Mr. Bobby White, Chief Government Affairs Officer with Greater Memphis Chamber

WDIA's Stan Bell sat down with Mr. Bobby White, Chief Government Affairs Officer with Greater Memphis Chamber.

Topic of Conversation: xAI

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Memphis born and Brad walking the walk and talking and talk.
It's the Stan Bell Morning Show, weekday mornings from six
to ten am on the Heart and Soul of Memphis,
ten seventy w d.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I A.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
We call him effectionately Bobby, but I put some respect
on his name. Mister Bobby White from the Greater Memphis Chamber.
He is the chief Government Affairs offic Sun every now
and then you catch over there on.

Speaker 4 (00:24):
Peabody Place every now and then.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Man, he's a busy man. I thought I was busy,
Bill Ring, you got some I think your name is
you bick with us too. But it's a good thing
because you working on behalf of the citizen ry. If
you will, Yes, hearing that you said, like the citizen
ring Yes, sir, yes, sir.

Speaker 5 (00:45):
Two.

Speaker 6 (00:45):
Most important where it's in the language, thank you, no,
thank you, thank you? Some time to be with us, No,
happy to be here, Happy to be here.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
And the most important word weh yeah and least important.
I So from this point on it's gonna be the
Bobby White Show featuring staying Bill.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
You up to the challenge. Listen, listen, I'm happy to
be here.

Speaker 6 (01:06):
The bell ringer, Uh, We're just happy to be in
the presence of greatness. I tell you. Staying bell is uh.
I tell you it's one of those things. I saw
him at a white Haven Christmas parade named everybody on
every float didn't have a script of anything new. They mama, fraternity, soroted,

(01:28):
they pledged where they went to school. You are institution,
my friend. I'm happy to be here with you.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Thank you so much about look to God be the glory.
This is how we're gonna do it, man, And it's
all to ask you. How's the family doing. Everybody's great?
Everybody's great.

Speaker 6 (01:40):
Yeah, yeah, I'm still Sam's daddy to a lot of folks.
I'm happy to be stepping his husband and Robin and
Gate thell Son. So I'm happy to be here speaking
of mister Robert, your daddy, yes, sir, and much love
to your mama.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
You know your daddy man, Yes, sir, legend you talk
about legend Principal Monash High School.

Speaker 6 (02:00):
Yes, sir Stone back before we but back before there
was fool boo for us by us. Manasays, was built
by black folks for black folks. So uh And and
I've been spending a lot of time in Southwest Memphis,
and so you know he had been assistant principal at
Westwood High back in the day to Western Ears. So yeah,
that's a wonderful legacy. So I'm proud of him, even

(02:21):
as he has give me his name. I'm proud to
be his son.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Man, you know what, And I know he's proud. He's
probably looking at the smiles. That's my boy to work.
I'm to get the stand up for the people. I
wanted him to be a principal. But I can listen
to that part. You don't know what to say by
coming by. I tell this the others is why I
get into this thing. I used to visit the NASA's
up you do the proms over there. They would invite

(02:47):
me to come over. Your dad would be right in
the middle of the auditorium or somewhere. He's like, man,
And when I came in, you know, the young folk
at that time they listened to. They ran up to
the man, just kind of want of them, you know,
fussing that right your dad, Like what was all the commotion?
Everybody get back in the seats. I didn't tell nobody to.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
Move, I said, mister, right, who was that guy?

Speaker 3 (03:10):
He used to personal stage. But that's your daddy. Now
your dad didn't play, didn't play no games man. But
that's what we need.

Speaker 6 (03:17):
Man, I tell folks all the time, like he used
to say this thing he getting on the rate he
get on the intercom every morning. And I didn't know
how inspirational we see people all doing. My lady is oh,
mister White, oh thank you so much. Oh you used
to get on me. My dad was saying major a
better man didn't.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Show right, man.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
But he say this thing he said on the intercome.

Speaker 6 (03:39):
Education makes the people easier to lead, but difficult to drive,
Easier to govern, but impossible to insulate.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
He say that thing every morning.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
I can see it right now. I see the visual
on that intercom. Put nobody else on the intercome he
got on. It's my school going it. So shout out
all them on NASS. Yes right now, I know we
got quite a few in the WDI listener audience. All right,
so we're gonna take a break. We got to open
the monologue out of the way, the intros and the
hellos and the backgrounds and all of that information. Now

(04:10):
it's time to get down all things x AI. You
down for that mister White, sir, let's do it. Welcome
back everybody, Thank you so much for being here. Twenty minutes,
twenty minutes past the hour. You're on WDI A the
Mid South Giant. My special guest, as we always have
special guests on Friday stand special people spotlight every Friday.
Mister Bobby White with a Greater Memphis Chamber. He is

(04:32):
the chief government Affairs Officer, a Memphian, a man of
our town, if you will, who knows what he knows
what he knows. I invited him to come on WDIA
on my show to break this x AI thing down.
Artificial intelligence company. We want to know all things about

(04:53):
it and how it relates to being in Memphis and
and how we are doing business, if you will, with
the corporation. So I'm gonna crack your MinC up a
little bit, and everybody kind of wants to know those
who are really concerned about our city, right, and what
benefit will it have for us having this corporation in
our area of artificial intelligence? You know when you say

(05:16):
XAI and even ai right, absolutely we're talking about social
media technology and of course founded by Eli Musk right,
but a couple of years ago yeah, absolutely, talk about it.
Let's talk about Xai.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
And let me say this.

Speaker 6 (05:30):
I mean, I think the thing to know first of
all is when it comes down to it, as the Chamber,
you know, we are an entity that deals with business.
Right we are not paid by government for our operations.
In fact, the business community funds it. And quite frankly,
the majority of our members are small business owners or entrepreneurs,

(05:52):
about eighty five percent or so. Of course we have
the big ones like the Fedexes and the international papers
of the world. So this is a new company for us.
And again it's not personal, it's business. And this business Xai,
something that came to us. It's been less than a
year that they have actually been in town, which is
the craziest thing. And it's artificial intelligence company. If people

(06:13):
don't think they are using an artificial intelligence, if you're
on social media, if you are, it's all around you
in these small ways in which that you may not
be aware of. But this is the foray in the
artificial intelligence. This company. They have built a supercomputer. Now
we use the word data center all of the time,

(06:34):
but the data center is kind of like a library.
A supercomputer is more like a brain. Like, this is
the scary part of I mean, let's just be honest.
Artificial intelligence is kind of scary right at the because
again it has that ability with this supercomputer to compute
at a high, high level. And so they've been with

(06:54):
us less than a year. And what does this mean
for Memphis. Well, just put a little context to it.
Economic development has been something difficult for us in the
last few years. I mean, make no mistake, We've had
in our history this thing of being the distribution capital
of the world. Make no mistake, we still are and

(07:15):
remain in that space. But for many years I've heard
folks say, oh, you warehouse jobs and jobs. We need
some jobs to pay better. Jobs are more forward looking.
And then here's the other part. When it comes to
economic development. We have to deal with this image that
Memphis has unfortunately had of the image of public safety concerns.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
And if you just look.

