How is it living in Memphis

[Porch]

Make sure your Beneficaries are up to date...

I was in MEM last year for a FedEx interview. Stayed in the Holiday Inn near the airport. Walked to Cat Fish Cabin & on the way back, 2 kids grabbed my bag of left overs. After it was all said and done, I'm glad I didn't get shot or stabbed.

The best thing about not getting hired at FedEx is not going to MEM on a regular basis. I don't care how much you get paid at FX, living or commuting out of there...You stand a good chance of getting violently assulted. Possibly ASSulted too. Have fun!

 

[Papps]

Memphis is kind of like the movie mad max beyond thunderdome. Its a burnt out wasteland of broken down crap and small arms fire.

 

[ARJLVR]

It depends on where you live...and how stupid you are. Keep in mind, Memphis is the largest city in the state and holds about 1M people (last I heard). I was born & raised here and I know better than to hang out near the airport and various other parts of town (North Memphis, Raleigh, Frayser, Parkway Village, Hickory Hill, and any area referred to as Southeast Memphis). Our political issues have been more sad than funny lately but are always good for a laugh. It's a problem only if you take it too seriously and most natives don't. Living here safely requires a lot of common sense and a little bit of luck but what city doesn't? I know people who have left due to crime/politics/etc but only traded our problems for a new set of problems in their new city. Memphians are known for being bad drivers but the out-of-state drivers are the ones that get in my way the most. We do have spring/fall, contrary to what others say, but I guess it depends on what you call spring/fall weather. Summer highs average upper 80's, winter lows average low 40's, we get very little snow (but at which time we lose all ability to function which is fun for you if you're from the North). Spring/Fall temps fall in the middle somewhere. Regarding where to live... Suburbs: Collierville is very popular with pilots and ATC's. Cordova and Bartlett are great areas (I prefer Bartlett due to no city taxes and it will never be annexed by the city) with good schools and shopping but not as convenient to the airport. In-City: Central Gardens is in Midtown with good schools, convenient to many older churches and great if you like and appreciate diversity in your neighborhood and being within walking distance of restaurants and bars, theaters, and festivals; Downtown is wonderful if you like bars/restaurants, trolleys, concerts, sports, arts, farmers markets, quirky shops, the outdoors, etc. but more difficult if you have school-age children due to limited options for schools; East Memphis is a very large area and can be hit/miss but there are some great optional schools as well as many private schools to choose from as well as easier access to shopping & the interstate. If you want Mayberry, good luck finding it and be sure to let the rest of us know where it is.

 

[Papps]

for instance one time i counted four broken down cars on the highway on ramp.

 

[ARJLVR]

Four broken down cars on one ramp?! Oh my! Run for your lives, everyone... I'm more concerned about having one of the highest sales taxes in the country. Thankfully, we still have no state income tax and gas prices, while still high, are less that what people pay in larger cities.

 

[Papps]

Four broken down cars on one ramp?! Oh my! Run for your lives, everyone... I'm more concerned about having one of the highest sales taxes in the country. Thankfully, we still have no state income tax and gas prices, while still high, are less that what people pay in larger cities.

lol easy there.... Im just busting the proverbial balls.

 

[ARJLVR]

lol easy there.... Im just busting the proverbial balls.

I just hope my old Saturn isn't one of those broken down cars one day!! Seriously, I can understand why transplants would not find Memphis as comfortable as I do (it is my home, after all) but I do wish people would keep an open mind about it. The city isn't as great as it could be, but its not the worst I've seen or heard of either. I'll likely leave someday, once the Captain has a better opportunity elsewhere, but I don't have better expectations of any other city. Just hand me a beer and point me to the beach...

 

[GeorgeWBush]

No regrets

I moved to Collierville last summer and have not had a single regret. Private schools, big house, easy lifestyle.... lots of time at home with wife and kids sitting reserve with FedEx.

 

[Ex737Driver]

I was in MEM last year for a FedEx interview. Stayed in the Holiday Inn near the airport. Walked to Cat Fish Cabin & on the way back, 2 kids grabbed my bag of left overs. After it was all said and done, I'm glad I didn't get shot or stabbed.

The best thing about not getting hired at FedEx is not going to MEM on a regular basis. I don't care how much you get paid at FX, living or commuting out of there...You stand a good chance of getting violently assulted. Possibly ASSulted too. Have fun!

I would imagine it would be the same as any other large run-down, s hit infested, crack-ridden, cess-pool laiden, politically-corrupt, morally bankrupt, d ouche-bag dwellin, yankee/red-neck city that most people in America call home too. Atlanta, Detroit, LA, Cleveland, Oakland, Houston, Portland, Denver, Boston, San Diego, Miami, Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Dallas, Washington, New Orleans, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Baltimore, Las Vegas, and the list goes on and on. Pick a city and I'm quite sure you have seen an episode of cops living la vida loca in it.

