Memphis - 4/29/2013

Memphis is a very good place to live for the following reasons: good climate, mild winters, lots of good food and good, plentiful music. Alternatively, Memphis has occasional severe weather due to being in the middle of the country...cold air meeting against warm air..i.e. thunderstorms, tornados, straight line winds, lightning storms.

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Memphis is great - 4/10/2013

I am Black and I find Memphis a wonderful place to live. I moved here from Los Angeles because both my parents are from Mississippi and my wife and I both have a lot of family in the Memphis metro area as well as South Mississippi. I went to college in California for undergrad but attended Mississippi State for graduate school. After graduating from there I knew I wanted remain in the South and pursue my career. My choices were Atlanta, Houston, and Memphis. I chose Memphis because it is on the Mississippi border so I would be close to family and Mississippi State University for SEC games. Also if you are Black and educated it is fairly easy to get a decent job because the talent pool here of Black professional is not as overpopulated as say Atlanta or Houston. I found a job with the city as a Librarian. Something I would have never got in Los Angeles because those type of jobs out there are only going hispanics and Asians as African Americans are the forgotten minority on the Westcoast. Also before moving to Memphis I returned home to Los Angeles (Long Beach to be exact) after grad school for about a year. I could hardly find work and was paying $800 a month for a studio apartment with no central air or heat, no stove just a burner, no fridge just a mini fridge, and a single sink. I left Los Angeles went back to Mississippi found a job in one week that I worked at while waiting for all of the pre employment processes with the City of Memphis to go through. Now I have a great job in the field I went to school for and pay $675 a month for two bedroom two bathroom house in predominately Black suburb of Memphis. So compared to Los Angeles Memphis has been great to me. Furthermore the crime here is way over blown. I came from Long Beach, CA right next to Compton. Yes Memphis has some rough areas but those area are no worse than what I saw growing up in Long Beach, Compton, or South Central. I know people who moved down here from Chicago and say the same thing. Also the crime is isolated to only a few areas in Memphis. East Memphis, Hickory Hill, Southwind, Germantown, Colierville, Bartlett, Desoto County Mississippi are all safe. Lastly yes there are rednecks in some places but that is just apart of south and just the way it is. It does not bother me. I have some redneck friends. In my humble opinion Memphis is a great place to live but is not for everybody.

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Memphis is great - 4/10/2013

I am Black and I find Memphis a wonderful place to live. I moved here from Los Angeles because both my parents are from Mississippi and my wife and I both have a lot of family in the Memphis metro area as well as South Mississippi. I went to college in California for undergrad but attended Mississippi State for graduate school. After graduating from there I knew I wanted remain in the South and pursue my career. My choices were Atlanta, Houston, and Memphis. I chose Memphis because it is on the Mississippi border so I would be close to family and Mississippi State University for SEC games. Also if you are Black and educated it is fairly easy to get a decent job because the talent pool here of Black professional is not as overpopulated as say Atlanta or Houston. I found a job with the city as a Librarian. Something I would have never got in Los Angeles because those type of jobs out there are only going hispanics and Asians as African Americans are the forgotten minority on the Westcoast. Also before moving to Memphis I returned home to Los Angeles (Long Beach to be exact) after grad school for about a year. I could hardly find work and was paying $800 a month for a studio apartment with no central air or heat, no stove just a burner, no fridge just a mini fridge, and a single sink. I left Los Angeles went back to Mississippi found a job in one week that I worked at while waiting for all of the pre employment processes with the City of Memphis to go through. Now I have a great job in the field I went to school for and pay $675 a month for two bedroom two bathroom house in predominately Black suburb of Memphis. So compared to Los Angeles Memphis has been great to me. Furthermore the crime here is way over blown. I came from Long Beach, CA right next to Compton. Yes Memphis has some rough areas but those area are no worse than what I saw growing up in Long Beach, Compton, or South Central. I know people who moved down here from Chicago and say the same thing. Also the crime is isolated to only a few areas in Memphis. East Memphis, Hickory Hill, Southwind, Germantown, Colierville, Bartlett, Desoto County Mississippi are all safe. Lastly yes there are rednecks in some places but that is just apart of south and just the way it is. It does not bother me. I have some redneck friends. In my humble opinion Memphis is a great place to live but is not for everybody.

