Progress or a pain? New streetscaping sparks complaints amongst community members, business owners in South Memphis [Video]

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – If you build it, Memphians might complain. South Memphis is the latest community to tell the City of Memphis that changes designed to make the streets safer for drivers and pedestrians actually made it more dangerous.

Residents say it’s too hard to navigate around the new streetscaping and they say drivers are not letting up off the gas. And there’s another problem: the City of Memphis builds all the bump-outs with pretty potted plants and landscaping. But who’s going to maintain that infrastructure? And with what money?

JoElle Thompson, co-owner of The Four Way restaurant, a historic Black-owned business on Mississippi Boulevard at Walker Avene, an intersection under heavy construction for a year now, says progress brought pain to the neighborhood.

“Y’all said the impact would be on speeding,” she told Mayor Paul Young and city leaders at a town hall on Tuesday, “but people still …