Speaker 6 (07:35):
Over the last two years, with the types of things
that have happened that have not gotten away from that image,
with you know, things like Ezekiel, Kelly, lies of Fletcher,
Tyrene Nook. It's just it's been unfortunate what we've seen.
So what this company's entrance into our market means. It
means number one, we get to write a new narrative

(07:55):
for what the future of Memphis can be. We're not
just tech. We're not I mean, I'm sorry, We're not
just distribution and logistics. We're also in this tech and
innovation space. And the presence of this company. The presence
of this company has made it where we have now
three other major Fortune five hundred companies, their Computer and

(08:16):
Video which makes all those graphic processing units, those chips,
and then also SMC all Fortune five hundred companies that
are setting up major operations here. So it's helping us
to change our narrative. And around the world we're now
hearing these stories about Memphis as a tech and innovation hub.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
So it's helping us rewrite our narrative.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
So let ask you this, mister Bobby White. So what
is Elon Musk, What is his goal for XAI? What's
he trying to understand or what is he getting us
to try getting us to try to understand about all
of this?

Speaker 6 (08:47):
Yeah, and I'll say this, I don't even goal where
I understood. I don't speak on behalf of the company.
I don't speak on behalf of the company's founder. What
I do know is this, However, what I know is
is that this space is happening, whether we are part
of it or not, right and I know that is
their intent to be like the way we have check
GPT and we mentioned some of these other things, they're

(09:08):
looking to actually predominate in the AI space, and they're
putting all of the brains and the investment in actually
to actually move in a direction.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
Again, don't speak on behalf of the company, but.

Speaker 6 (09:20):
Again, this is a space that exists like right now,
and it is something that is developing. And the fact
that Memphis ends up in the middle of this you
mentioned why Memphis, Well, you know there's a few things.
You know, Tennessee no income tax in Tennessee. Tennessee Also
logistically or in terms of this situation, we're in the middle.

(09:42):
If you think about us, we're like in the heart
of America. If you were to, for instance, have other
companies to come here and if you were doing other things.
We are in a space where you can use the port.
We got the second third largest cargo airport in the world.
We got the third largest truck corridor in the world.
So there's an opportunity for expansion if you were to

(10:03):
do other things hint, hint.

Speaker 4 (10:06):
And then the other.

Speaker 6 (10:07):
Part of it is is that in terms of power generation,
there's Tennessee validy authority as well. So I would just
say to you that we were on a list, and
then let me just also say this. We responded in
a way that showed our hunger and our interests in
wanting to have company come here.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
Started out not knowing who was even behind it.

Speaker 6 (10:29):
But the thing of it is is that our team,
our economic development team, we respond we're not cavalier about
economy development. Some other cities they don't need a bunch
of other funds coming their way investment. We're a city
in need of economic development. So we responded like we
wanted it, and we actually were able to land land
the project there.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
So let me get to it. Let me ask you,
do you think in your opinion, I know you're not
sure for the company anybody, do you think AI is
safe and beneficial for humanity?

Speaker 6 (10:59):
Yeah, that's it's a big question, and I think it
kind of goes to this space, right, it's whatever it
is is here. You know, it's like one of those
things where it's almost as if to say you can
be a part of it, or you don't have to
be a part of it. But it's a reality that
is with us right now. It is reshaping classrooms, is

(11:23):
reshaping professions and how we think about the future.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
I mean every profession.

Speaker 6 (11:28):
We used to have this big thing talking about knowledge
workers a few years ago. Well right along through here,
we're starting to see and better understand that artificial intelligence
is starting to play a critical role because you know,
you got knowledge workers, but you also have our artificial intelligence.
So it's integrating and finding its way into our way
of lives. Again, whether we have anything to do with

(11:50):
it or not, it is moving forward and influencing and
playing the part in our lives a bit by bit,
day by day.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
So you think we should embrace it. I'm saying this
is a fantastic voyage in terms of Lakeside. Really will
it be?

Speaker 6 (12:05):
It's kind of like this, It's like do you want
to be like like, it's kind of like this.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
We used to visit.

Speaker 6 (12:10):
My sainted mother used to take these trips to and
four buslows the kids from Double Tree Element around the
Westwood community every year she was fifth grade teacher. That's
how I got interested in politics going to d C.
But we go there and we'll go to Philly, or
we'll go there and we go to New York. Some
of those trips we go and visit the Amish community
in Pennsylvania, and we would see these folks with buggies

(12:33):
and churn and butter. You know, there's a there's a
whole world outside of that community that had not been
introduced into their world. I guess what I mean by
that is is this is that there's a world out
there that either we can participate in or we not
participate in.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
We don't necessarily have to.

Speaker 6 (12:55):
The way I see it, if you don't mind me
saying it this way, is that at the end of
the day, it is a reality that is shaping our world.
And the question is Memphis being able to play a
part in it, some small part in it?

Speaker 4 (13:09):
Is not a bad thing.

Speaker 6 (13:10):
It's just actually us once again asserting the fact that
we are an innovative place and this is a place
where innovation can thrive.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Is it worth investing in in AI and XAI? Is
it worth? Is it? I mean, is it something that
I mean, you know, I know it's a private company,
right right, right, But are there folks actually investing in Xai.

Speaker 6 (13:29):
Do you know, well, they're stockholders and stuff that really
doesn't have anything to do with us. Memphis has not
been asked really to do anything regarding this company. This
company has come in with this online investment.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (13:38):
The whole thing of it is is that even with
that space, that space, it's not quote unquote community land.
That land was owned by somebody and they bought that
land and leased the land one place and bought the
land in the other place. I think that what we
have to recognize is they have not come. They didn't
get any public incentive, they didn't get a pilot program.
They're not members of pilot program payment in lieu of

(14:00):
taxes where you don't pay property taxes for some period
of years. They came and they made investment in us.
It hasn't necessarily been US investing in them. They've come
to Memphis and have made investment in there, growing and
expanding based upon that investment here.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
So is XAI poisoning our air? Yeah?