 

[Speedtape]

Just look at the crime rate.

 

[Diesel]

I'll take the combat zone in boston over ANY section of memphis... The place is a dump, its dirty, the traffic sucks, and concrete everywhere WTF I live in the city of boston and there isn't as much concrete as memphis. How about this you try and grow something instead of hot topping it. The nice neighborhoods (white) remind me of a compound in jeddah.

I don't even like driving through there. What a dump.

 

[Lippy]

I love how everybody tip-toes around the real problem with Memphis.

 

[Beertini]

What could that possibly be Lippy? Please do tell! :bomb:

 

[ARJLVR]

I love how everybody tip-toes around the real problem with Memphis.

...and yet, you don't call it out yourself. Most of the negative posts are from non-native Memphians. How could a recent transplant (who didn't want to be here in the first place) know what the real problem is here?

Most Memphians would say politics and race-relations. The city is currently run by a circus of incredibly immoral people, though there are a few good ones in the bunch. It's our own freakin' fault b/c these clowns get elected over & over, but I suspect the tide will turn in the coming year, at least to some degree. Most of the crime is black-on-black and mostly drug related. Crime can, and does, happen in all areas of the city and the suburbs, but the worst of it is in the areas I posted previously.

If more people, natives/transplants, would GET INVOLVED in their communities/schools and stop expecting someone else to solve their problems I think we'd all be better off. I like it, it's home and I feel safe taking precautions I would take in any other city. For example, I know better than to walk down dark alleys at night, to hang out in known questionable areas of the city and to leave a laptop sitting in the front seat of the car. Doing any of these things, in any city, is incredibly stupid.

 

[Lowrider717]

whatever....I'm home all of the time....If that's not your thing...go spend six months a year away from your family and try to tell yourself it's for their own good.

Don't frag others for making their own choices to provide for their families. We all make sacrafices. There are plenty of service men and women who have given much more than 6 mo. a year to provide for their families and its for all our good. Just because someone doesn't live your ideals doesn't make it wrong.

 

[Lippy]

What could that possibly be Lippy? Please do tell! :bomb:

We don't have a brand new football stadium. Duh.

 

[Diesel]

I like it, it's home and I feel safe taking precautions I would take in any other city. For example, I know better than to walk down dark alleys at night, to hang out in known questionable areas of the city and to leave a laptop sitting in the front seat of the car. Doing any of these things, in any city, is incredibly stupid.

The difference with memphis is you can't do this in any section of the city. Unlike boston where you don't need to take precautions because certain sections of the city are safe, to the point where a woman can walk around at 3am and someone will escort her home to make sure she is safe.

Memphis, they'd walk her home, filet her like a fish and steal her purse. Then claim that since they are under 16 they are juvies.

 

[Purpledriver]

Don't frag others for making their own choices to provide for their families. We all make sacrafices. There are plenty of service men and women who have given much more than 6 mo. a year to provide for their families and its for all our good. Just because someone doesn't live your ideals doesn't make it wrong.

Been there, done that. Matter of fact, I still do serve in the reserves. I support everyones right to choose to commute, if that's your thing...great. For those of us that don't what to, quit comparing inner city Memphis to Germantown / Collierville etc.....I've never seen a group of people so quick to bash someone's hometown...(Fedex guys in general...not this board)

 

[Diesel]

Wow never thought someone was able to take a memphis Craphole or not argument and be able to turn it mili/civi

 

[jstars135]

I love how everybody tip-toes around the real problem with Memphis.

Its simple. I'm not a professional code-breaker, but I believe this thread is average-white-guy code for "There's a whole lotta black folk living there."

 

[ARJLVR]

The difference with memphis is you can't do this in any section of the city.

Can't do what? What in the h*ll are you talking about? I wouldn't recommend any of those things in any city or in any part of Memphis. It takes common sense to live safely outside of Mayberry. There are plenty of other safer cities to live in but the guy who started this thread didn't ask about them. I get tired of hearing transplants & natives who just gripe, mope & complain about the crime...and yet do nothing to get involved in the community.

If you don't want to be here, go away. If you came here for your career, be thankful you have a job. We have enough problems with judgemental, ignorant fools without more moving in. Seriously, if someone moves here and hates it, they are free to leave by boat, auto or plane...they can actually jog into MS from the airport area. Fred Smith is a Memphis resident and that is good enough for me...

 

[Diesel]

Great good for you. But i can walk down some of the meanest streets of boston and not feel that "on edge" that i do around memphis. This is not an around maybery feeling but a feeling that I get walking down the streets of a major city like boston you are allways keeping an eye out. Its what you learn to do living in a major city. Yet Memphis residents don't seem to understand the value of life, property, or keeping a city clean.

