MEMPHIS, Tenn. (localmemphis.com) — Folks living in Orange Mound see development happening all around them, like in neighboring Cooper-Young. They want more businesses, and they’re willing to make the investments to make it happen.
There’s more they want in this community that was the first in the U.S. where a majority of home and business owners were black. Britney Thornton grew up in Memphis, went away for college, returned, and got busy about making change.
“It’s long overdue. I’m 30 and I’ve only known a dis-invested community, so to hear the stories of others who have lived out the heyday in a space I’ve only known the opposite is really difficult,” said Thornton.
Thornton worked on this master plan part of the Memphis 3.0 Comprehensive Plan for the City of Memphis. The plan prescribes anchors with redevelopment at Lamar and Airway and Barron and Aubra. In Orange Mound, people right there in the community want to be on the front line. Goals of the plan are to address widespread vacancy and blight with preservation of culturally significant buildings.
Orange Mound is already quite pedestrian. People walk mostly out of necessity and the plan aims to make it easier to walk or bike around the neighborhood. The plan also seeks to promote urban design standards at commercial spaces, maintain multi-family homes at an affordable cost, and redeveloping anchor districts all connected by grassy tree lined thoroughfares.
It’s really going to take people who are willing to share their band of capacity to equip people and empower people to be able to do what they want to do.”
Thornton was inspired for this work by words from Mayor Jim Strickland.
“I will never forget he said. ‘Government follows private investment.’”