by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Poverty | December 28th, 2011 12:11am CST | 1 Comment
What Memphis needs now is a balance of realism and optimism. We should all feel upbeat about developments that have positioned Memphis positively in the last couple of years: the convergence of important national initiatives in Memphis, the fact that our MSA in 2010 had a larger increase [...]
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) Poverty | October 9th, 2011 2:43pm CST | 1 Comment
It’s been said that when the economy sneezes, poor people catch pneumonia. It’s the same diagnosis for a city with a high poverty rate. Memphis may be doing its best to cope with a bad case of walking pneumonia but the long-term cure will take a lot of time and medicine, not to mention a [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Poverty | September 30th, 2011 12:26am CST | 4 Comments
What Memphis needs now is a balance of realism and optimism. We should all feel upbeat about developments that have positioned Memphis positively in the last couple of years: the convergence of important national initiatives in Memphis, the fact that our MSA in 2010 had a larger increase in GDP than the Atlanta MSA, [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Poverty, Uncategorized | December 24th, 2010 12:23am CST | 1 Comment
Previously posted December 24, 2009: This time of the year, it’s impossible for us to not think about Peggy Edmiston, who died seven years ago. It wasn’t the glittery Christmas sweaters, complete with blinking ornaments, that no one else had the courage to wear. It wasn’t the permanent collection of Christmas decorations and miniature villages [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Poverty, Uncategorized | June 2nd, 2010 12:17am CST | 6 Comments
We are nothing if not schizophrenic about Memphis. A few weeks ago, we were outraged that Forbes had the audacity to call us a “miserable city,” but in a New York Times article this week, we seemed to do as much ourselves. In fact, miserable might be a benign word compared to what Memphians said [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Poverty, Uncategorized | March 30th, 2010 12:53am CST | 5 Comments
Can we now turn the page – not one in Forbes magazine of course – and quit talking about the miserable cities rankings? We’re becoming like the guy who knows he’s having an affair so he continually tells his friends how happily married he is. The continuing obsession with this ranking is beginning to summon [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools, Poverty | March 3rd, 2010 12:18am CST | 12 Comments
Hopefully, now that we’ve all worked through the catharsis brought on by hitting the list of miserable U.S. cities by Forbes magazine, maybe we can now follow it up with an epiphany. Most urbanists and public policy types have long ago discredited these meaningless lists of the smartest cities, wired cities, successful cities and happiest [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Memphis City Schools, Poverty | January 13th, 2009 6:07pm CST | Comments Off
Tomeka Hart is chair of the board of commissioners of Memphis City Schools and executive director of Memphis Urban League: My prayer is that Memphis leaders (elected, appointed, community, faith-based, etc.) will develop a holistic and comprehensive plan to fight the real enemy of our progress — POVERTY. I hope that all plans related to [...]
by Smart City Memphis (RSS) Poverty | November 16th, 2008 7:14pm CST | Comments Off
It’s not just that Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin wasted $88,000 in scarce city money pursuing an obsession worthy of Moby Dick. It’s that with looming layoffs in City Hall, that money could have kept two rank-and-file city employees on the job and of the unemployment rolls in some tough economic times. We’ve been giving [...]
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.
