Paul Ryburn's Journal

The Plaintiffs are playing the Peabody rooftop tonight, not Snozberry as I earlier reported. Thanks Amy for catching that.

I want to thank all my readers who sent e-mails about the panhandling issue… this is clearly a hot topic Downtown. I also want to apologize to those to whom I did not respond – I got assigned a big web development project due July 31, and may have more work coming my way, so it looks like I’m going to be swamped the rest of the month.

The good news is, I think enough people at all levels – residents, community organizations, business owners – are getting fed up with panhandling to the degree that a tipping point is about to be reached. Once there I think we’ll see major changes which will go a long way to clean up the problem.

I’m having lunch with the Center City Commission’s new security coordinator on Monday. He wants to pick my brain about the kinds of things I’ve seen down here. I’ve had discussions with a couple of people at the CCC and believe me, they’re passionately committed to getting something done about this problem. It’s a good thing to see.

Because of the projects I’m working on, I probably won’t be out much Friday or Saturday night – although, I may make a quick trip to Blues City for a couple of hours Friday to see the Sauce Boss. I read in the Flyer that he’s doing a Sunday performance at the Union Mission, because he thinks it’s important to give back. That makes me respect him even more.

On the other hand, I’m treating tonight as my weekend night, because there’s plenty going on. Tentative plans for today:

• Memphis Flyer 3rd Thursday party at Swig 5-7
• Peabody rooftop with Snozberry. I’ll probably get there about 7 and stay until 8:30, 8:45ish
• The Saucer to see The Dempseys after that. They don’t start until 9:30 but maybe I’ll get a good seat if I get there early.

Looks like my favorite blogger/MILF won’t be coming downtown tonight after all, so I’ll take the week off from EP’s. Oh well… I just remembered that she tends to pretend she’s with Peyton Manning when she has sex, which decreases her attractiveness by 99.9994%. Ewwwww.

The beer tasting at the Flying Saucer last night was OUTSTANDING. Definitely worth the 25 bucks. Dogfish rep Devin Aroloski shared lots of valuable insight about the beers, and Saucer GM Kirk also did a lot to make the crowd feel at home. They had white tablecloths on the benches. My 5 favorite things about the tasting:

1. The Midas Touch, a brew based on ancient remnants of a brew found in a 2,700-year-old tomb. Tasted like honey. Otto commented: “It’s not a beer, it’s not a mead, it’s not a wine, it’s something completely different.” Since I finished my plate at the Saucer I rarely pay more than $5 for a beer, but I’d pay a premium for this one. One of the best I’ve ever tasted.
2. The Raison D’Etre pork tenderloin. Delicious. The fresh green beans on top were a nice touch.
3. The beef stew. This one took me by surprise – when I think of beef stew, I think of the canned Dinty Moore slop that Kroger sells for a buck a can. But the stew served by Dogfish was tasty and in a miniature bread bowl. Really, really good.
4. When the people at the next table finished their beers, and the waitress bent over to pick up the empty glasses.
5. The 120 IPA. At more than 18% alcohol, how could I not like this beer?

They said that the Midas Touch, 120 IPA, and Peche will be available for sale in this market soon.

If you missed last night’s tasting, there may still be tickets available for tonight’s tasting at the East Bumblefuck Saucer on Germantown Parkway. Four of the five beers are high-alcohol content, so you may want to arrange a designated driver if you go.

That’s all for now. Job hunters: Check back often, I have a post on the way which will be good news for you.

Downtown Proponents Respond to Panhandling – Daily News article on the panhandling problem downtown, and how the Center City Commission, a prosecutor, and the Environmental Court are responding.

Working from the Saucer this afternoon, after discovering that Sunset Wheat is the fire sale. Their Dogfish Head beer tasting with Devin “Who the fuck is Devin Aroloski” Aroloski is tonight at 8. Tickets are sold out, but they’re having another one at the East Bumblefuck Saucer on G-town Parkway tomorrow night, and let’s face it, Cordova culture being what it is, only a Budweiser tasting would sell out that place.

Hey, I dropped the f-bomb twice in one paragraph… can’t remember the last time that happened.

The tasting starts at 8, but I’m REALLY looking forward to being at the Saucer between 7 and 8 tonight. Why? Because they’ve put up signs saying “Beer Garden closed from 7:00 to 9:30 PM for beer tasting.” Know what’s awesome about that? It means that everyone but ticket-holders will have no place to go but the inside room… AND THE INSIDE ROOM IS NONSMOKING UNTIL 8 PM!!! So, for an hour, people who want to light up their filthy, nasty, disgusting cigarettes will have nowhere to go. I love it!

By the way… I’m making a new rule. As more and more bars go nonsmoking, I find that I have a new role – the guy who gets stuck holding everyone’s seats while they go to the other room or outside to smoke. Therefore, starting today

1) I will hold no more than the seats immediately to my left and right; and

2) If good-looking girls come up and ask if those seats are vacant, I’ll give those up too.

Other quick notes:

– DNA is doing a clean-up day at Court Square on Saturday at 9 AM. If you want to join them and help keep Downtown beautiful, I’m sure they’d appreciate it.

– If you’re a fan of Barbara Blue who sings at Silky O’Sullivan’s four days a week, she’ll be on the terrace of the Hunt-Phelan patio from 9:30 to midnight Friday-Saturday, July 20 and 21. Good chance to see her without having to venture onto Beale. I haven’t had a chance to check out Hunt-Phelan yet but I hear it is one classy place.

