Paul Ryburn's Journal

Just wanted to give an update of some of the accomplishments of the Handling-Panhandling online forum over the past week. If you are fed up with panhandling in Memphis, you need to be on this forum.

• We learned the identity of one of Memphis’ most aggressive panhandlers, the woman pictured below. Having a name for her will make it easier to file criminal complaints and authorizations of agency against her. We also learned a little bit about why she behaves the way she does. Hopefully, the next time she’s picked up on criminal charges, she can be funneled to Environmental Court which will get her the help she needs.

• We sent out letters to six business in front of which Sharp Dressed Bum commonly panhandles – McEwen’s, LoLo’s Table, the Rendezvous, the Holiday Inn Select, the Peabody Hotel, and Peabody Place. We have his name as well, and we know that he has an outstanding warrant (mug shots from that arrest below). Again, we’re hoping that sharing information will lead to more criminal complaints and authorizations of agency against him, disrupting his “business” on the streets of Downtown.

• We printed business cards, featuring the URL of the Handling-Panhandling forum, to hand out to interested parties. If you want some of these cards to hand out, let me know. (Pic is a little bit fuzzy – the print on the cards is not)

• We sent invitations to three of the top police officers in the city, including the head of the Downtown Precinct and the head of the Entertainment District Unit, to join the group. We hope to get the police involved to make this a true police-community partnership.

Group currently stands at 126 members and we’re just getting started… we plan on having a presence at National Night Out at Court Square Tuesday afternoon 4 to 7, so come on out and join us.

WMC-TV channel 5 ran a story this afternoon about the Memphis Police Quality of Life Task Force taking action to clean up Downtown.

One of the things we’ve learned on the Handling-Panhandling list in the past two weeks is that the river bank near the Downtown Visitor’s Center is a popular place for vagrants to camp out. As a result, the first thing that happens when tourists arrive in Memphis is that they get panhandled outside the Visitor’s Center. MPD says that the people who camp there are also known to commit crimes, breaking into cars and trading whatever they can find for drugs.

An MPD officer was interviewed, and he commented that there are places in town for the homeless to stay that are not out in the open on the river banks. Most likely he meant the Union Mission. Vagrants choose to camp out rather than stay in the Mission for a variety of reasons – they don’t want to hand over $6 of their “hard-earned” money; they don’t like having to be in the Mission by 6 PM, causing them to miss evening hours outdoors which are prime-time for panhandling; they don’t like having to sit through the Mission’s chapel service; they can’t use alcohol and drugs at the Mission.

I applaud the police on recognizing there’s a problem with panhandling Downtown and doing something about it (heck, I didn’t even know we had a Quality of Life Task Force). I question, though, whether what they did today will really help. The vagrants will return to their camp to find their toothpaste, spare clothes, bedding, and other necessities of life are not there. Are they really going to go, “Well, I guess I better go to the Mission, can’t stay here anymore”? I doubt it. Now they’re going to have to panhandle more aggressively than ever, to get new necessities to survive as well as money for alcohol and drugs. They’ll likely set up camp right back in the same spot. And if they decide the area is no longer hospitable, they’re not going to go to the Mission to get help – they’ll relocate to another area. Hey Midtown, want some more bums?

If the police really want to put a dent in panhandling and car break-ins Downtown, I have three words for them: walking police patrols. That’s what we need. The panhandlers and criminals will be a lot more skittish about doing “business” Downtown if they see a cop every time they turn around.

I thank them for what they did today, but it’s a Band-Aid and it strikes me as more of a publicity move to show that they’re doing something (maybe in response to the media coverage Handling-Panhandling has gotten in the past week) rather than working to come up with a long-term solution to the problem. Nevertheless, I hope to learn more about the Quality of Life Task Force and get them active on the Handling-Panhandling forum.

If any of the cops that participated today are reading this, I invite you to e-mail me and start a dialogue. Not trying to attack what you did today; I just think you might be able to come up with some more constructive solutions if you partner with the Downtown community.

There will be a National Night Out party in Court Square this coming Tuesday, August 7, from 4 to 7 PM. MPD Director Larry Godwin will hold a press conference at 4, and then at 5 there will be live music. There will be food and family-friendly games as well. This is a yearly event, held all over the country to promote neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships.

All the top brass of the Memphis Police Department will likely be there. This is an incredible opportunity for Downtowners to talk to the top cops and let them know how panhandling is ruining our neighborhood. So come on out and let’s express our frustrations. Be respectful, but at the same time let them know you’re fed up.

