The 9:01: How Memphis comes back from losing Gasol, Electrolux

Good morning from Memphis, where Joris Ray yesterday made his first big speech as Shelby County Schools interim superintendent. But first...

Marc Gasol, the legendary player the Grizzlies just traded to the Toronto Raptors, doesn't define Memphis. Neither does Electrolux, which is closing its local plant in 2020.

Losing them hurts — but Memphis is known as a grit-and-grind city for a reason.

Still, making a comeback from those losses is a daunting prospect, as shown in two columns yesterday, one by our Ted Evanoff charting the future of economic development and the other by our Mark Giannotto on the long, painful journey ahead of the Grizzlies.

Here's Mark's bleak (but correct) assessment of the Grizzlies' three trades that ousted four players, including Gasol, and secured five others:

Because now that the NBA trade deadline is over, now that Gasol is in Toronto and Conley is still in Memphis, now that the Grizzlies discarded one set of role players for another set of role players and only got one new draft pick five years from now in return, the franchise’s immediate goals appear to be the same as they were before this excruciatingly long farewell began.

Game Recap:Oklahoma City Thunder 117, Memphis Grizzlies 95

So, where do the Grizzlies go from here? A comeback starts with Mike Conley — who was on the trading block himself — taking over as the "unquestioned player leadership voice for a franchise in flux," to quote our David Cobb. It also takes Conley mentoring rising star Jaren Jackson Jr. to give the Grizzlies a sense of stability in a Gasol-less era.

But after blow upon blow to their morale, fans need more than Conley trying to do alone what he was already doing with Gasol. That requires changes in the front office, which has eroded trust after bringing Chandler Parsons.

But there won't be a comeback as long as the Grizzlies' front office continues to make the kind of decisions that brought then-injured, now former player Chandler Parsons to Memphis. Or that traded Gasol for three players and a 2024 second-round draft pick. Or that have prompted leak after media leak, throwing the team and fans into turmoil.

The path forward is clearer for Memphis economic development post-Electrolux. Ted spoke with Richard Smith, the chairman of the Greater Memphis Chamber, who seems worried that the backlash will prompt overly drastic changes to development incentives:

Asked this week whether Electrolux walking away will strain his economic ambitions, possibly making the city look worse in the view of site selectors, Smith, whose full-time job is chief executive of the 22,000-employee FedEx Logistics division, took a business-like view.

"This will only put a strain on our efforts if we have a kneejerk reaction, without understanding the context and the facts," his email says.

"The Electrolux deal precedes my time on the Chamber board, but in hindsight it’s easy to criticize," Smith writes. "Don’t forget, however, that it was done during the worst recession since the Great Depression, so there was a certain desperation involved. Many communities would’ve thrown everything we threw at them. ... It serves as a cautionary tale, but one that is far in the rearview mirror in terms of how we structure deals today. The protections that many are clamoring for, such as clawbacks or reverters, are already in practice."

All of that is true. Electrolux is a "cautionary tale," as I wrote in a recent column, but a no-clawback Electrolux incentive wouldn't necessarily fly today.

So, where does Memphis go from here? Ted outlined several economic development priorities for the Chamber, and for the city and Shelby County, that seem to give small, diverse businesses with higher-paying jobs a greater share of the spotlight:

• Land factories.
• Attract high-wage office and tech firms less reliant on PILOT property tax cuts.
• Go small. Invest in local startups. One might someday grow as big as FedEx. Epicenter, a business support group spun out of the chamber, has landed $40 million for its venture capital and aid fund.
• Get business into the hands of small minority firms.
• Make sure firms locate not only in comfortable East Memphis and the rebounding Downtown, but also in the empty commercial strips common from Frayser to South Memphis.
• Just as importantly, unite disjointed worker training programs. A workforce summit is being considered. The aim is to steer thousands of Memphians through training classes that can lead to higher wages and fill now-empty positions at local businesses. And entice the people coming out of prison into job training.
• At the same time, find ways cash-strapped commuters can go between job and home at low cost. Buses and child care offered by the region’s extensive faith community could help.

