Downtown Agency Makes Progress With New Tax Freeze Policy
Maybe, with a little luck, the Downtown Memphis Commission – through its affiliate organization, the Center City Revenue Finance Corporation – is ushering in...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 20, 2016 | Downtown Revitalization
Maybe, with a little luck, the Downtown Memphis Commission – through its affiliate organization, the Center City Revenue Finance Corporation – is ushering in...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 18, 2016 | Livability, Trends and Issues
By TOM JONES Memphis has been surprising people for more than a century, and it happened again in the wake of the Great Recession. With Memphis hit harder...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 14, 2016 | Neighborhoods, Poverty
In Memphis, geography is too often destiny. Where a person is born largely sets the choices and opportunities for one in four Memphians. There is a...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 13, 2016 | Civil Rights
The following is the condensed sermon from last Sunday by Rev. Dr. Stephen Montgomery of Idlewild Presbyterian Church. As usual, he puts the events of recent days into a faith-based context that inspires and enlightens: One day...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 12, 2016 | Uncategorized
Originally posted November 9, 2015: For as long as we can remember, our community has been having a conversation about the need to have the conversation about race. And yet, we always seem to find reasons to put it off. But...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 8, 2016 | Civil Rights, Criminal Justice, Poverty
And the cycle begins anew. Or, maybe, in truth, it never stopped. The toxic stew of guns, racism, injustice, and anger continues to poison America, and we appear to lack...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 7, 2016 | Education
In light of Germantown’s offer to buy the schools inside its town limits that are now operated by Shelby County Schools, it seems a good time to remember the racially-based gerrymandering of school attendance zones that...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 5, 2016 | Trends and Issues
In the past decade, Memphis has ended up on several lists with the adjectives, “worst” or “miserable,” attached to it, and it happened again last week. This time, it was a list of the “50 worst cities to live” compiled by 24/7...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jul 1, 2016 | Livability, Neighborhoods, Parks and Greening
It could well be that we look back to today’s decision regarding zoo parking on Overton Park’s greensward as the seminal moment when we came face-to-face with the brand of leadership that Jim Strickland brought to the mayor’s...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Jun 30, 2016 | Uncategorized
As we prepare for New Year’s – city and county governments’ new fiscal year begins Friday – we updated our list of proposed resolutions for Memphis for the next 12 months. Here they are: 1) Resist the temptation to treat...
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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.