Author: Smart City Memphis

Here’s what we learned from the recent controversy regarding Barack Obama’s minister: too few white Americans have close black friends.Otherwise, they would have heard it all before. And more. Even if they don’t rachet up to the...

We got the following email from Eric Matthews updating us on the campaign to bring Startup Weekend to Memphis:Thanks for your coverage of the vote (about Startup Weekend). We got it . For three days in late spring, approximately...

Majora Carter surprised everyone when she founded Sustainable South Bronx as a way to reclaim that community’s quality of life. She has grown that into a movement, Green for All, that is using the green economy to move...

The signs that Mayor Willie W. Herenton was going to be a short-timer began almost immediately after his reelection.At his swearing in, he seemed almost detached and the ceremony certainly lacked the fire in the belly passion...

It was only a few swearing-in ceremonies ago that Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton proclaimed that he was ushering in the era of the neighborhood.Today, with many Memphis neighborhoods hanging by a thread, he often is the man...

Paul Krutko is our kind of economic development director.A cornerstone of his program to sell San Jose: cultural development.In fact, his hometown in the heart of Silicon Valley is so serious about the connection between culture...

It’s our prediction that Memphis Area Transit Authority can give away rides on excessive ozone pollution days – rather than the 25 cents special fares it’s proposing – and it’s still not going to lure anyone aboard our city...

Stories of cities and the changes they endure over time always have something to teach us. Our guests this week are at the forefront of change in two American cities in two great neighborhoods.Bob Eury has for 23 years served as...

We understand Shelby County Government’s dire need for additional revenue to close a $16 million funding gap, but a fire sale of its interests in local sports facilities – The Pyramid, Mid-South Coliseum and Liberty Bowl –...

The decision by the University of Memphis to oppose plans for an on-campus stadium felt suspiciously like a well-scripted three-act play.In the end, the script called for the athletic committee of the Board of Visitors to weigh...