Part 4 Draft

The consolidation issue has been hit or miss since

it was brought up. Although here has been an enormous

amount of research done, there has been no alernative to

consolidation. This is part of the reason why it is

always turned down by the county. If a desireable

altermatum is not given, I do not think consolidation

will ever happen.

Full Consolidation will eliminate some of the

problems, but can cause even greater problems. It is

almost impossible to combine two totally different areas

and their governments into one. One of the systems will

eventualy rub off on the other, whether bad or good.


After completing research on this issue, I feel that full

consolidation is not a good idea, however, there are ways

that could make everything work out. As we all know, both

the city and the county are in major debt. This is what

struck the whole talk about consolidation. If debt was

not an issue, consolidation would not be an issue. Both

the city and the county have a debt deficit of a few

million dollars. Many Government officials say that

combining the two governments will eliminate this debt,

and give the city a surplus of money. If this is true, I

feel that it is alright to combine the governments, but

with different conditions then what they propose.

The current proposal is to combine everything

including the school systems and police and fire

departments. I strongly disagree with combining the two

school systems. I think this aspect should remain

completely separate. There is more downside than upside

to this situation, and this could put both systems at

risk. Education is the most valuable thing in this

country, and it should not be jeopardized. Improvement in

Memphis City Schools is greatly needed. Instead of

consolidation, the city should work on building more

schools and making the teaching standards higher. More

schools will lesson the amount of students and make

management and focusing on students much easier. This

would also crack down on some of the crime in the Memphis

school system. The Shelby County school system should

also build more schools, which would help out their

overcrowding concern.

The Police and Fire Departments are also important

issues in consolidation. The current proposal causes for

the city and county to join forces and cutting back on

the number of both. This is not what the county or the

city needs. Cutting back will put both parties in

jeopardy and could be the biggest mistake ever. With the

increasing crime rate, more police officers are needed to

protect the citizens. The surplus of money from debt

consolidation should be used to hire and train more

officers as well as fire fighters. Knowing they will

remain safe would put the County residents in a more

comfortable position. This would also drastically cut

down the number of crimes committed.

The full consolidation plan raises many questions

for the city and county. Although it is a good thought,

better alternatives are available in this situation.

These alternatives have not been looked into by anyone. I

think a revised plan for consolidation is the best way to

accomodate the city as well as the county. In order to

move forward successfully, changes to the current plan

are needed.