The Grand Old Party Can’t Find A Grand New Party

The national Republican Party seems loathe to learn the lessons of the past election.

Because of it, they are caught up in rhetoric that only makes it look either tone-deaf to the last election's message or simply ridiculous. After all, it doesn't seem to have dawned that the same old play book won't create the same old fault lines of race, income and geography that it has perpetuated and deepened for partisan advantage.

National leaders seem to be falling back into their old Rovian comfort zone, where the emphasis is on red herrings, rhetorical excesses and phony controversies aimed solely at getting 51% even it means discouraging people to stay away from the polls. It's not about creating a national vision or consensus. It's always about scorched earth policies that induce fear as a political philosophy.

There's something so cynical about this approach – regardless of which party does it – but the Republican Party went from majority party to minority party as a result of its own cynicism, but its national leadership can't shake free of the wishful thinking that it's all just cyclical.

It's No Joke

As a result, they can with straight faces chide the Obama Administration for the economic stimulus funding, calling it wasteful, expensive and too much spending. It's as if they expect a bout of national amnesia to have set, forgetting that the Republican Administration and the Republican Congress produced the largest deficits in history, presided over the largest expansion of the federal government and blurred the lines between government and capitalism so much that the former was seen as the instrument for the latter.

That said, if the Republican leaders inside the Beltway are tone deaf, Tennessee Republicans are just plain deaf. Here, the Tennessee Republican Party seems oblivious to the changes that the public wants in tone and in acting that compromise (the grease that oiled the democratic machinery in a simpler time) is unacceptable. As a result, they come off more often as dilettantes than elected leaders.

In moments of humorous insight, Democratic strategists joke that Democratic organization is a conflict in terms. They joke that Democrats can always find a way to screw up a two-car funeral, so the best Republican strategy is to stay patient until Democrats implode.

Meanwhile, Republican strategists joke that their party can always find a way to overplay its power and treat their election as a coronation that justifies their imperial thinking and strident policies, so Democrats' best strategy is to make Republicans as powerful as possible.

Wanted: Some Answers

Seemingly oblivious to the risk that they become mere parodies of themselves, Republican members of Congress gravely express their newfound concern about too much federal spending. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Republican mayors and governors are looking for ways that their federal taxes can flow back to their states in the form of money for new infrastructure, jobs and innovation.

As expected, the national media rarely ask the follow-up questions. What's their solution to the economic meltdown? If they are now so concerned about the disastrous effect of this nearly trillion dollar program, where was the concern when they blew a hole in the federal budget to send huge tax windfalls to the wealthiest five per cent of Americans and create the largest deficits in history?

Because of the national media's predilection to believe that the "inside baseball" of Washington politics matters more to us than the Main Street politics of U.S. cities, we rarely see the Republican leadership in the hinterland that is hailing the importance of the economic stimulus funding - the big city mayors (yes, there are some who are Republicans) who have seen urban issues virtually ignored for a decades.

It's no secret that legislators can make all these grand statements because they don't have to manage the fall-out that comes from their flights of political pandering, such as the ill-conceived ideas as the Tennessee Republican Party's idea to turn parks and bars and public places into potential shooting galleries. Meanwhile, those of us who aren't packing heat apparently don't deserve the right to even know who in the neighborhood or in our sphere of work and play is so in love with their weapons that they carry them with them.

An Air Ball

Frankly, we make it a general practice not to go to places where we need to carry firearms, but amazingly, in the combined couple of centuries of the people here, no one yet has wished for a handgun during an evening out on the town. Maybe, Republican state legislators like Rep. Curry Todd could support a "Dodge City" law. Every one can pack their favorite six-shooter, but they have to check them at the door. They can always pick them up again when they leave to go back out to the big, bad city.

To those who judge Mr. Todd by his regularly inane legislative positions, we hasten to point out that although he was a great basketball player, sometimes sports acumen just isn't the same as leader acumen. Even the small matter of the U.S. Constitution – something a number of Republicans have gotten used to ignoring in recent years – didn't dissuade state legislators from a silly amendment steamrolling through the Tennessee Legislature that would outlaw the posting online of people who have gun permits.

This flurry of activities to pander to the gun lobby was triggered (excuse the pun) by the apparently treacherous decision by The Commercial Appeal to give the public access to public records by posting a searchable database of gun permit holders on its website. There's public information about all of us floating around on public websites and some private websites, but in an age when our privacy is regularly assaulted, the party faithful here decide that its gun owners who deserve all the attention, not any of us who may have had our phones tapped in recent years.

As for Mr. Todd, his response to whether this kind of ill-considered action conflicted with the First Amendment right to freedom of the press suggested too many dunks where his head hit the rim: "It's no concern of mine." As Commercial Appeal editor Chris Peck seemed to be trying to point out in one of his Sunday columns, while we have 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, somehow, we're supposed to believe that the Second Amendment trumps all the others.

The Old West (Tennessee)

In this issue, the difference between the pandering of Republican legislators and the responsibilities of Republican officials who are actually managers of public services was stark. To this end, Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy called the Tennessee gun slinger law "ill-advised" and suggested wisely that guns in parks just don't seem like good public policy. "We've worked hard to create an environment that feels safe."

The ways of the Tennessee Legislature are always baffling to us mere mortals, but this obsession with guns sounds like a case of castration anxiety run amok.

Not content to become just one of the minions in the headline-hunting department, East Memphis and Germantown State Representative Brian Kelsey advanced one of his regular outrageous ideas, this time asking his colleagues to urge the governor to turn down federal stimulus money. As one legislator on his side of the aisle said: "Is there nothing that he won't say to get in front of a TV camera? Sometimes, I think he thinks that he's still at Student Council meetings."

That sounds a little too unkind considering the need for fresh young faces in our political system. That's why we keep hoping that Rep. Kelsey will eventually find his way and his balance. He's too smart and too attractive a candidate to squander his opportunity to contribute to the progress of his state, becoming a punch line to many people in Nashville and running the risk of being so marginalized and so strident that he's one of those people who wander the halls of the legislature with little ability to create a voting bloc or to influence serious legislation.

All of these Republican antics might be humorous if they were not occurring in the midst of the worst economic crisis in 60 years. At a time when the unemployment rate is soaring, when foreclosures are climbing and jobs are being eliminated across all sectors, our legislators are actually spending their energy on gun bills and political theater.

All in all, it makes us nostalgic for Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.

