Author: Smart City Memphis

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a “question of the week,” and since it’s been awhile, we apologize for giving this exercise such an inaccurate name. Nevertheless, we have enjoyed the conversations and insights that have come...

We were reminded last night while we so rarely watch local TV news.The three leading newscasts in Memphis reported on the City Council endorsements and fundraising by longtime Democratic activist Karl Schledwitz as if it was...

The continuing schoolyard bickering between the Shelby County Board of Commissioners and Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Curtis Person would make for a mildly interesting sitcom except for the fact that tens of thousands of...

We’ve made no secret of the fact that we are big fans of Christopher Reyes and Sarah Fleming at Live From Memphis, and how they have been our city’s outpost in the digital world, largely unappreciated but...

Rarely do we get a good news story about teenagers. But this week is different. Teens in Memphis, many living in public housing, spent the summer mapping their neighborhood and its assets. And even they were surprised by what...

We were proud to see our colleague and friend, Carol Coletta, quoted again today in the New York Times in its coverage of what young jobseekers want.In answering the question – you’ve already read it here frequently: they are...

Here’s a city department that immediately attracted our attention – Office of Strategic Customer Services.Unfortunately, it’s in the city government for Dallas and not our City Hall, but it manages a program that seems like an...

It is understandable that African-Americans frequently feel more like prisoners of history than participants in it.After all, for more than a century, they were denied a voice – not to mention a vote – in public decisions that...

Our colleague Carol Coletta – now president of Chicago-based CEOs for Cities – recently spoke in Pittsburgh about the importance of young workers, a subject frequently explored here. There’s no one who...

Memphians aren’t really asking all that much.They aren’t looking to their mayor to paint grand visions or even act as a source of civic inspiration. These days, we’d be glad to settle for just getting the basics right.Instead,...