For years, Mayor Herenton has been pushing to move the Greyhound bus station out of Downtown Memphis. This would be great for Downtown, as many panhandlers, vagrants, and bums arrive here on the bus, and as soon as they get off they hit Downtown streets and start begging for money. In early 2006, we heard of a plan to move the Greyhound station to the airport in a joint venture with MATA, as part of an intermodal transportation transfer point that may one day include light rail. We were told it would be done by the end of the year, but it’s 2009 and the Greyhound station is still here.
Well, this article in today’s CA sheds some light into why it’s taken so long… the mayor held options to purchase the land, and eventually his privately held real estate company made more than $90,000 on the deal. This is the subject of the latest federal probe investigating the mayor.
Once again, King Willie does what’s best for King Willie, not for the people who elected him to serve as mayor.