Author: Smart City Memphis

There are some things that transcend the day-to-day retail politics of Memphis and the personality-driven coverage of the news media.Surely 115,000 Memphis City Schools students are at the top of that list.There is no one who...

Consolidation is equal parts fact and fiction. Remarkably, more than 35 years of spasmodic attention has done little to illuminate consolidation. For that reason, our past week’s posts have been dedicated to the issue that...

In this primary season, change seems to be the word voters most want to hear. Networking is the foundation of trust relationships that make change possible. Our guests this week are deeply engaged in understanding and building...

It is inevitable.It’s the “consolidation moment,” the time in every meeting where the future of Memphis is being discussed. It’s when someone holds up the merger of city and county governments as the answer to all that ails our...

Finally, Shelby County has the chance to have a “strong mayor” form of government.Through sheer force of personality, county mayors have created the perception that they are equals to their Memphis counterparts. But,...

This is the latest in a series of posts this week on consolidation:Cities with consolidated governments are the exception, not the rule. Of the 3,141 counties and 20,000 municipalities in the U.S., a grand total of 35 are...

Consolidation is once again a hot topic in Memphis and Shelby County following Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton’s latest call for merging city and county governments.No community in the U.S. has talked more about consolidation...

Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton is right.The logic of consolidating Memphis and Shelby County Governments is painfully obvious. There is no city and county in the country where merging the governments makes as much sense.And...

Today, we drove down Winchester from FedEx World Headquarters to Lamar Avenue and drove by a former home in Hickory Hill. Later, we drove down Germantown Parkway from Germantown to Wolfchase.They were two depressing drives. With...

Memphis businesses have long complained to local government and the Chamber of Commerce that graduates of Memphis City Schools are unprepared to work for them.University of Memphis has long had special remedial classes for...