Maybe I am just a grumpy old wimp, but 78 minutes seems like a lot of time out of my life to get the mandatory car inspection, just to be able to renew my vehicle registration, which is probably more expensive here than anywhere else in Tennessee because, in addition to the normal registration fee of $24 + a $2 EDP fee, we get to pay a wheel tax of $50 (It is my understanding that this was a temporary tax about 30 years ago, but it just never got cancelled.) + a $30 municipal fee (which, one must assume, pays the expenses of the highly efficient inspection stations plus adds a few bucks to the City’s coffers). {My English professors used to call that a run-on sentence, I think}   So the rest of the state pays $26/year for car registration renewal, but we Memphians pay $106 – more if you do your transaction by mail and/or use a credit card.  Oh, and did I mention that it’s only Memphians that have to have the inspection and pay more.  You can get cheap registration, with no inspection, and drive your smoking, missing brake light, no windshield wiper junker in from Germantown to your job in Memphis every day with impunity.

I probably would not be on this rant if I could have gotten through vehicle inspection in a reasonable amount of time.  In years past, the wait was never very long, but over the past few months I have heard reports of waits of well over an hour for the inspection.  Mayor Wharton, a quality of life kind of guy, even extended the hours of the inspections to lessen the misery.  When it was my time to go I took along my Flip camera.

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2. Memphis home sale numbers inconclusive
3. Clock is ticking on $8000 Tax Credit

Time to make some more space in your house and buy a bigger pick up truck or more ropes for your car roof and trunk.  The CA’s new, unique iPhone app will keep you from missing any great garage sales.  Complete with maps, search and customization options.

Here’s the press release.  Check it out:    (No word yet on the Android version)

CA Media/The Commercial Appeal launches

Garage Sale iPhone Application

Memphis, Tenn. – CA Media/The Commercial Appeal announces the release of its Garage Sale Finder application which gives Mid-South bargain hunters a simple, fast way to find all the best yard and garage sales in the greater Memphis area using their iPhone or iPod touch.

The Garage Sale Finder application for iPhone enables users to quickly and easily access garage sales listings from The Commercial Appeal, including descriptions of items to be sold.

Features of the Garage Sale Finder app include:

– Map functionality – Users can map an itinerary to garage sales that interest them.

– Search functionality – Users can search through the latest garage sales in the Memphis area as the listings are placed. For instance, if a garage sale ad is placed on Tuesday for a sale that occurs the following weekend, users of the app are notified within a couple of hours in order to start plotting their itinerary for the weekend sales.

– Customization options – Users can generate a list of sales that match their criteria such as antiques, vintage clothing, toys, vinyl records and more.

The Garage Sale Finder app is available for free and can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store.

“This new app is a great way for on-the-go bargain hunters to locate garage sales and find the deals they’re after,” said Eric Janssen, VP Digital Media for The Commercial Appeal.

According to Omniture, CommercialAppeal.com had over 1.5 million unique visitors in January 2010 and is the No. 1 news web site in the Mid-South.

The Garage Sale Finder app was developed exclusively for CA Media by Resolute Games Corporation, a Memphis firm.

The Garage Sale Finder app can be downloaded from http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/commercial-appeal-garage-sales/id347823710?mt=8

- END –

No related posts.

All in the course of one short week, Memphis was named 3rd most miserable city in America and 6th best housing market by Forbes.  And to top it off, Memphis was also honored with a NUMBER ONE – Numero Uno – #1 spot as “the best place to get your car repaired“, according to The Consumerist.  Read all about it.

I am feeling less miserable already.

Now, let’s think of more things Memphis can be NUMBER ONE at.  Your comments are welcomed and encouraged.

No related posts.

The day after Forbes.com declared Memphis the number 3 Most Miserable City USA, raising the hackles of local politicians and the My Memphis Right or Wrong loyalists, Forbes came back with their next list rating Memphis number 6 in America’s Best Housing Markets.

This is the text of Forbes’ post

Forbes.com - America's Best Housing Markets

“It takes more than just low foreclosures, housing affordability or even rising house prices on their own to form a good real estate market. The country’s best markets have all three of those in spades: housing is accessible to middle-income families, a glut of foreclosures isn’t dragging prices down, and median home sale prices are on the rise–or at least falling less than elsewhere in the country. Using data from The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo, Moody’s Economy.com and RealtyTrac, Forbes crunched the numbers to find the country’s best housing markets. Click to see if your city is on the list.”

Memphis has a “Housing Opportunity Index of 82.5 and  2.8% of Housing Units in Foreclosure, according to the article.

Congressman Steve Cohen

Maybe it’s just me, but I have a hard time navigating the Forbes site.  Seems that you have to click through a lot of pages and get served up lots of ads before you get to your destination.  Obviously Forbes is paying attention to Memphis.  And I am sure Mr. Forbes, by now has heard Congressman Cohen’s 60 second rant to Congress about the Misery article, which, by the way, started with Bar-B-Q  (Memphis’ truly transcendent asset) and ending with offering  Forbes an eye exam at SouthernCollege of Optometry.

Any predictions on the next list that will include Memphis?  Or, more importantly,  do you have any ideas on how I can use the Misery Factor to sell more houses?

Oh, and if your are not miserable enough yet, here is Forbes list of the 400 Richest Americans (compiled in September, 2009).  Once again, I didn’t make the list.

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1. Real Estate News You Don’t See on the News – from The Cutting Edge June 16, 2009
2. In the aftermath of the housing bubble
3. How’s the RealEstate Market?

The pundits and politicians have been buzzing and posturing since last week’s Forbes article citing Memphis as number 3 among America’s 10 most miserable cities.  While Mayor Wharton whittles away at quality of life issues, and preaches that Memphis must control it’s own message and tell it’s own story; and Congressman Cohen challenges Steve Forbes to come down and have a look at Memphis, few seem to have even read the internet post of the article, citing Memphis’  high crime, high foreclosure, high unemployment, and high political corruption rates.

The message that Mayor Wharton should be thinking about fashioning should not the product of some PR hack, cranking out the usual  FedEx, Graceland, St. Jude, Mississippi River, and music copy.  If Wharton, Cohen, Herenton, or anyone else wants to send a real message, it should be a message of change – not “let’s build a new convention center,” but “let’s learn to collaborate to make Memphis great”.  Memphis is a town of great diversity, but that diversity does not have to be divisive, nor does collaboration always have to be trumped by competition and power plays.  Memphis’ lack of collaboration has allowed charlatans and snake oil salesmen to exploit this city since it’s early days.  I don’t think Memphis can forge an image until it has a Vision.  And I am not talking about a vision espoused by a handful of politicians, business folks, and marketers.  Memphians are willing to accept mediocrity, or misery, because it is the status quo.  We have had a long running dearth of leadership.  We are going to have to start feeling better about ourselves and seeing more light at the end of the tunnel before we can move forward.

Memphis’ best PR Person

Memphis best PR person is not a seasoned PR guru, politician, musician, or athlete, but a 20-something blogger.  Kerry Crawford produces the I Love Memphis Blog.  Go check it out, and get over some of that misery.

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