This Week On Smart City: Getting Resilient And Getting Real In Our Cities

This week, we'll speak with two people with grand ideas for the future of city living.

First,there will be Tim Beatley, co-author of the book Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. He says it will take intelligent planning and visionary leadership for cities to respond to environmental and economic crises now and in the future.

And we'll speak with architect Bernard Zyscovich. Bernard has designed many buildings all over the U.S. but he's turned his eye to urban design in his new book, Getting Real About Urbanism: Contextual Design for Cities.

Smart City is a syndicated, weekly hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life: the people, places, ideas and trends that affect us all. Host Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, talks with national and international public policy experts, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others on the pulse of city life for a penetrating discussion on urban issues.

Smart City is broadcast at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sundays on WKNO-FM, but it is also webcast and podcast so you can listen to it anytime you like. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.

City Council Still Right On School Funding

Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner cash says: “Arguing over who should fund schools is not good for children.”

Wrong.

Editorial writers say Memphis City Council acted rashly and as a result, it left the city schools in a precarious financial position.

Wrong again.

To the superintendent, we can only say that debating who should fund schools is precisely the right argument for this community to be having, because finally, it gets the focus where it belongs – on equitable taxes for Memphians.

To editorial writers, we can only say that City Council acted courageously, and because of them, we are finally, after 30 years of talk, talk, and more talk, having the right discussion. More to the point, precisely because of the gutsy members of the City Council, the first serious, actionable plan for single source funding of schools is taking shape and is likely to yield real results.

Fairness For The Future

Before school supporters narrowly define this as a “children are our future” rhetorical debate, let’s remember that this is about something even more fundamental. It’s about tax fairness and fair play.

No one is suggesting that it’s not in all of our best interests – not to mention our common humanity – to pay for the education of our children. It does in fact take a village and we all need to be villagers in that pursuit.

But the village doesn’t only have children. It has elderly people, especially the significant percentage here who live in poverty, it needs an economy that doesn’t play down to our low skill levels but helps to improve them, and it’s about neighborhoods that are connected, walkable and served by high-quality public transit.

In other words, the village is about more than one special interest or one group of people. It’s about serving the interests and needs of all of them and in ways that keeps one group from disproportionately paying the price for every one else or that provides fair play for all needs of the group.

Lewis Carroll Financing

As for us, we think single source funding of schools would be a major step in eliminating the “we versus they” approach that grips too many issues in our village. In other words, it’s time for our village not to be Memphis or Germantown or Bartlett. It’s time for our village to be all of Shelby County, a place with one future, one voice and one commitment to educating our children (even though 75% of us do not have children in school).

O.K., we’ve belabored the village analogy to the breaking point, but what we are suggesting is that there is no logical argument to justify why Memphians have to pay twice for public education while every one else in Shelby County pays once.

Let’s say it again just to make sure every one gets it. No property tax money from the City of Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Millington and Arlington go to fund schools. Meanwhile, Memphians not only pay for schools in their county property tax bill, but they pay for it again with their city taxes. No one else in this county does that – or has ever done that – except Memphians.

Meanwhile, those same small cities use their lower tax rates and their schools as lures to pull people out of Memphis. And Memphians are forced to help make it possible. Or put another way, Memphians not only pay twice for schools, but they are being forced to participate in a tax structure that encourages people to move out of their city, which in turn exacerbates the tax burden on them.

It’s enough to make Alice feel that the Mad Hatter made good sense.

Can You Spell F-A-I-R?

The questions that every one, particularly Superintendent Cash and the ever-naïve School Commissioner Jeff Warren, should answer are these: What is fair about Memphians paying twice for public services that every one else gets with one tax payment? What is fair about those whose median incomes are less to pay twice for public services when those who make more pay once?

Even a sixth grade math student can tell that it doesn’t add up. Even a sixth grade spelling student knows how to spell U-N-F-A-I-R.

In this way, Shelby County Chancellor Kenny Armstrong’s ruling that City of Memphis cannot reduce its funding to schools was not only unexpected by most observers, but if allowed to stand, it creates a tax disparity that is nothing less than quicksand for Memphis as it tries to become a city of choice to middle-class families and young families.

Perhaps, Memphians will be forced by the courts to pay twice for schools forever, but let’s make no mistake about what the consequences would be. It will create a future where fewer and fewer taxpayers will pay higher and higher taxes for schools and other services in a city more and more economically polarized.

Appealing For Fairness

Hopefully, appellate courts will give Memphis a ruling that won’t dramatically limit Memphis’ ability to succeed. In point of fact, Chancellor Armstrong’s ruling is likely to accelerate the troubling trajectory of our city. Chancery Court has always been the court where public opinion and local political dynamics seems to hold sway, so a favorable ruling on appeal for City of Memphis is not only justifiable but a necessity.

The irony of all this gnashing of teeth is that the Memphis City Schools’ operating budget is as large – if not larger – than City of Memphis. It’s always strange at the double standard in the intergovernmental family. Every issue involving schools is destined to take on the dimensions of a calamitous disaster, while any other part of government has its services treated as dispensable and always ripe for cuts.

So, it’s no surprise that some predict educational disaster if $57.4 million is cut from Memphis City Schools' almost $1 billion budget.

The notion – legal or logical – that Memphis is mandated to simply continue to pay the money to city schools as its tax base constricts, as consumption taxes dry up and more middle-income families leave is not just absurd public finance. It’s absurd law.

Being Punished Bad For Being Good

It paints a scenario in which Memphians – with their array of social and human service needs – see those programs shrink because of the stranglehold of school funding as a result of a state mandate.

It wasn’t too many years ago that City of Memphis provided significantly less funding for schools. Also, there was a widely held opinion – in both city and county mayors’ offices and in both city and county legal departments – that Memphis’ funding was discretionary. It could stop it whenever it liked, and as a result, City of Memphis increased school funding to higher and higher levels, but rather than getting a thank you note from city schools, they instead get served with a lawsuit.

It makes no sense (and surely there ought to be some layer of good sense in the law) that local taxpayers, through a Memphis City Council courageous enough to tackle this tax equity problem head-on, lose all rights to determine its priorities, its ability to pay for services and to align priorities to funding and ultimately, to have the ultimate flexibility to move around money in its budgets in times of crisis.

Here’s the problem: because of our state’s regressive tax structure and our anomalous bulge in children, all public services are fighting over a pie whose size is fixed and so every agency feels compelled to fight for its share. It’s a system destined to breed conflict and produce political dogfights over the crumbs falling off the table.

