Author: Smart City Memphis

We’re always excited by the prospect of new faces and fresh voices willing to get involved in our city’s political process. To that end, we’ve been encouraged by reviews that we’ve heard about Denise Parkinson and by reports...

Federal investigators are justifiably thin-skinned when faced with widespread criticism in the black community that their prosecutions are racially-biased. African-Americans are equally justified in questioning whether just is...

Comparing the unique shops and restaurants of cities is one of the pleasures of traveling. Kaie Wellman has made it her business to find them, photograph them and present them to readers in her series of eat.shop.guides. Kaie is...

After 31 years of being maligned and ridiculed, it actually looks like Shelby County was being visionary when it created the mayor’s job.At least that’s the conclusion we draw from recent debate in the largest local government...

At first blush, the news items seem unrelated: the Memphis and Shelby County Music Commission is breaking its ties to the Music Foundation, and Memphis and Shelby County Port Commission policy sends projects to nearby...

The main problem with a siege mentality is that you don’t even know you have it. You lose the ability to recognize the true dimensions of a problem. You think cleverness can make things better and are mystified that it only...

Not too many years ago, our nation’s capital was considered unsafe, unappealing, and generally unlivable. But today, everywhere you look, there are cranes in the air, and housing prices have soared as redevelopment and new...

This post was previously published in Memphis Business Quarterly’s Winter Issue:Continued from the previous post…No longer dependent on “artist development” from record companies managing the modern equivalent of the...

This post was previously published in Memphis Business Quarterly in its winter issue:They were outsiders.Poor, unsophisticated, and living on the margins, they created music that carved out a mythic reputation for Memphis around...

It appears that the Task Force For Quality Education is about to unveil its final report, and it’s all beginning to sound like an old conversation.Champions for Memphis City Schools are expecting the worst, suspecting that the...