– Lots going on tomorrow night… the Memphis Flyer happy hour at Swig 5-7… Snozberry on the Peabody rooftop 6-10… Susan Marshall on the Madison rooftop 6-10… Garry Goin and G3 at EP’s 8-midnight… and of course The Dempseys at the Saucer 9:30-1. Normally it would be a slam-dunk that I’d be at the Saucer for the Dempseys, but it looks as though my favorite blogger/MILF may be at EP’s. Haven’t actually met her in person yet, and she rarely gets Downtown, so I may have to venture over there. Although I’m a bit disappointed to hear she isn’t doing “nooners” right now.

All right, battery’s down to 20%. Time to log off.

Big thanks to a couple of readers for helping me remember the term I couldn’t think of in my earlier panhandler posts – “authorization of agency.” That’s the form business owners can fill out against particular individuals, stating that those individuals are not allowed on their property, or within a certain distance from the outside of the business.

Once an authorization of agency has been filed against a particular person, he or she can be arrested for criminal trespassing if seen on the premises. This is true even if the business owner isn’t there – if a cop happens to walk by and sees the the person, he or she can be arrested on the spot.

I hung out in a coffee shop downtown all the time a few years ago… the owner had authorizations of agency filed against many of the bums, and he rarely had trouble with panhandling in front of his shop. I remember a comment he made to me, that if all the Downtown businesses banded together and filed authorizations of agency against all the bums, then they wouldn’t have anywhere left to beg.

Now, the thing is, in order to file an AofA against a person, you have to know their name. That’s an opportunity to Downtowners to band together and help one another, if we all share information about these guys. For over a year friends and I have kicked around an idea of a panhandler photo album online. The idea started as a joke, but now I’m wondering if this could turn out to be something really useful in taking our neighborhood back from the bums.

What do you think? E-mail me if you have ideas on how we could work together.

Today I was walking around Court Square taking more pics of the “locals,” and off in the distance I noticed this new restaurant at the intersection of Third and Court:

It’s called Roma Pizza, Pasta, Subs & Philly Cheese Steak and a sign in the window says it will be open soon. If you click on the image to view it in full size, you can see some of the menu items they have planned – Italian dishes mostly.

The Memphis Flyer is hosting 3rd Thursday, a pre-rooftop party at Swig from 5 to 7 PM this Thursday, July 19. Free hors d’ouevres, drink specials, prizes, entertainment. The Flyer always throws good parties, so it should be worth it to drop by.

Just snapped a photo that illustrates one of the biggest elements of the panhandling problem in Downtown Memphis:

Every day this same cast of characters loiters outside the entrance to Walgreens at 2 N. Main (corner of Madison). Some days they’ll literally hang there all day long. When they get thirsty, they start asking people entering or leaving Walgreens for money. When they collect enough, they walk across Madison to CeCe’s Liquors to quench their thirst. Well, some of them do. About half of them are banned from CeCe’s and they have to send the others over to fill their orders.

Let’s have a closer look at this group, shall we?

There are actually a couple more members of the crew, who I suppose decided to sleep in this morning. Although Walgreens is their preferred location, they make guest appearances at Court Square and outside Jack’s Food Store at Main and Jefferson.

Why does Walgreens allow these people to loiter outside their store all day? It can’t be good for business for them to be there. Some would argue, “Well, the Main Street Mall is a public walk and they have a right to be there,” but that’s not necessarily true. A friend of mine owned a business nearby several years ago. He was able to swear out some kind of writ or statement or warrant (I forget its exact name – if anyone knows please fill me in) against individual panhandlers. Once that was in place, if they were caught loitering within a certain distance of his business, 10 feet I believe, he could have them arrested for criminal trespassing.

Want more? Here’s an Eyewitness News video, shot a couple of weeks ago, of two of these guys fighting over a bottle of booze outside of Walgreens. (It’s actually a story about a homeless man getting hit by a trolley, but they captured video of the fight while they were down there.) The guy involved in the fight who isn’t in the wheelchair is named Willie Norfleet and I’ve had him thrown in jail before for harassing tourists. Of course, he was back on the streets hours later. Mention the name “Norfleet” to any cop down here and they’ll immediately know who you’re talking about.

Here’s a pic I took of him last summer, while he was busy bothering attendees of the Court Square Concert Series:

Mayor Herenton may be King Willie, but this Willie is king of the bums.

This kind of thing has been going on outside Walgreens EVERY DAY for the entire 5 years I’ve lived Downtown. Except maybe Sundays – CeCe’s Liquors isn’t open so there’s less incentive for them to hang out on the corner of Madison and Main. NOTHING has been done about it. Walgreens doesn’t seem to care that these guys are constantly around.

Thinking about buying a condo in the core of Downtown Memphis? Take a look at the pics above and meet your new neighbors.

Bumwine.com has added a “Where to Buy” page, letting its readers know which stores across the U.S. carry all five of the top bum wines (Cisco, MD 20/20, Night Train, Thunderbird and Wild Irish Rose). There aren’t any Downtown Memphis listings, making me think that maybe we need to round up our street people and put them on a bus to one of the listed cities, where they’ll be happier. There is a listing for Nashville… let’s send ’em there.

And as far as I know, there AREN’T any places Downtown that carry all five of the wines. CeCe’s has MD 20/20 and Wild Irish Rose. When Frank’s was open, it carried Thunderbird and Wild Irish Rose, and used to carry Night Train years ago. I don’t know of anyplace Downtown that carries Cisco, although there may well be a store in the South of Forum district or on Crump that does.

The Bumwine site has also added a page explaining why Boone’s Farm does not count as a bum wine. Glad they put that page up to clear up misconceptions: It’s a great wine for college students on a budget to get trashed on, but at only 7% alcohol the hardcore bums aren’t going to waste their time.

Thanks to the Downtown panhandler photo album I posted Sunday night, my blog set a new record yesterday – 687 hits in one day.

I also received requests to continue with the photo series, to help inform Downtowners who the career panhandlers are, so they can be avoided. Guess I’ll have to take the camera out today and get started on part 2.