Back to the workweek and back to spewing out the news in lunchtime update posts…
Star power forward Zach Randolph has bought 500 tickets to the Grizzlies’ home opener, and is giving them away on a first-come, first-served basis at 3 PM today at the FedExForum. The opener is tomorrow night at 7 PM versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The city is revamping Downtown’s parking meters, according to an article on Fox 13’s website. They are going to fix broken meters, install new meters on streets that haven’t had them previously, and extend meter hours late into the evening.
I have very mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it’s good for the city as a whole. Thanks to King Willie’s mismanagement last decade, the city is millions in debt. We need to come up with revenue sources, so we can maintain expenses like police officers’ salaries, as well as city programs (remember the protest over canceling summer kickball league?) The changes to the meters will increase revenue from $500,000 to $1,500,000, so for the city that’s a good thing.
It’s not a good thing for Downtown, though. I remember when I lived in Midtown and drove down here. “No way I’ll pay to park in a lot or garage,” I thought. “But I know where the side streets are that don’t have meters, so I can park there. And besides, you don’t have to pay the meters after 6 PM and on weekends.” I worry that people won’t be willing to come Downtown to shop if they’re forced to pay to park, when there’s a huge, free lot at Wolfchase. This could be a revenue drain for businesses in our neighborhood. The DMC tried to get permission to take over the parking meter plan for Downtown, but were turned down.
Christine by Shelton Clothiers is in its final 3 days of business. The women’s clothing boutique has marked down everything to 70% off, so if you didn’t get the clothes you wanted for Christmas, stop by for some deals.
Congratulations to my favorite radio sports talk host Chris Vernon. Lexus of Memphis has signed on as the Title Sponsor for the Chris Vernon Show for 2012. Hard to believe that only a few months ago he was fighting to survive. With Lexus on board and the Yahoo! Radio affiliation, things have really turned around for Verno and for the station.
I’m very excited about a new poker night tonight! Jamie hosts poker, on REAL POKER TABLES, at the Blind Bear at 8. It seems like nearly every bar Downtown (Saucer, Green Beetle, Silly Goose, Ferraro’s) does trivia on Tuesday night, and after 6 years I’m trivia’d out and ready for something different. Lately our team has drifted apart and settled on different home bars – Max’s, Goose, and Saucer mainly. Also, various team members have gone back to grad school. Those factors have made it hard to field a team some weeks. Then there’s the fact that anytime two or more members of the former Rapscallions team go to a bar doing trivia night, our “follower” shows up (he checks Foursquare to see where we are). The great thing about poker is that it’s an individual sport, so I don’t have to deal with a teammate I neither like nor respect. I’ve met a number of really cool people at the Goose and Bardog poker nights (congrats Ellen on your win last night), and I hope to meet even more new friends at Blind Bear poker. And, of course, I hope to win!
Tentative plan is to do happy hour at the Saucer at 6, then move to the Bear at 7. Yeah I said I was going to make Blind Bear my first stop after work, but I’ll start that tomorrow. New Year’s Eve post is in the works, and may go up tonight.