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The “Wonderful Obsession” — Building a City of Choice

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By Gwyn Fisher RSS

March 4th, 2010 11:18pm UTC

3 Comments

Thanks to Ms. Dorsey of Echoing Green, I finally have a name for what ails me: a “wonderful obsession” with building Memphis into a City of Choice via talent retention, entrepreneurialism, and creativity. Although obsession normally implies a need for behavioral therapy, an effective cure in this case is simple support, encouragement, and money.  (Yes, [...]

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Enjoying the Wonders of the City

Beale Street Landing, walkable neighborhoods

By Gwyn Fisher RSS

February 25th, 2010 12:35pm UTC

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I positively detest the cold.  I’m simply not constituted for it.  Winter makes everything brown and grey and nothing blooms.  All those extra clothes and hats and mittens and scarves and coats make me look like that kid from A Christmas Story.  And did I mention . . . it’s cold! In summer time, I [...]

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Talented Letter to Mayor Wharton

talent

By Gwyn Fisher RSS

February 2nd, 2010 12:09am UTC

5 Comments

Dear Mayor Wharton, If you’re really serious about building Memphis into a City of Choice for young talent, and you’re really serious about creating the nation’s first office of talent retention and development, then I humbly suggest you double-team it.  In essence, I think it will take a team of two to make this work: [...]

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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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    • Using Technology to Inspire Community to Action 8.24.10 9:09pm
      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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    • A Greener Welcome in Indianapolis 8.18.10 6:32pm
      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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    • A High Line for Harlem 8.3.10 9:48pm
      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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    • Redeveloping an Old City in the Right (And Thoughtful) Way 7.28.10 6:43pm
      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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    • 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...

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  • In The Bluff (Mary Cashiola)

    • More Federal Funds for Tennessee 9.2.10 3:09pm
      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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    • Midnight Ride Hit and Run 8.30.10 6:33pm
      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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    • More With MCS Consultant Jeffrey Hernandez 8.26.10 1:45pm
      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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    • The Dance and Data of the Lemons 8.20.10 9:47pm
      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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