Leveling The Playing Field

As a result, we appreciate Memphis City Schools’ feeling that it has to fight for its share, but what could happen if its leaders told state government that it agrees with City of Memphis and that tax fairness to Memphians is of paramount importance. It’s a dream that will never occur, but at the least, school officials should become vehicles for a new understanding that education is not a municipal service. If it were otherwise, all other cities in Shelby County would be paying for schools, too.

It seems to us that rather than complicating the issue of tax equity with testy negotiations and discussions about global issues, couldn’t we just start with a simple premise: City of Memphis should fund the same services that the other towns do. It should not subsidize services outside of Memphis and its taxpayers should never pay twice for the same public service.

The state law that forbids local government from reducing its previous year’s school funding may sound on the surface like a commitment to kids, but in the end, it’s a prescription that erodes the kind of self-determination that every government deserves. After all, the law would require government to keep the same level of funding even as enrollment drops.

Said more precisely, Chancellor Armstrong is saying that despite the declining enrollment at Memphis City Schools, Memphians should never have the option of reducing its funding even if there are fewer students. In the end, perhaps all of us should be paying more for our schools, but neither district has made a convincing case that more money will cure what ails the two districts where students in both underperform.

Bredesen Administration Reminds Us Of Our Place

Even paranoiacs have enemies.

And while we fight the birthright to regard Nashville as the evil empire, we can’t summon the same attitude toward State of Tennessee government.

As witnesses for the prosecution, we call on the heads of three state departments – Economic and Community Development, Department of Human Services and Department of Education. Each of them is charged with benign neglect toward our city and possession of a Nashville-centric view of the world.

Distressed Logic

Case in point is the absurdity of the designation by state economic development bureaucrats of Nashville as an economically-distressed county. Meanwhile, we are treated as if there are no similar economic challenges here.

More to the point, this preferential treatment gives Nashville a serious advantage when our cities go head-to-head in recruiting and responding to the same business prospects. In point of fact, this simple designation means that Nashville gets twice as much in economic incentives as Memphis, or put another way, it means that Memphis gets about $2,000 from the state in incentives per job while Nashville gets more than $4,000.

Apparently, state officials think that our math skills are so weak that we can’t crack this simple equation -- when it comes to Nashville, there are rules and then there are rules for the rest of us. When this incentive-based program was created, it was actually aimed at helping out the limping economies of Tennessee’s rural counties.

Different Strokes For Different Folks

But when it comes to Nashville, all things are possible, so when the center of the universe experienced a couple of plant closings, Economic and Community Development acted as if Western Civilization hung n the balanced and classified Nashville as economically disadvantaged.

Unfortunately, this double standard exacerbates local government’s overreliance on tax freezes, which results in large part to the lack of a coherent, effective toolkit of economic incentives by state government. Because of this special treatment for Nashville, even more pressure is put on our economic development officials to cough up even more tax freezes.

A University of Memphis economist tells us that the unemployment rate here is likely to rise to 12% before things improve, and it’s worth remembering that a significant number of people aren’t even counted anymore because they don’t even look for work anymore.

Blowing Up The System

Nashville’s not the only place that’s losing jobs. And yet, somehow, it’s the only big city that seems to deserve the concern of state officials. But that theme has been relatively consistent for a Democratic Administration that acts like the homecoming queen that only speaks to us when it’s time for her election.

Strike One.

Meanwhile, Tennessee Department of Human Services cavalierly ended a 45-year program in which our Juvenile Court collected child support payments. While papering their justification with buzzwords like “performance-based,” “collection goals” and “competitive process,” the decision to cut ties with our local court felt most like the extension of the partisan dispute about whether a second Juvenile Court judgeship should be created.

That Certain Smell

While we’ve agreed with Juvenile Court Judge Curtis Person on occasion and agreed with Shelby County Commissioners at other times, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that the Bredesen Administration is more intent on weakening the Republican incumbent than on strengthening the collection of child support payments.

There’s several things about this one that has a certain odor rising from it. First, if Juvenile Court was such a failure in hitting the benchmarks set by the state, why wasn’t it eliminated from even submitting a proposal?

Second, Maximus, the Virginia-based company, got the five-year contract, although the out-of-state firm lost its contract in five other West Tennessee counties for inefficiency and customer complaints.

The Lowest Of All

Third, state government touted the fact that Maximus was the lowest bid, while we’d be more interested in knowing that they represented the “lowest and best” bid, because some clear judgment is missing if the evaluation was essentially based on price.

Finally, DHS Commissioner Virginia Lodge’s letters and messages about a possible change have the heavy ring of a decision that was already made and then a justification was developed for it. In her op-ed column in The Commercial Appeal this week, she expressed a lot of opinions, but never offered a single statistic to back them up.

For us, because of the importance of child support payments to a significant number of Memphis mothers and because of the imposing impact of a now fractured system, the state owes Memphis more than political platitudes and justifications. DHS officials owe all of us a detailed, rational explanation of why it nuked a program that really didn’t need fixing.

Strike Two.

Failing All Round

Then, there’s the Tennessee Department of Education, which continues to show a special commitment to the Nashville school district that’s never been shown here although students in the capital’s schools are actually outperforming ours.

The actions of DOE reaffirm one thing that we’ve always suspected: there is no longer any question that Nashville schools receive preferential treatment. It’s been answered conclusively by the DOE’s actions in Nashville and its inaction in Memphis. When Memphis City Schools found itself on the state’s high-priority list, the same as Nashville today, there was the unmistakable feeling that DOE couldn’t wait to get out of here.

It was only a few years ago that the Department of Education, given a chance to force transformative change in our district, accepted the so-called and aptly named “Proposal for Expenditures of Additional State Revenues,” largely a list of everybody’s favorite ideas with no thread of academic philosophy underpinning them.

K-K-K

Compare that to Nashville. There, the DOE mobilized into action and focused its considerable influence and resources on turning things around, taking unprecedented action to change the organizational structure of the Nashville district. State officials even appointed three associate superintendents to oversee instruction, along with new leaders for the district’s federal, gifted and special ed programs.

The state replaced 60 principles and assistant principals who were considered ineffective and the curriculum was changed to emphasize literacy and numeracy. Small learning academies were opened at some high schools along with more career and technical programs.

Strike Three. Unfortunately, it’s Memphis that’s out. In the cold.

