Schledwitz is a well-known Democratic political operative and cofounder of Southland Capital. Twenty years ago, Schledwitz was a lawyer for Belz. With former congressman Harold Ford Sr., Schledwitz helped various Belz downtown projects get public support and funding from Congress, the City of Memphis, and the Center City Commis-sion, where Schledwitz formerly served as a board member. The movie theatre plans, however, have pitted them against each other in a battle for community sentiment and government funding. As far as the other one, a lot of pieces have to fall into place before any timetable can be put on that.
Parking is the main thing.
Schledwitz reasons that Overton Square deserves a public parking garage for the same reason that public funds support parking and other projects downtown. In short, no parking, no project, as Belz demonstrated by making seven floors of the new 15-story Peabody Place Tower a sort of parking garage in disguise. The broader question of public policy is whether public funds and tax incentives should continue to be poured into downtown or spread around to include more heavily populated and centrally located areas like Midtown. Schledwitz has even suggested that Midtown should have its own development authority similar to the Center City Commission. The fate of the multiplexes, along with the grander plans for Peabody Place and Overton Square, hangs in the balance.