Author: Smart City Memphis

There is probably no tougher issue for urban leaders than education. Fads come and go but test scores never quite live up to the promises.Dr. Ken Wong is a national expert on education accountability and he has found a...

Our colleague Carol Coletta was interviewed by USA Today about the need for cities to pay attention to ways to keep young people in cities after they have started their families. It’s a special challenge for Memphis, but...

Out in the hinterlands, calls for consolidation are undercut when Memphis city government can’t even manage to get the basics right, such as enforcing panhandling laws in downtown Memphis.We’ve not written lately about the...

He who has the gold makes the rules. That’s always been especially true when it comes to local musicians.After all, they’ve watched over the years as big ideas have been chased and big promises have been made while the small...

Grist magazine has published its articles on its trip down the river, including its reporting about the Memphis riverfront. It’s always interesting to see ourselves as others see us. Here’s the link.

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,...