Author: Smart City Memphis

A report by consultants writing Memphis/Shelby County’s new Unified Development Code is “must reading” for anyone who believes that it isn’t too late for our community to control sprawl, invest in the urban core and save county...

Wendi Thomas writes that we need day care van drivers who do their job. Here’s an alternative: We don’t need day care van drivers at all. We need day care close to home, and let parents be responsible for getting...

There is the classic Buddhist parable, told in several variations, that goes something like this:There is a man running through the jungle, fleeing from a tiger. It is clear that it is only a matter of time before the tiger...

Many politicians secretly love reappraisal. It is a time of complicated assessment equations, mind-boggling financial and legal nuances, public confusion about the processes, and, despite rhetoric to the contrary, windfalls for...

I got homesick today for Memphis. So I took the RTA down to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in downtown Cleveland.It would be a gross oversimplification to say, as many do, that this museum “lost” this museum and it...

Coach Cal needs to tell the Memphis Regional Chamber about the dangers of “bulletin board motivation” for your opponents. As the University of Memphis head basketball coach, Calipari has warned his team that smart...

Bill Freeman was buried yesterday. Somehow the world seems less fun.Bill was a retired Air Force colonel, with a booming voice that could keep you in rapt attention if he was merely reciting the alphabet. It was a voice that...

It’s a glimpse of Memphis as it could have been. The spur that connects I-40 to Highway 51 (Thomas Street) is a 1.2 mile green escape from the billboards that dominate Memphis’ expressways. On the other hand, Bill Morris Parkway...

Vancouver co-director of planning Larry Beasley was my guest today on “Smart City.” Vancouver is regularly named as one of North America’s most appealing cities. I wanted to know why, so I asked Larry.According...

Yesterday, I took a walk around the core of downtown, the part of downtown most visitors see. Walking up and down Union, Monroe and Madison between Front and Third, I saw very few people on the street, new (and old) vacancies,...