Archive for December, 2008
December 28th, 2008 11:22am UTC
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These comments were made recently at the “Race and Education” forum sponsored by New Path and Memphis Urban League as part of their important series of honest conversations about race and Memphis: If urban school districts like ours had a dollar every time somebody said, “Children are our future,” they’d never have a funding problem. [...]
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December 27th, 2008 9:31pm UTC
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2008 was a great year for cities until the economic crisis overtook us all. On Smart City we talked to more than 100 of the best thinkers and doers who are working to make cities great. To close out the year, we’re reprising some of my favorite guests to share their wisdom on how to [...]
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December 24th, 2008 12:41pm UTC
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Continued from yesterday.In the past, economic development programs like Memphis 2005 – the much heralded answer to solve our structural economic problems and to revive our economy at the close of the 20th century – have received widespread support from the private and public sectors, but in the end, their real impact was limited. The [...]
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December 23rd, 2008 5:54pm UTC
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The Memphis economy has reached the moment of truth.Languishing in the lower rungs of the economic indicators that matter, we have reached the point where we either snap out of it or we sink into the abyss with Detroit and Cleveland.It’s that serious, and the choices are that stark. In the family of cities today, [...]
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December 21st, 2008 3:18pm UTC
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Memphis is in trouble. There is no doubt that if the future is merely an extension of the present, our city is destined to fall off the economic cliff. Too many trends are running against us. The middle-class has abandoned Memphis. We are not attracting or retaining college-educated 25-34 year-olds. We are doing nothing to [...]
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December 19th, 2008 5:35pm UTC
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This guest post is by Aaron Shafer, research scientist and the creator of Skatelife Memphis, and an always entrepreneurial thinker about Memphis: Smart City has long been advocating that a successful city builds on its existing assets and strengths. Fred Smith, our local founder for FedEx, recognized the geographic placement of Memphis as a potential [...]
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December 18th, 2008 11:59pm UTC
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We’re going bi-coastal on the show today with stories about education and eating. First from New York: What would it take to change the lives of poor children? Not one by one, but in big numbers, and in a big way. That’s the question that led Geoffrey Canada to create the Harlem Children’s Zone, a [...]
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December 17th, 2008 12:25am UTC
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The Greater Memphis Chamber – whose renaming apparently takes off some of the pressure to lead regionalism by removing “Regional” from its name – celebrated all that is right about Memphis last week, featuring some of our city’s most recognizable celebrities and boosters. The goal was to create a new current of optimism in and [...]
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December 14th, 2008 9:21pm UTC
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Memphis City Councilman Bill Morrison is right. He has proposed for Memphis City Council to end city government’s funding of the Health Department. The logic is similar to the courageous – and completely logical – cut of $66 million in school funding: Shelby County Government, according to state law, is mandated to provide health services, [...]
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December 11th, 2008 10:16pm UTC
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How do you preserve a magnificent national landscape by promoting city living? That’s the mission of The Cascade Land Conservancy, which is working to make Seattle appealing so that sprawl doesn’t consume the Cascade Mountains that surround the city. We’ve got two guests from the Conservancy who will tell us what it does, and how [...]
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Memphis Wire
- Innovation Dublin 9.1.10 9:48pmFrom November 10-21, the city of Dublin will host the second Innovation Dublin festival where venues throughout the city region will open their doors to showcase and promote all facets of innovation in the city. The festival provides Dubliners, entrepreneurs, students, researchers, artists and large corporations with an opportunity to discuss, promote and ce...
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- Using Technology to Inspire Community to Action 8.24.10 9:09pmThese days, as people use Facebook to support Haiti, end hunger, and stand behind other causes, social networks have become the place to make a statement. Yet those clicks don’t necessarily turn into a movement to better communities. At least not yet. With the Knight Foundation’s focus on fostering informed and engaged communities, they started looking at wa...
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- A Greener Welcome in Indianapolis 8.18.10 6:32pmBy the time the sun sets on October 7, Indianapolis will have ten acres of new natural area. Even more amazing: it will happen in just eight hours. More than 9,000 Eli Lilly and Company volunteers will plant 72,000 native shrubs and perennials, and another 1,600 trees along a path traversed by 100,000 vehicles a day.The project, A Greener Welcome, will natur...
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- A High Line for Harlem 8.3.10 9:48pmAn innovative urban development project, spearheaded by the Harlem Community Development Corporation, could bring new energy and excitement to Harlem. Tentatively called La Marqueta Mile, the proposed mile-long, open air market under the Metro North tracks would span 22 blocks and house as many as 900 vendors, providing enormous opportunity to local entrepre...
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- Redeveloping an Old City in the Right (And Thoughtful) Way 7.28.10 6:43pmSyracuse, N.Y. is “rightsizing the city” with the help of a partnership among Mayor Stephanie Miner, Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Vice President of Community Engagement Marilyn Higgins (both CEOs for Cities members), assorted neighborhood groups and business associations. An inspiring article posted on citiwire.net says that slowly but su...
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- The Accidental Giant of Higher Education 7.26.10 3:01pm"A woman with a plan" is the description the New York Times gives Dr. Nancy Zimpher, chancellor of the State University of New York. In very short order, she has turned the "unloved colossus" into the best economic development hope for the state of New York. "My belief is that to move an organization forward you have to have a comm...
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- More Federal Funds for Tennessee 9.2.10 3:09pmIn the federal Race to the Top, Tennessee is surely a competitor. The state will share in a $170 million Race to the Top Assessment Program grant announced today by the U.s. Department of Education.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]...
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- Zoo On Ice 9.1.10 9:07pmIt won't just be penguins skating around the Memphis Zoo this winter. The Zoo announced today that it will build an outdoor ice-skating rink, to open in November.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]...
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- Midnight Ride Hit and Run 8.30.10 6:33pmI've heard two accounts this morning of a hit-and-run during the middle of Saturday night's popular Midnight Classic Bike Tour. Apparently, around 12:30 a.m.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]...
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- More With MCS Consultant Jeffrey Hernandez 8.26.10 1:45pmAs part of this week's print extravaganza, I interviewed controversial Memphis City Schools (MCS) consultant Jeffrey Hernandez. His $1,500-a-day consulting fee, coupled with an intense animosity for him from some parents in Palm Beach County and his ties to superintendent Kriner Cash and deputy superintendent Irving Hamer, have caused questions about hi...
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- Art Scene 8.24.10 8:55pm(Sorry posting has been so light thus far in the week. It's been crazy busy around here.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]...
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- The Dance and Data of the Lemons 8.20.10 9:47pmLast week, the LA Times began an ambitious series focused on teacher effectiveness at the Los Angeles Unified School District. Using value-added data compiled from seven years of math and English test scores, the newspaper is exploring the (often, quite large) disparities between effective and ineffective teachers.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments ...
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Contributors
- Aaron Shafer
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- CEOs for Cities
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- Louise Mercuro, AICP
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- Smart City Memphis
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- Steve Bares
- Steve Lockwood
- Susan Adler Thorp
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- Tommy Pacello
- Women Unite
- Zach Hoyt
