The Real Work for a New Wharton Term
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...
Read MoreTag: Mayor AC Wharton
Mayors Working Together Works
Not since the days of Larry Finch and Ronnie Robinson has a Memphis duo received reviews as good as A C Wharton and Mark Luttrell. They’re scoring points, maybe not on the hardwood, but with the public where their...
Read MoreGetting It Right in City Hall
Memphis Mayor A C Wharton has an ambitious agenda that he laid out during his campaign, but one goal he set surpasses all of them for its audaciousness: To make Memphis one of the country’s best-run cities. That is of...
Read MoreThe New GOP: Grand Old Pandering
We had an unwanted flashback last week to the days when Strom Thurmond tried to justify Jim Crow laws with the argument that he was only trying to protect black folks from the burdens of self-government. Now comes Shelby County...
Read MoreNorris Bill Poses as Progress
Mark Norris sees himself as the Bobby Fischer of the Tennessee Legislature: the smartest guy in the room, the game as everything, the lack of respect for the opposition, and the obsession to win. This was never more obvious as...
Read MoreMayors a Must in Jobs Chase
There is nothing more faddish than economic development. Cities centralize economic development, cities decentralize economic development, cities create five-year economic growth plans, cities renounce five-year economic growth...
Read MoreMayors Show Leadership in School Transition
It was reassuring and exciting that Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell have stepped forward with a process that ensures calm, thoughtful decision-making if the referendum passes in February. The...
Read MoreIt’s Memphis, Stupid
More and more, regionalism is a distraction from the things that really matter for cities. That’s certainly the case in Memphis, and it’s why we’re swearing off any regional plans and programs until it’s proven clearly that...
Read MoreBig Changes Shown in Little Ways
Sometimes in government, the biggest changes are symbolized by the smallest things. It’s not so much Bass Pro Shop in The Pyramid as much as the first mile of city bike lanes. It’s not so much Beale Street Landing as the city’s...
Read MoreElecting to be Optimistic
It’s customary for optimism to accompany the election of a new mayor – either city or county – because of the hope that he and his mayoral counterpart will be able to work together to create a leap of progress for the community....
Read MoreMayor Wharton’s “McChrystal Moment”
This could be Memphis Mayor A C Wharton’s “McChrystal moment.” Sometimes, people step over the line, try to blur well-understood lines of responsibility and ignore common practice. Sometimes, leaders have to draw a line in the...
Read MoreBreaking the Code for a Better Community
Memphis Mayor AC Wharton is right when he says that the new Unified Development Code (UDC) making its way through legislative approvals is “the beginning, not the end, in creating the kind of city and neighborhoods we want.”...
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Latest Bill Day Cartoon
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 →