by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 29th, 2007 11:26pm CDT | Comments Off
Since the opening of Millennium Park in Chicago, parks have become the hottest urban amenity. But Char Miller, director of urban studies at Trinity University reminds us that this is the second golden age of parks. Bold civic visions in the 19th century gave us the great parks we enjoy today. We’ll find out what [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 27th, 2007 10:22pm CDT | Comments Off
Every day, I have the same thought. Sitting in the line of traffic in the construction chaos at Walnut Grove between I-240 and Shelby Farms Park, I look at the enormity of thus roadbuilding project and I say to myself: “I don’t know who he is, but clearly, this guy was one monster of a [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 26th, 2007 6:40pm CDT | Comments Off
We continue to solicit contributions from readers who have ideas for improving Memphis. This post is the latest in that series, and it comes from Dr. Aaron Shafer, a postdoctoral fellow conducting research at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. You may remember that we previously wrote about him and his colleagues who are championing a [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 24th, 2007 9:23pm CDT | Comments Off
Tennessee Commissioner of Economic and Community Development Matt Kisber acts these days like a new state law is the answer to the state’s dismal showing in the competition for the $1.3 billion Toyota plant earlier this year. More to the point, before he starts implementing a new law, he should first send a memo to [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 23rd, 2007 1:34am CDT | Comments Off
Innovation is now viewed as America’s economic salvation. Every urban leader is trying to figure out how to get more of it. And they couldn’t find a better adviser than Richard Lester. As founding director of the Industrial Performance Center at MIT, Richard has led major studies of regional innovation performance and he co-authored Innovation [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 21st, 2007 10:10pm CDT | Comments Off
If success is defined as the ability to know when to sell your stock at its highest value, Carol Johnson is public education’s version of Warren Buffett. Unquestionably, she’s making a change in her job at the exact moment when her stock is peaking. In the next 18 months, her stock could only have gone [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 19th, 2007 7:02pm CDT | Comments Off
Where’s URS Corporation and NexGen Advisors when we really need them? Remember them. They were the consultants who produced the 97-page report on the city/county Payment-In-Lieu-of-Tax (PILOT) program that led to its much-needed overhaul. At the rate things are going, we’ll soon need to get them back to bring some sanity to the use of [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 17th, 2007 9:25pm CDT | Comments Off
We hope Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton read the front page of The New York Times yesterday, which bore a headline: “Call Snake Wranglers.” Apparently, based on the coverage of L.A.’s booming $125 a snake business, he isn’t the only person with snake problems these days, but it seems that he’s the only potential prey [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 16th, 2007 1:42pm CDT | Comments Off
A new study from Americans for the Arts claims that each year in America the nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166 billion in economic activity. Our guests this week are leading efforts to make sure their cities get a big piece of that action. We’ll talk to Vincent Kitch about Austin’s strategies to promote [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 14th, 2007 10:04pm CDT | Comments Off
It wasn’t exactly a “Man Bites Dog” news story. The lead and second graph in The Commercial Appeal said: “…improvements could cost up to $20 million and mean the loss of 10,000 seats at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium…the findings of the study by local consultants SSR Ellers appear to back the assertion by Memphis Mayor…that [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 12th, 2007 10:32pm CDT | Comments Off
So, here’s the question of the week: What do you think the future of the Fairgrounds should be? What do you see as the greatest obstacles to it taking place. We asked the question in light of the movement toward a resolution of the various plans for the area’s future and the risk of it [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 10th, 2007 7:39pm CDT | Comments Off
With a seemingly inexhaustible ability to be against things, Memphis City Council Member Carol Chumney recently added yet one more – city branding. It’s too bad, because the reality is this: Memphis has no brand. Yes, there’s an abundance of taglines and slogans, but no, Memphis doesn’t have a brand. Unfortunately, Councilwoman Chumney missed a [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 8th, 2007 12:36am CDT | Comments Off
Religion has become a sort of battleground in America for some of the nation’s most divisive issues. Buzz Thomas is attempting to cool the heat and shed light on what keeps us at odds in his new book from St. Martin’s Press, Ten Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can’t Because He Needs [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 7th, 2007 12:18am CDT | Comments Off
It is an aphorism – though none the less true – that the most segregated hour in Memphis is at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning. Surely it’s equally true that the most racially-corrosive time in Memphis is any time City Council meets. Its members proved it again last night. The Time Machine It’s as if [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 4th, 2007 11:25pm CDT | Comments Off
Recently, we received information from a staff member of the Shelby County Finance Department about the costs of the county’s bond transactions, including new bond issues, bond refunding and swaps. The information was not annotated, so we’re not sure what conclusion we are supposed to reach from it, but as I read them, the words [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | June 1st, 2007 6:30pm CDT | Comments Off
The question of the week centers on the future of the Fairgrounds. Soon, a master plan for the Fairgrounds will be released. Already, we know this much: • Libertyland is history. • The Mid-South Fair needs to find a new home. • The Mid-South Coliseum’s future is questionable, even in a city that finds it [...]
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.
