The first reaction to the Memphis City Council’s vote in favor of a three per cent pay raise for its employees is disbelief. On the surface, it appears that a majority of the Council is more concerned about employees than...
Read MoreWe can cure you but we may have to kill you first.That was a common reaction to an article in London’s Daily Telegraph that reported that the Obama Administration is considering plans for selective bulldozing in some “rust belt”...
Read MoreThe burgeoning green ethos that’s bubbling up from grassroots Memphis is gaining ground, and it can’t come too soon.The downturn in gas prices may have lulled our city into a false sense of security, but we’re confident that the...
Read MoreAs Memphis City Council gets ready for its budget wrap-up this week, we have only one request: no more Fred Smith analogies.Because of our broken tax structure, there are no easy answers for the Council, only a menu of poor...
Read MoreReports about an imminent resignation by Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton are rumbling again, and this time around, they seem to have more credence than before.But with Mayor Herenton, we’ve learned to believe it when we see it,...
Read MoreThis week on Smart City, we have two authors who are re-imagining some persistent but outdated ideas from the 20th century.Alex Steffan is a journalist and author who runs the organization and website WorldChanging.com. The site...
Read MoreOur good friend and colleague Joe Cortright was quoted today in the New York Times in its coverage of cities’ racing to bet on biotech. First, it made us proud that Joe was quoted, and second, it made us proud that Memphis...
Read MoreIt looks like Memphis Area Transit Authority has finally reached a long awaited point: put up or shut up. For years, MATA has offered up numerous justifications for the sad state of public transit in Memphis. At a time when...
Read MorePerhaps 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...
Read MoreThis week on Smart city we’re heading outside to explore the greenways and bike lanes of cities.Greg Moore is the executive director of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. He’ll tell how us the former...
Read More
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 →