by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 28th, 2009 12:14am CDT | Comments Off
From Steve Steffens: Well, I might as well get in on this, I’ve only lived here 36 years.1. Memphis Music & Heritage Festival2. Center for Southern Folklore (full disclosure – I’m on the board, but I would say it anyway3. The gazebo in back of the Ornamental Metal Museum – there’s not a better place [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 27th, 2009 1:19am CDT | Comments Off
This post continues the discussion that began with our last one. To recap, following a recent post about thoughts for the new year, someone challenged Charlie Santo to name 10 things he liked about Memphis. He replied with more than three times that many, and he said he was just getting started. We said that [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 24th, 2009 8:26pm CDT | Comments Off
There is a clear line between self-analysis and self-loathing. Often, in Memphis, we don’t just step over it, but we run past it. We were reminded of this a few ago when a guest post of this blog urged us to think about what we like most about Memphis and to build a community on [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 24th, 2009 12:31am CDT | Comments Off
Matt Kuhn deserves better. He’s smart, attractive and has an impeccable pedigree, his mother a long-time Democratic activist and his father the Shelby County attorney on and off for a couple of decades. However, the decision by the Democratic majority of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners to name Mr. Kuhn to a vacant set [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 23rd, 2009 12:35am CDT | Comments Off
The national Republican Party seems loathe to learn the lessons of the past election. Because of it, they are caught up in rhetoric that only makes it look either tone-deaf to the last election’s message or simply ridiculous. After all, it doesn’t seem to have dawned that the same old play book won’t create the [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Planning and Urban Design | February 22nd, 2009 1:52pm CDT | Comments Off
This week, we’ll speak with two people with grand ideas for the future of city living. First,there will be Tim Beatley, co-author of the book Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. He says it will take intelligent planning and visionary leadership for cities to respond to environmental and economic crises now and [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools, Taxation | February 19th, 2009 7:07pm CDT | Comments Off
Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner cash says: “Arguing over who should fund schools is not good for children.” Wrong. Editorial writers say Memphis City Council acted rashly and as a result, it left the city schools in a precarious financial position. Wrong again. To the superintendent, we can only say that debating who should fund [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 17th, 2009 11:33pm CDT | Comments Off
Even paranoiacs have enemies. And while we fight the birthright to regard Nashville as the evil empire, we can’t summon the same attitude toward State of Tennessee government. As witnesses for the prosecution, we call on the heads of three state departments – Economic and Community Development, Department of Human Services and Department of Education. [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 16th, 2009 11:22pm CDT | Comments Off
Rather than selling themselves at a discount — cheap land and cheap labor and tax giveaways – cities that are succeeding are investing in better workers, high-quality universities, quality of life and efficient public services. So, what should we start doing right now to get ahead? We welcome your suggestions. • Investments in Universities. Universities [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Regionalism | February 15th, 2009 10:42pm CDT | Comments Off
It’s a tale of two cities, and only a short drive is needed to come face-to-face with the telling. In Nashville, the drive takes you to Williamson County, the 11th wealthiest county in the U.S., with a median family income that’s a staggering $95,470. Four nearby counties shatter the $55,000 mark. Outside of Fulton County, [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 15th, 2009 12:33pm CDT | Comments Off
The New York Times sent a Valentine’s card to Michael Heisley today with a cover story in the Sunday magazine based on this premise: “The N.B.A. (learning from baseball) is discovering the power of new statistics and weird analytics. By these measures, the unsung and undervalued Shane Battier is a true all-star.” The article points [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Downtown Revitalization | February 13th, 2009 4:36pm CDT | Comments Off
Is it possible to design a downtown that boosts the economy and helps people get around without their cars? Urban designers George Crandall and Don Arambula of the firm Crandall Arambula think so. They join us this week to talk about 21st century retail, re-concentrating a city’s downtown and why parking is still important, even [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 12th, 2009 6:57pm CDT | Comments Off
While Memphis has never been categorized as an old industrial city, it’s always had similarities – deep urban challenges, grittiness and demographics – that give us more in common with these cities than Sunbelt cities. We thought this again as we were re-reading a report by The Brookings Institution about the revitalization of older industrial [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 11th, 2009 1:25pm CDT | Comments Off
We apologize to Lori Spicer and Steve Bares for the delay in posting their New Year’s thoughts as part of our series of commentaries by notable Memphians last month. We misplaced their submissions and so we post them here today.
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 11th, 2009 1:24pm CDT | Comments Off
Steve Bares is President and Executive Director of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation: For the first several weeks of 2009, a lot of attention has rightfullybeen placed on the challenges of creating jobs and reenergizing the economy – locally and nationally. Much of the immediate attention has been on the stimulus packages that will be coming [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 11th, 2009 1:22pm CDT | Comments Off
Lori Spicer is board members of MPACT Memphis: Memphis is the place I have always called home, even though I left in 2000 to attend undergrad at UTK, to complete graduate school at UF, and work at a nonprofit in DC – and return home in August of 2007 for my current position at the [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 10th, 2009 11:29pm CDT | Comments Off
There’s always the day when the government reformer comes face-to-face with the government reality. That’s happened in short order to President Barack Obama, and unfortunately, part of it seems to be of his own making. There’s a reason that Sears couldn’t reinvent itself to become Wal-Mart. There’s a reason that Washington insiders can’t be expected [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 9th, 2009 7:18pm CDT | Comments Off
We’re blogging today over at the Live Where You Live blog . We’re talking about what makes Memphis special and the value, economic and otherwise, of being proud of our city.
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 8th, 2009 9:50pm CDT | Comments Off
There’s such a fine line in politics between populism and pandering. In his political career, Shelby County’s top prosecutor Bill Gibbons has had his share of the latter and his attempts at the former have generally seemed forced and artificial. We were reminded of that again this week with more evidence of an insatiable appetite [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | February 8th, 2009 9:46pm CDT | Comments Off
Someone needs to pass Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash a note in poly sci class. The reluctance of this community to embrace the idea of taxing authority for our dual – and dueling – school systems has nothing to do with our inability to grasp the concept, as he suggested to the Shelby County [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | February 6th, 2009 9:48pm CDT | Comments Off
Why does one city succeed while another very similar city is left behind? This week on Smart City we take a look at two such industrial towns, and we’ll also examine the uncertain future of Cleveland. Sean Safford is the author of the book Why the Garden Club Couldn’t Save Youngstown: The Transformation of the [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Taxation | February 5th, 2009 10:36pm CDT | Comments Off
It appears that the Health Department answered the wrong question. It’s not how much would the department lose in state and federal money if Memphis City Council eliminates city funding of $14 million. Instead, the real question is: would be any cuts in state and federal money if Shelby County Government replaced the $14 million [...]
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.
