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Archive for June, 2009

June 29th, 2009 10:07pm UTC

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To continue the theme that we began yesterday on what it will take for Memphis to recruit the kind of candidate that can become a great mayor, here’s the abbreviated advice from one of our favorites, Denver’s John Hickenlooper: LESSONS FROM A BREWPUB:The John Hickenlooper Guide To Civic SuccessWe started our Profiles in Leadership: America’s [...]

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June 28th, 2009 2:35pm UTC

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It seems a good time to reprise a slightly edited post from July 5, 2006, which was also the June, 2006, City Journal column in Memphis magazine: This is the golden age of great city mayors. In Chicago, Richard Daley transformed “Beirut on the Lake” into one of the world’s great cities – sophisticated, vibrant, [...]

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June 28th, 2009 2:22pm UTC

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Kerry Hayes, always a wise observer of the Memphis scene, wrote some sound advice on his Facebook page about the post-Herenton era: Remember: Mayor Herenton’s departure is an opportunity, not a solution. Remember: the leadership that comes next is vastly more important than the leader who’s leaving. Remember: the Mayor should not blamed for every [...]

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June 27th, 2009 12:16pm UTC

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There’re many reasons that we respect Cindy and Kevin Brewer. They are the kind of talented people that we need in this city – young, entreprenuerial, positive. In their work and in their civic activities, they are committed to creating a better city that builds on its unique authenticity. They are spreading the word about [...]

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June 26th, 2009 6:38pm UTC

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Memphis made a top 25 list, but unfortunately, it wasn’t one we wanted to be on. We had two neighborhoods in the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the U.S. – #11 (Bellevue Boulevard/Lamar Avenue) and # 7 (Warford St/Mount Olive Road. The rankings were compiled by WalletPop based on the exclusive neighborhood crime information from [...]

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June 25th, 2009 10:27pm UTC

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It seems that a lot of people won’t believe Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton is really leaving City Hall until he turns in his keys July 10. Such is the mystique of unpredictability that surrounds him. Although reports of a resignation have circulated and sounded firm for weeks, there were still people at the City [...]

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June 24th, 2009 11:38pm UTC

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It was a match made in heaven. The worst Tennessee Legislature in memory advised on charter schools law by the specious superintendent of Shelby County Schools, Bobby Webb. Fortunately, in the midst of its gun fetish exhibitionism, the Legislature found time to reverse course on a proposed amendment to Tennessee’s restrictive charter schools laws. In [...]

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June 24th, 2009 2:31am UTC

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Anybody who can take on Wal-Mart and win is special in our books, but Brian Stephens isn’t through yet. As a new member of the Shelby County Election Commission, he’s about to do something way too rare in local government. He’s about to make public records public. If we had a dollar for every time [...]

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June 22nd, 2009 1:04pm UTC

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We wrote today about someone we really admire, Charlie Santo, and someone who has an equal amount of our respect, Jeffrey Higgs, executive director of Lemoyne-Owen Community Development Corporation (CDC) replied with conviction, so we’re posting it here. Finally, we can’t think of a neighborhood that is more poised for this kind of revitalization. No [...]

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June 21st, 2009 8:08pm UTC

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The Memphis Music Magnet – a project spearheaded by the always creative Professor Charles Santo – is based on the premise that musicians can make equally beautiful music in revitalizing the Soulsville neighborhood. More to the point, it’s about building a culture of creativity that in the end can be more important in attracting young, [...]

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Memphis Wire

  • CEOs for Cities

    • Innovation Dublin 9.1.10 9:48pm
      From 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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    • These 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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    • By 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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    • An 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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    • Syracuse, 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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    • "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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  • In The Bluff (Mary Cashiola)

    • In 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 9:07pm
      It 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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    • I'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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    • As 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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    • Last 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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  • About Smart City Memphis

    We are often blind to our own environment because of our assumptions, framed by media, insular thinking and our own prejudices. Smart City Consulting's blog – named one of the most intriguing in the U.S. by Pew Partnership for Civic Change – hopes to show how Memphis really is and could be through alternative questions, fresh approaches and new ideas. We hope to open your eyes - and your ears - to a new way of thinking about Memphis. Send ideas and emails to tjones@smartcityconsulting.com.
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