Creating A Check List For The Future

Rather than selling themselves at a discount -- cheap land and cheap labor and tax giveaways – cities that are succeeding are investing in better workers, high-quality universities, quality of life and efficient public services.

So, what should we start doing right now to get ahead? We welcome your suggestions.

• Investments in Universities. Universities are seedbeds for the Knowledge Economy. Cities with research universities have a head start in this economy, because they create the innovation and the intellectual capital needed today. At the exact time when universities are crucial to success, state government is slashing budgets of higher education, and we must start thinking now about what we will do to elevate and improve our universities.

• Redevelopment in the Urban Core. Memphis has significant underdeveloped and vacant land. The infrastructure in these older areas has been paid for and their reuse makes the wisest investment of scarce public funds. If incentives should be given to anybody, it should be for the redevelopment of our neighborhoods, which are, after all, the backbone of our city's health.

• Balanced Transportation Policy. Memphis should lobby federal and state government to revamp its allocation regulations for urban areas. Too often, federal funding has continued traditional patterns of spending on new roads in suburban areas while neglecting the importance of investing in urban redevelopment and mass transit. Local government should encourage maximum flexibility for the use of these federal funds.

• Technology Clusters. Wise cities develop an area of specialization within the technology field based upon university research, biomedical assets, etc. Clusters provide a competitive edge and a critical mass that are important to economic growth. That’s why when we want to see the future, we need to look toward the Bioworks Foundation.

• Local Innovation. The best answers to the future begin on our own Main Street today. Solutions from another city transplanted or replicated are less successful because they are artificial. Our best answers are our own, authentic answers produced organically from a reservoir of innovation and creativity that is embedded in Memphis.

• Understanding Our Competitive Context. Memphis starts by understanding its competitive context, including market and demographic trends in the region and its strengths and weaknesses. Most of all, we need to use new measures that matter in the knowledge economy rather than on the indicators from old-style economic development. Memphis can find its distinctive niche to leap frog ahead of other cities, but it must be equally based on solid research and imaginative strategies.

• Fixing the Basics. Local government needs to concentrate on fixing the basics, such as safety, public services, land use, infrastructure and schools. Governments must look for ways to streamline their structure and improve public services. A foundation of efficient, effective public services is what successful economic growth is built on.

• Acting (As Well As Talking) Regionally. Memphis talks a good game of regionalism, but we’ve never truly engrained regional thinking into our plans and actions. Too often, we lapse into “we versus them” and “if you’re winning, we must be losing” attitudes. Economic activity and innovation occur in a regional context, and we ignore this at our peril. It is increasingly clear that Memphis and its suburbs are inextricably linked into a single economic unit, and Memphis shouldn't be the only city in the region saying this.

• Vibrant Culture and Entertainment Centers. To compete, Memphis must be an attractive, dynamic place. Vibrant arts and culture are powerful ways of creating the appealing, enjoyable quality of life needed to attract and retain the best and brightest young workers. Too often, we treat our distinctive culture as tourist amenities, but in truth, its value can be much broader since mining this special quality of life can be a chief determinant in workforce growth.

• Thinking and Acting Collaboratively. This requires a shift in leadership styles from traditional authoritarian models to a new environment of inclusion, mutual influence and community building. Opening the door wider to all segments of the community and inviting new voices to engage in decision-making is the mark of a mature and competitive city. Most of all, we must rid the halls of government with their "it's not your time yet" responses to any initiative shown by young leaders.

• A 21st Century Workforce. For Memphis to win in the race for economic prosperity, it needs smart and skilled workers producing goods and services characterized by innovation, knowledge and quality. If we are content to compete in the global economy by offering cheap wages, cheap land and cheap taxes, we are fighting for the bottom rungs of the economy. What’s needed is a team of public and private sector partners dedicated to building the skills needed for quality knowledge-based jobs, providing lifelong learning opportunities, improving the competitiveness of all workers and employers, connecting workforce development to economic needs and building a stronger education pipeline to produce skilled workers in the global economy.

• Competition on a Global Scale. To succeed, Memphis needs to develop cooperative networks and more sophisticated strategies for the global marketplace. Too often, international business is treated as an extension of traditional domestic economic development, and as a result, they often fail. Memphis needs a strategic plan of action tailored for the new world marketplace, and this includes helping business clusters gain access to global markets, finding opportunities for trade, investment and international partnerships and lobbying for federal policies that protect workers at high-risk for dislocation.

• Developing a Powerful Brand. Cities are no different from business. They need an authentic brand that tells the world who they are and what they stand for. Memphis needs a powerful brand, and it is not a slogan or a bumper sticker. A “real” city brand tells the rest of the country what we singularly stand for.

• High-Quality Eco-Assets. Preserved and protected open spaces, safe and attractive public spaces, better quality public sphere, greenbelts, clean air and water and outdoor recreation are not just wonderful public assets. More precisely, they are competitive advantages. Most of all, neighborhood parks must be treated as the heart and soul of our green assets.

• A Reputation for Tolerance. Today, new workers are recruited just as often from India as Indiana. Memphis is competing as much with the country of Georgia as the state of Georgia. In order to compete, Memphis must have a well-founded reputation for tolerance and respect for various cultures, races and religions. Cities known for their low levels of tolerance also become known for their low levels of economic growth.

Another Way Memphis Is Different

It's a tale of two cities, and only a short drive is needed to come face-to-face with the telling.

In Nashville, the drive takes you to Williamson County, the 11th wealthiest county in the U.S., with a median family income that's a staggering $95,470. Four nearby counties shatter the $55,000 mark.

Outside of Fulton County, Atlanta has five counties with median family incomes of more than $60,000, peaking with Fayette County's $85,794 and Cobb County's $77,447. In Indianapolis, Marion County gives way to Hamilton County and its $90,119 median family income. Three others top $55,000.

A Red Flag

Here, things are different. The other counties in the Memphis metro do nothing to improve income and education levels, raising a red flag for companies evaluating the region for new operations and investments.

Shelby County is ranked 200th in median family income, and in its Metropolitan Statistical Area, only DeSoto County manages to eke out over $50,000.

Meanwhile, 19.2 percent of Shelby Countians do not have a high-school degree and 25.3 percent have at least 16 years of education. That compares to 26.3 percent and 12.4 percent respectively for the other metro counties.

