MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mayor Jim Strickland has four ideas that he thinks will help curb crime happening in Downtown Memphis.

This comes after Sunday morning’s mass shooting near Beale Street that injured eight people.

During an interview with WREG, Mayor Strickland put out a four-point plan to make Downtown safer, but he acknowledged he doesn’t have the authority to implement his plan.

The mayor says the court system needs to be tougher on people who commit crimes with guns.

Additionally, he’s calling for bars along Beale Street to close at midnight. He also wants more police in the area, and he’s asking that MPD re-implement its plan that restricts traffic around Beale.

“MPD created a traffic plan that limits the areas where these young people can cruise their cars and tried to keep that away from Beale Street– and it was working well within the last 30 to 60 days,” Strickland said.

He continued, “That plan was abandoned because some owners of bars on Beale objected to it. The bars need to close at midnight, we need this traffic plan instituted, we need to bring more police officers down here, and we need the court system to hold these folks accountable when MPD arrests them.”

The mayor says Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis is talking with bar owners, hoping to get their support for reinstituting that traffic plan.

He expects that to be back in effect by this weekend. You should also see more police officers in the area.

As far as bars closing at midnight, bar owners have resisted that in the past because of the money they would lose.