Carol Coletta, chief executive of the Memphis River Parks Partnership, gestures out the office window at the graceful river scene nine stories below.

Regarded around the country as one of the nation's leading urban thinkers, right now in Memphis she's at the center of the Parks Partnership’s controversial plan to turn Tom Lee Park into Downtown’s preeminent park at a proposed cost of $60 million in public and private money.

On this day, she talks not so much about Tom Lee Park, a 30-acre strand of open turf a half-mile downstream from her office. She talks instead, at my suggestion, about the future of Mud Island River Park. It's the cheerful green expanse beckoning through the window.

Many Memphians wonder why, if we already have fabulous (and, yes, faded) Mud Island park, then why build another fabulous park nearby? Why not restore what we have? Just the other day, Memphis mayoral candidate Willie Herenton, mayor from 1992 through 2008, declared Tom Lee's makeover "asinine" and declared he'd fight the proposal.

Before Herenton's broadside, Coletta shared her thoughts about the future of Mud Island. On a clear morning in July, we sat in a conference room in the office tower that houses the nonprofit she has led since April 2018.

The River Parks Partnership uses part of a floor at 22 N. Front in offices that overlook, to the west, the old steamboat landing on the Mississippi River. Lapping against the landing, now a shoulder for Riverside Drive, is Wolf River Harbor. Just beyond the narrow harbor, spanned by a graceful tram line and pedestrian bridge, Mud Island River Park stands as an edifice: museum building, amphitheater, landscaping, ponds and the signature flourish, a splendid walkway depicting the lower Mississippi.

The park spreads along the southern third of a once-forlorn sand bar also called Mud Island. It is a 3.5-mile-long peninsula that shields the Downtown river bluff and Riverside Drive from the rapid Mississippi. A mainland road bridges the harbor and reaches Mud Island at its middle to serve Harbor Town, a leafy residential enclave, and the river park to the south. Park-bound visitors afoot in the center city rarely try the road. It is too far away. They use the tram (now broken) or pedestrian bridge.

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An earlier generation of Memphians dreamed up Mud Island River Park and nearly half a century ago crossed the harbor and spent $63 million in taxpayer money to make the sand bar into Downtown’s — indeed, the entire city’s — foremost public gathering place.

So why not fix it up? The question gets the 67-year-old South Memphis native talking freely.

It's time to rethink Mud Island

“We’re taking a facility as it is, with 40 years of deferred maintenance, and saying, ‘What do we do to understand the possible future uses for the island?’” Coletta said.

Her point is subtle. She stresses not the “future,” but the “possible.” She means Mud Island River Park must be reimagined.

The edifice was opened in 1982. Now it is too worn by time, too hard to get to and too little used, she said, noting many Memphians love the idea of Mud Island, although the park never became the public commons or tourist draw its founders intended. Coletta said that role can be capably filled nearby on an easier-to-reach site named for the late Tom Lee, a heroic African American river mariner.

Memphians of varied race, gender and class rarely mix, Coletta said, although the Parks Partnership board foresees an improved Tom Lee Park becoming both a national tourist attraction and a Memphian focal point.

“Can you happily share a packed space together?” Coletta said. “We have an explicit goal of achieving a socioeconomic mix.”

Make Mud Island for adventure

So what happens to the edifice outside her window?

On nice days, small concerts in the trees draw visitors. Bicycles and scooters are visible. People ride to the south tip and make smartphone images of themselves next to the new art on display, a tall row of blocks shaped into letters that spell "Memphis."

"They say people won't walk over," Coletta said, referring to the 1,800-foot-long pedestrian bridge. "Well, that isn't true. We're seeing more activity on Mud Island than in the last 10 years."

If it is done right, Memphis need not spend the estimated $20 million to catch up on repairs. A network of bicycle trails roll steadily from the city's eastern reaches, crossing upper Mud Island, Riverside Drive, Tom Lee Park and then Big River Crossing, the $18 million boardwalk now spanning the Mississippi.

Mud Island River Park and even Beale Street Landing, the nearby $43 million cruise ship terminal, might be primed for outdoor pursuits. This could position the city for a growing ecotourism industry. Bicycles, kayaks, small boats, scooters, skateboards — there's a business to be had in these recreational pursuits. Just how big isn’t clear, she said, though she figures the trails will lure thousands of biking tourists.

After all, Wall Street's young bankers favor fleece vests instead of suits and dresses. People throughout the nation in their 20s and 30s yearn for active vacations and pore over the magazine Outside. Featuring Memphis in city-obsessedOutside is like the holy grail. The Santa Fe, New Mexico, publication runs pieces such as “Eight Habits of Highly Effective Cities” and “How to Create the Perfect Waterfront.”