More Talk Than Walk

It's a troubling reality, particularly in light of a decade's worth of talk - and little walk - about the importance of the region.

Five years have passed since the Memphis Regional Chamber released the Memphis Region Sourcebook, the product of more than two years of work and costing almost $500,000. Intended to give form to the Governors' Alliance on Regional Excellence, the unique tri-state organization cheerleading the report, its 27 oversized pages of gripping graphics, key facts, an inventory of assets, and recommendations are artifacts of a flirtation with regional thinking.

That's too bad, because the report went to great lengths to identify opportunities for the region to learn how to work together on issues every one should care about: air and water quality, farmland preservation, heritage tourism, transportation, and workforce development. It was always hoped that the experience on these issues would inspire confidence to tackle the really tough ones -- think taxes.

Smart Taxes

More and more, some kind of regional tax pooling makes sense here. Without it, Memphis and Shelby County will inevitably be forced to take unilateral action like a payroll tax on the 88,000 people who commute into Shelby County.

Despite all conventional wisdom to the contrary, cities like Portland, Minneapolis, and Denver have actually used regional taxes as a way to unify their regions, and here, it could delight commuters by taking the payroll tax off the table as an option for city and county governments' ailing finances.

The existing tax structure is outdated and unfair, treating each jurisdiction as if it's self-contained and its interests are walled off from its neighbors. There's no connection between who uses roads, arenas, and museums, and who pays for them.

A Better Way

With no rationality and no imperative for regional cooperation, multiple jurisdictions claw for more of a finite tax pie, as Collierville did in pursuing a huge shopping center to get the huge sales taxes that came with it, and in the process, fueling sprawl and commercial zoning designed to create optimal taxes, rather than the optimal community.

In Minneapolis, where the suburbs subsidized the central cities 30 years ago, that situation was reversed when older suburbs were in decline and needed help. Governments put 40 percent of the growth of their commercial and industrial property tax base into a regional pool, and from it, several hundred million dollars a year are redistributed on regionwide priorities like public transit and light rail, parkland, water quality, and smart growth.

In Portland, a three-county, 24-city regional agency makes land use and trans-portation decisions and helps pay for regional services like the convention center, performing arts center, stadium, exposition center, and regional parks. In Denver, seven counties and 31 cities agreed to a regionwide sales tax to pay for light rail.

Future-Sharing

The Mid-South has the muscle to get it done. The Sourcebook called for creation of the Regional Congressional Caucus, which would take advantage of the Mid-South's six U.S. senators and six congressmen inside the Beltway, and the Mid-South Legislative Caucus to fight for shared priorities in the capitals of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

Challenges to the Memphis region are no respecters of state or county lines -- an aging workforce, too few 25- to 34-year-old workers, low educational attainment, racial divisions, and unsustainable sprawl. Sadly, there's a sense in the region outside Memphis that if the future of the city is about a middle-class exodus, entrenched poverty, and hollowed out, deteriorating neighborhoods, that is Memphis' problem, not theirs.

It's what psychiatrists call "magical thinking" with little connection to reality. There's nothing magical about the fact that regions are the competitive units for the new economy, and without a stronger regional platform, any economic growth plans for any part of the region are in jeopardy before they even begin.

But it's often forgotten here that there is no strong regional platform without an equally strong urban core. Too often, regionalism ends up being an olive branch held out by the largest city to the rest of the region, but sadly, it is often unreciprocated. The region can talk the talk of regionalism, but there's little change in behavior (think North Mississippi's recruitment of Memphis companies across the state line and the sprawl-inducing I-269 interstate).

Future Shock

In other words, it's time to understand that there is no such thing as a bright future for Germantown if Memphis doesn't have one. There is no such thing as DeSoto County's succeeding if Memphis fails.

That's why the economic stimulus package for our region is so important. It needs to be less about the region and much more about the city. It's a historic chance to strengthen the urban engine of our economy and to make sure that the rising tide most of all rises our urban boat.

Connectors Score Big Points For Cities

The New York Times sent a Valentine's card to Michael Heisley today with a cover story in the Sunday magazine based on this premise:

"The N.B.A. (learning from baseball) is discovering the power of new statistics and weird analytics. By these measures, the unsung and undervalued Shane Battier is a true all-star."

The article points out that while he isn't hailed for any gifts that are spectacular on the court, Mr. Battier nonetheless makes every one of his teams better than they were without him. For example, the article says the Grizzlies, the team with the worst won-loss percentage in NBA history, went to the playoffs when he played here and points out how the Houston Rockets' record suffered when he was out with an injury.

In other words, his value on the court seems to be as a connector who elevates every one else's game, creates the teamwork needed for success and brings disparate parts into greater efficiency.

Because Mr. Battier was always a favorite of ours and we thought the inability of the Grizzlies to recognize his value as the "face" of the team was a sign of bad things to come, we were pleased with his much-deserved time in the spotlight.

But as we read the article, we also thought of the value that people like him play in the life of successful cities. There are in fact some unheralded people, sometimes even undervalued, who play the same kind of role as connectors.

In Memphis, Mr. Battier played that role on the court, but he also brought energy to his charitable work while he was in Memphis. Clearly, we need more Shane Battiers in Memphis - people who can bring together disparate people behind a new commitment to change things, who can become the glue that holds together new collaborations and who can produce a new way of working on city challenges and capitalizing on opportunities.

In doing this, connectors elevate every one's game and become engines that spark new ideas and the increased confidence that often lies at the heart of new success.

This Week On Smart City: Learning About A Carless Downtown And Teaching America

Is it possible to design a downtown that boosts the economy and helps people get around without their cars?

Urban designers George Crandall and Don Arambula of the firm Crandall Arambula think so. They join us this week to talk about 21st century retail, re-concentrating a city's downtown and why parking is still important, even when you want people to drive less.

And we'll check in with Donique Nobles. Donique is a Memphis alumnus from Teach For America who now serves as the organization's recruitment director. She'll tell us about completing the program, and how she is now working to bring other bright young college graduates into the teaching profession.

Smart City is a syndicated, weekly hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life: the people, places, ideas and trends that affect us all. Host Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, talks with national and international public policy experts, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others on the pulse of city life for a penetrating discussion on urban issues.

Smart City is broadcast at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sundays on WKNO-FM, but it is also webcast and podcast so you can listen to it anytime you like. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.

Gritty Cities Like Ours Demand Strong Action

While Memphis has never been categorized as an old industrial city, it's always had similarities – deep urban challenges, grittiness and demographics – that give us more in common with these cities than Sunbelt cities.

