Driving to class each day around Memphis has not been nearly as pleasing to the eye as it used to be.
The City of Memphis, as a result of budget cuts that would impact the fiscal year ending June 30, laid off employees and made service cuts involving the city's park maintenance.
Effective March 23, 2,100 full-time and part-time city employees were laid off and the results on city landscaping surrounding The University of Memphis have been mixed.
Audubon Park, located on Southern just a few blocks from The U of M, is littered with trash and the grassy areas around the railroad tracks have not been cut recently. Services such as these were ones detailed by Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton that would lose employees and not operate as often.
Eldra White, executive director of the Memphis City Beautiful Commission, said the changes should make citizens and users of the park more responsible for the facilities.
"People should be helping out in general anyway," she said. "The city shouldn't have so much of an impact on cleaning the parks."
U of M students agreed with White's notion of added responsibility.
"(Maintenance) should be a priority for the city, but the public should also do their part to help out," said Robert Roby, a senior theater performance major.
Roby and T.J. Lewis, a graduate seeking a master's degree, were both standing outside the administration building amid U of M employees watering flowers and maintaining the landscaping.
"The city could take lessons from The U of M like all of these physical plant employees working hard out here today," Roby said. Lewis compared the city situation to a college situation in economic terms.
"The city cuts back on beautification because there's no extra money while The U of M can raise tuition or find another way to get more money," he said.
Lewis suggested a possible solution to improving the city's physical image would be to charge admission to city parks, and funds could be used for more clean-up projects.
Kim McIntosh, a physical plant employee said she noticed the problems building up at Audubon Park in the past two weeks and has noticed another significant problem with city landscaping.
"The 'M' over on East Parkway hasn't been maintained in a while and has some growth on it," she said. She said because of the city's budget cuts and some problems with park services, she is glad to work at The U of M, where spring maintenance is in full bloom now with better weather.
