by John Lawrence (RSS) Uncategorized | January 29th, 2010 11:17am CST | 6 Comments
B.E.G.-2015 is a not-so tongue-in-cheek plan to: a) Spend $5 million to attract smart people or BRAINS to Memphis. b) Inspire commitment or ENERGY from existing Memphians to finish something big. The Power of 10 was discussed in the last post. c) Exploit profit motivations or GREED to keep the process rolling along. We have [...]
by John Lawrence (RSS) Uncategorized | January 28th, 2010 11:16am CST | 2 Comments
B.E.G.-2015 is a not-so tongue-in-cheek plan to: a) Spend $5 million to attract smart people or BRAINS to Memphis. The M-Prize for Brains was discussed in the last post. b) Inspire commitment or ENERGY from existing Memphians to finish something big. c) Exploit profit motivations or GREED to keep the process rolling along. Leland Speed [...]
by John Lawrence (RSS) Uncategorized | January 27th, 2010 11:15am CST | 14 Comments
Urban revitalization really needs three things: available buildings or property, loyal developers or investors, and the right incentives to make the deal as profitable as a suburban project. Sounds simple enough and, after all, this is the way everyone has been doing it. However, this represents a tactic that does not fundamentally change very much [...]
by John Lawrence (RSS) Uncategorized | January 21st, 2010 12:21am CST | 6 Comments
If travelling through Colorado, make time to enjoy Downtown Denver. With five hours to kill last week, I did just that. I can’t say this was enough time to uncover benchmarks and best practices. But it is hard not to be inspired by the small things that add up to be one impressive place. Arriving [...]
by John Lawrence (RSS) Economic Development | January 6th, 2010 4:58pm CST | Comments Off
Let’s all take a deep breath and chant together, “we all love both FedEx and Memphis.” In the last post, I dared to ask if it was okay to think about life after FedEx, a company that has given many of us jobs, insurance and tuition reimbursement. My intent was not to cast dispersions of [...]
by John Lawrence (RSS) Economic Development | January 5th, 2010 5:19pm CST | 3 Comments
Elvira Nabiullina, the Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade, is developing a program to restructure “monotowns” or cities built around a single industry. She is also grappling with industry failures in some monotowns leaving thousands in desperate peril. The minister has said bluntly that people in these towns “physically do not have any alternative [...]
by John Lawrence (RSS) Downtown Revitalization | December 22nd, 2009 6:45pm CST | 2 Comments
Sometimes we don’t need expensive consultants or years of study or the latest technology. Sometimes we may need to try to get more out of the resources we have. Sometimes all we need are good leaders to set some enthusiastic beginners off down a path. In the summer of 1994, Robert Lipscomb and Don Campbell [...]
by John Lawrence (RSS) Uncategorized | December 1st, 2009 10:12pm CST | 3 Comments
The greening of America has been going on for a long time and recently arrived to the Memphis area in the form of the Vesta Home Show. For $12 you could visit eight homes ranging in size from 2,800 to 4,600 heated square feet. The show was at The Villages of White Oak in Arlington, [...]
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
Memphian Amie Vanderford is a photographer for peace and justice. Her portfolio includes photographs from Peru, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Indian, and her hometown.