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Memphis wonderful city for African-Americans - 4/9/2013

I have read all the comments on here and all I haft to say is that where ever you live is how you make it. I grew up in Los Angeles and crime in Memphis ghetto area (Memphis suburbs have low crime rates) is no worse than Compton, Watts, South Central, Long Beach (where I grew up) etc... Anybody from a big city like say Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc.. would not be threaten by crime in Memphis. It is no more than any other major city. Secondly I left Los Angeles because the Black population So Cal in now last in population after Hispanics, Whites, and Asians. Most of the good jobs are going to hispanics and asians and most Black with good jobs got them over 20 years ago when there was more Black Los Angeles. I received my Bachelor's in history with a minor in Africana studies from Cal-State Dominguez Hills then attended Mississippi State University for my Master's. Both my parents are originally from Mississippi. After graduation I knew I did not want to go back Cali because I loved being in the South, half my family is in Mississippi, and my wifes family is spread out between Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Memphis, and Texas. I decided I was going to either move to Atlanta, Memphis, or Houston. I chose Memphis because it the only Metro area with over a million people in the U.S. with a majority Black population. (Metro Area includes suburbs and neighboring counties. It is also on the Mississippi border so I can be back in Mississippi within minutes. There are a lot of fellow SEC alumni in town. Lastly I chose Memphis because if you are African American and educated it is fairly easy to get a decent job. I work for the city as a Librarian. I love memphis. I was paying $800 a month for studio with a burner and mini fridge in the ghetto of Los Angeles. Now I am renting a two bedroom 2 bath house in a predominately Black suburb in Memphis for $675 a month. I will be buying the house next year and mortgage will be around $125 a month. My parents house in Long Beach is the same size and their mortgage $1800 a month. Memphis as anywhere in the south is what you make of it. Hope this helps anyone moving to Memphis. Just a little FYI another thing is Black people are everywhere in the Memphis area and some people fear African Americans so this contributes to the perception that memphis is filled with crime. Don't do nothing stupid and you do not have to worry about crime.

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Believe it, Memphis is not where you want to live - 1/24/2013

I apent over 10 years living there as a productive professional and I lived in the burbs, but if I knew what I know now I would have never taken the job there ! I enjoyed my work, but the city and the people are too far behind other cities ! education is terrbile, whites ahte blacks even though some of the so-called liberal ones really come out of the closet in like social settings (I'm white), blacks distrust whites (I might add for good reason it seems to me), the politics is awful, the drivers are stupid, the food is disgusting, the shopping is very inferior, the airport is deficient with very very high fares, it's just an awful awful environment outside of your profession ! are there some good people there ? sure, but they keep quiet about complaining because these idiots start launching personal attacks just because you expect a higher level of quality, food, service, government, access to amentities. If you can, SKIP ever ever moving to Memphis ! there are too many better plcces to work and have fun . Really, just do not do it.

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Fear of crime - 1/13/2013

I live in the city in a Midtown historic neighborhood called evergreen Most of the crime in Memphis unfortunately is in the lower socioeconomic neighborhoods and is crime against the poor by the poor. I have never felt unsafe yet in this neighborhood and have lived in Seattle, Houston and Columbia Missouri. I have lived in Memphis for 8 years now.

