Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said Friday City of Memphis would not intervene in dispute between Memphis in May officials and Memphis River Parks Partnership.
Memphis celebrates 4th of July after a year of no festivities
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Memphis celebrates 4th of July alongside the Mississippi River.
It’s one that organizers say is even more special after not being able to celebrate together last year.
Pairing fireworks with live music, food trucks and crowds of people out here today, Memphians were taken back to pre-COVID-19 pandemic times and are excited for the rest of 2021.
“It’s super exciting to actually be able to have a celebration that everyone can come together and have fun,” George Abbott, Director of External Affairs for Memphis River Parks Partnership, said.
Traffic moves way too fast for people on foot, people on bikes, for people on scooters to feel safe crossing Riverside Drive or actually even walking alongside, she said. It feels too much like an expressway on Riverside Drive.
To counter that, speed tables will be put in, speed humps will be put before and after the speed tables, pedestrian signals will be put at all the crossings, a lane of parallel parking will be added to the west of the south-bound lanes, and the speed tables will also serve as pedestrian islands. So essentially, you ve got this combination of design mechanisms that slow, that force traffic to slow down, Coletta said.
But first we re focusing on the race to vaccinate children as a path toward herd immunity.
As COVID-19 vaccinations progress, one key demographic remains largely unvaccinated: children. Globally, and in Memphis, kids make up about a quarter of the population, our Laura Testino and Corrine Kennedy report in this story.
Until that key population is inoculated, reaching herd immunity already a fluid and elusive target will be almost impossible, medical experts said. Getting safe and effective vaccines for younger age groups will be essential to ending the pandemic and returning to any sense of normal, they reported.
MPD director search delayed; Mike Ryall named interim director