Author: Smart City Memphis
Putting Place In Its PLACE
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 7, 2015 | City of Memphis Government, Economic Development, Neighborhoods
Six weeks ago, we wrote a blog post about the need to modernize the organizational structure of city government, and today we add an additional idea: creation of the City of Memphis Division of PLACE. It should be a given that...
Read MoreCarol Coletta On The Erosion Of Informed And Engaged Communities
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 4, 2015 | Leadership
City Observatory’s weekly wrapup – which is indispensable reading – included an edited version of a speech by our dear friend and Memphian, Carol Coletta, Vice-President of Community and National Initiatives at...
Read MoreGod And The Answer To Mass Killings
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
Following yet another mass murder in the U.S., we were reminded of the old parable that seems particularly relevant to us right now. We can keep waiting for God to save us, or we can use the power, the abilities, and the good...
Read MoreData Points: Homicides By Race
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 3, 2015 | Criminal Justice, Politics and Government
There is now a cottage industry dedicated to correcting president candidate Donald Trump’s overt misstatements of fact. There is such a pattern of fabrications and deceptions that we almost become desensitized to them, but the...
Read MoreData Points: Unbanked Memphians
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 2, 2015 | Poverty
A large number of Americans do not have or use traditional mainstream financial products like checking or savings accounts. In many cities, such as Los Angeles, almost every family has a checking or savings account, but in...
Read MoreCity Hall’s Challenges Of Biblical Proportions
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 30, 2015 | City of Memphis Government
It never mattered who would win the election for mayor when it came to one thing: the next four years will be a time of Biblical proportions. Somewhere between the plagues of Exodus and the suffering of Job. That’s because the...
Read MoreMemphis/Shelby County Caught in Web of Old Online Thinking
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 24, 2015 | City of Memphis Government, Shelby County government
Local government here always seems to be about three generations behind in technology, and the state of city and county’s external digital faces in the form of their websites are a strong suggestion about how poorly...
Read MoreSt. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Memphis’ Debt to Immigrants
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 20, 2015 | Downtown Revitalization, Economic Development, Leadership
It seems like a good time – in the midst of all the overheated rhetoric and political grandstanding – for all of us in this community to be thankful for our debt to Arab Americans who formed in 1957 the American Lebanese Syrian...
Read MoreCounty Commissioners Override Good Government
Posted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 19, 2015 | Uncategorized
The Shelby County Board of Commissioners continues blindly on a path to hire its own lawyer and undermine the intention of the charter of Shelby County Government, which set out to ensure a strong mayor form of government and...
Read MoreLatest 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 →
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About Smart City Memphis
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.