Data Points: Poverty
State of Tennessee Poverty Rates: Overall — 17.3% Caucasian — 18% — 905,967 people African-American — 37% — 399,225 people Memphis...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 21, 2014 | Poverty
State of Tennessee Poverty Rates: Overall — 17.3% Caucasian — 18% — 905,967 people African-American — 37% — 399,225 people Memphis...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 19, 2014 | City of Memphis Government
What’s most disconcerting about the regularly inflammatory behavior of the Memphis Police Associations is that its members end up looking not so much like dedicated public servants as a special interest group pursuing a scorched...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 17, 2014 | Neighborhoods, Planning and Urban Design, Trends and Issues
Sometimes, it seems like we are asked to decide if we want to live in the anecdotal Memphis or the factual Memphis. The former is a place where we can feel that the city is moving in the right direction because of the cumulative...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 13, 2014 | City of Memphis Government, Planning and Urban Design, Shelby County government
Truth be told, most people thought that the Sustainable Shelby report would likely end up in the same place as dozens of other local government plans, studies, and reports – on a dusty shelf and long forgotten. Sustainable...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 12, 2014 | City of Memphis Government, Taxation
As we’ve written before, City of Memphis government doesn’t so much have a management problem as it has a math problem. That’s why this recent headline in The Commercial Appeal was one of the most important Memphis taxpayers...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 10, 2014 | Downtown Revitalization, Planning and Urban Design, Transportation
We were pleased to see this news story over the weekend: “In a test project set to start in three months, the city of Memphis will reserve two lanes of a mile-plus stretch of Downtown’s Riverside Drive for bicycles and...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 6, 2014 | Education
A Teach for America member in Mississippi started a program in her classroom two years ago that employed poetry to motivate students, to teach them the techniques of poetry, and give them a creative outlet to express their...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 4, 2014 | City of Memphis Government, Taxation
Memphians are supportive of changes in police and fire services, but they want more funding for libraries, community centers, and parks. Those were two of the major conclusions from the public polling that was taken as part of...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 26, 2014 | City of Memphis Government, Transportation
The process to select the next general manager of Memphis Area Transit Authority is well under way, and it’s one of several important personnel decisions to be made in the near future that will shape the future of the city. In...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 21, 2014 | Economic Development, Poverty
The life of the poor in Memphis is so often about navigating through choices that are too often self-defeating, regardless of which one is chosen. There’s the penalty that is paid if you are a resident of public housing and get...
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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 →
Smart City Memphis has been called the oldest, continuously operating in its original form, independent blog in the U.S. Its aim since 2005 has been to connect the dots and provide perspective on issues and policies shaping Memphis. 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 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.