economic development. In Memphis, easy and public botching gets the prize…..