I don't work for fred... i've looked at living in mem and ran as far away as I could. Glad you like it there, but if you don't know any better, can we really trust your opinion?

 

[Huck]

I believe this thread is average-white-guy code for "There's a whole lotta black folk living there."

There's a whole lotta them in Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah, Birmingham, Mobile, Pensacola and Chatanooga too. It may be racism for a few people, but for alot of us Memphis is just in a different league.

 

[ARJLVR]

I don't work for fred... i've looked at living in mem and ran as far away as I could. Glad you like it there, but if you don't know any better, can we really trust your opinion?

See below...THIS is what I wrote in an earlier post. Read it here, re-read it from the original post, consider some of your responses and, if you can, explain why your posts keep insinuating that I said something else...

"I know better than to walk down dark alleys at night, to hang out in known questionable areas of the city and to leave a laptop sitting in the front seat of the car."

See, I KNOW BETTER...

 

[Diesel]

I know you know better. Good for you. But the average resident doesn't need to constantly think about that while trying to raise his family in a city that doesn't know anybetter.

So that leaves you what one square block to hang out in?

 

[ARJLVR]

Diesel, if you don't live here why do you care? Why are you so concerned about this? You checked Memphis out, you didn't like it and you don't live here. I'm sure Boston is a grand place to live but I don't know because I don't live there...which is why I have nothing to say about it, positive or negative. The guy that started this asked about Memphis...as a native Memphian I'm qualified to respond. You...not so much. See, I try to stick with what I know.

By the way, is your avatar wearing the Swedish flag? Sure looks like it.

 

[AlbieF15]

Dude, I just might whip your ass for Catfish Cabin leftovers. Their fillets are pretty darn good. If I was coming off a trip and they had just closed and you were shuff shuff shuffling back to the hotel....and I got a whiff...no telling WHAT I might do...

I commute. It works for me. I don't get to sit reserve at home, which I think I would be EXCELLENT at doing. However--getting paid to chase the wife around the house doesn't appear to be in my future. I have, however, bid B reserve just to fart around N. Mississippi and Memphis a few months. I have done Memphis in May, and I am a BBQ fan. Head on a swivel--watch your back--drive defensively, and know a few areas to go (and not go) and its workable. You can usually find me at Wilson Air Center (best FBO in country), Tunica (Bally's, the Grand, and the Shoe have been good to me...), or a Poplar or G-town food joint.

It ain't perfect. It ain't hell either. But you DO have to be alert.

And as Huck pointed out--this isnt' just black/white stuff. This is MEAN kill each other black stuff. Memphis is in a league of its own when it comes to crime. The victims are more often black than white. Just an observation, but I think a lot of what is percieved in the area as "racism" is just "fear of crime." If we could ever work together on the latter, I think most of the former would go away. But--I'm a airplane driver and not a sociologist, so you can tell me I'm an idiot in that area without hurting my feelings.

However--on those catfish fillets--I know I'm right.

 

[jtmpilot]

If you don't want to be here, go away. If you came here for your career, be thankful you have a job. We have enough problems with judgemental, ignorant fools without more moving in. Seriously, if someone moves here and hates it, they are free to leave by boat, auto or plane...they can actually jog into MS from the airport area. Fred Smith is a Memphis resident and that is good enough for me...


WTF????? I hope your not serious about your deciding factor was if Fred lives here i will too.....

As for Memphis .....cant sugar coat a turd....plain and simple!!!!!!



Im optomistic but Im not blind......

 

[Purpledriver]

How about giving this guy some feedback on something other than downtown Memphis. I'm the first to admit that downtown Memphis isn't great...ok....it sucks. (Except for the Redbirds ballpark and a few bars..but you have to be extremely careful) Germantown and Collierville are very nice, safe areas. I've lived out here for 4 years and it's great. When I commuted, I never took the time to go out to where all of the local pilots live....it's a different world. Most commuters never go out that far, so they don't really know the deal.

 

[ARJLVR]

If you don't want to be here, go away. If you came here for your career, be thankful you have a job. We have enough problems with judgemental, ignorant fools without more moving in. Seriously, if someone moves here and hates it, they are free to leave by boat, auto or plane...they can actually jog into MS from the airport area. Fred Smith is a Memphis resident and that is good enough for me...


WTF????? I hope your not serious about your deciding factor was if Fred lives here i will too.....

As for Memphis .....cant sugar coat a turd....plain and simple!!!!!!



Im optomistic but Im not blind......

Dude, perhaps you missed the my previous posts...I didn't decide to live in Memphis, I was born & raised here.