June 3, 2016 — Memphis Police patrol Beale Street on foot Friday evening. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal)

By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal

City officials say a new $10 cover charge to enter the Beale Street entertainment district Saturdays after 10 p.m. will turn the city's most iconic street into one its safest by reducing overcrowding and stampedes.

The cover charge is part of a new "Beale Street Bucks" program announced Thursday, and is designed to thin crowds, weed out underage kids and help improve overall security, Downtown Memphis Commission President Terence Patterson said at a press conference in the district's Handy Park. Visitors will get a partial refund in the form of a $7 voucher redeemable with any district merchant.

"We want to keep Beale Street — but we want to keep Beale Street safe," he said.

Meanwhile, seven Beale Street merchants have signed a letter opposing the program, and at least one merchant — Lucille Catron, owner of the Historical Daisy Theatre and executive director of the Beale Street Development Corp. — plans to file a lawsuit Monday in federal court to stop the charge.

Reached by phone after the press conference, Catron said putting a cover charge on a public street was like double taxation for residents and was unnecessary.

"Surely we can provide enough security for the eight or 12 weeks in the busiest summer months," she said.

Memphians react to Beale Street Bucks program

Beale Street Bucks will be in place through August, and officials will decide in the future whether the charge will return annually and for how long, Patterson said. The $3 difference between the charge and the voucher would pay for a third-party contractor to administer the program.

Officials haven't decided what to do with any surpluses, but the money could go to improve the street or to charity, Patterson said.

He also moved to dispel any speculation that the admission targets any demographic, which has been a concern in the past, saying the city is open to all citizens and visitors. The goal, he said, is to assure safety at one of the top tourist attractions in the state.

The charge was one of several steps to improve public safety that Patterson outlined Thursday. Patterson said the DMC is also asking for more police officers and will improve officers' placement and lines of sight, beef up security at alleys and barricades, and enforce an underage curfew after 10 p.m.

Memphis Police Interim Director Michael Rallings also made several recommendations, including electronic scanning at gates, issuing wristbands to make curfew violators easier to spot, ending alcohol sales after 3 a.m. and banning bottles from balconies.

He said strict enforcement of curfew ordinances and reinforcing the district's barriers would begin immediately.

Patterson said the DMC is ready and willing to contribute additional money to enhance security.

Rallings also said, expanding on an announcement Monday, that the Shelby County Sheriff's Office had committed to placing 10 to 20 deputies in the district during peak attendance days. How that partnership will work is still being finalized, he said.

The additional safety measures come after two back-to-back stampedes on the street May 29 — the latest in a string of at least 18 going back to 2013, according to former Beale manager and Downtown Memphis Commission head Paul Morris — and the death of Memphis Police Officer Verdell Smith, who was run over by a suspect fleeing the scene of a shooting Saturday night as officers were trying to clear the street.

Mayor Jim Strickland said Downtown is the "heartbeat" of the city, and that his administration was fully behind the changes, which he said were "measured, thoughtful and necessary."

"It's important for our guests to know they're safe on Beale Street," he said.

The DMC briefly instituted a cover charge for the street in 2014 following incidents including a widely circulated video of a beating victim unconscious and bleeding on the street. The cover charge was quickly dropped, but returned in 2015.