Treating The Aquifer As The Miracle It Is
Later this year, in December, Protect Our Aquifer will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Apr 9, 2026 | City of Memphis Government, Economic Development, Health | 0
Later this year, in December, Protect Our Aquifer will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Mar 25, 2026 | Economic Development | 0
Part 1, Monday, March 23, 2026 – Note: Memphis’ hub of innovative thought and action...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Mar 23, 2026 | Data Points, Economic Development | 0
Memphis regularly extols achievements in its rearview mirror while ignoring the potential right in...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Mar 10, 2026 | Economic Development, Regionalism, Uncategorized | 0
The December 1, 2025, Smart City Memphis blog post offered a historical context for the multiple...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Feb 19, 2026 | Economic Development, Federal Government, Federal Policy, Taxation | 0
When the federal government introduced Opportunity Zones (OZs) as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Jan 14, 2026 | Arts and Culture, City of Memphis Government, Downtown Revitalization, Economic Development | 1
Part 1 of this post can be read here. ** The Mud Island Amphitheater is an issue that offends few...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Jan 8, 2026 | City of Memphis Government, Data Points, Economic Development, Leadership, Planning and Urban Design, Shelby County government | 0
As this blog approaches its 21st year, looking back at the past two decades conjures up events...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Jan 2, 2026 | City of Memphis Government, Economic Development, State Government | 4
By Susan Adler Thorp In the many years I’ve observed and written about local business, government,...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Dec 23, 2025 | City of Memphis Government, Downtown Revitalization, Economic Development, Parks and Greening, Tourism | 0
After months of high-powered negotiations involving Memphis in May International Festival, Memphis...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Dec 18, 2025 | Economic Development, Education, Talent | 0
This blog post was previously published as my City Journal column in January, 2025, Memphis...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Dec 1, 2025 | Economic Development, Regionalism | 1
About every 10 years or so, Memphis discovers regionalism. That seems once again to be where we...
Read Moreby Smart City Memphis | Nov 4, 2025 | Data Points, Economic Development, Poverty | 2
The singular failure of economic development plans in Memphis is their inability to reduce the...
Read More
by Bill Day. Memphian Bill Day is two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning. His cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons. Cartoons Archive →
Since 2005, this has been Smart City Consulting’s blog with the aim of connecting the dots and providing perspective on issues and policies shaping Memphis. Editor and primary author is Tom Jones, City Journal columnist at Memphis magazine, author of two books and a museum exhibition, and consultant on public policy and strategic planning. He has written articles for MLK50, The Commercial Appeal, and USA Today. The blog was called one of the most intriguing blogs in the U.S. by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change; The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal said it “provides some of the most well-thought-out thinking about Memphis’ past, present, and future you’ll find anywhere,” and the Memphis Flyer said: “This incredibly well-written blog sets out to solve the city’s ills – from the mayor to MATA – with out-of-the-box thinking, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ideas.” If you have questions, submissions, or ideas for posts, please email Tom Jones, at tjones@smartcityconsulting.com.