Archive for August, 2009
August 30th, 2009 7:23pm UTC
No Comments
Aerotropolis had a bumpy take-off and encountered immediate turbulence at Memphis City Council over a request for $2.3 million for a beautification project for the roadway that leads to Memphis International Airport. While it’s clear from the comments of Council members that they need more information and better communications about aerotropolis, the problem may have [...]
Read More
August 29th, 2009 11:49am UTC
No Comments
Bohemia is no longer a small and embattled refuge for society’s weirdoes and starving artists. According to Vanderbilt professor Richard Lloyd, it is now an established district in every medium-sized city that drives up real estate prices. He calls it “Neo-Bohemia,” and we’ll talk to him about his book on the topic, Neo-Bohemia: Art and [...]
Read More
August 27th, 2009 9:16pm UTC
No Comments
Previously posted May 8, 2008: We were standing in an anteroom of a Senate hearing room in the Hart Senate Office Building some years back when Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy walked in. Instantly, there was a surge of energy in the room, and although the room was filled with Republican senators waiting for the [...]
Read More
August 25th, 2009 12:09pm UTC
No Comments
In the not too distant future, government in Memphis and Shelby County will look nothing like it does today. And it will happen with or without consolidation. Voters outside Memphis who reflexively oppose the merger of Memphis and Shelby County Governments haven’t grasped the realities of this brave new world. If they had, they might [...]
Read More
August 23rd, 2009 3:06pm UTC
No Comments
When the topic of city-county government consolidation comes up, it’s hard to figure out if the small town mayors have more in common with Pavlov or Edgar Cayce. On one hand, like the dogs in the Russian scientist’s famous reflex action studies, the mayors immediately salivate, growling over territory and turf, personality and propaganda. On [...]
Read More
August 22nd, 2009 4:11pm UTC
No Comments
If you think gas is expensive at the peak of summer driving season, try to imagine paying $20 a gallon. Forbes staff writer Christopher Steiner has, and it’s a future that looks surprisingly rosy, that is, if we get ourselves on track. Even in these turbulent economic times, there are people who are truly thriving. [...]
Read More
August 20th, 2009 11:13pm UTC
No Comments
It was no surprise to us that the highest hurdle facing Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash is changing the culture of his own central office. But seemingly lost so far in the overhaul of the insular world of the mother ship at 2597 Avery Avenue is the fact that the strongest warhead of all [...]
Read More
August 19th, 2009 10:55pm UTC
No Comments
Although well-intended when they were first introduced into city governments, zoning codes became an instrument for sprawl and unsustainable growth. They up-ended walkable neighborhoods, increased greenhouse gas emissions, contributed to unhealthy lifestyles and driven up government spending. Often, it seemed that our communities might have grown better if there had been no zoning codes at [...]
Read More
August 17th, 2009 11:30pm UTC
No Comments
Maybe we’re just the world’s slowest learners. Despite 20 years of tax freezes that have accomplished nothing so much as expanding a low-wage, low-skill economy, we fought the reform of the PILOT program and continue to define success by how much city and county taxes are given away. Despite the exodus of an average of [...]
Read More
August 16th, 2009 8:06pm UTC
No Comments
If it were up to us, Memphis and Shelby County flags would be flying at half-staff today to commemorate the life of Memphis music high priest Jim Dickinson who died yesterday. In a city where individuality is a birthright, he was the penultimate iconoclast – a free spirit, an encyclopedia of American music, midwife to [...]
Read More
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...
Read More
- 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...
Read More
- 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...
Read More
- 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...
Read More
- 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...
Read More
- 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...
Read More
.gif)
- 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 ]...
Read More
- 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 ]...
Read More
- 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 ]...
Read More
- 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...
Read More
- 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 ]...
Read More
- 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 ...
Read More
-
Contributors
- Aaron Shafer
- Barry Chase
- Brad Leon
- Brian Stephens
- CEOs for Cities
- Charles Santo
- Chris Sanders
- David Williams
- Doug Imig
- Elizabeth Alley
- Emily Trenholm
- Eric Mathews
- Gene Pearson
- Gene Pearson and Louise Mercuro
- Greg Thompson
- Gwyn Fisher
- John Lawrence
- Josh Whitehead
- Julie Ellis
- Kenya Bradshaw
- Laura Adams
- Leah Wells
- Louise Mercuro, AICP
- Lurene Cachola Kelley
- Margot McNeeley
- Matt Timberlake
- Melissa Petersen
- Natashia Gregoire
- Rev. Steve Montgomery
- Robert Bain
- Scott L. Newstok
- Smart City Memphis
- Smart City Radio
- Steve Bares
- Steve Lockwood
- Susan Adler Thorp
- Tom Jones
- Tommy Pacello
- Women Unite
- Zach Hoyt
