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MEMernet A roundup of Memphis on the World Wide Web. S P EAK FO R US ALL
Reddit user u/stupidnapolean wrote, “Remember when those apartments on Highland were painted green and people lost their minds over it and got the owners to repaint? Can we show those same people this billboard on Union?” POSTED TO REDDIT BY U/STUPIDNAPOLEAN
A THAN G, R EALLY? Memphis Sandwich Clique moderator Joey Danforth perplexed and, perhaps, repulsed many with this confounding image that claimed “fish filet and cookies & cream ice cream. It’s a Mississippi thang.” Mississippians in the group loudly proclaimed that, no, that is not a real “thang.” June 3-9, 2021
POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY JOEY DANFORTH
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LO O N EY G R I Z Z ? Do you absolutely need to own an NFT of a Memphis Grizzlies Looney Mascot trading card? It’s one of a few Memphis NFTs available on Rarible, and yours for only nine cents from your Ethereum wallet. Confused? Us, too. POSTED TO RARIBLE BY LOONEY MASCOT
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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells
W E E K T H AT W A S By Flyer staff
Business, Bridge, & Liberty Park Record number of new businesses, a repair milestone, and work begins at the Fairgrounds. B R I D G E R E PAI R The first phase of repairs for the Hernando DeSoto Bridge is complete, Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) officials announced last Tuesday. The agency said Kiewit Infrastructure Group, the contractor hired for the bridge repair project, “worked 24-hour shifts installing fabricated steel plates on each side of the fractured member to secure the bridge for permanent repairs.” “Phase one is complete!” TDOT exclaimed in a Tuesday news update. Kiewit will now begin cleaning the worksite and extending the platform. In phase two, the damaged piece of the bridge will be removed and replaced. This phase must be TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT complete before the bridge can OF TRANSPORTATION LIBERTY PARK reopen to traffic. TDOT officials said the restriping Clockwise from top left: Next project at the I-55 and Crump interstep for Hernando DeSoto change “is working” to improve trafBridge repairs; Liberty Park’s fic flow there. Traffic data show a 40 TDZ bond approval marks percent reduction in travel time from beginning of construction Monday, May 17th, to Monday, May 24th; a 47-minute delay was reduced to 27 minutes, TDOT said. TDOT officials said they may have a date sometime this week for the bridge reopening. space, and residential apartments. LI B E RTY PAR K WO R K B EG I N S So far, city leaders have signed letters of intent with Capstone Dirt turned on Liberty Park last week after the more than $200 mil- Development to develop two hotels at Liberty Park and with High lion project cleared a key funding hurdle at the state level. 5 Entertainment to develop a 40,000-square-foot indoor arcade Liberty Park, the youth sports complex to be built at the — complete with a bowling alley, bars, and restaurant — and a Mid-South Fairgrounds, got bond approval from the Ten25,000-square-foot outdoor miniature golf course. nessee State Funding Board. Those bonds will be supported from the Tourist Development Zone (TDZ) established for the N EW B US I N ES S E X P LOS I O N project, so some tax dollars collected within the zone will go to Shelby County led the charge of a record-breaking surge of people the project and not state coffers. starting new businesses in Tennessee, according to new data from With funding in place, the city of Memphis gave the green light the Tennessee Secretary of State. to Turner Construction and onsite groundwork began. New business filings in the first quarter of 2021 were “the Initial work at Liberty Park will focus on the Memphis highest in history,” officials said, up 55.1 percent over the same Sports and Events Center (MSEC), a 227,000-square-foot, period in 2020. column-free events pavilion designed to host sporting events, Shelby County saw the largest number of new filings, followed trade shows, graduations, and more. Construction of the MSEC by Davidson, Knox, and Hamilton counties. These four, most-popis slated to be completed by October 2022. Work will also begin ulous counties accounted for 47.9 percent of new filings statewide. Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of these along Central Avenue for a future 18-acre mixed-use private stories and more local news. development with public plazas, hotels, retail and dining
