The document discusses the need for change in the local government and economy. It notes that jobs are decreasing, the county has lost 17,000 jobs in the last year and 10 jobs per day for the past decade. Personal income has also fallen. An expert endorser comments that the current governmental structure focuses too much on boundaries rather than cooperation, and that a new charter is needed to create a more efficient government that eliminates duplication and waste.

2. Why Now?
If there was ever a time when doing nothing is not an option, it is now. That is
doubly true for our economy. Jobs are in a downward spiral, we are not competing
with major rivals like Nashville, Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Louisville that have
modernized their governments, and we are losing the young professionals who
attract jobs in the first place. We must act to change course and accept the fact
that we are all in this together.

4. Job Loss
The facts could not be clearer. In a ranking of jobs growth for the nation's
largest regions, ours is in the bottom ten - #90. We have lost 17,000 jobs in
the most recent 12-month period, and even more disturbing, we have lost
an average of ten jobs a day for the past decade. In addition, in that same
decade, our county lost 48,000 individuals and $1.9 billion in income.
Personal income in our MSA has steeply fallen to below 2007 levels.
Per capita income for 2009 is $37,495, compared to $38,050 in 2007.
Total personal income since 2007 is now at $48.9 billion, $200 million
less than 2007.
If we are to turn around our economy, we need government to be as
streamlined, entrepreneurial and innovative as the economy in which
we are trying to compete. That's exactly what this new charter does.

5. Job Loss
U.S. Bureau of Labor

6. Out-Migration
Without good paying jobs people will continue to move away from our
community. And they are not just moving to other local counties…they
are moving away and taking their tax dollars with them…leaving us to
handle the tax burden.

7. Out-Migration
IRS In/Out Migration

8. Expert Adviser/Endorser
“Stephen Goldsmith, now deputy mayor of New York City and an
expert on successful government, pointed out that Shelby County must
attack troubling trends like the average daily loss of three middle-class
families and five young professionals. Referring to Memphis and
Shelby County's current governmental structure, Mr. Goldsmith said,
"different governments are still focused on borders and boundaries,
often creating a culture of confusion."
The new charter solves this problem, creating a new government that
is more efficient and that ends the duplication, waste and bureaucratic
red tape that exist now with our two-headed system. That's why we say
what the majority of people in our county know: “Doing nothing is not
an option!”

9. Information taken from the cities’ official websites.

10. Information taken from the cities’ official websites.

12. Noah's Ark Government

13. Streamlined, Efficient Government