MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Create, grow, invest, and advance. Those are the four areas Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said he'll concentrate on in his quest to elevate the City of Memphis.
"This is our moment, this is our time."
That's a phrase that was repeated over and over when Memphis Mayor A C Wharton delivered his State of the City address in front of a packed crowd at Southwest Tennessee Community College.
Wharton stated he was "relentlessly optimistic about the coming years," which stems from his '100-day plan.'
Part of that plan aims to help the poor, as he noted, "poverty has been the same for 30 years." To that end, Wharton laid out his blueprint for a prosperity plan. "It's a program to reduce Memphians living in poverty and give them training and human services so they can move to self-sufficiency."
Tackling crime is also high on the mayor's list. "We will fight gun violence and gang activity and we'll do it with a carrot and a stick," he said.
But, Wharton acknowledged the most obvious hitch in his plan, stating, "Money is a challenge."
"I'm not naïve," he said. "Yeah, you have to take care of the money problems but you'll never take care of money problems if people aren't working."
Wharton said he'll know his plan is working "when we have more jobs, cleaner neighborhoods, when every child has a school they want to go to and they're not trapped in there."
"This is our moment, this is our time. God bless you and the City of Memphis," Wharton said in closing.
The mayor also touched on the fact that there are over 400 listings in the phone book for non-emergency numbers to city government. That's going to change.
Mayor Wharton said in the near future people will only have to dial one number, 3-1-1, to get the information they need.
