by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 30th, 2008 11:00pm CDT | Comments Off
It must be easy being Shelby County Commissioner Wyatt Bunker. He never really has to be for anything or offer any real solutions. Instead, he just engages in his dependable political pandering: No tax increases, cut the fat, reduce the size of government. So, it came as no surprise that in the wake of Shelby [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 30th, 2008 10:59pm CDT | Comments Off
As a show of support for the International Blues Challenge that we spotlighted last week, Chuck Porter of WEVL fame is posting updates here from the IBC, one of this city’s signature music events. Here’s the latest as the Blues Challenge is poised to begin in earnest: Jan. 30, 8:30 p.m. The Blues Foundation office [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 30th, 2008 2:10pm CDT | Comments Off
As a show of support for the International Blues Challenge that we spotlighted last week, Chuck Porter of WEVL fame is posting updates here from the IBC, one of this city’s signature music events. Here’s the latest as the Blues Challenge is poised to begin in earnest: January 29, 7:30 p.m. Today the atmosphere around [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 30th, 2008 12:07am CDT | Comments Off
Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton has now taken the new stadium off the front burner, and in its place, he’s now put forth an idea equally vexing – another expansion for the Memphis Cook Convention Center or a new convention center altogether. Recently, we were talking to a friend in Portland, Oregon, who had taken [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 29th, 2008 5:27pm CDT | Comments Off
As a show of support for the International Blues Challenge that we spotlighted last week, Chuck Porter of WEVL fame is posting updates here from the IBC, one of this city’s signature music events. Here’s the first, and we hope you’ll watch for more in the coming days. This is the first in a series [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 28th, 2008 11:48pm CDT | Comments Off
Sometimes, it seems like the board of commissioners for Memphis City Schools finds it hard to take a step in the right direction without first shooting themselves in the foot. That was certainly the case with its recent decision to launch a national search for a new superintendent that’s optimistically supposed to take six months. [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 27th, 2008 11:40pm CDT | Comments Off
If we’re not careful, aerotropolis will fall victim to its own hype. It’s hard to remember a concept that has had as much build up as quickly as the notion that Memphis can be the home of North America’s first true aerotropolis. While it’s difficult to imagine how our version can fully emulate the Asian [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 25th, 2008 5:25pm CDT | Comments Off
To follow up yesterday’s post about the importance of keeping children in cities, here’s a report by CEOs for Cities, which commissioned the Institute of Design to “get beyond the obvious to help us understand what cities can do to retain these workers and their families.” As CEOs for Cities points out, this is a [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 25th, 2008 5:20pm CDT | Comments Off
Protecting our water, our land, and our natural habitat is really about protecting us. It’s about protecting people. Dave Ulrich is one such protector. As head of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, it is Dave’s job to bring mayors from the U.S. and Canada together to restore and protect the Great Lakes ecosystem. [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 24th, 2008 10:38pm CDT | Comments Off
“You can’t have a city without middle-class families and kids,” our colleague Carol Coletta said in a USA Today article about her CEOs for Cities’ study about what cities can do to retain families. “You can’t have a childless city.” We’ve written about the importance of this issue before, and the dimensions of the problem [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 23rd, 2008 11:38pm CDT | Comments Off
It’s always interesting to watch new legislative bodies as they develop a collective personality that is as distinctive as the individuals that combine to create it. That’s taking place now at Memphis City Council, and while it’s still early, there’s reason to hope that this new, improved version may actually have a wiser, more mature [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 23rd, 2008 10:08pm CDT | Comments Off
When you have one of the biggest law firms in Memphis (as Shelby County Government does), the answer to every problem – no matter how insignificant – is based on a belief that every solution is always found in yet another rule or regulation. That was never as apparent as in the recently announced rules [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 22nd, 2008 9:08pm CDT | Comments Off
We’re hoping that the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners keeps the metal detectors and X-ray machines issue in perspective. Yes, the price tag is $4.5 million sounds like a lot of money. It’s just worth remembering that the city school district spends more than that every two days. The amount is also less than [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 22nd, 2008 8:50pm CDT | Comments Off
The mayor of Lakeland had his feelings bruised recently when Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton didn’t give him the same advance warning as the other town mayors about another push for consolidation. Based on comments in The Commercial Appeal by Mayor Scott Carmichael, his city definitely suffers from a lack of respect. He speculated [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 22nd, 2008 8:36pm CDT | Comments Off
The decision to change the name of our alma mater has never looked smarter. Gone is the limp Memphis State University moniker and in its place is the assertive-sounding University of Memphis. This week, it’s looked like the smartest decision ever made as thousands of headlines across the country proclaimed our top rated men’s basketball [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 22nd, 2008 2:50pm CDT | Comments Off
Our friend, Amie Vanderford, has posted some gorgeous photos depicting what she loves about Memphis. As she puts it: “I know that we face problems in Memphis, but when looked at through loving eyes, this is still a wonderful city!” We thought you’d enjoy looking at her photographs, because it helps give us the proper [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 21st, 2008 12:37am CDT | Comments Off
It’s never been clearer that regionalism here is more rhetoric than reality than when DeSoto County acts like an island when it comes to air quality attainment. Its attitude was about as surprising as finding a photograph of Arnold Perl in a Memphis International Airport publication. Although DeSoto County officials like to use the words [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 18th, 2008 4:55pm CDT | Comments Off
There is probably no tougher issue for urban leaders than education. Fads come and go but test scores never quite live up to the promises. Dr. Ken Wong is a national expert on education accountability and he has found a surprisingly positive correlation between the school systems controlled by mayors and improved education achievement, particularly [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 17th, 2008 10:10pm CDT | Comments Off
Our colleague Carol Coletta was interviewed by USA Today about the need for cities to pay attention to ways to keep young people in cities after they have started their families. It’s a special challenge for Memphis, but one that deserves to be a priority nonetheless. Here’s the link.
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 17th, 2008 9:06pm CDT | Comments Off
Out in the hinterlands, calls for consolidation are undercut when Memphis city government can’t even manage to get the basics right, such as enforcing panhandling laws in downtown Memphis. We’ve not written lately about the ever-present and ever-aggravating panhandling plague in downtown Memphis, because downtown resident and veteran blogger Paul Ryburn has been doing such [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 16th, 2008 11:51pm CDT | Comments Off
He who has the gold makes the rules. That’s always been especially true when it comes to local musicians. After all, they’ve watched over the years as big ideas have been chased and big promises have been made while the small matter of helping put money in the pockets of local musicians rarely hit the [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | January 16th, 2008 12:17am CDT | Comments Off
Grist magazine has published its articles on its trip down the river, including its reporting about the Memphis riverfront. It’s always interesting to see ourselves as others see us. Here’s the link.
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.
