by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 27th, 2007 9:37pm CDT | Comments Off
MLGW President and CEO Joseph Lee has been in government long enough to recognize the signs. He’s been set adrift on a raft, and he’s now officially on his own. He also knows that it’s rare for one of these sagas to end without a sacrifice to the political gods. And unfortunately, for Mr. Lee, [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 25th, 2007 1:30pm CDT | 1 Comment
Suzanne Morse, President of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, regularly comments on effective strategies, new initiatives, funding opportunities, and nationwide events that are affecting communities at her fine Smart Communities blog. We were pleasantly surprised and grateful to be included in a Feb. 22 post which we are sharing here: Most Engaging – Pittsblog [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 24th, 2007 8:21pm CDT | Comments Off
Anyone who has visited Chicago’s Loop has probably seen the famous Picasso sculpture in Daley plaza. But when it was unveiled on August 15, 1967, it was compared to everything from a dodo bird to a giant cheese slicer. Kim Babon has been studying this and other controversies surrounding public art. Kim has spent nine [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 22nd, 2007 7:30pm CDT | Comments Off
There’s a head-on crash coming on Kirby-Whitten Road in Shelby Farms Park – as Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton’s proposed road design runs headlong into Memphis City Engineer Wain Gaskins’ continued push for bigger, wider roads. Ground zero for the clash of visions about Memphis’ future will likely take place at a future Metropolitan [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 20th, 2007 6:47pm CDT | Comments Off
If The Pyramid stands as a symbol of anything these days, it is as a reminder that the promise of innovative ways to pay for public buildings often dies quietly when it comes to the reality of making it happen. This comes to mind with Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton’s continued championing of a new [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 18th, 2007 11:49pm CDT | Comments Off
You’ve got to admire Paducah. While the spotlight most often falls on large cities grappling with ways to strengthen their arts scene, there’s much to be learned from the small Kentucky rivertown. Few cities, regardless of size, have been as assertive or as successful in using their arts as a powerful competitive advantage. We were [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 16th, 2007 12:45am CDT | Comments Off
This week our guests are from Fayetteville, Arkansas and the City of New York – two very different communities in many ways. But they are both seeking better solutions for land use and transportation. Dan Coody is Mayor of Fayetteville who has a startlingly progressive vision for a mid-size city in Arkansas that shares a [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 13th, 2007 8:00pm CDT | Comments Off
In the midst of our concerns about Memphis’ future, we said in a meeting this week that we need to remember there are model programs here setting national standards. Someone immediately challenged us to name just three. They came quickly to mind, and here they are: Youth Villages, Church Health Center and Autozone Park. The [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 13th, 2007 7:19pm CDT | Comments Off
There’s an axiom that government staff members live by. When an elected official gets emotional or strident about an issue, it’s not political. It’s personal. These are always the worse kind of issues for employees and other elected officials to navigate, because they become a no-holds barred kind of political fight that refuses compromise or [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 11th, 2007 8:23pm CDT | Comments Off
Sometimes, it just seems that Memphis is too timid for its own good. Too often, the people we expect to articulate and fight for a defining principle or a critical issue seem to go along to get along. We thought of this in light of two recent displays of self-loathing – Memphis’ neutral position on [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 9th, 2007 12:59pm CDT | Comments Off
Can cities rebound from disaster? Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams is convinced his city is on the rebound from years of job losses and despair. At 36, Mayor Williams is the city’s youngest mayor, and he is determined to turn Youngstown’s “shrinking city” condition into an opportunity. Prior to resigning from City of Youngstown to run [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 7th, 2007 9:52pm CDT | Comments Off
Regardless of your point of view, the fact that the future of Juvenile Court will be decided in Chancery Court is a sorry spectacle. The lawsuit is a stark testament to narrow political agendas winning over the best interests of community harmony. Sadly, there is plenty of blame to go around. In the end, Shelby [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 7th, 2007 1:07pm CDT | Comments Off
From Keith Kirkland, executive director of Wolf River Conservancy: The Wolf River Conservancy’s wish for Memphis in 2007 is that our community will come together at our 6:00 p.m., Feburary 8, Greening Greater Memphis Event at the Memphis Botanic Garden to demonstrate grassroots support towards finally implementing significant green infrastructure within our community, including Greenways, [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 5th, 2007 1:00am CDT | Comments Off
For political appointees in government, there’s often a choice – doing what’s right or doing what you’re told. There’s an axiom repeated frequently by these appointees – loyalty flows up, not down. As a result, those who risk doing what’s right in the face of orders to the contrary often receive a professional death penalty. [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 2nd, 2007 4:17pm CDT | Comments Off
Do U.S. automakers have any new ideas about how to make congested, polluted cities more accessible? Can they think beyond 1.8 cars per household? David Berdish of Ford insists they can. David is developing sustainable mobility solutions for the world’s mega-cities. David is Manager of Social Responsibility and Organizational Learning at Ford where he has [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 1st, 2007 12:29am CDT | Comments Off
It’s hard to imagine, but passage of the proposed Unified Development Code just got more important. Yes, there’s the impact that the code could have in encouraging a walkable, sustainable community. But, more to the point, it could produce something even better – a more ethical, honest local government. That’s because the most important benefit [...]
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.
