(Edit: Forgot to hit Publish before I went out)
No Melissa Monday for me after all. My company is having one of its three big yearly national tournaments out in Las Vegas this week. I have to upload the results of the afternoon games before I can go out, and of course Las Vegas is two hours behind Memphis. Since I’ll be here a while and there’s news, I might as well do an evening post.
Next Tuesday, July 29, the city will host its first Riverside Drive community meeting. This is the first meeting of a 12- to 18-month test period in which Riverside has been reduced to two lanes for vehicular traffic, with the other two lanes re-striped for pedestrian and bike use. Feedback from this and future meetings will be used by the city to figure out how to best permanently reconfigure Riverside from Carolina Avenue to Bass Pro Drive. The meeting will be at Beale Street Landing from 6 to 7:30 PM that day.
A master plan for the French Fort area was unveiled Saturday. The plan for the neighborhood across Crump from Downtown calls for not only 67 new apartments in the old Marine Hospital, but phases beyond that to firmly establish the French Fort community.
Development is happening on other outskirts of Downtown as well. The MBJ reports that the building across the street from Cozy Corner on North Parkway will be renovated to include a production studio, school, and a coffee shop-like cafe that will serve healthy food.
Tamp & Tap is celebrating its first birthday this Friday. There will be a Kill the Keg party beginning at 4 with $2.50 drafts. There will also be live music beginning at 6, and birthday cake at 7.
This next item is not a Downtown item, but I want to mention it anyway because it is a great idea by someone for whom I have a lot of respect. There is a crowdfunding campaign going on to fund FORGE, a Broad Avenue art space and fabrication shop. According to the crowdfunding page, FORGE will be a place “where visionaries produce prototypes, artists explore new media, hobbyists complete personal projects and entrepreneurs build solid models around their products. FORGE your vision into reality.” FORGE is the brainchild of Elizabeth Lemmonds. The other day I commented that I have a network of really awesome people because of a young professionals’ organization I was in about ten years ago. Elizabeth is one of those people. If her project sounds to you like something that would be good for Memphis, please consider helping her forge her vision with a donation. Her goal is $6000 and she’s currently about halfway there.
(Edit: insert paragraph about where I’m about to go out. Been out. Huey burger with Swiss for dinner. Shoulda added bacon.)