by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 30th, 2007 8:48pm CDT | Comments Off
Contrary to news media reports, the future of former Tennessee Senator John Ford – convicted on a federal charge of bribery – does not now rest with U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Breen. Rather, Mr. Ford’s fate largely lies in the hands of an overworked employee of the U.S. Probation and Parole Office, who will [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 29th, 2007 10:55pm CDT | Comments Off
Previously published in Memphis Magazine’s City Journal column: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is home to the world’s smartest young researchers. They come here from around the world to work as postdoctoral fellows after weighing offers from the world’s best research institutions. That they decide on St. Jude says volumes about its track record and [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 27th, 2007 8:19pm CDT | Comments Off
Why do great strategies fail? That’s the question Michael Raynor asks in his new book, The Strategy Paradox. Michael says the job of leaders is to embrace the inherent uncertainty of strategy and recognize that the future can’t be predicted. Instead of making choices, leaders create options. Michael is a Distinguished Fellow with Deloitte Research [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 26th, 2007 10:14pm CDT | Comments Off
First, a reminder. We welcome all suggestions that you have for improving Memphis, particularly as it relates to its competitiveness, its revitalization, its design, its downtown, well, you get the picture: we welcome your ideas and the logic behind them on just about anything that can make Memphis a better place to live and work. [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 25th, 2007 8:51am CDT | Comments Off
It’s time for Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton to hit the road. That’s precisely what some of his peers in other cities are already doing. That’s because these mayors are looking for new ways to recharge their batteries, to inspire their thinking, to set their agendas and frankly, to steal some good ideas.Two Reasons In Mayor [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 24th, 2007 3:45pm CDT | Comments Off
While we continue to welcome any contributions to our weekly spotlight on strategies for improving Memphis, we throw out this question to spark some conversation: If you could be in charge of downtown Memphis for a year, what would be your three priorities? And please elaborate on why you chose these three priorities and what [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 22nd, 2007 11:35pm CDT | Comments Off
There’s so much that Chattanooga has done right to transform its once underused riverfront into a vibrant public place, and so many lessons that Memphis can learn from its sister Tennessee city. Lesson #1 – do something. We’re thinking about Chattanooga as we develop suggestions for a city that needs to reclaim its waterfront, and [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 20th, 2007 9:48am CDT | Comments Off
What would happen if every anchor institution in your city — your universities, libraries, parks, major sports facilities, and museums — were in perfect alignment around a few big goals, contributing their maximum to your city’s success and their own? Our guests this week are leading anchor institutions with imagination and energy, and they are [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 19th, 2007 7:17pm CDT | Comments Off
We began a new feature last week spotlighting reader suggestions on ways to improve Memphis. There is no prescribed limit on topics nor any prescribed othodoxy for the recommendations, so please send us your comments as we continue our conversation on how Memphis can be a smart city. To prime the pump, we’ll occasionally ask [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 19th, 2007 7:10pm CDT | Comments Off
Mike Hollihan has offered another good suggestion for improving Memphis, and we include it as part of our weekly Suggestion Box feature: I’ll throw out something else to be looked at: the city cab situation. It is unbelievably broken. Twenty to 30 dollars for a cab ride from the airport to downtown? Not being able [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 18th, 2007 11:33pm CDT | Comments Off
It’s hard to see anything special in Shelby County Schools’ bill in the Tennessee Legislature to become a special school district. More the point, it seems like another one of the county district’s regular gambits aimed at achieving some of its favorite goals – power and control. Ironically, the loss of some of Shelby County’s [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 17th, 2007 11:33pm CDT | Comments Off
Doomsday polling and an accompanying perception of vulnerability are about the only competitive advantage held by Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton. That’s because buoyed by polling that shows Mayor Herenton languishing in voter support, additional candidates for mayor are already preparing to jump into the race. They include an African-American young Turk, an African-American businesswoman [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 16th, 2007 9:11pm CDT | Comments Off
There’s often a yawning gap between political rhetoric and reality. But, there’s never been more pressure on Memphis City Council for the two to meet as in the area of ethics reform. To comply with a state mandate, Council must adopt new ethics rules by the end of June. Even without the state’s urging, ethics [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 15th, 2007 10:41pm CDT | Comments Off
I’m walking across Poplar Avenue thinking about Mary Cashiola. In itself, that probably doesn’t make me particularly unique. But it’s the day after her must-read column in the Memphis Flyer, In The Bluff, dealt with Germantown’s smart growth program. So, here I am thinking about Ms. Cashiola, because I’m walking across Poplar Avenue at Germantown [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 14th, 2007 10:09pm CDT | Comments Off
In light of The Commercial Appeal’s celebration about improved test scores for Tennessee students, we reprise this post from last November: Tennessee Department of Education Is Generous When The Report Card Grades Itself The release each year by the Tennessee Department of Education of its State Report Card is accompanied by celebration and rhetoric about [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 13th, 2007 8:55pm CDT | Comments Off
Getting corporate CEOs involved in civic affairs can be a challenge. Globalization, mergers, consolidations and franchising conspire to keep the attention of top business leaders focused anywhere but in their own hometowns. But the commitment this week’s guests have to their local communities runs counter to the larger trend. Cliff Hudson is chairman and CEO [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 12th, 2007 11:08pm CDT | Comments Off
To prime the pump for our “suggestion box” feature, here’s a question for your consideration: If you were recruiting someone to move to Memphis and you only had a couple of hours to convince that person, where would you take him/her? Why? As we said yesterday, we welcome your recommendations on a variety of subject, [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 12th, 2007 11:07pm CDT | Comments Off
Don Imus has now received the death penalty on a unanimous verdict on a charge of sheer stupidity. Unfortunately, in its coverage of this controversy, national news networks went to the usual suspects for interviews, and because of it, the potential for something good to flow from all this was largely squandered. We agree with [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 11th, 2007 5:48pm CDT | Comments Off
A few weeks ago, we got a supportive email from Melissa who recommended that we add a “suggestion box” to the blog so readers could present their recommendations and strategies to address important issues facing Memphis. We liked the idea, so we’re giving it a try starting today. We’re pleased that Melissa promised to write [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 10th, 2007 12:43pm CDT | Comments Off
Continued from yesterday:Questions That Need To Be Answered All in all, the disposition of the case raises a number of questions about the local justice system, but before that important conversation could even take place, a Commercial Appeal editorial did its best to shut it down. That’s too bad, because it seems long overdue, most [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 9th, 2007 2:52pm CDT | Comments Off
There’s no polite way to put it: the Attorney General’s Office blew it. In negotiating a plea deal that gave a 15-year prison sentence to a man who killed an employee of Shelby County Government, burned his body with diesel and put whatever was left in junk cars that were crushed, prosecutors shot a hole [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | April 7th, 2007 4:38pm CDT | Comments Off
We can’t say we were surprised when recent reports indicated that the recent Project for Public Spaces workshop about the riverfront was essentially a non-event. If you follow the work of PPS, it was all as predictable as Chris Douglas-Roberts in a clutch game. It had all the markings of a PPS event. Fred Kent [...]
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.
