Author: Smart City Memphis

Let’s be frank: tax freezes are about land development, not economic development. That’s why you may have noticed that the leading defenders of the current Memphis and Shelby County Industrial Development Board’s Payment in Lieu...

From Boston Globe:There’s something for everyone at the beautiful, civilized Millennium ParkCHICAGO — This city’s new Millennium Park is the best urban public park I’ve ever seen, anywhere, and that...

From New York Times:An ‘Emerald Necklace’ May Grace Urban AtlantaCity leaders are looking to transform an abandoned 22-mile railroad loop into a civic jewel of parks and public transit.ATLANTA — Kudzu smothers the...

Yesterday, Leadership Memphis concentrated on a provocative question, “What Makes a Great City?” and it heard from a highly informative panel of five local leaders, from a noted national urban observer, and from Denver Mayor...

From Nashville Tennessean:Mayor Bill Purcell set about the business of establishing his legacy yesterday, telling his cabinet to use the next 22 months to “get ‘er done” on sidewalks, courthouse renovations and...

City government has dug a financial hole that an elephant could fall into, and that’s only fitting, because there is an elephant in the room every time the city’s budgetary collapse is discussed.First, the hole. With this week’s...

In last Thursday’s blog, “Lack Of A Green Vision Leaves The City’s Reputation Black and Blue,” we were critical of Memphis Mayor Herenton’s plans to sell neighborhood parks at a time when they are needed as pivotal anchors...

Hurricane Katrina was an event that revealed clearly the fissures that exist in the divergent world views of whites and African-Americans. Tennessee Waltz is another.Here, white Commercial Appeal editorial writers flippantly...

From the Nashville Tennessean:Mayor Bill Purcell said yesterday he will not seek a third term of office, ending months of speculation and creating a wide-open field for the August 2007 race for his successor.The timing of...

You can forgive environmentalists for flashbacks to the Overton Park expressway controversy in the 1970’s as they watch the relentless push to to construct the massive Walnut Grove Road/Humphreys Boulevard redesign although a...