We thought this again as we were re-reading a report by The Brookings Institution about the revitalization of older industrial cities, especially those in the Rust Belt. Truth be told, Memphis has always gotten a pass - and even favorable commentary - in these studies from Brookings because of its misunderstanding of the dynamics of our city’s population growth.

Most large urban cities like ours are landlocked, surrounded by suburban cities and bedroom towns, and as a result, their borders are fixed and permanent. While Mayor Willie W. Herenton seems to be attacked from all sides these days, he deserves credit for defeating the “tiny towns” movement that would have produced even great divisions here.

Down and Down

As a result of being surrounded, many cities spiral downward. Declining population leads to a weakened tax base that leads to deterioration of city services that leads to declining population. St. Louis, for example, once had a population within its city limits 500,000 larger than today, and Cleveland was once larger by 420,000 people.

Often, in looking at the raw population numbers, researchers are inclined to see Memphis as being in a positive growth cycle, but they assume that we are like other cities and our borders are also fixed. As a result of Tennessee’s liberal annexation laws, however, Memphis is able to maintain and increase its populations by taking in new land and new residents.

As a result, The Brookings Institution doesn’t include Memphis in many of its studies about cities in trouble, because, as we wrote in posts lately, our annexations masquerade as progress and mask what's really going on in our core city and the problems that are deepenening there. Nevertheless, we think the recommendations apply directly to our city.

On The Rebound

The report examined 302 U.S. cities and found that 65 are lagging behind their peers on eight indicators of well-being, notably Providence, Richmond, Shreveport, Rochester, Birmingham, St. Louis, Buffalo, Newark, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Miami, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Much of the problems in these cities stem from economies dominated by low-wage employment; entrenched, multi-generational poverty; high unemployment and unemployables, and low incomes and diminishing tax income. If these cities are to rebound, they have to keep their eye on the ball. They have lost the high-paying jobs of an industrial economy that has long since vanished, replaced by lower-wage jobs. Most damaging of all, the dominance of older established industries actually thwarts entrepreneurialism and new business creation.

Accompanying the heavy reliance on these industries are lower educational levels. In these 65 cities, less than 17 percent of their residents over 25 years of age have bachelor’s degrees. (In Memphis, it’s 21 percent.) These lower educational levels in turn contribute to lower per capita income levels, creating a cycle that can be devastating in its self-reinforcing nature.

Hyper

With problems compounded by white flight and a declining industrial base, cities find themselves hyper-segregated, increasingly poor and fiscally in crisis. In words that sound especially compelling for modern Memphis, the report quotes William Frey:

“City residents…are being asked to pay higher taxes…than their contemporaries in the suburbs. In return, they are not likely to receive proportionally better services and, in fact, can be virtually assured of lower quality schools and higher rates of crime…It is likely, therefore, that the increased out-of-pocket costs and deteriorating environmental conditions associated with residence in financially plagued cities will provide additional impetus for suburbanward movement.”

What To Do

So, what should cities like ours do to revitalize themselves?

* Fix the basics. It sounds simple and it will take decades, because it includes fixing broken educational systems, making cities safe and making cities cost-effective for companies. Lack of safety in a city is proof positive that a city government is failing, because it’s unable to deliver on its most fundamental obligation – to protect its citizens.

* Build on economic strengths. Cities need to identify and nurture their own unique economic assets, and in support of this, they need to invest in downtown revitalization. “While a strong downtown doesn’t necessarily assure a strong citywide economy, it’s certainly a prerequisite for success.”

* Transform the physical landscape. Cities need to pay attention to crumbling infrastructure, particularly those that connect them to the global economy. These catalytic development projects include waterfront development and public parks.

* Grow the middle class. Progress for these challenges will not come without paying particular attention to reducing poverty and increasing the middle class. In particular, cities and states need programs that give residents the skills – including soft skills like problem-solving and customer service and hard skills for jobs in growing sectors - to compete in today’s economy.

* Create neighborhoods of choice. To succeed, cities need neighborhoods where strong families with a range of incomes want to live. Neighborhoods of concentrated poverty are isolated, children perform worse in school and families have more health problems. In other words, these neighborhoods cost government a lot, and in turn, government should encourage mixed-income housing, grow inner-city markets, invest in preservation and rehabilitation.

All in all, it made again provocative reading, because if Memphis is to succeed, we have to first recognize that we have no margin for error, and then second, we have to focus on the levers for change that can make a real difference in our future.

New Year's Observations Wrap Up

We apologize to Lori Spicer and Steve Bares for the delay in posting their New Year's thoughts as part of our series of commentaries by notable Memphians last month. We misplaced their submissions and so we post them here today.

Steve Bares: A Wish For The New Year

Steve Bares is President and Executive Director of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation:

For the first several weeks of 2009, a lot of attention has rightfully
been placed on the challenges of creating jobs and reenergizing the economy - locally and nationally. Much of the immediate attention has been on the stimulus packages that will be coming from Washington. In light of all of the discussions, posturing and proposals being surfaced,my dream for Memphis in 2009 is that the stimulus dollars are actually used for long term, economy building and sustainable programs that create jobs and fight capital flight.

The recent economic uncertainty only highlights the long term erosion of the region's ability to attract and compete for sustainable, high-wage jobs. We have the opportunity as a community to come forward with a united voice to attract investments in those programs, infrastructure and activities that strengthen our local economy for the long term, that build upon our community strengths and that will create the kinds of jobs that attract and retain the all important "knowledge workers" that every community is fighting to attract.

While the biosciences do not hold a monopoly on investments that fit the definition of sustainable, high quality, knowledge worker jobs, it is certainly an area with many opportunities. Stimulus areas of immediate need in our community include:

- Infrastructure construction on "shovel ready" projects that can be completed and contributing within 12 to 18 months

- Opportunities with both immediate and long term job creation

- Entrepreneurship support, especially in relationship to technology and bioscience start-up companies

- Health services and strategies to both reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of care for under-served populations

- Green jobs

2009 will be an economically challenging year. My wish is that we unite to turn those short term challenges into sustainable term opportunities through proper and intelligent investment.

