Author: Smart City Memphis

A few weeks ago, we got a supportive email from Melissa who recommended that we add a “suggestion box” to the blog so readers could present their recommendations and strategies to address important issues facing Memphis. We...

Continued from yesterday:Questions That Need To Be AnsweredAll in all, the disposition of the case raises a number of questions about the local justice system, but before that important conversation could even take place, a...

There’s no polite way to put it: the Attorney General’s Office blew it.In negotiating a plea deal that gave a 15-year prison sentence to a man who killed an employee of Shelby County Government, burned his body with diesel and...

We can’t say we were surprised when recent reports indicated that the recent Project for Public Spaces workshop about the riverfront was essentially a non-event. If you follow the work of PPS, it was all as predictable as Chris...

Sustainability is the new imperative for urban leaders. And now there is a new way to encourage and even measure a community’s sustainability. It’s called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for...

It’s always good to get out of Memphis.There’s nothing like some distance to help with an accurate perspective of our hometown.We’ve been working out of town this week, and when this happens, times, it’s always surprising to us...

While there is little correlation between economic development spending and the economic growth of cities, it is nonetheless true that Memphis’ economic development organizations are underfunded.Quoting the latest study on...

Educating children from America’s cities may be the toughest challenge urban leaders face. This week, we’ll talk to three guests who are deep into meeting that challenge.Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson is the...

There is the political axiom that when the right people and the right timing align, they can change the world. This week, they did in fact change the world of Shelby Farms Park. The right people were Laura Adams, AC Wharton and...

It seems likely that this week’s visit by Project for Public Spaces (PPS) will be a missed opportunity.We were hopeful when we heard that the New York City-based organization would be coming to Memphis at the invitation of...