The On Ramp To The Third Century
“People who are committed to the future and what they do in their cities cannot be underestimated.” —Joe Cortright Memphis, incorporated as a city in 1826, is about 10 years away from...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Aug 12, 2016 | Economic Development
“People who are committed to the future and what they do in their cities cannot be underestimated.” —Joe Cortright Memphis, incorporated as a city in 1826, is about 10 years away from...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Aug 10, 2016 | Uncategorized
A city official once said that the purpose of Beale Street Landing “was to fix Tom Lee Park,” but regardless of how much we have supported the construction of the...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Aug 8, 2016 | Downtown Revitalization, Economic Development
Published as the City Journal column in July’s Memphis magazine: Years ago, after listening to the latest idea for revitalizing downtown, former Beale Street developer John...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Aug 4, 2016 | City of Memphis Government, Downtown Revitalization, Livability
Memphis Art Park has posted designs from its latest master plan online, and once again, it’s plowing the way for smarter thinking about a higher and better use of prominent...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Aug 3, 2016 | Shelby County government, Taxation
This post is written by Jimmie Covington, veteran Memphis reporter with lengthy experience covering governmental, school, and demographic issues. He is a contributing...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Aug 2, 2016 | Arts and Culture, City of Memphis Government, Livability
Twenty years ago, public art in Memphis consisted primarily of statues connected to various wars, Hebe in Court Square, W. C. Handy on Beale Street, and a half dozen or so...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 29, 2016 | Downtown Revitalization, Livability
The following is a post from July 16, 2006, about how to measure success in Memphis. This is the latest in our regular feature flashing back to blog posts from 10 years...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 27, 2016 | Leadership, Politics and Government
About the time that I entered high school, I met a Republican. Growing up in Collierville in the era of the solidly Democratic South, it created quite a stir when word...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 25, 2016 | City of Memphis Government, Livability, Parks and Greening
The lingering controversy about Memphis Zoo parking on the greensward seems finally to have run its course. Barring a last minute glitch in fine tuning a few...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 22, 2016 | City of Memphis Government
We’ve been re-reading one of our favorite histories of Memphis – Memphis During the Progressive Era 1900-1917 by William D. Miller (1957) – and we’re always struck...
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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.