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I am Black and Memphis is a Scary City. The most D - 12/12/2012

I am a black person and I am just going to tell everyone that you should think twice before moving to Memphis, TN. Memphis, TN is the most dangerous city I have ever lived in. I have lived in Black areas of various cities most of my life, but no city has struck fear in my heart like Memphis. The news is just crazy there. Cops finding bones and skeletons of people, drive by shootings and murders evernight. Rapes. People killing their own kids. It is unbelievable. There is a lot of racism in Memphis and a lot of fraud. Even the ministers in Memphis are slanging drugs on the side. The councilmen and Mayor are all crooked. Lots of side deals being made in Memphis. There is an underworld in Memphis. The poverty there is incredible. People with no running water, no refrigerators, no stoves. People selling everything from what is between their legs to their "mouths" (if you know what I mean) for as little as a hamburger. You will meet desperate people in Memphis. Very desperate. People who know no other way to make it. You will meet entire families of people who have never worked a day in their lives. The entire family living off the system. Many people in Memphis have been to prison. When I was looking for work there and interviewing the interviewers would ask "Have you ever been to Prison". No Sh!t. It was unreal. And I am a college educated black person. Blacks distrust blacks in Memphis and whites distrust blacks. Blacks distrust blacks becuase so many poor blacks try to use them and rob them. Get close to them solely to find out what they have. If you have a job, nomatter if you are making minimum wage they will consider you "rich". No joke. Memphis is HOOD, HOOD, HOOD... In every way. Lots of gang violence and prostitution too. Lots of Aids/Hiv. Terrible city. Awful in fact. Even the folks going to Graceland leave saying they will never come back. Graceland is surrounded by drug addicts, etc. Most of the Memphis politicians have done time in Prison numerous times for bribery and assault and many like John Ford openly have several families they jump from house to house. As soon as they get out of prison they get re-elected. and the rest of Tennessee is hicks. Just rednecks who hate blacks but they are afraid of Memphis and for good reason. Tennessee is a whole different ballgame.

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A wonderful place - Memphis - 7/30/2011

This review is prompted by Keith in Madison, TN who complains that TN is "retrograde" and "very Red" in politics. The problem is that Keith lives in Madison, TN, and not Memphis, TN. Memphis is a shining example of Progressive politics. We have been led by liberal Democrats since the mid 1980's in both local and national politics. In that time, our previous mayor of 16 years, who was school uperintendant for 12 years, has steered our city to some wonderful Progressive results. He raised the schools budget 1300%, and made diversity the operating benchmark in the Memphis City Schools, and then the Memphis City government. No decision was made unless it benefited minorities directly. Average ACT scores jumped from 24 to 12. H.S. graduation rates made a substantial move from 73% to 33%. Violent crime against teachers has risen 1100%. Of the over 157 schools in the City of Memphis, only 120 are listed as "troubled" and could be taken over by the State of Tennessee. And in an act of genuine magnamity designed to spread their expertise throughout Shelby County, the Memphis City School Board surrendered their charter as a school district, forcing the Shelby County Schools (in top 100 of best school systems in the U.S., avg ACT 25%, H.S. graduation rate of over 90%) to begin the process of merging the two systems. These same progressive politicians have announced plans to run for office for the Shelby County School Board so that they can transform the suburban schools into the carbon copies of their urban counterparts. The population of Memphis is changing along the same trend lines as jobs. Unemployment is improved over the years of the Great Maliase of the late 1970s to only 13%. (July 2011) Crime statistics show that Memphis has moved fron within the top 5 cities in the U.S. to just outside the top 10. (2010) The top private employer in Memphis endevours to employ all job seekers, averaging 300% employee turnover yearly. Since our current city mayor took office last year, FBI and other police agency probes into illegal and corrupt political practices has dropped substancially. However, convictions are still nearly 100%. As for culture, the previous City mayor discontinued the world class Wonders Exibitions (Cathering the Great, Ramesses the Great, Masters of Florence, Art of the Motorcycle) in favor of a more diverse cultural series, Africa in April. In this way, the 100,00 or so yearly Wonders tourists from outside Memphis wouldn't congest the streets, hotels, and resturants of Memphis. Yes indeed, Memphis is a shining example of the results of decades of Progressive politics.

