by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 11th, 2008 10:05pm CDT | Comments Off
The Tennessee Legislature is flirting with the idea of toll roads to fill the gap in road funding. We cast our vote for Highway 385. It’s the most expensive gift ever given in this county to developers and to sprawl, and it’s time to make them pay a fair share of the costs associated with [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 11th, 2008 9:49pm CDT | Comments Off
Finally, a City Council member suggested the obvious: tenants for Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium should help pay for the $7.6 million in upgrades that they will benefit from. Savvy Council member Jim Strickland, after listening to labored justifications for a new home locker room, moving the visitor’s locker room, a new room for officials and [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 11th, 2008 9:07pm CDT | Comments Off
Some opponents of the Beale Street Landing project – which is vitally needed to reinvigorate a riverfront ready for embalming – have recently taken to asking how Memphis City Council can justify spending $29 million on the project while considering the closing of libraries and community centers. It sounds like a no-brainer. After all, $29 [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 11th, 2008 8:44pm CDT | Comments Off
We’d feel better about our public tax money being funneled to a private college – Lemoyne-Owen College – if we were getting some signals that it’s making the kinds of strides that will set it on a new financial and academic foundation. One such indication would be that Lemoyne-Owen College was included in the significant [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 10th, 2008 8:11pm CDT | Comments Off
After working about a year to get former National Endowment for the Arts director of design Jeff Speck to Memphis, we were unfortunately unable to attend his presentation last week. More unfortunate was the fact that his presentation – replete with specific insights for improving the quality of life in Memphis through better design and [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 9th, 2008 7:40pm CDT | Comments Off
This week on Smart City, the wave of foreclosures hitting many American cities are challenging many communities to wonder, “What’s next?” Can these neighborhoods be revived? And if so, what will it take? Those are questions we’ll ask Alan Mallach whose new report on Managing Neighborhood Change comes just at the time when many communities [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 7th, 2008 10:33pm CDT | Comments Off
Perhaps, the tepid pool of candidates for superintendent of Memphis City Schools is a result of the “Herenton Factor.” Surely, there’s no question that Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton’s highly publicized on-again, off-again pursuit of the superintendent’s job and his assertive agenda for reform at the district couldn’t be considered as helpful in scaring up [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 6th, 2008 9:00pm CDT | Comments Off
Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton proved again that there’s just no substitute for the city’s biggest megaphone. In his 45-minute presentation to Memphis City Council today about the state of Memphis City Schools, he repeated his claim that he’s not a candidate for superintendent of the district while all the while insinuating that he deserves [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 5th, 2008 11:32pm CDT | Comments Off
A few months ago, we were asked to name a great Memphian. We named Thomas Boggs. Few words are as carelessly used today as the word, great. And yet, there’s no other word to describe Thomas, and his death leaves a gaping hole in the heart of our city. He stood up for the things [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 4th, 2008 11:14pm CDT | Comments Off
My daughter died Friday. Those are the hardest four words I have uttered in my whole life. Emily Jones Shrader was 32 years old and died at 7:40 Friday morning seven weeks after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Emily was a remarkable person. She was vivacious, exhuberant and charismatic. She seemed to make [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 2nd, 2008 10:15pm CDT | Comments Off
We’ve never been able to attract much interest to our suggestion that the parking lots around The Pyramid should be covered with sod and become our downtown festival site. But we’d sure like to take the vote in the midst of another downpour at the opening night of Memphis in May’s Beale Street Music Festival. [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 2nd, 2008 9:46pm CDT | Comments Off
This week on Smart City, you’ve heard of boycotts to convince people not to buy targeted products or at targeted places. But when is the last time you’ve heard of organizing purchasing to get companies to do the right thing? That’s the approach of CarrotMob. Based in San Francisco, CarrotMob creator Brent Schulkin is challenging [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | May 1st, 2008 5:12pm CDT | Comments Off
Just about the time that we begin to think that we’ve been too hard on Memphis City Schools, we get another inside glimpse that scares the hell out of us. At the end of January, there was the case of the serial child beater given a coaching job at Ridgeway Middle School. Previously removed from [...]
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
Memphian Amie Vanderford is a photographer for peace and justice. Her portfolio includes photographs from Peru, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Indian, and her hometown.
