Straight Cash: Plans for Tom Lee Park could be opportunity for adventure

Originally published on April 12, 2019 by Memphis Business Journal

Written by Mary Cashiola, Manager Editor

Earlier this year, my family took a little adventure to South America.

The plan was to spend a few days in Bogota, exploring the city, and then head to Cartagena to relax on the beach.

Prior to this, I had never been to Colombia before. But, there were two things that made me think of Memphis.

The first was in Bogota, a city of 8 million people and terrible, terrible traffic. The residents I talked to all had the same strategy for dealing with this challenge: They spend a lot of time in their own neighborhoods, walking to work, the gym, the grocery store, and restaurants.

Perhaps paradoxically for a city with a road capacity problem, Bogota also has a long-running tradition of closing main thoroughfares to automobiles. Every Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on holidays, the ciclovias connect more than 121 kilometers of roads around the city.

Those streets are still teeming on Sunday mornings, but they are full of people running, walking, riding bicycles, and pushing strollers. Vendors are also out in full force, selling all nature of things.

Memphis tried to do the same thing with Riverside Drive in 2014, and the practice was discontinued after a trial period. Now, under new plans for Tom Lee Park, Riverside could potentially go down to two lanes.

Which brings me to the second thing that reminded me of Memphis. While in Cartagena, we were told that people gather around the western side of the Walled City every evening to watch the sunset. Admittedly, this is touristy, but we were tourists, so we went.

On this random weekday evening, it was packed with visitors wanting to see the sunset. The cafes overlooking the water were full. Vendors were out in full force. A bride and groom were having their wedding photos taken. It was beautiful.

But, it also wasn’t something that can’t happen in Memphis. We have an opportunity right now, with the Memphis River Parks Partnership’s plan for Tom Lee, to make that space more of an every day tourist destination.

What happens at Tom Lee every May is a wonderful thing. But, imagine what a trip it would be if it could be that way every night.