European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Betting the future on the Mississippi mud mud Island the most valuable 43 acres of undeveloped real estate in America by Wayne King new York times almost alone among the major cities of the the battered but resilient Cotton capital of Memphis at the Northern up of the Mississippi struggled through the late 1960s and 1 Early 70s without visibly sharing in the Boom that was transforming the while other Southern cities like Houston and Jacksonville struck out in bold new Memphis its downtown its civic Pride battered and its growth kept steady Only by a ceaseless pro Gram of much of this came to a symbolic crisis in the Spring of 1968 when the cites searing racial problems culminated in the assassination of the Martin Luther in its account of that time Magazine de scribed Memphis As a decaying Backwater River although some Mem hians found that judgment a bit even its strongest boosters today concede that their City has suffered from a bad a reluctance to take venturesome Steps and a Lack of with the striking new downtown the longest in the Complete except for finishing and other new projects in the much of that image seems to be changing and Memphis shows signs of finally emerging As a competitive we never had the Boom that Atlanta and Houston said John an advertising Man who is one of the cites new class of Bright Young most of these cities tend to move in quantum Memphis is More through the windows of Malmos Isth floor there is a View of the Mississippi River where dredges and cranes Are at work on a 43acre piece of real estate called mud the Island is owned by the by Malmos exuberant estimate is Likely the most valuable 43 acres of undeveloped real estate in its that the lying adjacent to Midtown remains undeveloped it once served As a private air probably Speaks of the inability of Memphis heretofore to take advantage of its the City has undertaken a million project to develop the Island As a tourist with Access provided by Monorail or River the Island will offer a three Story museum of the its ecology and a Park that will feature a scale Model representation of the one step to the a Plain that Wilt actually Hood As the Mississippi an Amphitheater for concerts and a recreation of a pilothouse and a Stern wheel shops and a terraced promenade that will allow whatever the Rivers to Amble take off their and beat their feet in the Mississippi funding for the project has been but there was an outcry from critics who believe the Money should not be Given the tight Memphis budget and the con Tention that social programs Are not being adequately emerging Memphis nearly completed mid America touted As the worlds longest january 1978 to counter the drive to Cut off the leading Mem Phi ans took out full Page newspaper advertisements dont let a few pessimists keep Memphis in the in the and we Are sick and tired of the loud protests of a vocal minority who oppose re member the outcry against the Liberty bowl memorial the Memphis International every bold step Memphis has Ever taken has been shouted Down by a few do nothing and that is one of the tragic reasons Why we Nave crept so slowly into the 20th but All is not despite the architectural bul the sculpture and the brightly coloured plinths along the new Many of the stores of either me have a slightly seedy a Comer fur for has Ermine in its but its Green awning sags across one Street is a bargain furniture store with a Garish White and Blue facade and across the other Are three wig there Are an abundance of credit clothing stores but sales tax As a Down and sever Al vacant storefronts lend the Street a certain snaggletooth City officials Hope the Good will drive out the the City also suffers from a dearth of firs class Down town hotel space five old including the historic stand empty and abandoned lending some thing of the air of a White elephant to the Gigantic Cook convention 10th largest in the opened in with Only firs class rooms available at just four facilities the City is hard put to Host big con a Regency Hyatt hotel was built 20 Miles out of town after Hyatt was told that the site it across the Street from the convention was needed for the City estimates it needs Down town hotel rooms within the next five and at the no one seems interested in building the cites population growth now results from not while Memphis popu lation grew from in 1970 to in the population of Shelby of which it is a totalled Only a Little rising from in 1970 to in in what growth there Memphis simply making it larger in area than Philadelphia or de while annexation provides a growing tax there is a Trade off in providing City services to the newly annexed a Strain that heavier population and Industrial concentration would the City Hopes that its new and its new will provide that kind of Memphis after a City with some reputation for the first self service the was opened in Memphis and the first Kress and Kresge dime Kemmers Wilson created the Holiday inns in Memphis and Jimmy Dobbs the toddle Thomas Edison once worked in the City and in the 1930s Erwin Rommel came to Memphis to study the military tactics of Nathan Bedford who lived in Memphis and is buried looking out his window onto the River at the site of the proposed mud Island tourist attraction that the City Hopes will boost its National Malmo mused that the future of this City is written in that this City is the All weve got to do is take advantage of the stars and stripes Page 13