Data Points: Median Household Incomes
Percent of households with earnings above $35,000 (2012): Total 65% – U.S. 58% – Tennessee 49% – Memphis Non-Hispanic white 69% – U.S. 62% – Tennessee 66% –...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Apr 7, 2015 | Poverty, Trends and Issues
Percent of households with earnings above $35,000 (2012): Total 65% – U.S. 58% – Tennessee 49% – Memphis Non-Hispanic white 69% – U.S. 62% – Tennessee 66% –...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Apr 3, 2015 | Criminal Justice, Shelby County government, Tennessee Legislature
Shelby County Attorney General Amy Weirich and her Tea Party legislative friends in Nashville are determined to make sure that justice is not blind but blinded. Spurred on by apocalyptic rhetoric and hyped statistics, the most...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Apr 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
Reposted from September 26, 2011: I remember sitting as a child in my family’s Southern Baptist Church while the preacher interpreted Bible verses to justify segregation and...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 30, 2015 | Downtown Revitalization, Livability, Transportation
The debate about the future alignment of Riverside Drive is about much more than a road. In truth, it is another indication of how tenuous the movement for a more...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 27, 2015 | Livability, Parks and Greening
Only a few years old and the Overton Park Conservancy is already attracting well-deserved national attention. The highly respected Trust for Public Land has published its first report on urban park conservancies and the Overton...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 27, 2015 | Poverty
The map above is to indicate zip code boundaries and is not connected to the data points below. 38103 is not shown...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 25, 2015 | Downtown Revitalization, Economic Development, Livability, Talent
“The rules of economic development have fundamentally changed. It’s all about place and talent. Talent is the...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 20, 2015 | Trends and Issues
In a broadcast of 60 Minutes a few weeks ago, during a segment on Detroit and its problems, the reporter commented that one of its problems was that it was so big, and it’s just too difficult to provide services over such...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 18, 2015 | Economic Development, Taxation
While we have advocated for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to become a key tool in our local economic development toolkit, the recommendation to place the city-county...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 16, 2015 | City of Memphis Government, Downtown Revitalization, Livability
Photograph by Phillip Van Zandt Photography If the Riverfront Development Corporation is ever going to have its chance to say, “I told you so,” this is it. After 15 years of blistering criticism and dogged resistance, its track...
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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.