by Smart City Radio (RSS) Uncategorized | July 31st, 2010 12:55pm CDT | 1 Comment
Have you ever considered biking to work instead of driving, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator? A partnership, called “Go Vibrant Cincinnati” is encouraging residents to do just that. “Go Vibrant Cincinnati,” a coalition of more than 25 Cincinnati-based organizations, is the first-of-its-kind civic partnership to make Cincinnati one of the top 10 [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 30th, 2010 12:13am CDT | 6 Comments
So this is the 9-1-1 “system” that the town mayors defend so vigorously every time it’s suggested that there’s a better way to handle emergency service calls in our community. Anytime the Memphis and Shelby County Metro Charter Commission has suggested that a centralized system would be preferable and could be accomplished with a new [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Economic Development | July 29th, 2010 12:44am CDT | 11 Comments
The Memphis region is being whipsawed by unrelenting, and potentially debilitating, trends – economic segregation and income out-migration – that are pulling apart the fabric and threatening the future of our community. That’s why we have no time for politicos with political power bases in the urban core or in the suburban fringes who are [...]
by CEOs for Cities (RSS) Uncategorized | July 28th, 2010 9:13pm CDT | 2 Comments
Our colleague, Carol Coletta, talked with The Real Story with Colleen Edwards about the problems inherent in regional planning. According to Carol, regional planning works better at a conceptual level than in practice. Why? Even though big issues—those involving labor, transportation, the environment, air quality, water—all deserve discussion beyond the local level, there is actually [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 27th, 2010 12:41am CDT | 20 Comments
Maybe David Picker is indeed a politician for our times. Cynical. Self-aggrandizing. Patronizing. Petulant. Sadly, these are adjectives that too often describe the state of politics today and Mr. Pickler’s uncanny ability to give meaning to them is an even sadder commentary on the sorry state of affairs in “county” politics. It’s also the reason [...]
by Brian Stephens (RSS) Uncategorized | July 27th, 2010 12:06am CDT | 4 Comments
Being an Informed Voter. August 5th, our next election day is rapidly approaching, with half of all voters beginning to vote as early as July 16th when early voting sites open. As I started to think about the ballot and who I would like to hire for these positions, it dawned on me how difficult [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools | July 26th, 2010 12:07am CDT | 3 Comments
Teach For America’s Tennessee Executive Director Brad Leon can cite the impressive tangible indicators of success for students taught by his “corps members,” but it’s the intangibles that have even greater impact on him. “The most gratifying thing has nothing to do with the data,” he said. “It has to do with the pronouns that [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 24th, 2010 12:02am CDT | 3 Comments
Clean Memphis has tapped into two local traditions to become widely respected in its 18- month history. One, there is the residual pride from being named one of America’s cleanest cities decades ago, a pride that drives Clean Memphis to attain that designation once again. Two, there is the tradition of entrepreneurism in Memphis that [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Arts and Culture, Uncategorized | July 23rd, 2010 12:53am CDT | 1 Comment
If Tennessee Williams was right and playwrights portray on stage their own emotions, Ekundayo Bandele’s characters would all be self-possessed, cerebral, eloquent, and ebullient. Those are precisely the qualities that he brings to work each day as founder and creative director of Hattiloo Theatre, the black repertory theater at 656 Marshall that in three years [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Economic Development | July 21st, 2010 12:15am CDT | 11 Comments
We admire city government for put up $5 million in capital funds to fight for jobs and business investment, but we’re worried that we’re still fighting the wrong battles in Memphis. Quality workers and companies today are looking for cities that sell themselves on their quality, not for their cheapness, or how big their corporate [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 20th, 2010 3:51pm CDT | 17 Comments
Right-wingers who wrap themselves in Christianity and patriotism are on display in full bloom again. Tea Party leaders are as accurate as usual when they warped what the NAACP said about the group and brutalized quotations by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in what they surely thought was a clever ruse to keep from saying [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Arts and Culture, Downtown Revitalization, Uncategorized | July 19th, 2010 12:52am CDT | 5 Comments
It seems possible that a trend is starting in Memphis. Despite the oppressive heat, the weeks seem to bring more to make us feel upbeat than the old familiar sense of despair. And for the first time in almost a decade, the good news is coming from City Hall. Some questioned if Memphis Mayor A [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 16th, 2010 11:12am CDT | Comments Off
The Chicago Tribune reminds us what a special place we live in: Yes, the King is there, but explore the rest of historic Memphis. It begins this way: MEMPHIS, Tenn. — For a lot of people, getting a dose of history while on vacation can rank right up (or down) there with getting a dose [...]
by Melissa Petersen (RSS) Uncategorized | July 16th, 2010 10:47am CDT | 8 Comments
I’ve just returned from the opening day of the new farmers’ market in South Memphis. And other than the fact that I’m in need of a shower from standing in the heat (it just feels hotter than 95°), seeing the great turnout at a first day event has really made my week. If you don’t [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 15th, 2010 6:43pm CDT | 1 Comment
This was published last week as an op-ed Louisville’s daily newspaper, and because of the similarities between our city and that one, we are posting here as well. This is an edited version of the keynote address delivered by Carol Coletta in conjunction with the release of The Greater Louisville Project’s 2010 Competitive City Report [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 14th, 2010 12:22am CDT | 7 Comments
Putting Eric Gales in jail again for drugs makes about as much sense as asking Glenn Beck to teach a class in logic. It’s simply time for us to act smarter, and it begins by decriminalizing addiction for people like Mr. Gales. It is clear that he is an exceptional guitarist and clearer still that [...]
by Steve Bares (RSS) Uncategorized | July 13th, 2010 12:04am CDT | 1 Comment
It looked like just an ordinary Tuesday during the summer on the campus of The University of Memphis a couple of weeks ago. A few students, faculty and people in business attire wandered among the groundskeepers, and a constant flow of cars went in and out of the parking garage on Innovation Drive. But, if [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 12th, 2010 12:28am CDT | 8 Comments
Memphis City Schools Commissioner Kenneth Whalum has been asking the same questions about consolidation for weeks, and since no one seems to have answered him, we’ll see if we can. We know that he relishes his role as an unrepentant maverick and provocateur (and we need more, not less), and he may not really be [...]
by Women Unite (RSS) Uncategorized | July 9th, 2010 5:18pm CDT | 7 Comments
By Teresa Ghilarducci Let’s say you’re advising a business with varying quality and you want to improve performance. Would you ridicule the workers publicly; cut their pay and benefits; say they are the sole cause of the problem, and that you want brighter younger replacements who will work overtime and weekends? No new CEO would [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 9th, 2010 5:14pm CDT | 3 Comments
Yesterday was a good day for Shelby County Interim Mayor Joe Ford. Between the televised debate with his opponent for Shelby County mayor and the pomp and circumstance of the announcement of $40 million for The Med, it may be the day that we look back and say, that was the day the Ford campaign [...]
by Josh Whitehead (RSS) Uncategorized | July 7th, 2010 4:46pm CDT | Comments Off
The Memphis and Shelby County Metropolitan Government Charter Commission has a formidable task in determining the right size of the legislative body of the proposed metropolitan government. They must balance the lure of small districts that will enable grassroots, neighborhood representation with the accompanying risk of an oversized, unwieldy body that could potentially rival the [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | July 7th, 2010 12:43am CDT | 5 Comments
It looks like Memphis Area Transit Authority has finally reached a long awaited point: put up or shut up. For years, MATA has offered up numerous justifications for the sad state of public transit in Memphis. At a time when efficient, effective mass transit is a competitive advantage for cities attracting talented workers, ours does [...]
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.