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Living in Memphis - 6/20/2011

I have lived in Memphis all my life and yes it has declined but so have a lot of cities in this economy. Memphis is no more dangerous than any other major city in the US and the cost of living is still low outside of the taxes. Our utilities are cheaper than most. The cost of food and gas is cheaper. Yes we have a criminal element but so does any other major city. The two worse things about Memphis are our govt and educational system and that is major yes but can be changed. Will it? I'm hopeful but Memphis is good for those who like small town living with a hint of the big city.

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Hot - 11/6/2010

Hot

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Great Opportunity - 8/27/2010

It is the top ten cities to invest in real estate. It is home to the busiest cargo airport in the world, third largest railroad center in US and major shipping port for barge traffic. The city has great plan to develop into a main medical hub for USA. This is the city full of opportunities.

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GOOO OLE BOY SYSTEM - 7/19/2010

ITS NOT FRIENDLY AT ALL AS PORTRAY; THE FRIENDLY SOUTH A WHO KNOWS WHO SOCIETY EVEN IF YOU ARE BORN AND RAISED HERE IF YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE CLICK OR YOUR PARENTS OR COUSIN YOU ARE LEFT IN THE COLD!

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Memphis is unsafe for you, your family, and your b - 7/13/2010

I am 31 and have lived in Memphis since I was less than a year old. My extended family lives here and I cannot find a comparable job elsewhere. Those are the ONLY reasons I still live here. It is a VERY unsafe place. There are a lot of very racist black people here. I'm sure there are many racists of all colors here, but as I am white and also the minority in this town I'm sure you see why I am not comfortable. I've done nothing to these people and neither have any of my family but I am an outsider here-one to be blamed. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this city so it can finish rotting itself out. I hate to say this as I'm raising a family here, but I don't want to give a false image of what it's like here to people who want to know.

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Memphis - 5/24/2010

Memphis: the most lively and soulful place there is. Yes, it's full of crime, but it's also full of hardworking people trying to make a living. Don't judge off of reports and such. Unless you were born here and [have] lived here your whole life, you don't know Memphis.

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Beware of Memphis - 3/8/2010

The worst mistake I have made in my 27 years was leaving Knoxville, Tennessee after graduating and moving to Memphis. I expected a smaller but vibrant version of Atlanta, but I was sadly mistaken. I can't blame anybody for my choosing Memphis over cities like Charlotte, Atlanta and Nashville. However, the lack of leadership in the city is quite shameful and absolutely deplorable. Now, even the nice places like Cordova's Wolfchase area is being run down. In moving to Memphis in 2006, I found a terrible job market, a ridiculous crime rate, and a lot of rude characters. The leadership of the city used divisive and racially charged politics to gain and hold on to power. Former mayor Willie Herenton should have been booted at least 10 years ago, yet he received unconditional support from people blinded by his "gift of gab". Some of his comments after his election in the late 2000's would have been condemned in any other major metropolitan: "Where were the white people when I was being criticized? White people didn't get me elected." I am a black man, and I am offended by that statement. I am deeply saddened that so many good people have to endure such poor leadership. Recently elected Mayor A.C. Wharton needs to answer this one question before Memphis sinks to the murky perils of Detroit and New Orleans: what is Memphis going to be? Will it be a crime ridden cesspool of society? Or will it be a vibrant Mecca of opportunity that I thought it was before I moved to Memphis in 2006? I have been fortunate enough to get a promotion at my job and move to a different city in 2009. I would recommend to anybody who has the opportunity to leave, do your research and make the move. To those out there who are thinking about coming to Memphis, please research the job market and crime rate and weigh your options. I believe that you will find better opportunities out there: Nashville, Little Rock, Jackson, MS, Dallas. To those who have no other choice: May God Be With You. I am not criticizing the people of Memphis. They are good people. I am criticizing the leadership of the city. The city has a ton of potential, but the leadership can't harness that potential.