Speaker 6 (14:19):
So I think that's a very direct question. And I
would say I was at a town hall meeting. I've
heard this said over and again, and you gotta know
that you hear a lot of people's pain and hurt,
but a lot of what you hear, honestly is historical.
This company has been here less than a year, and
so I think that it's this connection that's being made

(14:41):
as if this company has kind of almost become a
poster child for poisoning the environment, when in fact, this
company has been here less than a year. At what
we have seen from the company, and I'm coming to
the gas turbines, the natural gas turbines, which has been
the big issue being discussed, we have seen.

Speaker 4 (15:00):
From the company. And mind you, two things can be true.

Speaker 6 (15:04):
Look, my sister, my sister Tangela, she's an RIN and
works for the federal government. So listen, you can't talk
about Elon Musk around her without her having an opinion
about it, right, And I'll say that is not personal,
this is business. What we have to do is we
have to follow and pay attention to what this company

(15:26):
has done to demonstrate that it actually, at its essence,
has an interest in the environment and environmental state sustainability.
Keep in mind, Chucks turned the automotive industry upside down
with the introduction of the electric car. Electric car. What
they have done here when you look at what we
are seeing. There was this some of the same folks

(15:47):
were saying that, hey, they're taking a million gallons of
water from the aco for every day.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
That was not true. It never was true.

Speaker 6 (15:53):
They built built in their facility a closed loop system
where they use water. It goes and cools the supercomputer.
It comes out heated up, they cool it back down
and wraps around. Their water bill is about seven hundred
dollars a month, which just lets you know how they
are not using water from the aquifer, and they are
investing eighty million, like ninety million dollars to build a

(16:14):
wastewater recycled facility that is not just going to keep
them from pulling water from the aquifer. It's going to
let new Core Steel no longer pull water from the aquifer.
It's gonna let TVA, which pulls six point five million
gallons of water from the aquifer every day. It's going
to get TVA off of the aquifer as well.

Speaker 4 (16:34):
So that's the investment they made. They're investing in our grid.

Speaker 6 (16:37):
They brought these mega packs, these battery megapacks, which are
helping to stabilize our grid. We've become like ground zero
for mega packs, and those those mega packs, I want
it all across the country and around the world for
what they can do to strengthen grid resiliency. And they
have a bunch of them are here in Memphis. They're
supporting the MLGNW and TVN that way. So when we

(16:59):
talk about the gas term bins, which are temporary, they
are fifteen that are at the middle of this discussion.
Those are the ones that are gonna go from being
temporary because you can have a temporary gas turbine up
to like three hundred and sixty four days.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
All of those turbines are.

Speaker 6 (17:15):
Within what is allowed by the EPA in terms of
They are all twenty five parts per million or below
in terms of emissions, which is what the EPA requires
for stationary gas turbine. I don't want to get too
far into this, but go ahead and next the next question.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
So I've been hearing and I'm seeing where a lot
of elected officials or some of the election officials, are
working to stop the turbines, but the public seems to
be like, you know, well, whatever y'all do, we still
gonna let y'all know, and we're going to ask the
tough questions and they're asking the Health Department to deny
the permits. Right, so, elect officials, as I understand that
working to stop the turbines, but this is not stop

(17:53):
the public from asking the Health Department to deny the permits.
I'm gonna give you a moment two kind of let
that up marinate, uh, and I'm gonna take a break
and we'll come back. We'll even up the well even
up fire of the phone line for those who have
comments and concerns questions about this x AI. Good morning everyone.
We're talking to mister Bobby White, chief Government Affairs Officer

(18:14):
at the Greater Memphis Chamber. Okay, we're back everybody. Thank
you so much for being here. Yeah, the Mid South Giant.
Before we get back to conversation with mister Bobby White,
my special guest today on this Friday, definitely a couple
of emails that I need to get to from Lucy
k Tron. Lucille k Tron says, good morning, mister Bell.
I know I was laid emailing you on yesterday asking

(18:35):
for a birthday shout out? Could you please give a
birthday shout out to my son in law, my son
Maurice mcwade, the husband of my daughter Stacey mcwade. I'm
so very proud of this young man. Happy birthday son,
Thank you missus, Stan much love and respect. Lucille Kate
Tron Yeah, that was real nice. One other one other

(18:56):
here in the subject line song right back where we
started from good morning staying Ooh, you brought back memories
for me in nineteen seventy five. It was a time
of change for me and my family from moving from
San Diego to Memphis during that year. Music helped me
cope from Sharon V. Scott loved that song. Yeah, Maxine

(19:19):
nighting Dede Gil Maxine Nightingale nineteen seventy five. You got
you know all right?

Speaker 7 (19:25):
You gotta get douking where you're shine it from going and.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
Get it is the jam no it shining? Thank you
Sharon V.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
Scott.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Now back to serious matters. I'd just say hers wasn't serious.
I love hearing from my listeners. I do this only
day I listener rights stand love. Your guest just got
into the show. Here's my question. It sounds like the
media concerns are being a dress in regard to the
environmental impact of XAI, But are there any guard rails

(20:06):
being put in place to ensure we can't effectively address
future concerns. What about ten years to twenty years down
the road. It's like, yeah, those are I totally get that.
I think everyone should.

Speaker 6 (20:18):
I want to back up for a minute here, because
when we talk about concerns that people have had, generally
speaking environmental concerns, keep in mind, this is a computer
this isn't a chemical company, right. I mean there have
been times in the past we've talked about fugitive emissions
from a company and the environmental impact. The way they
are number one, ensuring that they are pulling people off

(20:42):
of pulling water from the aquifer. They're going to help
to keep four point seven billion gallons of water in
the aquifer every year by the time they finished building
this waste water facility, which will pull them in a
couple of other companies off of the aquifer they were
never using really out there in those.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Cases, you're fine. Defined for us m's terms, what is AQUAIFU?

