MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis city councilman and a state representative shared their thoughts Wednesday on the New Orleans attack, and what it could mean for safety in Memphis’ Beale Street entertainment district.

Alex Coleman asked state Rep. G.A. Hardaway how safe we could be with an entertainment district like Beale Street.

“Well, I think we’ve already learned from past experiences — both in Memphis and around the nation, and the world — on how to protect pedestrians, how to protect large crowds from those type of attacks, intentional or accidental.  So, I think we’re in good shape here,” Hardaway said.

He continued, “I have faith in our MPD, faith in our Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, faith in the information exchange.  Terrorism is best fought by intelligence gathering, and I have confidence in TBI.”

City Councilman Dr. Jeff Warren also spoke with WREG on the potential local impact on safety.

“I think that one of the things we, as citizens, have to do is we have to stand up to this type of brazen attack on society, and we can’t let it scare us,” Warren said.

“We need to be aware of our surroundings,” he continued. “We need to report things that look suspicious to the police department, and then I think probably what you’ll see is our city government and our police department will look over what they’ve got in place now and see what happened in New Orleans and see if we can add any additional protections to our open areas for our tourists and our community.”

We asked the Memphis Police Department and the city if any security changes would be coming to Beale Street after the New Orleans attack. We’re still waiting on a response.