Author: Smart City Memphis

Our question of the week (asked last Thursday but still open for your comment), is:Knowing that small advantages can become huge economic advantage, what should Memphis be keying on?Several answers so far focus on creativity. In...

It could be called the Memphis Surcharge.It’s the extra taxes Memphians pay as a result of the disproportionate percentage of children who live here.It’s largely the reason that the tax rate in Memphis and Shelby County is so...

Our topic this week is urban innovation but on two very different subjects. In his forthcoming book, Engaging Art: The Next Great Transformation of America’s Cultural Life, Steven Tepper calls on urban and arts leaders to...

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a “question of the week,” and since it’s been awhile, we apologize for giving this exercise such an inaccurate name. Nevertheless, we have enjoyed the conversations and insights that have come...

We were reminded last night while we so rarely watch local TV news.The three leading newscasts in Memphis reported on the City Council endorsements and fundraising by longtime Democratic activist Karl Schledwitz as if it was...

The continuing schoolyard bickering between the Shelby County Board of Commissioners and Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Curtis Person would make for a mildly interesting sitcom except for the fact that tens of thousands of...

We’ve made no secret of the fact that we are big fans of Christopher Reyes and Sarah Fleming at Live From Memphis, and how they have been our city’s outpost in the digital world, largely unappreciated but...

Rarely do we get a good news story about teenagers. But this week is different. Teens in Memphis, many living in public housing, spent the summer mapping their neighborhood and its assets. And even they were surprised by what...

We were proud to see our colleague and friend, Carol Coletta, quoted again today in the New York Times in its coverage of what young jobseekers want.In answering the question – you’ve already read it here frequently: they are...

Here’s a city department that immediately attracted our attention – Office of Strategic Customer Services.Unfortunately, it’s in the city government for Dallas and not our City Hall, but it manages a program that seems like an...