Author: Smart City Memphis

Hope springs eternal, but Hope VI regularly has to fight for its life, not to mention its credibility.It’s a curious dilemma for a federal program that has pumped $122 million into Memphis to end the warehousing of poor families...

In the aerotropolis sweepstakes, Detroit is the first city to take flight.There, the Detroit Region Aerotropolis has used the nation’s latest economic development big idea as a vehicle for regionalism, bringing together...

Both Barack Obama and John McCain embrace the idea of publicly financed, independently run charter schools as a way to reform the education system. But what is a charter school, and how do they differ from traditional public...

Despite predictions of a Constitutional crisis in county government if we don’t pass the two charter amendments, we still vote no.Meanwhile, on IRV, we vote yes.First, the county charter amendments. There are just too many...

Continued from the previous posting:All of this concern that $2 billion isn’t enough for roadbuilders must seem extremely misplaced to officials in higher education, like our university president Dr. Raines, who are making...

You can never underestimate the power of the roadbuilding industry.While University of Memphis President Shirley Raines is forced to cut a budget that long ago lost any fat in it, while the state shortchanges our community’s...

This week, we’re talking with people who use the internet to help you explore your city. Want to find out what’s happening in your neighborhood? Adrian Holovaty knows. He’s the creator of Everyblock.com, a...

It’s hard to remember when we’ve seen two more hopeful headlines:One yesterday said: “Shelby County Commission rejects Wal-Mart Supercenter.”A day earlier, there was another: “Riverfront plaza to replace lot.”Is it possible that...

We asked recently how deep the hole can get before Memphis can’t climb out of it, and we thought of this seminal question again this week when the electrifying young mayor of Newark, Cory Booker, came to town. Newark is...

We have two answers to that question on this week’s show. First we’ll speak with Dan Biederman. He’s the co-founder of the Bryant Park Corporation in New York, a private organization that transformed Bryant...