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A city full of tension - 2/28/2010

This city was once one of the cleanest and safest. But over time and with the impact of racial unrest in the 60's, Memphis is a city that is constantly struggling. Memphis longs to be a progressive city but there are many who thrive on standing in the way. The education system here has suffered, property taxes are out of hand, there is no sense of community, and people are not as nice as they used to be. It is sad to me since I grew up here.

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Living in Memphis or anywhere in west TN - 2/10/2010

I was born and raised here but my parents (also natives, as have been numerous generations)moved us out west when I was 17. While sheltered mostly, I know they wanted better for us and saw how terrible things were getting back in the mid 1970s. I moved my family here in 2005, leaving behind much success in northern California as a scientist including a newly accepted prestigious training position at Stanford University Hospital. I will take that regret to my grave. I love our property just outside Memphis but cannot get even a job interview much less a minimum wage job. Even when trying to start my own organic produce business, it seems that nepotism and cronyism are the name of the game and newcomers like me are not welcome. Everything you read, sadly, is true about crime, corruption, having to know the right people, even to get into a graduate program here. We have been threatened with "go back to California" and even the mayor of our little town publicly refused to allow me to even volunteer for any community beautification committees. Then there is the issue of trying to teach chemistry at the high school level (I am also licensed to do this in CA, MS, and TN and have experience in CA). I recently tore up my high school diploma, with the honor society seal on it, and next is my birth certificate. We have used up all of our savings on just trying to pay the basic costs of living which are higher (utilities, food) than in northern California. My late parents never came back here while alive and now I know why. It absolutely breaks my heart to see how absolutely hateful, crime-ridden, ignorant, and low-life this area has become. It is like living on the Jerry Springer show every day. The last great museums, the zoo, all of the splendid things that once made this a mecca of good culture, are almost gone now. DO NOT MOVE HERE

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Horrific, backward and almost hopeless - 1/28/2010

As a seasoned professional in the accounting and financial sector, I accepted a post here in Memphis, TN > good job, good people, etc, but the city absolutely sucks by comparison to where we have lived before > and it's not just the 'racial makeup or composition', we don't care if the people are majority 'green' or purple ! it's the bifurcation, the undereducation, some are still fighting the civil war even, while others are being 'victims' all over again. Schools are pretty bad, politics is bad, attitudes are backward. After 10 years or so, we know what we're talking about. Do yourself and your family a BIG favor, and do NOT move to Memphis, TN ! Anything is better ! Nashville, maybe Birmingham (maybe), Charlotte, Charleston, San Antonio (really, but not much), Palm Coast, some of central FL, coastal SC/NC

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Memphis - 12/14/2009

A really strange place. Mild weather, torrid summers. Home of the Blues, Beale Street,and Graceland is in need of an upgrade. It has serious problems. It needs more and newer attractions. It has culture but needs more. The parks are boring. The racial divide is enormous. There is a lot of crime concentrated in the poor sections of town. Education is not used by the poor to better their lives. Young people view public assistance as a necessity. The only reason I still live here after 7 years is that we live in a suburb of Memphis. Even so it was annexed by the city so we get to pay city and county taxes. The city put in street lamps here and that's it. The city of Memphis has a new mayor now after 17 years of the same one. That in itself should tell you something. Mayors should have a term limit. After too long they think they're invincible and irreplaceable. Memphis politics has a long history of corruption, nepotism and incompetence. The county mayor has just replaced the city mayor. County politics and everything else run by the county has had a good reputation. If the new city mayor runs the city like he ran the county there is hope.

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Realistic View of crime stats - 10/28/2009

I've lived in Portland for 39 years and recently moved to Memphis. There is no way these statistics are accurate. The crime in Portland isn't the threat it is in places like Memphis where a walk to the park can end with a rape or assult. These stats seem useless the quality of life in Portland is so much better than Memphis in so many ways. Also, East St. Louis has basically the same crime stat as Portland??? GIVE ME A BREAK! Portland is a beautiful place to live and it may have its fare share of petty crime {bike thefts and car burglaries} but in no way is it "unsafe".

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