by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 30th, 2006 8:25pm CDT | Comments Off
Memphis is hollowing out. That’s the conclusion of research by the Brookings Institution. Earlier this week, we suggested that Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton read research about Memphis instead of relying on political insiders to convince him that their pet projects (think tax freezes) are the only things that keep our city from oblivion. The [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 28th, 2006 1:59pm CDT | Comments Off
This news release on some landmark research by CEOs For Cities seems especially pertinent today, with Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton saying that our city has to keep giving away tax freezes to counter the exodus of people from Memphis. We don’t know how he connected those dots, except for the anecdotal evidence given to [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 26th, 2006 3:11pm CDT | Comments Off
Would someone in city or county governments please buy copies of the current issue of Fast Company for members of the Memphis and Shelby County Industrial Development Board? While you are at it, mark the article, “Rise of the Aerotropolis,” which tells of the airport-cities that are being created around the globe. It’s an article [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 22nd, 2006 8:34pm CDT | Comments Off
The current controversy about the FedExForum garage is quickly becoming about more than why plans were changed and how $6.3 million in federal funds were lost. There are resurrected questions about the contract between Memphis and Shelby County Governments and the Grizzlies. There are shots taken at owner Michael Heisley by fans made mad by [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 20th, 2006 11:10pm CDT | Comments Off
Dell Inc. is expanding its Nashville operations by as many as 1,000 employees, adding to 3,500-person workforce that has grown there since the computer giant started its $200 million Middle Tennessee operations in 1999. For the new employees, Dell will receive $500 a year for each job from Nashville-Davidson County Metro government. Meanwhile, back here [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 18th, 2006 8:27pm CDT | Comments Off
It is the fundamental nature of negotiations that they are always susceptible to second guessing by anyone not involved directly in them. That’s the case whether the negotiation is for the sale of a business or for construction of a new arena for the Memphis Grizzlies. That’s because negotiations are always about give and take, [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 15th, 2006 6:32pm CDT | Comments Off
Some weeks, newspaper articles make for an interesting point-counterpoint. That’s certainly the case this week. One day, the city attorney says that a loss of $6.3 million in federal funding for air quality improvements has “very little, if any, impact in a meaningful way on any of the citizens.” The next day, Memphis City Council [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 14th, 2006 1:53pm CDT | Comments Off
Business Week reports this week on a new innovations workshops to help cities and they will involve Memphis: Detroit, reeling from decades of auto-industry layoffs and a dwindling population, has a new plan for stimulating growth. Along with three other ailing urban areas—Memphis, Pittsburgh, and Columbus (Ohio)—Detroit is looking to take a cue not from [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 13th, 2006 11:30am CDT | Comments Off
From Forbes magazine this week comes this report on the PILOT program that waives more than $50 million a year (city and county taxes combined; this article only addresses city tax freezes): States and cities lure businesses with promises of tax abatements and other goodies. They’d do better with broad-based tax cuts. The recent Supreme [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 9th, 2006 4:37pm CDT | Comments Off
Located as we are near the foot of Union Avenue, we have a front row seat as witnesses for the consternation and confusion felt by visitors when they wander down from the Peabody Hotel and nearby restaurants to experience the nation’s mightiest river. Down the hill they walk, every day, excited and expectant for their [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 7th, 2006 10:41pm CDT | Comments Off
Memphis is # 345 on a list of world cities with the most people. Memphis is # 70 on a list of world cities with the largest land areas. Memphis is tied at # 638 on a list of world cities with the highest densities. A study of sprawl factors concludes that the Memphis region [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 5th, 2006 1:35pm CDT | Comments Off
See if this sounds familiar: * New school construction is dramatically raising property taxes. * New schools are used to attract families with students to sprawling areas. * Building new facilities to combat overcrowding can accelerate development that prices young families out of the market. * Architects and financial advisers heavily influence school construction decisions. [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 3rd, 2006 12:31pm CDT | Comments Off
From the CEOs For Cities blog: Paul Graham, essayist, programmer, and programming language designer, used his keynote address at Xtech to explain how to become Silicon Valley. You need two kinds of people to create a technology hub, he contends: rich people and nerds. And that’s all you need. That’s the exciting thing. “If you [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 2nd, 2006 11:13pm CDT | Comments Off
Sometimes life just feels too confusing. There they were tonight, to all the world the perfect married couple, longingly looking into each other’s eyes and professing their undying love to each other – Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau. While you can’t help but wonder what strange impulse leads a 34-year-old woman to want to [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 2nd, 2006 10:54pm CDT | Comments Off
Ouch. It was beginning to feel like a really dull weekend, so I thought I’d check the AOL City Guide to see what exciting is going on in Memphis. The recommendation under Today’s Pick: the CMA Music Festival in Nashville.
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 2nd, 2006 10:33pm CDT | Comments Off
It just seems strange to me. I’ve got friends who are obsessed about their children’s safety. They give their daughters warnings about strangers, about over-familiar friends and about the risk factors for every conceivable crime. That’s why it always amazes me that despite all of this concern, they are one of the many parents who [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 1st, 2006 3:27pm CDT | Comments Off
Chicago is a city that does so much right. And we’re not just talking about the remarkable phenomenon that is Millennium Park. More to the point, a recent visit to the Windy City reminded us of the impact of how important it is to do the little things to beautify a city and uplift city [...]
by Bill Day. Memphian Bill Day is two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning. His cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons. Cartoons Archive →
Photograph by Amie Vanderford
This ongoing series of photographs is intended to show the daily lives of these single mothers in order to invoke recognition of their similarities to all mothers, along with understanding and empathy from the viewer of the strengths that these single mothers possess within the challenging situations they face. My hope is that newfound empathy with these mothers’ lives will give people some pause before they condemn single mothers when discussing issues such as welfare and other politically charged hot buttons.