Speaker 6 (21:06):
Yeah, the aquifer is basically if you go the best
thing Memphis has. If you go here, you travel, you
drink that water out that Fawcet and some of these
other cities is hard it has a little twain to
it or whatever. In Memphis, we got the best thing going.
We got these deep, deep, deep reservoirs of water that's
accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years that we tap

(21:29):
into and when you turn your focet on at home,
it comes there. Not everybody's water comes from these deep
aquifers that we have underneath the surface here in Memphis
is one of the best things we have going. And
keeping that water there as much as possible and preserving
the aquifer is a is an important thing. It's important
to us because it's one of the ways we sell

(21:50):
our community. So what we have done, what this company
is doing is taking that we call it gray water.
Everything with toilet water coming at your house, like you
wash your hands, that's gray water, shower graywater. It's taking
gray water and it's going to make it where it
allows that company and other companies to use that recycled
gray water for industrial uses. In other words, they are

(22:14):
not cooling down a computer by using this great drinking
water from the aquifer. They're using that water you took
a shower with. They're using the water you wash your
hands with. And other companies that are using water for
industrial uses, will be able to use that same gray
water coming from the facility that Xai is building to
the tune of ninety million dollars with their own money.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
Got it.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
Let's go to the phone lines, if you don't mind,
mister White not on one five three five nine three
foot two eight hundred and five zero three nine three
four two or A three three five three five nine
three four two. We welcome your comments, suggestions. You know,
whatever he's on your mind about Xai. Give it that phone,
WI your water. You're in the radio, Yeah, what's your concern?
Oh now I miss it. Okay, let me let me

(22:57):
go to the other line. I'm sorry, aout that, let
me go out of town line. Good morning, you're on
the radio. Thanks for waiting.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
Air chair restoreded? Now how you do that that morning? Sir?

Speaker 5 (23:13):
Real quick, I'm not I'm not.

Speaker 4 (23:14):
Going to be long.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
I know it's Friday, is your special guest day. I
usually don't call on Fridays, but I had to call today.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
The gentleman that.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
You have sitting across from you. I had to call
to give him his flowers while he's yet breathing this
prolific prognosticator.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
I mean this, this guy.

Speaker 4 (23:31):
Just he's awesome.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Man. Mister White is a A is one of my
my biggest mentors. H We attended uh Praise Temple together
back in the day. He also was a teacher. Uh
I think my last two years at south Side. Uh yeah, yeah, Okay,

(23:54):
the chess play extraordin. Now, yes, sir, let's me to
hear your boys had great to see that you're doing well.
I would have expected nothing less from you, just waiting
for you to take position in the Governor's office up
in Nashville. So with that being said, Man, I'm not
gonna waste any of your time, but I had to
call to let you know, man, how much I appreciate you.

(24:18):
The small things that you did my junior senior in
high school, the things, I mean, it was rough on
me having to see you Monday through Friday and being
also on Sundays as well. You know, most the dynamics
was just I deal what you're doing a week. I
don't have to see you again to Monday. But it
was a different story with you, man, and I thank

(24:39):
you so much for.

Speaker 8 (24:40):
What you're doing for our great city, for.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
The accomplishment you have man, shout out to you, your
beautiful wife. Your family said, I didn't know.

Speaker 4 (24:48):
Your father had passed.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yea, so sorry to hear about that. But thank you
again so much for what you do. And I think
it's very important for what you're doing, as you kind
of explained this morning. Wayne Gretski one of the most
profound hockey.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
Players of all time.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
He was One of his most famous quotes was people.
Someone asked him how is it that she became one
of the world's greatest hockey players? And his response was,
I skate to not where the puck is, but I
skate to where the puck is going to be. And
I think with your leadership and the other leadership that
Memphis has seen that with AI not staying in the

(25:28):
eighties and nineties and seventies, oh what we knew you
this for. But skating to where the puck is going
to be is going to put Memphis ahead of the
power curve man, and I thank you for that. And
I'm out of here, but thank you so much, said
bell Man.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
You rock Rose bud Is.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
Actually, he texts me he's in La listening to the show.

Speaker 7 (25:46):
Now.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
He enjoyed the show yesterday. You got another w d
I A Listen, man, I'm making w DI I a
Disciples So that's all I'm doing anyway, taking great men,
have a great weekend.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Thank you keep making it on Disciples and the Kingdom
of w on the radio. Your turn, go right ahead,
you're on the line. Do all I can client and hello.

Speaker 9 (26:11):
To your gifts, saying I'm so glad that you got
this gentleman on your show us so he can stop
all of these lies and stuff being told about Elon
Munks place down because man, I'm talking about these people
they've been calling your show staying they have been scaring

(26:32):
people and everything, and this down him explain.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
It to the teeth.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
You know, we missed out on the casino.

Speaker 9 (26:40):
Because we let them miss it and art and saw
this company coming here. Gonna bring a lot of more
big companies here. But we'll miss out if we don't
let companies.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
That come here.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
And now we got to move up.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
We got to get get the school ready for places
like this.

Speaker 9 (26:59):
So stand I'm glad you had had them to come
here and explain everything, because I don't wonder none of
them about displays is not secure for men.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yeah, I think you day back to the phone lines.
I guess your expression on that A minute, mister White,
hang on for a minute. Wd I A come morning,
you're on the radio. Your turn, Yeah, San Bell certain
Actually the action, real satisfaction. Well what's what's doctor White?

Speaker 7 (27:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (27:26):
The white. It's good to have you. You had luckily,
you've had three people, three smart people. Just call, you know,
make me them before or make me number three. You know,
I recently visited San Jose, California aka Silicon Valley, and
how progressive that place is. They don't allow backwater thinking

(27:47):
people to live there. I don't think so. And Memphis
could be just like that. And I'm glad that you
are explaining and not allow people to think back water.
You know, everybody's talking about how uh it's using the

(28:08):
water and all that.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Uh, just like the car washers.

Speaker 5 (28:13):
They don't use drinking water, you know, they they use
a whole lot of water, but it doesn't take away
from the water that we that we need. And I'm
so happy that you're doing this. And missus is going
to be known for more than just barbecue and Elvis
and and I can't say enough how glad I'm I'm

(28:35):
glad you're on the show I appreciate you, appreciate like Sam,
like Sam Cook said, a change.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
God come all right, appreciate that Jackson, all right, mister
Bobby wife, you're your thoughts and all of the collars comments.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (28:52):
I've been having these living room conversations because I want
to say this. I recognize it's so hard to get
good in from like even regarding these gas turbines, having
people to understand that what's at the center of all
this is the company using gas turbines because they were
working faster than they could get a substation built, which

(29:15):
they are funding substations being built to support them. The
gas turbines would keep them from connected to the grid
and having where you somebody's grandmama Auntie's power goes out
in South Memphis because they haven't studied this supercomputer well enough.
So the gas turbines has allowed them to support their
own power and so they're temporary. But now they're the

(29:39):
point of day number three sixty four where we're looking
at the potential for stationary turbines. And this is the
part I want to make clear, and I'm gonna say
something because those three callers, I ain't paid, nobody had
no idea any of those those who call it, I'm
just saying, there's the thing. Those turbines that are going
to be in place, the EPA stationary gas turbines. They
said that you can have twenty five parts per million

(30:01):
emissions from those turbines. The EPA Environmental Protection Agency for
the United States, those turbines have to be twenty can exeed,
twenty five parts per million. The company paid for these
solar turbines which emit nine parts per million, and then
they're putting about two hundred million dollars over technology. And

