It’s often hard to translate policy into practice. That’s especially true when it comes to making downtown Memphis walkable and pedestrian-friendly rather than the present car-centric place w...
By Bill Day Former Memphian Bill Day is two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning. His cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons.
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/03/magamorphosis-a-cartoon-by-award-winning-bill-day/
The following are the numbers of visits to local and selected media websites for November 2023 – January 2024: The name of the publication is followed by the number of visitors and the ave...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/03/data-points-visits-to-news-media-websites/
“Students lose out as cities and states give billions in property tax breaks to businesses – draining school budgets and especially hurting the poorest students.” That was the headline in T...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/03/haiti-a-cartoon-by-award-winning-bill-day/
The local hotel-motel tax is 55 years old this year. It’s a funding source that has allowed Memphis and Shelby County to transform the tourism industry from a distant second thought in economi...
The Milken Institute’s 2024 Best-Performing Large Cities report is out and the Memphis MSA is headed in the wrong direction, falling 40 spots to #175 since last year. Although the Memphis regio...
The subtitle for this cartoon could easily be – “The Tennessee Legislature Is In Session.” A sincere thank you to Bill Day for this special cartoon. He is two-time winner of the RFK Jou...
This post was originally published in Planetizen March 4, 2024, and it is posted here with its permission. Planetizen is a platform that creates, curates, and amplifies stories and resources to...
Paint and polish can only gloss over the problems of the Shelby County Jail, which is housed in an antiquated building unfit for its present use. It was July 19, 1975, and that was the lede on th...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/03/new-jail-need-overshadowed-by-doable-plan-to-pay-for-it/
There is a discernable level of cynicism built into Memphis’ character as a defense against disappointment, but for now, some level of optimism is not out of the question. There’s new thinkin...
By Jeff Hulett LifeDoc Health is gearing up for The Second Annual Healthier Memphis Gala being held Friday, March 8 at 5:30 pm at the Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry Road. The chefs alone ...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/02/putin-crime-scene-a-cartoon-by-award-winning-bill-day/
This post is in observance of Black History Month. It was previously posted April 2, 2018: The meeting between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Memphis Invaders is a largely forgotten footnote ...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/02/when-the-memphis-invaders-met-dr-king/
The devil is always in the details – and that’s especially true in politics and government – but Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s idea for creating a director of public safety is a promising mo...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/02/mayor-young-to-appoint-director-to-reimagine-public-safety/
I received two comments to last week’s blog post, Memphis Losing Population is Nothing New, that I am pulling out to post here. The blog post pointed out how 170,000 people moved out of the 1...
Simple rule in life: the best way to avoid being called a racist is not to act like one. That seems straightforward enough, but Republican state legislators just can’t quit the behavior that ...
Some business leaders recently expressed their concern about Memphis’ population loss. Better late than never. The truth is that Memphis’ population has been dropping since 1970, and by 2...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/02/memphis-losing-population-is-nothing-new/
The Chandell Ryan era has begun for the Downtown Memphis Commission and anyone who cares about downtown should stand with her to turn around the present state of the area. She assumes the preside...
From 1:30 to 3:30 pm on Saturday, February 3 at Memphis Black Arts Alliance, 985 S Bellevue Blvd, 11-year-old author, illustrator, and South Memphis native Aubrielle Nixon, is having her first bo...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/02/11-year-olds-book-signing-tomorrow/
If anyone ever doubts the passion of Memphians for their community or the reservoir of talent being applied to solving its problems, the question was answered with the thoughts and resolutions fo...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/02/recapping-41-memphians-thoughts-for-2024/
As we look ahead to a new year, I have asked some Memphians who care deeply about their city’s future for their resolutions or reflections for 2024. I am deeply grateful for their thoughtful su...
https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2024/01/thoughts-for-2024-shelley-moore/