Author: Smart City Memphis

Sometimes, local government really ought to pay attention to its consultants.Yes, there are times when there’s really no downside, but we can think of one whose price tag is $100 million.That was how much city and county...

A couple of weeks ago, we suggested that Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton apparently was overqualified to be vice-presidential candidate for the Republican Party. Perhaps, we were too hasty. We just read that when Alaska...

In announcing recent layoffs, Memphis City Schools’ officials said that the district has 7,000 teachers. On its website, it says that its total number of employees is 16,000.In other words, there are 9,000 employees that are not...

The following is a commentary from Charles Santo who teaches at University of Memphis. He moved from Portland, Oregon, to Memphis about three years ago, and his fresh perspective and insight into our city are affecting key...

This week on Smart City, Scott Bernstein is the president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology where he has developed the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index. We’ll speak with Scott about the true cost of...

There’s encouraging new momentum for a more rational approach to funding public education, and before it ends, we hope it won’t be déjà vu all over again.In our April 27 post, we said that the decision by Memphis City Council to...

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.It’s a quote attributed to a well-known economist, but it’s particularly timely for Memphis City Schools. Confronted with reduced public funding, a crisis in student performance and a...

What America’s cities need are more community organizers.In cities like ours, these special people are often the threads holding together inner city neighborhoods. They are often the social entrepreneurs creating new programs to...

There is a demographic inversion taking place in America, according to Alan Ehrenhalt. Alan is executive editor of Governing Magazine, and in an article last month for The New Republic, he contends that we are beginning to see a...

While Memphis City Council gets all the attention for its new policy on Memphis City Schools funding, Shelby County Board of Commissioners has also changed the budgetary playing field for public education.Apparently, financial...