(30:21):
he's one of those turbines to get it down to
two parts per million. So those turbines that there's so
much talk about, the stationary turbines, are the best performing
gas turbines in the nation. Now, let me come back
to the other point, which goes to the whole thing
of and I want to also be sensitive to the
fact good information is hard to find. You can hear
so much of everything all over the place. But based

(30:44):
on the University of Memphis professor, based on a guy
named Shannon Lynn, who is consulted about thirty five states
and clean as an expert and clean the Clean Air Act,
they have let us know both and from both parts,
and they don't even know one another, which is that
this company is not having this huge impact on air

(31:06):
quality based upon those turbines that are stationary turbines to
be in place. I say this last thing. In one
of those living room conversations I've had. I had one
sister to come and just thank me for just kind
of breaking things down. She said, you know what, my
great grandmama was afraid of afraid of the refrigerator.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
You know, I grew up with the ice box. She said.

Speaker 6 (31:26):
My mama was scared of the microwave. She said, my mama,
she said, no, my great grandmama was scared of the microwave.

Speaker 4 (31:34):
He said. My mama was scared of the computer. And
I'm scared of AI.

Speaker 6 (31:38):
But thank you, because the thing of it is, the
whole thing is getting beyond that fear and understanding and
embracing that future, going to where the puck is going.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
I did like that quote.

Speaker 6 (31:47):
It's kind of what we were trying to do as
a business community, and this is a part of that.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah. Yeah, And speaking of quotes and stuff like that
and revelations, and I will say this, I was a
little literly hesitant. Uh, I guess uh. But Moffa always
says to other folks, unless you move beyond what you've
already mastered, you never grow. So from time to time
you gotta embrace new stuff. Yeah, new stuff. All right,

(32:14):
we're talking with Bobby White, Chief Government Affairs Office. Let
me put this disclaimer. As long as you can embrace
new stuff, but long as it's safe.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
Right, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
I'm with It's safe, absolute humanity. Absolutely absolutely go take
a break, all right, back everybody. Oh, let me give
away some money, right quick? Hang on, let me put
another button. Your chance to win one thousand dollars.

Speaker 10 (32:35):
Just enter this nature white keyword on our website.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
Bank.

Speaker 4 (32:38):
That's bank entering down.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
All right, so we are back. Hit that money too.
By the way, be a n K bank. I feel
like I'm on sesame street. Be a in K, which
one doesn't belong here. So yeah, one thousand dollars off
of grabs. Yeah, I love it. I will say this
to my special guest. A lot of young folks in

(33:03):
our city yard coming together around this issue, some kind
of rallying against it, some for it, but at least
they're informed or or begging or crying out for information
about Xai. I've heard some elect officials, some government officials

(33:25):
cry out that x Ai is poising our air and
they're organizing it to stop it, and they're involved. Shall
be kind of made in all of this, and they
shall be kind of health directed health department director and
all of this. And I saw these rallies deny the
permit and all of that and turbine talk, and we're
trying to break it down and leading its turns. But
I will say this, even after listening to you and

(33:46):
hearing some over your your your comment commentary, if you
will on this, I think it's going to have an
economic impact.

Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah, it absolutely will.

Speaker 6 (33:54):
And let me say this, I look, this is the
part that gets me. Ain't nobody got no corn on
the market when it comes to concern about this city.
And I'm insulted when folks who may disagree with the
opinion one way or the other, not necessarily an opinion.
You may see it one way, others might see it

(34:14):
another way. And I also am not upset about anyone
because there's so much bad information out there.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
It's difficult.

Speaker 6 (34:22):
So some people laying in a place because they just
hadn't heard the alternative. But here's the thing about economic development.
It's not personal, it's business. There are some people who
and this is when I I mean, when it's normal folks,
that's one thing. But when it's elected officials, it's a
little bit concerning. It's very concerning to me. They have
put up a stop sign and a detO a signed

(34:43):
regarding this project. They say stop, and we want that
project to go somewhere else. They say stop, We don't
want it here at all. We wanted to go somewhere else,
to another community, to another state. When in fact, I
think the majority of people don't want to stop sign
or a detail signed, a sin it some somewhere else.
They just want to yield sign, proceed with caution. They

(35:04):
want it's like one of those things. We cannot be
cavalier about economic development and not allow for investment because
we don't like a company's founder or owner. That's not business,
that's not how you conduct business. So I just want
to say to everyone, you know, let's get out of

(35:24):
his name calling, like you got a corner on the
market when it comes to investment in this or when
it comes to what you want and love about this.
We love this city. We all want what's safe for
this city. But to your point of economic development, yes,
here's the thing. It took FedEx fifty years to be
the number one taxpayer in our city in terms of

(35:46):
the taxes that come from its investment. It took this
company less than eleven months to become the number two taxpayer.
They just paid thirty three million dollars taxes have to
the city, basically half to the city, half to the county.

Speaker 4 (36:02):
Just paid thirty three million dollar tax bill.

Speaker 6 (36:05):
The way the taxes work, they count was in the
building on January one. You could bring other stuff in
on January seven, but they just count what was in
the building on January one. On January one of twenty
twenty five, there's about one they got taxed on about
one point five billion dollars.

Speaker 4 (36:21):
Worth of property stuff in the building.

Speaker 6 (36:23):
Guess what that building, that Electroluxe building was that was
dead where nothing was going on. That building one point
seven netted thirty three million in taxes. But guess what
that building is about to represent twelve billion dollars. So
if you do just a little bit of multiplying and
divide twelve billion and by one point five then multiply

(36:46):
it by thirty three. That is, my friend, a whole
lot of dollars coming in taxes. But here's the other part,
this part where this is the part where that I'm
a bit I get frustrated when people talk about detour
sign go somewhere else. But then there's another building that
they just obtained, which is about an eighth of a

(37:07):
mile from Mississippi to the State of Mississippi out in
White Haven. It's all zoned correctly. This is the other
part Whey there hadn't been a lot of public facing
stuff because they didn't get public incentives, they didn't have
to change zoning. That building is going to end up
being maybe three times what the investment we saw in
the first building. So we are talking about hundreds upon
hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars of taxes coming in.

