Readers Discuss Downtown
The following is the conversation by our very smart readers and sparked by our recent post, City Council Members Take Aim At DMC and RDC: Anonymous says: The truth is that downtown...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 20, 2017 | Downtown Revitalization
The following is the conversation by our very smart readers and sparked by our recent post, City Council Members Take Aim At DMC and RDC: Anonymous says: The truth is that downtown...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 17, 2017 | Criminal Justice
The main problem with siege mentality is that you don’t even recognize that you have it. Because of it, you lose the ability to accurately size up a problem. ...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 13, 2017 | City of Memphis Government, Downtown Revitalization
It seems a good time to remember what downtown looked like in 1977 when it was decided to create a downtown development agency. It was in truth a desperation move.The...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 11, 2017 | Education, Shelby County government
Ten years ago, the budget hearings in Shelby County Government had become heated with both superintendents of the two school districts of the day complaining that a...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 10, 2017 | Uncategorized
This post is written by Jimmie Covington, veteran Memphis reporter with lengthy experience covering governmental, school, and demographic...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 7, 2017 | Livability
The number of housing units in Shelby County has increased 1.9% between 2010 and 2016, and as of July 2016, there are 406,022 units. The change...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 6, 2017 | Economic Development
Fortune magazine is out with its list of the 500 biggest U.S. companies. Wal-Mart Stores remains at the head of the list although its profits are #11. ExxonMobile falls from #2 to #4,...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 4, 2017 | Uncategorized
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 3, 2017 | Uncategorized
When you are 6 feet 9 inches tall and earn $6 million a year as an NBA player, people listen to you when you speak. That was clear from the interest in Tarik Black’s recent news conference announcing his new foundation, which...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jun 29, 2017 | Uncategorized
It’s hard to believe that there was a time 35 years ago that there were pundits and columnists who predicted that with the rise of technology, places would come to matter less and less....
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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 →
Since 2005, this has been Smart City Consulting’s blog with the aim of connecting the dots and providing perspective on issues and policies shaping Memphis. Editor and primary author is Tom Jones, City Journal columnist at Memphis magazine, author of two books and a museum exhibition, and consultant on public policy and strategic planning. He has written articles for MLK50, The Commercial Appeal, and USA Today. The blog was called one of the most intriguing blogs in the U.S. by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change; The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal said it “provides some of the most well-thought-out thinking about Memphis’ past, present, and future you’ll find anywhere,” and the Memphis Flyer said: “This incredibly well-written blog sets out to solve the city’s ills – from the mayor to MATA – with out-of-the-box thinking, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ideas.” If you have questions, submissions, or ideas for posts, please email Tom Jones, at tjones@smartcityconsulting.com.