Author: Smart City Memphis

It’s time to resurrect tax increment financing (TIF) as a possible incentive for economic growth in Memphis and Shelby County and as an alternative to our overreliance on tax freezes.The TIF is the favored business incentive in...

Memphis loves its neighborhoods.All prevailing political conjecture to the contrary, there is no argument that the thread that runs through the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey of the Memphis MSA is our...

Ok, we admit that downtown panhandling is a hot button issue for us, so we were doing our best to support the latest anti-panhandling campaign rolled out by Memphis Police Department, Center City Commission and others.Our...

Frequently, a government agency does something that just makes you shake your head and wonder, “Do they really think we’re that stupid?”That’s a regular reaction when it comes to the actions of the Memphis and Shelby County...

Temple Israel Senior Rabbi Micah Greenstein spoke at Calvary Episcopal Church’s Lenten Luncheons last week on Earth Day. You can hear it at: http://www.calvaryjc.org/homiliesLent/20060321.htmlHere’s an abridged text...

Something seems to happen the moment that many legislators sit down in the chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly. They forget they represent every one in their districts, not just their narrow political bases. There was a...

A few months ago, Leadership Memphis concentrated on a provocative question, “What Makes a Great City?” and it heard from a highly informative panel of five local leaders, from a noted national urban observer, and from Denver...

From CEOs for Cities blog at www.ceosforcities.org:This week’s Sunday papers from around the country told a sad story about African-American children in America.The Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times examined two shootings in...

The meltdown of the finances of Detroit city government is becoming a stimulus for new regional thinking by adjacent counties concerned about the shut-down or cutbacks of city servcies that are of course regional assets. Surely,...

Who knew that Christopher Reyes’ fascinating livefrommemphis.com website was just the beginning? In the coming week, there are two Reyes-conceived projects that offer us a fresh look at our city.If you haven’t visited the Live...