IDB Scorecard
The following are the recent Memphis and Shelby County Industrial Board’s tax waivers and the companies’ revenues: Smith & Nephew: Taxes Waived – $6.2 million over 15 years Annual Revenues – $3.8 billion...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 17, 2009
The following are the recent Memphis and Shelby County Industrial Board’s tax waivers and the companies’ revenues: Smith & Nephew: Taxes Waived – $6.2 million over 15 years Annual Revenues – $3.8 billion...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 16, 2009 | Economic Development
It’s not tax incentives. It’s not 50-priority plans. It’s not massive infrastructure investments. It’s not recruitment strategies for big businesses. In the end, economic success is only about one thing – human capital. It...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
Memphis is a shrinking city. We’re not talking about the slight decrease in the raw population numbers since 2000. Rather, we’re talking about the practical impact of significant population losses in the traditional city –...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 13, 2009 | Economic Development
Sometimes it seems almost impossible to overstate our city’s ability to tap into its rich vein of unworthiness to produce public policy that’s the civic equivalent of fool’s gold. As a result, we often end up trying to select...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
Pittsburgh is the nation’s surprising comeback city. From its industrial past, Pittsburgh has become a city of Eds and Meds, with an unexpected focus on the environment. My guests today are part of the green...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
Normally, for a billion dollar economic opportunity, Memphis will do just about anything. For a lot less, we gave The Pyramid to Sidney Shlenker on little more than a promise and a few architectural rendering. That house of...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 10, 2009
The importance of increasing the college attainment was on the marquee at FedEx Institute of Technology tonight and the stars turned out to put it front and center on the city’s agenda.\ Last night, Leadership Memphis announced...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 8, 2009
Our colleague Carol Coletta, president/CEO of CEOs for Cities in Chicago, will speak Wednesday about “What Makes Cities Successful – Talent and More” at FedEx Institute of Technology at University of Memphis...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 7, 2009
Perhaps what local government needs most is a Department of Connecting the Dots. While one public agency talks about creating a workforce that can compete in the knowledge economy, another gives tax freezes to companies that...
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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.