(37:32):
Every pothole, full field, every police car brand new, every
black court where you want to see of boys and
girls be able to play basketball, and parks. There won't
be anything that the mayor's on both sides of the
trolley track, the county mayor or, the city mayor, and
the city council and the County Commission won't be able

(37:52):
to do investments they won't be able to make because
of the tax dollars coming in from this company. So again,
we can't be too cavalier about economic development. We are
a city in need of it, and we see this
as being something that's going to rewrite our narrative and
put us in a whole different space.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
All right, all right, you're hearing mister Bobby White, chief
Government Affairs Officer for the Greater Memphis Chamber. He's our
very special guest on this Friday morning. I'm going straight
to the phone lines. Let's take a couple of calls here,
mister White, if you don't mind, w d A good morning,
Thanks for waiting. You're on the radio. Yeah, how you
going morning? Yes, ma'am going good.

Speaker 10 (38:28):
Right, I'm glad you're there.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
Sound like you're doing fine. So we're listening. Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 10 (38:33):
I've listened to everything you said, especially when Sam came
back from break. I was the host, so I had
a chance to really listen to the thing that you're saying.
And you say you offended, Well, guess what, brother, I'm
offended this well here too. Okay, Now, what you're saying
sounds great, don't give me roy sounds really good, and
I want to be optimistic, and I hope everything you're
saying come to Boricius. But the point of it is,

(38:53):
you sound like you know we have no right to
be afraid or complain when the fact of it is,
every time something like this happens, it is in the
black community, and it does affect the black race more
the most negatively. Okay, So you said you started off
by saying, we didn't give them anything. We didn't give
them anything to come here. And then your next sentence was,
so we did respond to them to whereas they really

(39:16):
run to come to members. So I'm curious to know
what did we respond what did y'all respond to them
to bring them here? Because in the past members has
been given as cash cows. Y'all use a black citizens
as cash cows. And I'm gonna let me elaborate. Okay,
Nimbers is innovative manufacturing city, Okay, with all these warehouses there,
yet it's still low paying temporary job services and poverty.

(39:39):
So and when they came, somebody came afford and said
the same thing, we want them here. It's gonna be
innovator's gonna help our schools. Is gonna have this? We said,
we all did, We hear the same thing over and
over again, and nothing changes. Now this big a out
come and you pretty much hold the citizens. Hey, y'all
can sit back and relax because it's here where y'all
like it or not, and y'all need to get on board.
I mean that this this is what I'm hearing. And

(40:01):
again I'm trying to understand what you're saying. But as usual,
why did they respond? What did they come to respond
back when y'all said them the response missus saying hey
we want y'all here, What did.

Speaker 7 (40:11):
They respond back?

Speaker 10 (40:12):
We just want some pacifics Sometimes. Now I will say
the last thing you said did get parcific. We're gonna
fix the schools, We're gonna fix the PA hole, We're
gonna have better parent jobs. We just that's always want
we want to pustixis now. And one thing I never
heard you say when in the beginning is when they
did respond back and say, hey, we want y'all here
because we want more taxes, and you just said it

(40:34):
pretty much that. I mean, this isn't how I took
that bout it missus being sold out for a taxi. Okay,
they gave thirty three million dollars, have one to the city,
had one to the state. Yet what have we done?
I want to know what they have that thirty three
million dollars because someone just came on the radio no
long ago saying that they're gonna raise property taxes yet again.
So that's thirty three million dollars. Y'all just got shit.
It took over property taxers. Propaty taxes shouldn't have to

(40:55):
be raised, and we just collected thirty three million dollars
from this AI right here. Anyway, my last I'm saying
a lot really past if they stay back to you
to say, hey, this is why we want out here
and this is the benefit I mean partific I mean
job wise, healthwise, to make y'all say this is this
is was the right place for them. I know I'm

(41:15):
said a lot, but thank y'all.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Let me in your thoughts, mister White. Yeah, yeah, I know.

Speaker 6 (41:19):
There's a PTSD that you got to deal with when
it comes to how people feel because they've seen things
happen in the past and they are like, you know, uh,
I mean, so there's a whole lot of history that
I hear when I hear about this, like I even heard,
uh the sister just talk about Well, let me let
me back up. My whole thing was when I say

(41:40):
I'm insulting, I'm insulted by the name calling, as if
people who disagree with you on a point are somehow
not concerned about.

Speaker 4 (41:50):
This city that I believe we all love.

Speaker 6 (41:53):
So I'm not saying anybody I want everybody, you're right
to protest, to say whatever. I just don't like name calling.
I'm not gonna say anything bad about anybody. Even though
I could fix my mouth to do that, I never
would because again, I understand people come from different places.
I was raised not to say if you can't say
something nice, don't say anything at all. But generally speaking,

(42:14):
it irks my nerve when someone disagrees on the point
that all of a sudden they evil in the devil.
And that's the point I was talking about. I'm not
saying everybody should fall in line. I'm saying, make your
voice heard, but let's try to do it in a
way that does not demean or defame people. Second thing,
I hear PTSD from a lot of people because they

(42:34):
heard this, that, and the other.

Speaker 4 (42:35):
Here's the thing I say about this company.

Speaker 6 (42:37):
You hadn't heard them say too much anything, honestly, because
they made a private investment.

Speaker 4 (42:42):
Then require a public incentive.

Speaker 6 (42:44):
And here's the thing that for them is that rether
than talking about you know, I am gonna do this
and gonna do that. Listen ed Stan Junior Papa standing
as a call, you say this thing that Ghana.

Speaker 4 (42:57):
Everybody talking about what they're gonna do.

Speaker 6 (42:58):
Gana is a country in after What they have done
instead is be quiet and just let you see what
they are doing. There's not been any public announcements or
anything of it, but you'll start to see more and
more what investment looks like from this company. And then
here's the other thing about the Chamber. The Chamber is
in a unique position. Our Chief Economic Development officer speaks

(43:19):
three four languages. One of our SVP of Global Investment,
he's originally from Canada. We are scouring the earth looking
for opportunity to come to the city of Memphis. And
the reason we are funded by the business community is
because we would never really be able to do what

(43:40):
we do if we were I mean, the mayor can't
do or the City Council can't do because so many
things of public and everybody wants to be able to
make their investment do what they do, gone about their business.
And so I will just say this, the Chamber is
uniquely positioned to look for businesses across this nation and
round globe to come to Memphis. We just happened to

(44:03):
fall on one that actually is willing to invest, and
we gave them the same effort that we would give
to anybody else because at the end of the day,
we're looking for investment in Memphis.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
Got it? So those of you just too it in
and hopefully that's not the case. But just in case
you're just joining us, we're talking with mister Bobby White,
Chief Government Affairs Officer Greater Memphis Chamber. We're talking about
all things x AI and I wanted to call them
in because I wanted to break it down, simplify terms,
if you will break it down to the as we
should say in school, the lowest common denominator in layman's terms.

