Author: Smart City Memphis

The continuing controversy about tax freezes is about to come to a climax with the release of the long-awaited consultant’s report on Memphis and Shelby County’s economic development strategies and its overreliance...

Soon, we will enter yet another budget season for local government, and once again, there will be the regular hue and cry about the tax rate, bonded indebtedness, fund balances and the need for public sacrifice. But for the...

Just when you think you’ve heard it all when it comes to tax freezes, you find out there’s always one more way to give away county tax money.In that parallel universe where $60 million of tax dollars has entered the black hole...

On September 14, we wrote about the “Miracle at Mineola,” spotlighting a Democratic county executive whose brand of direct leadership conquered disastrous budgetary threats and halved the portion of his budget going...

Next time we’re recruiting an international corporate headquarters like International Paper to Memphis, maybe we should call the governor. In the case of Nissan North America, state government is giving almost $200 million in...

It was the quote that caught our eye. “For every dollar that comes into the city and county coffers, $1.57 will have to be paid in social costs,” argued Bill Wheeler, executive director of Families First, in his opposition to...

As a followup to yesterday’s blog about the influence of development interests over county school site decisions, this article from the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser indicates that some places are coming to grips with the...

Sadly, the city school board members blinked, never seeming to understand it was because the county school board’s finger was in their eye.Instead of ushering in a badly needed “new day” for school location decisions, in the...

In our blog of October 12, we bemoaned Memphis’ tendency to be cautious and ignore trends until they’re commonplace everywhere else, and then rush to copy them here. The subject on that occasion was Wi-Fi, which is being...

It’s now been 10 months since the special Shelby Farms Park Advisory Committee agreed on its recommendations for the 4,500 acres of parkland in the heart of our county, but so far, only one of the recommendations has been acted...