The stories that are most likely to get attention are those where the panhandling is clearly aggressive – where you felt threatened or intimidated to give money. Instances where panhandlers commit other crimes, such as the bums on Beale Street charging for cars to park in lots and metered spaces, would be good to talk about too.

One note: There will be several of these National Night Out events around town, and Directory Godwin will probably travel around the city to attend all of them. So if you want to talk to the Director, you may want to take off work an hour early and get down to Court Square by 4:00.

I’m going to try to get Downtown’s highest-ranking officers on the Handling-Panhandling online forum (which added its 122nd member today), so they can see for themselves how sick people are of the constant aggressive begging. I’ll be at the National Night Out event Tuesday, and so will the forum’s co-moderator Mike King. Hope to see you there.

I love Gmail. Particularly, its labeling feature. People send me stuff to blog about all the time, so I created a label called “2blog” and label messages as such as they come in. When I get around to posting about them (or when I forget to post until after the event takes place), I remove the label.

The Orpheum will show the classic movie The Wizard of Oz tonight at 7:15. Following the movie there will be a Wizard-themed party at the Westin. Details below. Click the image for a larger size.

The Memphis Grizzlies are hosting a TEAM UP lunch next Tuesday at the FedExForum, where you can learn about mentoring opportunities within the community, and have the chance to meet new head coach Marc Iavaroni and new GM Chris Wallace. Details below.

On Tuesday, August 7, the Grizzlies Foundation is hosting the TEAM UP Mentoring Lunch, an open-house style fair/ expo where we’ll serve lunch, introduce our new Head Coach and General Manager and most importantly, connect interested adults with various youth mentoring opportunities in our community.

Eleven different youth mentoring programs will have staff, current mentors and kids on hand to discuss their respective mentoring opportunities and enlist new volunteers. This is a critical time for mentoring organizations to recruit, because many begin their next “season” with the onset of the new school year.

Opportunities to help kids abound in Memphis, and mentoring is one of the most effective ways to make a lasting difference. The Grizzlies Foundation is dedicated to increasing the number of caring adults serving as mentors to youth, and the TEAM UP Lunch aims to do this as well as spotlight the high-quality mentoring programs in our community.

Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation News

Team Up Mentoring Lunch
Tuesday, August 7
11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Make plans to attend a special free lunch at FedExForum while the Grizzlies Foundation and partners answer your questions about how mentoring can fit any schedule.

Plus, you’ll have the chance to meet new Grizzlies personnel like GM & Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace and Head Coach Marc Iavaroni. You may enter to win great Grizzlies prizes including an autographed Mike Conley, Jr. authentic jersey.

RSVP is required for this event. RSVP via e-mail or call 901.888.HOOP.

RSVP via email:

» mailto:rsvp@grizzlies.com?subject=team_up_lunch

Read more about the Team Up Mentoring Lunch:

» http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/community/team_up_mentoring_lunch-070720.html

This morning I took a walk up the Main Street Mall, and saw the business pictured below in the old Daily Grind space at Main and Adams, in the ground floor of the Claridge House:

The name of the business is the Sidi Bou Cafe and Hookah Lounge. Looks like you can grab some good coffee there, or smoke flavored tobacco from one of their hookahs, or eat a “Steak-Eze” or gyro sandwich, or grab breakfast. Not sure of their hours or if they have Wi-Fi; I’ll check.

Other Wednesday notes:

– WOOHOO!!!! The project I’ve been working on just got put on hold. That means I have the day free to work on my own websites. Got a good one that a friend and I plan on rolling out soon… if you plan on buying a TV, might want to wait until we get this site online, you’ll learn a lot from it.

– The Rapscallions took another third place in trivia last night, brining our gift certificate total to $45. What happened to the good old days, when we won every week? Last night was The Adventures of the Nuh-Uh Family. The Nuh-Uh Dad came through with a couple of educated guesses that turned out to be correct. The Nuh-Uh Girl put ketchup on her salad and ate it like dressing, making me re-think her position as our group’s culinary expert. The Nuh-Uh Sister was a Trivia Traitor this week, playing with her Teaching Fellows team instead of us, and they took first place. Later in the evening the Nuh-Uh Sister and her adopted team performed “Ice Ice Baby.” Well, it was amateur night. I looked around the room for a gong to hit but couldn’t find one.

– One more reason why I hate Peyton Manning: He made a high-profile donation to Fred Thompson’s campaign this week.

