by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Economic Development | December 19th, 2011 12:10am CST | 10 Comments
Aerotropolis needs more lift if it is to really take off. We have had our questions about it, but it’s hard to have any questions about the facts: Memphis International Airport is our largest economic engine, FedEx is our largest employer, and logistics-related companies are the industry sector that sets us apart when compared to [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | December 15th, 2011 6:37pm CST | Comments Off
There are frequent conversations in Memphis about what our city brand should be. Some people suggest that it should be about transportation, other say logistics, and some say our river heritage. Those are important assets of Memphis, but they are things. They don’t really speak directly to our [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | December 13th, 2011 12:42am CST | 2 Comments
So, what is the greater problem: the “war on Christmas” or the war on the Christmas spirit? It’s the time of the year when Fox News’ war on Christmas coverage is as evergreen as Christmas trees themselves. It’s so extreme that Fox News now treats “holiday” best wishes from a corporation as tantamount to an [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | December 9th, 2011 12:15am CST | 2 Comments
Following a campaign whose outcome was set the day he filed his qualifying petition, A C Wharton begins a full four-year term as mayor January 1st, bringing with it pressures to move from the crisis-driven priorities of his first two years to a well-defined Wharton agenda for the next term. [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Economic Development | December 7th, 2011 12:56am CST | 1 Comment
There are times when we hypnotize ourselves with our own hyperbole. There are many positive developments under way in Memphis, but our city has no margin for error. As a result, elected officials like Memphis Mayor A C Wharton are engaged in a constant balancing act. On one hand, [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Economic Development, Transportation | December 5th, 2011 12:26am CST | 39 Comments
Map of Long Range Transportation Plan Projects It’s easier to think of reasons why the University of Memphis should have kept football coach Larry Porter than reasons we should keep the Memphis MPO. The MPO (Memphis Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) has a record of failure when it comes to rational, well-reasoned transportation planning and [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Economic Development | December 2nd, 2011 12:30am CST | 2 Comments
The national search for the first head of EDGE seems to be coming to a close, and it sounds like we will once again make the safe choice. While we have a bias for finding the best people in their fields and then doing whatever it takes to get [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | November 30th, 2011 12:15am CST | 2 Comments
Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water…here comes yet another stupid idea from a member of the majority of the Tennessee Legislature. Building on the thinking that brought us guns in parks and restaurants, barriers to legal voting, anti-Muslim and anti-immigration rhetoric, anti-scientific teaching in science classrooms, and state [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | November 28th, 2011 12:23am CST | 2 Comments
The decision by the unified Shelby County School Board to reject 17 charter applications as a group is a troubling indication that the group can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. The threadbare reasons given by Superintendents Kriner Cash and John Aitken were recycled justifications given by lifers more interested in protecting turf [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | November 22nd, 2011 12:34am CST | Comments Off
Lt. John Pike, who pepper sprayed peaceful demonstrators at University of California-Davis, is also featured in a variety of artwork doing what he does best. You can see them here.
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | November 21st, 2011 12:05am CST | 2 Comments
There are frequent conversations in Memphis about what our city brand should be. Some people suggest that it should be about transportation, other say logistics, and some say our river heritage. Those are important assets of Memphis, but they are things. They don’t really speak directly to our community values and who we are [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Economic Development, Uncategorized | November 18th, 2011 12:42am CST | 12 Comments
We thought of Cosmo Castorini in Moonstruck as City Council talked about the proposal to build a publicly-funded garage in Overton Square: “It costs money because it saves money.” City government may appear to be saving money if it turns down the $6 million garage, but in the long-run, the decision will cost much more [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Economic Development | November 16th, 2011 12:07am CST | 5 Comments
The timing is right for Memphis and Shelby County to determine what tools it needs in its toolkit if we are to compete in economic development. Then again, we should more often use some tools that we already have — Tax Increment Financing, Business Improvement Districts, and other state-authorized incentives created to attract investment and [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | November 14th, 2011 12:23am CST | 8 Comments
When $50 million is put on the table, there are always a lot of competing interests for it. That was certainly the case with the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant in Memphis. The funds come from the Obama Administration’s stimulus plan, and despite varying interests and intense lobbying, the City of Memphis called [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | November 11th, 2011 12:01am CST | 6 Comments
Only 4% of Memphis City Schools seniors are ready for college, based on their scores on the ACT, the college entrance exam taken by district seniors. In other words, of 6,774 seniors, only 271 are college ready. It’s a disturbing statistic that speaks to why closing the achievement gap should be a priority for Memphis [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Poverty, Uncategorized | November 9th, 2011 12:09am CST | 29 Comments
The Brookings Institution, in a new report on the growth of extreme poverty in the U.S., wrote what we already know full well in the Memphis MSA: we’re at the top of the rankings. What’s more interesting is that it’s the trends in the suburbs that propel us there. If there’s any wake-up call for [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | November 7th, 2011 12:03am CST | 29 Comments
Sometimes you have to wonder if suburban school officials own a mirror. In an article in yesterday’s New York Times, Shelby County Schools Board member Joe Clayton said: “As far as racial trust goes, I don’t think we’ve improved much since the 1970s.” It’s a comment that begs the question: “As a prominent educator in [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | November 4th, 2011 12:52am CST | 1 Comment
Memphis is justifiably proud of being the birthplace for America’s greatest music, but musicians and music organizations must often feel that they have grounds to sue for non-support. That’s never truer than when it comes to the blues, the seminal Southern music and building blocks for Memphis’ greatest export – music. Although “home of [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Cartoons, Uncategorized | November 3rd, 2011 8:47am CST | 1 Comment
We’re excited to announce that this blog will now feature the special perspectives that award-winning cartoonist and Memphian Bill Day brings to the day’s news. His cartoons start today, and we look forward to a long relationship with him. We have no doubt that you’ll enjoy his cartoons as much as we have for [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | November 2nd, 2011 12:18am CST | 1 Comment
The Occupy movement has outposts in Memphis and in Nashville, but considering the damage done to our state from income inequality and one of the most regressive state tax systems in the U.S., what’s most surprising is that there isn’t an Occupy Tennessee movement. No one has summed up the income inequality issue better [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | October 30th, 2011 12:07am CST | 8 Comments
If there is a poster child for political groupthink, it’s the arrests provoked by the Haslam Administration of Occupy Nashville protesters. If there is a poster child for the kind of courageous checks and balances too often missing from the judicial branch of government, it’s Nashville Night Magistrate Tom Nelson. First, groupthink, a term [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Uncategorized | October 28th, 2011 1:03am CST | 11 Comments
First, new business. Joe Spake wrote: “The cobblestones are a Memphis Historical treasure. The RDC seems to be doing everything it can to keep the public away from them.” We posed his question to Benny Lendermon who heads up the Riverfront Development Corporation, and here’s his answer: “Annual vegetation occurs naturally along the cobblestone landing; [...]
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.
