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08/04/2005: August in Memphis, and must be a slow news day....
More on the parks flap. Since writing the post linked to there, I've learned that the attorney to the Memphis City Council advised the council that it had no power to rename the parks, but the City Mayor (Willie Herenton), did. Mayor Herenton then took the question under advisement (either implicitly or explicitly; I don't recall reading which).
This morning, at a press conference, Mayor Herenton made a bold statement standing up for what's right and just by first declaring that he speaks as Mayor of the City of Memphis, not as a private citizen of African-American descent (thus paying obesience to the radical black faction), declaring that he would not rename the parks (thus paying his obesience to the Southern heritage faction), and then bravely passing two-thirds of the buck to the Riverfront Development Corporation (with respect to the ultimate decisions regarding Jefferson Davis and Confederate Parks) and passing the remaining 33 and 1/3 cents to the University of Tennessee (with respect to the ultimate decisions regarding Forrest Park, which is located across the street from the Memphis campus of the university's Health Science Center (i.e., schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, social work, allied health professions and graduate health sciences, and associated clinical medical facilities), by recommending that the parks (and therefore the right to rename them or not) be conveyed to those entities. [NOTE: The preceding passage is a test of your browser's ability to correctly parse the HTML "sarcasm" tags...]
Wow, what a way to dodge the bullet and duck responsibility. I have to confess being seriously impressed.
Interesting comment of the day: Riverfront Development Corporation president Benny Lendermon is quoted as asking, "But I'd also be interested in why the city is making this offer."
Apparently he took that saying about Greeks bearing gifts to heart.
And, by the way, we're still scheduled to hear from Rev. Al Sharpton yet, so further hilarity will no doubt ensue. Stay tuned!
Len on 08.04.05 @ 12:02 PM CST