– Congrats to my favorite blogger/MILF on her new Downtown job that starts Monday. Not only is this good news for her, but also good news for Downtown Huey’s which will likely see a huge increase in liquor sales in the lunch and early evening hours. If any of the Downtown Huey’s bartenders read my blog: Better brush up on the recipe for “grape koolaid”

– In the news: Jerry “The King” Lawler was just found not guilty of assaulting another wrestler during a match in Tunica. The other wrestler, Sal Corrente, claimed that Lawler hit him with a non-scipted punch. This has to be one of the stupidest court cases ever.

– Coming soon: Info on a party Downtown a week from Sunday (August 12) that looks like it could be really good – good enough that you might want to take the 13th as a vacation day.

Outta here for now.

I ran into the owner of Sauces Monday night at Downtown Night at the Westin and he gave me one of his cards… just looked at it and noticed that Sauces now has a website:

http://www.saucesmemphis.com/

Check out their menu, and their mojitos. I regret that I haven’t paid more attention to Sauces since it opened; I have heard very good things about it from my friends. Items in particular I want to try: The “Your Canvas” menu, the Fried Mozarella Caprese, the Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps, the Roasted Garlic & Onion burger, the Lobster Ravioli, the Medallions Chesapeake. If you’ve eaten there and have other recommendations, let me know.

Hey… I just started looking through their site and saw “WIFI available”… two of my favorite words. Now I’ll definitely be spending more time there.

Not today though – in the middle of a big programming project. I’ve learned that programming projects tend to break themselves down into two parts: Grunt work, and heavy thinking. Grunt work (example: building a form with 160 fields and getting it to save to the database) can be done from bars with Wi-Fi. Heavy thinking (example: intense SQL queries to generate reports) cannot be done at bars. Today’s a “heavy thinking” day, so I’ll probably spend most of it at Otherlands with my iPod headphones on.

When I take a break from thinking, I’ll post to my blog again. I still have several items “on deck” to write about.

Today I got to take a tour of Itta Bena, the new restaurant on the third floor of B.B. King’s Blues Club, at the corner of Second and Beale. Just last night I heard good things about this place – “impeccable atmosphere,” I was told. Looks like they were telling the truth – check out the pictures below.

I asked for and received permission to photograph their menus and post them. Click the images below to view in full size and to check out what they have on the menu.

They want it to be a reservations-type place, but they say it’s fine if you’re downstairs at B.B.’s and you call upstairs to make reservations. They also understand that, although they have a fine menu, they’re on Beale and therefore you’re not required to be dressed to the nines when you come there.

They don’t plan to do any advertising – all word of mouth. However, they were happy to have me mention it on the blog, because they’re hoping the place will develop a following among locals.

Sounds like a great addition to Downtown.

The following was sent to me by one of my readers who lives in Uptown Square – he and his girlfriend have adopted a dog who was running loose in the complex, but they need to give him away. You see, their cat has had the run of the house for the past 12 years and apparently isn’t too pleased about his new roommate. If you’d like to adopt this dog, e-mail me and I’ll pass on your contact info.

—————-

Well, Leigh and myself rescued this little “Rascal”
over the weekend and we are both slowly falling for
him. He had been running around the Uptown Square
apartments for about a week and we were afraid he
might fall into the wrong hands. The only problem is
we have a CAT. Right now we’re making do with sharing
the apartment between the two but I don’t think it
will last long seeing our cat is pretty much spoiled
having his own place for twelve years.

He is a wonderful dog. Very tame, and has obviously
been owned by someone at some point. He looks to be
mix Pit/Shepherd. He does not have a mean bone in his
body. I figure he’s about nine months old and has had
his ears clipped.

We’re going to take him to the Vet this week and have
him checked with shot’s if needed.

If you have a day with not much going on with your
blog it would be great if maybe you could post this
pic and help us either find the owner or find a new
one.

Yesterday I was walking down Beale when I noticed the sign outside EP Delta Kitchen:

EP’s had been doing crawfish boils on Tuesday night, but I guess crawfish season is over so they’ve switched to all you can eat crab legs and shrimp, 6 PM ’til.

EP’s is REALLY tempting me to skip a trivia night and come down there for some seafood… not this Tuesday, but perhaps on a future Tuesday I’ll venture down there. This week we’ve got to concentrate on building our stash of gift certificate winnings back up (currently $35). The other Downtown trivia team disbanded and it looks like the Rapscallions will pick up their captain and Yoko as new members. Now our goal is to knock off the team of recent college grads who have had a good run lately.

Working, blogging, working, blogging… got a lot to do today. Got at least two more blog posts to come… when I get bored with my work I’ll log off the server momentarily and put a new post up. So be sure to check back…