The following e-mail was sent to me from an out-of-town guest. He most recently visited Memphis the weekend of June 30, when they had the fireworks Downtown. I asked and received his permission to publish it.
Paul,
I enjoy your blog. I live in Huntsville and have visited Memphis twice in
the past year or so. The last time was during the end of June this year.
The thing that struck me about this last visit was the incredible number of
panhandlers. I know you’ve written quite a bit about it and have taken
photos. Good job.
As a tourist, I was very turned off by the incessant begging. I think Main
and Madison was the worst area. We were trying to get on the trolley and no
less than three separate panhandlers hit us at the same stop. Went back
there the next day and got hit up again.
The city is going to lose its tourists if they don’t do something about it.
Keep up the good work.