Data Points: Memphis Victims of Crime
All Violent Crime Victims:* 78.0% — African American 17.5% — Caucasian 0.9% — Asian Murders: 73.1% — African American 26.9% — Caucasian 0.0% — Asian...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 27, 2015 | Criminal Justice
All Violent Crime Victims:* 78.0% — African American 17.5% — Caucasian 0.9% — Asian Murders: 73.1% — African American 26.9% — Caucasian 0.0% — Asian...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 25, 2015 | Criminal Justice, Shelby County government, Tennessee Legislature, Uncategorized
Only a few days ago we wrote about the Norris-Kelsey Tax Increase, a likely Shelby County property tax increase caused by a Tennessee Senate committee’s rejection of $1 billion in...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 23, 2015 | Leadership, Shelby County government
Shelby County Trustee David Lenoir should teach customer service classes for all of local government. Come to think of it, he should teach customer service to a lot...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 19, 2015 | Taxation, Tennessee Legislature
A few weeks ago, the lede in the New York Times said: “When it comes to taxes closes to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit.” These were the results...
Read MorePosted by SCM | Feb 16, 2015 | Economic Development
The Brookings Institution issued research last week about “advanced industries,” which essentially was a broad definition of technology (technology R & D and STEM workers in 50 industries). The Memphis MSA...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 16, 2015 | Tennessee Legislature
It’s a tried and true talking point for the members of the Tennessee Legislature camped out on the extremist right wing of the Republican Party. It’s...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 13, 2015 | Poverty
Memphis has almost 170,000 youths and half of them are living in poverty, but only about 30,000 to 40,000 are touched by the programs with the highest profiles for...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 10, 2015 | Uncategorized
We wrote about incarceration rates in our last post, and how the rate for the Memphis MSA is higher than most of the peer cities that we often compare ourselves to. Here are the rates, which represents the number of prisoners...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 9, 2015 | Criminal Justice, Trends and Issues
The incarceration rate for the Memphis MSA is about 80% higher than the Atlanta region and more than three times higher than Birmingham region. The Memphis MSA rate is two times...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 5, 2015 | Shelby County government, Taxation, Tennessee Legislature
Sometimes, it’s just hard to understand how some people can sleep at night. Certainly, last night, guilty consciences should have made Tennessee Senators Mark Norris and...
Read Moreby 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 →
Since 2005, this has been Smart City Consulting’s blog with the aim of connecting the dots and providing perspective on issues and policies shaping Memphis. Editor and primary author is Tom Jones, columnist, author of two books, and consultant on public policy. Smart City Memphis was called one of the most intriguing blogs in the U.S. by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change; The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal wrote that “Smart City Memphis provides some of the most well-thought-out thinking about Memphis’ past, present, and future you’ll find anywhere,” and the Memphis Flyer said: “This incredibly well-written blog sets out to solves the city’s ills – from the mayor to MATA – with out-of-the-box thinking, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ideas. If you have questions, submissions, or ideas for posts, please email Tom Jones, at tjones@smartcityconsulting.com.