Author: Smart City Memphis

‘Tis the season to be jolly and to cherish our children.However, some Democratic county commissioners and some Republican Shelby County school board members seem intent on using children during this holiday season in ways that...

The Memphis Charter Commission shouldn’t draw up the ethics laws for city government that its members have been discussing.That’s because it needs to be done by Memphis City Council. The Council owes it to its citizens,...

The recent news conference by Attorney General Bill Gibbons featured his now familiar political bump and grind in announcing that he is cracking down on the nonpolitical version found in Memphis’ “anything goes” strip...

As a general rule, governments and public agencies do relatively poor jobs of communicating. Unfortunately, that’s especially true for Memphis City Schools, and it’s regrettable, because if there’s any public entity who needs to...

Every one with Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools put on a happy face last week as they emerged from a meeting about an agreement for handling the students in the area to be annexed by Memphis, but the chances of...

Imagine a Learning City where everything – literally everything – is turned into an opportunity to teach something new and all day, everyday is considered a teachable moment.Kevin Crowley is director of the...

The announcement by Metrotimes’ cultural editor that she was leaving Detroit shocked some people there, but here, it feels unsettling, because all of us know someone who has said something like this. The question is: what...

It’s official. Memphis is weird.For those of us who decided to spend our lives here, that’s one of the things we like most about this place, but a recent report by Chicago-based CEOs For Cities (headed up by Memphian and founder...

It’s that special time of the year when we celebrate the past and commemorate important things in our lives. In that vein, it’s time to pause and observe the first anniversary of an important event in our community’s life –...

Cities have always been hotbeds of innovation. This week, our guests offer perspectives on innovation both from the past and the future.Steel Cities were once the very embodiment of innovation. Dr. Kenneth Thompson, associate...