“We need to be on the cover ofOutside,” Coletta said. “I am absolutely convinced we can get there.”

Many people express support for the Tom Lee Park plan, although phone calls, emails and social media comments suggest a more vocal contingent care more for something else. Hardly anyone in the city spoke out three years ago when Memphis' Riverfront Development Commission, or RDC, the predecessor to the River Parks Partnership, hired prominent Chicago architect Jeanne Gang’s firm to rethink Tom Lee Park.

Even after the transformational plan was revealed last fall, Memphians were largely quiet until James Holt spoke up. Holt, chief executive of the Memphis in May International Festival, contended upgrades could push the huge festival out of Tom Lee. Suddenly, people feared their beloved event might wither if away from the river. Mayor Jim Strickland appointed a mediator between the park and festival boards, but Memphians still worried. John Doyle, executive director of the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum and Memphis Music Hall of Fame at 191 Beale St., wrote the mayor a thoughtful letter.

“The last thing we should do as a city is jeopardize any of our treasures,” Doyle told me. “The last thing we ought to do is stumble and make more mistakes. Mud Island is desolate. The Pyramid (arena built on Riverside in 1992) never stimulated the Pinch (business district) like they said it would. The RDC reached out for world-class designers for Beale Street Landing ... but the thing is usually empty. Its parking lot now is a mural. What we really need is a comprehensive vision for the riverfront.”

Coletta named 'influential urbanist'

Vision? Strickland set out to coin one two years ago. Just before the RDC was disbanded, leaders were appointed to a new parks advisory panel. Strickland said Memphis must “build a new dynamic, connected vision of our riverfront, not just for those who live and work Downtown." Soon the Parks Partnership was formed. Coletta was appointed CEO.

Ever since, Gang's Tom Lee plan and the Parks Partnership's broader vision have been displayed in public meetings and assessed by leaders and urban planners. Memphians overlooked the matter until Holt spoke out, and then some razzed Coletta for rushing a Tom Lee renovation onto an unsuspecting public. While the public was unsuspecting, I doubt her intent was to keep citizens uninformed. She and her benefactors want approval, even acclaim, for the Tom Lee Park makeover.

Coletta, who has resided in Chicago and Miami and always returned to live in her hometown, is from here. But it's worth noting her remarkable reputation is wider than Memphis.

Two years ago, she was ranked No. 66 on the Top 100 list of the world's “Most Influential Urbanists” of all time compiled by readers of a city-loving digital magazine in Los Angeles named Planetizen.

Coletta was loaned to the River Parks Partnership by the Kresge Foundation, which pays her salary. Kresge, a $3.5 billion philanthropy based in suburban Detroit, traces to the S.S. Kresge dime store fortune (today called dollar stores) that became the Kmart retail empire.

Kresge Foundation, established in 1924, earned a sterling reputation among urbanists. Coletta is a senior fellow in its American Cities practice. The Los Angeles publication lauded her for leading “a proposed $40 million collaboration of foundations, nonprofits, and governments to demonstrate the benefits of a civic commons.”

Looking at what's next

Seated on the ninth floor of 22 N. Front, Coletta points out Tom Lee Park's redo can hand Memphis an accessible gathering place.

Her analysis: Mud Island originated with two missions — a theme park with attractions and also an urban park (like Overton Park). “The elements of a theme park were there but there wasn’t enough density of attractions or the pizzazz that would make it an actual theme park,” she said.

Without that density, and suffering as an urban park for its inconvenient access, Mud Island trailed from 1 million annual visitors in the first years to 170,000 by 2016.

Should Memphis simply sell the river park? Coletta doubts that's an answer. “I think we’re leaning toward the idea that no matter what, the public needs to have access to Mud Island,” she said.

Private money someday might be useful, she said, but the future of the old river park isn’t clear and it’s not certain just what role investors might have. The often-mentioned aquarium idea looks too costly. She said she has spoken with M. David Rudd, the University of Memphis president. A potential U of M Freshwater Institute at Mud Island has been mentioned for years. A science-oriented high school also has come up.

No one should disturb the replica of the lower Mississippi. “The river walk is (architect) Roy Harrover’s masterpiece,” she said. “I think that could be preserved.”

What to do with the amphitheater? She begs off: “Someone smarter than me will have to figure that out.” And the future for the whole river park? Well, that is the open question now.

"Mud Island," she said, "is an unusual piece of property."

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Ted Evanoff, business columnist of The Commercial Appeal, can be reached at evanoff@commercialappeal.com and 901-529-2292.