A new report from the U.S. Bureau of the Census shows the growth rates of DeSoto County, Mississippi and Fayette County, Tennessee remain among the highest in the nation in terms of new housing construction. And this despite the slowdown in the housing market across the country. Over the 12 month period ending on July 1 of 2006, DeSoto ranked 57th nationally and Fayette 52nd. Figures also show the flight not just out of Memphis but out of Shelby County is also spilling increasingly into West Tennessee's Tipton and Arkansas' Crittenden and Marion counties. One out of every five people who hold a job in Shelby County now live elsewhere. That's some 70 thousand people commuting across county and state lines here every day. And it's not only people leaving, it's also public money, hundreds of millions of dollars in sales tax revenues alone. And the sales tax is a primary source if school funding -- city and county school funding -- for Shelby County government. To stem this tide, Memphis must fight -- and win -- the battles against crime, violent under performing schools, poverty and political corruption. These are long -- very long -- term solutions. But they are no less urgent. Newschannel 3 is the Memphis station on your side. .
|