(44:38):
And hopefully you've taken away some information from all of this. Now,
mister White, what's the time landline on this? It's not
a done deal, right, I mean well AI here to
stay gone because I know you know Shepy County Health
Department has a decision to make right.

Speaker 6 (44:55):
The only thing that that does it has to do
with the gas turbines, right, those gas turbines.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
Has nothing to do with the existence of the company here.

Speaker 6 (45:03):
Okay they want yeah if they're if if I mean,
but the whole thing of it is it's based upon
those those per The permits are based upon the the
best performing natural gas turbines in the nation in terms
of parts per million of emissions right at two and
I And that's what the permit is all about. But

(45:23):
keep in mind with any of the gas turbines you
hear about, these things are temporary as they work with
MLG and W on these substations which are going to
allow them to be plugged in. And keep it in
mind also the battery packs that they make use of.
It helps to stabilize the grid. I'm just saying to
you that x AI is in Memphis. They have expanded

(45:45):
in Memphis, they are building out in Memphis.

Speaker 4 (45:47):
They are here.

Speaker 6 (45:49):
That permit has nothing to do with their existence. It
just has to do with whether or not uh they're
gonna I mean, I'm sorry. It has nothing to do
with their existence in this city. They are here and
they are here to stay. And regarding the gas permits
that we look to see them being granted, I think
it's just a matter of how they power their operation.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Yeah, all right, let me a couple more phone calls
and we're gonna get out of here. I know you
got things to do, people see, but thank you for
your time. Yeah, we're going a little bit over time,
but for very positive and a very insightful reason. Let's
go back to the fun lines. Morning on the radio.
Your turn, go ahead, morning standing, Good morning to your guests,

(46:32):
Good morning, good morning.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Okay, I have several comments. Hopefully I can be quick
with this, but your guests said that this is my
personalist business. You can't say it's not personal when people
feel their lives will be impacted by this, especially in
a negative way. I think the problem is that you
guys have not And when I say you guys, i'm talking.

Speaker 7 (46:56):
About those bringing it here, the health department, the mayor
whatever your department is.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
You all haven't been transparent.

Speaker 7 (47:06):
And that's the problem because we don't know what to believe,
and we don't know who to believe. Okay, we said
that we were told that fifteen were there. Then we
find out thirty three are out there operating. Well, you
said today you need a permit for fifteen, but you
can have temporary ones out there without a permit. Why
didn't you all say that.

Speaker 10 (47:26):
You have all these open forums.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
And you don't address the questions.

Speaker 7 (47:30):
You let people ask questions, but then you're told, well,
we're not going.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
To answer anything today, but you can ask a question.

Speaker 7 (47:37):
Well, you need to be putting it out there. Regarding jobs,
everybody know Elon Musk is a robot fanatic. What jobs
are coming here? They've been here, However many days we
hadn't heard of anybody being hired. What we heard is
he's bringing his own people in. So what economic value
are we getting from this? And then thirdly, if it's

(47:59):
so great building all over Arlington, why then.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
They put it in Arlington?

Speaker 7 (48:04):
And like marriages say, everything has to go in the
black community because you know those other communities will create
holy havoc and not allow that to come to their community.
And it's too new.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
That we don't know what it's gonna cause.

Speaker 7 (48:20):
You all get in all these reports of zero point
nine zero point two and all this we don't know
because personally, I don't believe anything that comes out of
Elon Musk's mouth based on what I've seen him do
with Doge. He's been a maniac and I don't believe him.
So we're at a point where we don't know what.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
To believe and who to believe.

Speaker 10 (48:45):
That's the problem.

Speaker 7 (48:47):
You all have to be more transparent when you have meetings,
answer the questions. Don't be afraid. Let people know because
this will be impacting their lives.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
And that's what I would like to see.

Speaker 10 (48:59):
More transparent.

Speaker 4 (49:00):
Tell us the truth, whatever.

Speaker 7 (49:01):
That truth is, and then we have to decide how
to deal with, but at least give us the truth.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
Yeah, can I say thank you?

Speaker 3 (49:10):
Thank you? Miss James? Stay on?

Speaker 4 (49:12):
Could you stay on, miss James? Okay, ahead, we can
go to the next Okay.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
Sure, okay, yeah, let me deal with like this. So
would there be in fact, in essence a pushback if
there were decided to put in suburbs like all this
in Lakeland, call your village, would you know there'll be
a pushback?

Speaker 4 (49:29):
Why so?

Speaker 3 (49:30):
Why particularly the black community.

Speaker 6 (49:32):
Well, it's all about land mass, it's all about where,
It's about locations, I would say this to you right now.
If we have in one building, that's what's gonna equate
to about twelve billion dollars worth of investment. If you
told me to break that up into other companies and
then go find sites for those companies, I would absolutely

(49:53):
struggle to find sites that are zoned the right way
for that. I think that what we've got to to
come to. And this is where I really have where
elected officials that need to be more sensitive to this.
This is a company that is is actually abiding by
current existing law and policy and regulations. And so if

(50:16):
there is a concern about any of this that I
think there's a need to change the current existing policy,
law and regulations.

Speaker 4 (50:24):
In terms of location.

Speaker 6 (50:25):
It has everything to do with what's zoned where, and
I would just there, I would just say the reason
that many I think people keep getting to this thing
of transparency. If Ston Bail would to go out and
open up a let's just say, you will go out
and open up a boutique out there in Caruville.

Speaker 4 (50:44):
You didn't ask for any.

Speaker 6 (50:45):
Incentives, no public incentives, you didn't ask for any you
didn't ask for change in zoning because where you're going
is all, it was a boutique there before, right, So
now you're going there. Guess what, You can open your
business and conduct business without having to get anybody else's permission,

(51:05):
if you pay the bills, if you do all those
things that you should do. I think that people have
this thought that businesses when they're making investment, that they
come knocking on your door. We have any number of
investments happening all of the time, and that is just
not the norm. Normally, you hear from those businesses when
they are changing zoning somewhere, like from residential to industrial.

(51:28):
There's going to be engagement. If they're accepting public dollars,
there's going to be in engagement. But the idea of
transparency has a I think there's been a lot about that,
especially as it relates to this company. But transparency is
an important thing because if you're not careful, you get
into market stability. You know, you may share information that

(51:50):
only these stockholders or should know about. Or the competitive
advantage where a company is saying, hey, we're moving to
that city and we don't don't want our competitors to know.
So transparency is one of those things where I know
there's concerns regarding that, but that is unfortunately, that is
how business is conducted, and the rules are set up
that you would be made known a thing if there's

(52:12):
a need for change in zoning or if a company
is receiving public incentive. Otherwise, many of these investments are
just a private company doing private business.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
All right, man? Uh one more call? My line lighting
up like a halo. But let me do this the radio. Yeah,
what's the youth.

