Memphians will line against the walls of schools and auditoriums all over the city tomorrow as they cast their vote for mayor. The decision will not only mark the next leader of Memphis — but also the future of the city. And, yet, many University of Memphis students are unfamiliar with each of the four contenders running for office. Young adults between 18 to 24 years old only accounted for 1.6 percent of the early vote, according to the Shelby County Election Commission. The Daily Helmsman sat down with Mike Williams, Harold Collins, Jim Strickland and incumbent Mayor A C Wharton for a final conversation before Election Day about their plans for the Bluff City and how they will accomplish those goals.
Crime
Mike Williams
Williams serves as the President of the Memphis Police Association, and is a military veteran who fought in Desert Storm and served as a Memphis police officer for 16 years. The former soldier believes increased policing, engaging the inner-city youth and second chances are the solution.
“We have almost 500 less police officers than we’ve had,” he said. “And now Memphis encompasses 340 miles, that’s bigger than New York.”
To engage the inner city youth, Williams would open new facilities.
“I would start 24-hour community centers,” Williams said. “Right now our community centers are only basketball floors. That doesn’t draw young people, only some boys that want to play ball. We have to fully equip and staff our community centers. We have to put our young people on the ladder to success.”
And then there are second chances.
“We have to work on second offender programs in the city,” Williams said. “So that those that do make mistakes and are incarcerated, we have something for them when they come back on the streets. If you give a man his dignity and his self-esteem, he will not revert back to that which he knows or that which he has made a mistake to do — and that is crime.”
Harold Collins
Memphis Councilman Harold Collins hopes to entice officers with increased benefits and, like Williams, reach the youth.
“Police officers are a type A personality people. They go run after people in dark places, they shoot at folks, they get shot at, so you’ve got to have that mentality,” he said. “They look for things for the long run to take care of their families. So what we’ll do is provide packages and incentives to take care of the families even after they’re gone.”
In terms of reaching the youth, Collins hopes to target middle schoolers.
“What we have to do is get into the schools, the middle schools,” he said. “Those students who skip school on a regular basis don’t skip school because they hate school, they just need structure. So we provide mentoring, and I’m going to do that by leading, by helping to lead my team as mayor.”
Jim Strickland
Jim Strickland, Collin’s fellow councilman, has similar views as his counterparts in terms of second chances for criminals and engaging the youth. But he also has another, direct opinion.
“Be tough on crime,” he said. “We need tougher penalties for violent criminals, I’m not talking about someone stealing a loaf of bread, or something like that, but violent criminals, including domestic violence.”
A C Wharton
The incumbent Mayor A C Wharton believes that, like Williams, engaging the inner city youth and an increased police force will lower the crime rate.
“The obvious is to continue to rebuild our police force up to around 2500,” he said. “And keep spending our youth programs to prevent crime on the front end. I think that’s the most effective way. We’ve rolled out any number of youth programs.”
But Wharton also believes that increased technology can help fight crime.
“Greater use of technology with dash cams, also with the body cams that are now rolling out [will help],” he said.
Poverty
Mike Williams
In terms of poverty, William’s said that the city needs to bring in new kinds of jobs.
“We are the distribution hub of the world,” he said. “We have to bring in the types of jobs that are going to be commiserate with providing pay and benefits so that they can take care of their families.”
And Williams said that reducing the poverty would in turn reduce the crime.
“If we can get some of these families out of poverty that’s going to also combat the crime problem,” he said.
Harold Collins
Collins has a three-step plan that he said would effectively fight the poverty problem.
“Number one, we address the fact that there are families, siblings in schools now who may not be meeting the mark to go to college,” Collins said. “So what we do is provide vocational and technical learning skills to teach young men and women so they learn the skill and get a certification. And when they graduate from high school guess what they do? They go to work.”
The second part of Collin’s plan involves child care.
“We provide mothers who are working in these families opportunities through child care after school programs,” he said. “So instead of just going home and playing video games or getting in trouble we have after school programs for them so we can increase their reading level.”
The final part of Collin’s plan is to improve the transit system.
“It should not take an hour and a half to get you from point A to point B,” he said.
Jim Strickland
Strickland has similar views as his fellow councilman. He, too, believes in vocational training.
“I think we need to continue to pursue job training for young people who aren’t meant for college,” he said. “We need to have better training for trade.”
Strickland also said that an earlier emphasis on education, particularly pre-kindergarten, could combat poverty.
“A few years ago they measured third graders in the Memphis city schools and only 27 percent of third graders could read at third grade level,” he said. “And in pre-kindergarten, followed by quality kindergarten, first grade and second grade, really helps reading levels.”
A.C. Wharton
The mayor agrees with Collins on transportation, but also said that cost of living and energy have a part to play.
“[We need to focus on] decreasing the cost of living that traps so many of our cities in poverty,” he said. “[There needs to be working] light, gas and water to make sure all homes are energy efficient, but specifically those who are trapped in poverty.”
