Grammy Award Winner Common’s Leadership Advice
From National League of Cities: In a speech peppered with rap and inspirational quotes, Academy and Grammy-award winner Common admitted that he’s often asked why he doesn’t...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 26, 2019 | Uncategorized
From National League of Cities: In a speech peppered with rap and inspirational quotes, Academy and Grammy-award winner Common admitted that he’s often asked why he doesn’t...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 22, 2019 | Economic Development, Education, Talent
We’ve been writing for almost 15 years about the importance of college-educated workers to a city’s economic success. Portland, Oregon, economist and...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 20, 2019 | Data Points
By Jimmie Covington It is now less than six months before the once-a-decade federal census will be taken on April 1. The results of the population headcount will affect a lot of things and will...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 18, 2019 | Downtown Revitalization, Economic Development, Parks and Greening
On July 23, 2018, we wrote that in four years, if all goes well, we won’t even be able to recognize the CBD. Eight months ago, we wrote that “after more than...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 15, 2019 | Shelby County government, Taxation, Uncategorized
Shelby County Tax Breaks By Year All of these amounts are from the Shelby County Trustee and only reflect the Shelby County taxes given up through tax breaks by nine...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 13, 2019 | City of Memphis Government, Downtown Revitalization, Economic Development, Shelby County government, Taxation
In light of Shelby County Mayor’s reservations about the way this community, with its high poverty rate, continues to participate in a massive transfer of wealth from...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 11, 2019 | City of Memphis Government, Economic Development, Shelby County government, Taxation
Every dollar unnecessarily given away for a tax freeze to a corporation or developer is a dollar that can’t be spent to educate children, to protect neighborhoods, to...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 8, 2019 | Uncategorized
For about a decade and a half, Carol Coletta has interviewed the leading urban thinkers in the U.S. and she continues these incisive and provocative conversations at Memphis’ own Kudzukian network on her new podcast, ...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 6, 2019 | Civil Rights
The victimhood of older white men is apparently a fixture of our age – all the way from Sevier County, Tennessee, to the nation’s capital. years of dismissing white privilege and...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Nov 4, 2019 | Poverty
We were expecting better from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. It seemed when he was running for office that he cast himself in the compassionate conservative mode, but his...
Read Moreby Bill Day. Memphian Bill Day is two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning. His cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons. Cartoons Archive →
Since 2005, this has been Smart City Consulting’s blog with the aim of connecting the dots and providing perspective on issues and policies shaping Memphis. Editor and primary author is Tom Jones, columnist at Memphis magazine, author of two books and a museum exhibition, and consultant on public policy and strategic planning. Smart City Memphis was called one of the most intriguing blogs in the U.S. by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change; The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal wrote: “Smart City Memphis provides some of the most well-thought-out thinking about Memphis’ past, present, and future you’ll find anywhere,” and the Memphis Flyer said: “This incredibly well-written blog sets out to solves the city’s ills – from the mayor to MATA – with out-of-the-box thinking, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ideas.” If you have questions, submissions, or ideas for posts, please email Tom Jones, at tjones@smartcityconsulting.com.