Speaker 4 (52:31):
Find?

Speaker 3 (52:32):
Thank you're living a radio coming man? It sounds like, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 8 (52:35):
My company pretty much is focused on transparency. Also so
much the white thank you for your transparency this morning.
But you say that you become frustrated about people call
their names or whatnot. You say that this company has
said doesn't and that's the that's the problem.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
People want transparency.

Speaker 8 (52:55):
You know, sometimes surprises are good, but when you're a
paranoid about people just cancer from other companies that had
already been there, I understand everybody's craft, understand everybody's out burst.
So transparency is the key, and you know, if they
let people know what's really going on, I think people
would relax. Remember, we have a history pretttion cancer from

(53:17):
plants over there, as ath mentors. So I'm pretty sure
you understand that I do so. Transparency is very important
and its equation.

Speaker 4 (53:23):
I do.

Speaker 6 (53:24):
Yeah, And I'll say this, there comes a point and
I think now you're starting to you know, you had
to go through a period of time initially where hey,
you couldn't there's confidentiality is very very important. I think
you're now at that point where you're hearing more from
the company. You're hearing more from us because you know,
even at the chamber, we are just go free to

(53:46):
go and say whatever we want to say, because this
is one of our investors, and we want to ensure
we're protecting their investment and making it where we're not
taking a competitive advantage away from them, because we're letting
people know, hey, you know, this company's building here when
they're competitive are somewhere else, and they may change their
plans if they find out prematurely about what a company's doing.
But here's the thing, my friend and I appreciate the comment.

(54:09):
This is when this is why I've been communicating, We've
been communicated with elected officials for them to be the
ones to share I don't really have and I've gotten
in a different space and I've hired a new employee.
She's absolutely amazing, and I've graduated more how she graduates
SPELM and has a law degree from University of Memphis.
We're getting out and starting to share more and more

(54:31):
because we recognize the concerns that are coming from communities.
But I also recognize us getting that people's concern is
not going to happen through a talking point on the news.
It's not going to happen through one post. It's gonna
happen through sitting down and letting people unpack that. A
lot of what they are dealing with is historical and

(54:51):
has nothing to do with this current company. So once
you start to unpack that, my friend, and start to
get at people understanding that this company didn't give their
grandmother cancer, this company didn't cause their grandson asthma. This
company just got here. There are some historical things that
have happened. Maybe those things need to still be addressed,

(55:13):
but for right now, this company has followed the rules.
It's done everything that's been required. And if there's a
thing that there's thoughts about how the company should change
its behavior, change the rules, here's my thing, and I'm
thank you for being on.

Speaker 4 (55:27):
My thing is this.

Speaker 6 (55:28):
I don't think about companies and personalities. I look at
them company A, company A, and my thing is whoever
that is, we want them to be dealt with in
the same way that you would deal with any other company.
And that's the way we have approached this. This has
nothing to do with the founder, has nothing to do
with the name. It has to do with the service

(55:48):
we provide for all of our investors. But I absolutely
hear you, and I understand what you're saying, because I
think we're now at that point where you're seeing and
hearing more transparent communications, but at the same time recognizing
you're up against a big heap of misinformation and unfortunately
bad information that's gone out before.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
All Right, come man, I appreciate you. Is so important.
I appreciate you. Thank you, Yeah, thank you. Yeah, any
additional comments, mister White, I got to wrap it up.
Obviously we're going to the long but lengthy but I
think it's time we'll spend Yeah.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
No, I'll just say this and I just want to
go back.

Speaker 6 (56:25):
I think there we have to learn how to disagree
with our being disagreeable. I think we all want what's
in the best interest of this city. But I also
think that there comes a time when we begin to
recognize that there's a way that we can go that
you know, and this is the thing if I if
you let me give dream a bigger dream about what

(56:45):
I would want. I would want to see a certain
type of investment. But I've come to learn as a person,
as someone in economic development space, as someone who's working
government in the public section for twenty plus years, that
things don't always come wrapped in the package that you want.
And I think that we're in this critical place for
our city. I think that everybody is not. I don't

(57:09):
think everybody wants to stop sign and deep to a
sign and say this company needs to go somewhere else
and take all that investment with it.

Speaker 4 (57:16):
I think everybody is saying.

Speaker 6 (57:17):
They want to yield sign to proceed with caution, and
I would say that that is what we have done.
And I'm very, very delighted to have this opportunity because
I think that we get at people's information and their fears,
letting them unpack their fears and understanding that we all
want what's better for the city. And I'm just happy
to be here with you to share a little bit more.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
Absolutely, we've been talking with a special guest in staying
Special People Spotlight, mister Bobby White with a Greater Memphis Chamber,
Chief Government of Affairs Officer, in the words of Rufus
Thomas Junior, has been a pleasing pleasure of privilege to
have you on the show today. Thank you though to
the our listen. Before I get out of here, I
want to mention one thing. Oh, we've been discussing. You
could actually hear this on our podcast at and you

(58:00):
can go to my WDA dot com. It'll be up
around eleven ish and then you can just go to
our website click on my picture. It'll take you straight
to the page where the podcast is if you want
to hear more, or if you've missed maybe half of
it or at all, months of what we were talking
about all things x AI today in this segment, the

(58:21):
upside downs, the highs, hos, the benefits, the drawbacks, the
economic impact transparency is what we've been discussing with our
special guest. I do want to say this before I go.
Good news. If you will Kuwait free ten more Americans
in the second release in as many months. I want
to mention I will say this. The Trump administration, the

(58:46):
top envoy for hostage affairs met a Memphian and said,
you're out of here. He was released from Kuwait at Washington.
Is that Duley's International Airport in Chantilly just Wednesday, and
I think he's going to be arriving today back in

(59:07):
the US. His name is Tony Holden, a Memphian. He's
a military contractor just over their Hell hostage and so
Kuwait free ten more Americans in the second release in
as many months. And I know his family is a
static the lack of a better word, that he is

(59:28):
going to be home. So a lot of people are
praying for Tony Holden. Hey, welcome back, welcome back this way.
Thank you, WDI listeners, thank you so much. Thank you
so much. All my listeners, my emailers, those who are
listening every day we don't call in. We appreciate you
as well.

Speaker 4 (59:44):
He's on and popping.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
It's the Stan Belle Morning Show weekdays from six to
ten am on the Heart and Soul of Memphis ten
to seventy WD.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
I a