Lori Spicer: Thoughts For A New Year

Lori Spicer is board members of MPACT Memphis:

Memphis is the place I have always called home, even though I left in 2000 to attend undergrad at UTK, to complete graduate school at UF, and work at a nonprofit in DC - and return home in August of 2007 for my current position at the Greater Memphis Chamber. I love this city, I want to see it thrive and I want my fellow citizens to share in these same sentiments.

Memphis is currently faced with its fair share of ills and we need the community to rise and address some of these issues. Our government, education system and crime are the issues at the forefront of our problems. We need dedicated, innovative leaders in our government who are not afraid of change and who bring novel ideals to the table. Our education system needs to truthfully work to have "no child left behind" and develop some consistency in the opportunities, resources and teachers dispersed among all the schools.

There is a noticeable difference in these areas and I would like to see the same exposure and opportunities offered to all students, not those who live in a particular neighborhood or from a particular class. Our children are our future community leaders, business executives, and government officials and we need to ensure they are armed with an adequate education and unique exposure to flourish and reach their goals. Our youth need to be exposed to things that help them become "out-of-the-box thinkers" and that is something they may not see or be introduced to in their home life.

The crime in our city has increased tremendously and I think there are a lot of things that attribute to this. Our youth are becoming more involved with crime because we have stripped them of all of their fun and social outlets: the Mid-South Fair (inner city youth will not be able to reach the fair if it is placed outside "the loop" or city limits), Liberty Land, Adventure River, Celebration Station, now Jillian's, many local skating rinks and community centers. Our youth are bored and their idle time is being given to crime. Also our police force needs to focus on concentrated areas. When housing projects are demolished with the hopes of improving the city, we must consider that the individuals causing the crimes are dispersed amongst the city, but not eliminated.

In addition, we need to place more of an emphasis on attracting young, talented professionals. This is the one demographic that we are lacking the most and we have to ensure that all of the above are improved, but also that we breed a culture of diverse social and cultural outlets, which we are lacking. This weekend I was in DC and I had two individuals identify with the Civil Rights Museum and commented on how great it is as well as our Zoo, but that the prior needs to become more interactive and that the museum itself needs renovations.

I am confident that Memphis can reach this potential that it has sought after for years, but it is going to take our community to make this idea come to fruition.

With that said we need a city-wide campaign that reunites us all and that transforms our media to deliver positive messages to our residents. There are so many great things and some many things to be proud of, but many people are unaware.

I love this city and I will continue to work with individuals who seek positive change and who want Memphis to be great, not good!

Beltway Blues Reprises Familiar Melody

There’s always the day when the government reformer comes face-to-face with the government reality.

That’s happened in short order to President Barack Obama, and unfortunately, part of it seems to be of his own making.

There’s a reason that Sears couldn’t reinvent itself to become Wal-Mart. There’s a reason that Washington insiders can’t be expected to reinvent the government from which their power flows.

That’s why the appointment of so many Washington-first Cabinet members to lead the Obama Administration has in short order stifled the president’s ability to change the tone, culture and results of the federal government. We hope it’s only temporary.

Nuke It

It’s no secret that one of the toughest challenges of an organization is to change its culture and to find people who are able to work outside of their comfort zones to do it. When the organization has an annual budget of more than $3 trillion and a workforce of 15 million, it’s hard to change things with a nuclear warhead. But it’s next to impossible when those in charge of the warhead are part and parcel of the organization they have been chosen to blow up.

It’s reminiscent of the story about Sam Walton, who was asked why Sears didn’t evolve into Wal-Mart. His reply was that Sears was too invested in its own legacy systems, so every idea of change began with those systems as its context and with the presumption that those systems would remain.

And so it is inside the Beltway. People who have risen to power within the current government structure can hardly be expected to suddenly don the mantle as agents of change. Too often, political appointees act on the understanding that their time is limited and so the emphasis is on consolidating power and establishing a platform for the next job.

Meanwhile, the bureaucracy simply marks time. They know that they only need to adopt the new language of the new administration, but nothing requires them to change their behavior. As a result, much of it acts on the presumption that it can wait it out. There will always be a new administration – remember Al Gore’s campaign to reinvent the federal government.

Real Change

To them, it’s always easier, not to mention safer, to say no than to say yes. It’s easier to mark time and stay there forever than take a risk at innovation and lose their jobs if it doesn’t work. So, they give lip service to change, but in the end, they are prisoners of the bureaucratic rules and regulations they created.

As a result, there may be much talk about an innovative economic stimulus package, but in the end, the nearly trillion dollars will be sent to long-time federal employees who’ll plug the money into the existing bureaucratic pipeline. For example, the grand ambitions for housing will be funneled into HUD whose byzantine processes are likely to drain all imagination from cities’ proposals.

Stanford University economist Paul Romer famously said that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” It can create the conditions in which it clarifies priorities, it aligns resources, it mobilizes change, it morphs rigidity into innovation, and it fuels change that comes more quickly and is more far-reaching.

In this way, the current crisis can be and must ultimately be the catalyst for a new way of conducting the public’s business. In the best of times, decisions made today would be crucial, but gripped in a national economic crisis, there is no margin for error.

Breaking Away

To compete and win in the race for good-paying jobs in the knowledge economy and for economic success, American cities must have strong, healthy neighborhoods; pathways from welfare dependency to self-sufficiency; a vibrant, active downtown; and hubs of vitality that anchor areas of the city and bind together to expand our economy, sense of purpose and a clear plan of action.

President Obama has shown that he has not lost his way. Already, he’s taken action on several fronts that are overdue – stem cells, environment, Guantanamo, family planning, and much more. As significant as any of these is something that we have not seen for 20 years – an admission that he made a mistake in appointments of two key Administration nominees who had to resign on the same day for failure to pay their full taxes.

And yet, the admission wasn’t broad enough. He’s got to be realizing that it was a mistake to put so much confidence on people plugged into the revolving door of Washington influence and power. If the great unwashed public was shocked by the recent withdrawals, it wasn’t so much because the nominees didn’t pay their taxes, but because the circumstances surrounding that failure spoke volumes about the privilege and the entitlements of the Washington elite.

The president pledged to break the rules in the Capital to change the way that Washington works – petty, partisan and personal agendas. He needs every member of his cabinet to take on the profile of organizational change agents. Otherwise, his promises will be even harder to keep.

Beltway Blues

It’s just hard to serve the interests of cities when there’s no one who’s served in elected office of a city or who has had to make the daily decisions that face city mayors and affect the lives of average Americans. It’s hard to serve the interests of small businesses – the source of most new jobs – when you’ve never met a payroll or been forced to call your friends and family for operating capital.