Speaking of painful losses: The CA's viewpoint editor, David Waters, has announced his early retirement, ending an era for us and for the city as a whole. His masterful farewell column is one of the greatest odes to the city and its journalism you'll ever read.

Ray outlines priorities for school district

Interim Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray, sporting a green tie to signify "renewal," listed seven objectives in his first big speech, our Jennifer Pignolet reports.

With a permanent hire still on the distant horizon, Ray will guide the school district as it moves forward with Destination 2025, a strategic plan to have 80 percent of seniors college- or career-ready and enrolled in some post-secondary educational endeavor and to have 90 percent of students graduate on time, Jen writes.

Here are Ray's other priorities:

1. Increase the number of students scoring a 21 or higher on their ACTs.
2. Add counselors and support for students with childhood trauma.
3. Cultivate servant-leadership, as illustrated by a new flow chart for the district with the superintendent at the bottom and students at the top.
4. Steward public dollars and make sure money flows to classrooms. "If there is a cut, the district will try to protect the classroom first," Ray said, according to our report.
5. Finalize a school district footprint proposal, perhaps closing some schools.
6. Ready to move the central office from its longtime headquarters on Hollywood Street to the recently purchased Bayer Consumer Health campus on Jackson.
7. Culture building — although Ray didn't elaborate on what this meant.

Is MPD loosening standards for officers?

Of the three Memphis police officers involved in the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Abdoulaye Thiam on Jan. 2 in Whitehaven, one officer failed firearm testing while the other was suspended twice for department violations, our Phillip Jackson reports.

Officers Brandon Jones, Carlos Donaldson and Timothy Hamilton were previously identified as the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Thiam, who allegedly approach them outside of his home brandishing a knife.

Phillip requested the officers' disciplinary files, which had this to say about Jones:

In January 2014, Jones was disciplined by the department for running a red light and striking a car while he was responding to a call. The driver of the car Jones hit was transported in an ambulance to the hospital with minor injuries, records show. 

Jones was suspended for three days. 

In February 2015, Jones was suspended for several days after he was charged with a felony for vandalizing the front door of his girlfriend's home. Jones was absolved of the charge because his girlfriend signed a refusal to prosecute form, according to MPD records. 

Read Phillip's story for more, but I'll just make one quick note on Donaldson, who twice failed his firearm proficiency test and was recommended for removal from basic training. He was removed from training then but later returned and passed the test — which, if true, means police didn't lower their standards due to the shortage of officers.

What to know and read in the 901

• Reminder: All lanes of I-240 will be closed this weekend, from 9 p.m. today until 6 a.m. Monday, for the MemFix 4 bridge replacement project. This is the second of three straight weekend-long closures, so expect more of the same next weekend.
• Residents of Lakeshore Estates, just across the Mississippi River in Arkansas, are locked in a fight with developer and landlord William L. Johnson Company, who has allegedly pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars for maintenance of the decaying subdivision, our Sarah Macaraeg reports after an investigation.
• Old Zinnie's is coming back, our Micaela Watts reports. Maybe they'll call it New Zinnie's?
• Less than a week after closing its Cordova location, Target has filed an application for a $1.1 million renovate to its store near Poplar and Forest Hill Irene in Germantown, our Desiree Stennett reports.
• National restaurant chain PizzaRev has closed all three of its local stores: one in East Memphis and two in Cordova, our Jennifer Chandler reports.

The Fadeout

Memphis-based singer/songwriter Louise Page is organizing a concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Hi-Tone to benefit Mariposas Collective, according to the Memphis Flyer. Mariposas (Spanish for "butterflies") offers donated supplies to immigrants who are travelling by bus through Memphis after being released from federal detention.

Page rounds out an impressive, eclectic lineup of local artists that also includes Marcella Simien, Crown Vox, Faux Killas, Magnolia, the PRVLG, the Ellie Badge, and Rosie.

So, to give you a taste of the concert, here's Page's "A Fine Line" from her second and latest album, "Simple Sugar":

Columnist Ryan Poe writes The 9:01, a weekday morning news briefing and commentary on all things Memphis. Reach him at poe@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @ryanpoe.