The election of President Obama was, if nothing else, a repudiation of the K Street culture characterized by influence, special privilege, relationships for profit and a chauffeured view of urban problems. Already, the news media are overstating the problems and sensationalizing every disagreement.

Clearly, it will be difficult to build bipartisan coalitions, particularly when any stumble becomes an occasion for partisan piling on. In the end, however, we think that the president and his men will come closer to success if they keep their fingers on the pulse of middle American rather than Beltway big shots.

Visit Us At Live Where You Live

We're blogging today over at the Live Where You Live blog . We're talking about what makes Memphis special and the value, economic and otherwise, of being proud of our city.

Local Decisions Are Best Made Locally

There’s such a fine line in politics between populism and pandering.

In his political career, Shelby County’s top prosecutor Bill Gibbons has had his share of the latter and his attempts at the former have generally seemed forced and artificial.

We were reminded of that again this week with more evidence of an insatiable appetite for mandatory sentencing. Apparently, in time, we can eliminate all judges and put a calculator on the bench to dispense justice as mere calculations.

Prosecutorial Leadership

It’s too bad, because in a number of cities, prosecutors are leading campaigns to educate the public about the root causes of crime and to mobilize support for programs to attack them. Also, in other places, there is a growing realization that the growing “corrections-industrial complex” is aimed at keeping more and more people in prison because they in essence are the profit centers for politically-connected vendors such as Corrections Corporation of America.

It is of course politically expedient to propose mandatory sentencing, so voters rarely hear the other side of the issue. For that reason, we admired Cardell Orrin, local political reformer and strategist, for asking the right questions about what is most successful in finding the proper balance between punishment and rehabilitation.

In a city plagued by crime like ours, it’s hard to ask such questions, but they nevertheless are the ones that deserve serious consideration. The U.S. is already the West’s leading prisoner nation, and if Memphis is intent on becoming the leading prisoner city, we cannot in time support the growing costs of such a system.

State Mandates

Meanwhile, this week, Attorney General Gibbons – a member of a party that espouses less government intrusion in local affairs and in the value of the best government being closest to the people – said that he would support state legislation to win a police residency argument that he couldn’t win locally.

This act of political overkill was put forth by yet another Republican, Tennessee Rep. Brian Kelsey, whose naivete is only matched by his self-righteous rigidity, and whose obsessive headline-hunting led him to proposal a state bill to outlaw the ability of cities to make their own decisions about the residency requirements of their police force.

It’s always fascinating to watch these hide-bound conservatives rail against liberals who try to dictate their agenda through government regulations, but when given a chance, can’t seem to resist the chance to do exactly what they criticize.

State Interference

After all, it seems better and more responsive government for such decision to be made by each city based on its own needs and policies. While we too advocated for the relaxing of the police residency requirements, we nonetheless abhor the interference of state government into a decision that is best left to local officials.

The Memphis City Council majority that had won the vote on policy residency should be commended for their willingness to reopen the issue and pursue a compromise on the politically divisive issue. After all, they had the votes and didn’t have to do anything, but in the end, cooler heads prevailed on both sides of this issue and the compromise allows for applicants to come from within 20 miles of Memphis.

And yet, the attorney general was unwilling to let go of the issue regardless of the divisiveness. He told the Memphis Flyer’s Jackson Baker that “it is possible” to pass a state law that would dictate and force Memphis and every other local government in Tennessee to eliminate any residency requirements that they had passed.

Talking The Walk

While he may think that this position will play well in Memphis, it’s less clear about whether cities across Tennessee believe that edicts from state government should trump local self-determination.

It’s uncertain about the ultimate political impact of Mr. Gibbons’ position. It is certain, however, that this will be a long campaign for governor.

Unenthusiastic Reaction To School Taxes Stems From Reality

Someone needs to pass Memphis City Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash a note in poly sci class.

The reluctance of this community to embrace the idea of taxing authority for our dual – and dueling – school systems has nothing to do with our inability to grasp the concept, as he suggested to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners Budget Committee.

More to the point, it has all to do with the district’s inability to prove that it has the capacity to improve student performance if given this power. There’s nothing in our experience that suggests that taxpayers see the educational bureaucracy of both districts as the answers to all that ails both systems.

Big Bucks

After all, between 2003 and 2007, the enrollment of Memphis City Schools fell 11% but the budget rose 19%. On the surface, it would seem that the drop in pupils would allow the district to reduce expenses that more than offset the controversial cut in funding by Memphis City Schools.

The district’s expenditures – which don’t even include the bond payments for school construction made by city and county governments – climbed from $764 million in 2004-2005 to $910 million in the proposed budget for this year. As for Shelby County Schools, its expenditures have increased from $270.6 million in 2005-06 to $324.5 million in 2007-2008.

From the beginning, the school districts’ proposal for taxing authority was fatally flawed and more directed at moving the local legislative bodies out of the checks and balances than establishing a real system of educational accountability. That was self-evidence since the proposal called for the approval of tax hikes by the state legislature, which effectively was an example of legislative shopping by the districts.

Nothing But The Facts

In the end, the concern by the public is if the districts can’t produce excellence with $1.3 billion a year, why should they be trusted with the power to set their own tax rates for public education? And the fact that the verdict is out on one superintendent and the second one appears willing to be a rubber stamp for a politician’s personal agenda certainly doesn’t contribute to a growing sense of confidence.

While Superintendent Cash appears to be doing many things right, the tendency of the district to white wash its problems as simply the inventions of a negative media continues to sap energy and attention needed for more productive things. Most of all, everyone at Memphis City Schools needs to abandon the idea that it has marketing deficits rather than performance deficits.

While there is much to celebrate within the district, most of it is about small pockets of motivated teachers producing remarkable results or an inspired principal changing the culture of a single school. There is precious little about systemic, systemwide change in the culture so that innovation takes root and Memphis City Schools becomes a model urban district.

LOL

We were thinking of this as we read the district’s applications for its own charter schools. If anyone outside of the district had filed such a flimsy description and program for a charter school, that person would have been laughed out of the board of commissioners meeting.

The document was about one-tenth of the size of a regular charter application, and the thought behind it seems to be about one-tenth of what should be expected for these “laboratories of innovative urban education.” And yet, the façade of a program got approval in short order.

In its own way, the charter schools plan by Memphis City Schools mirrored some of the concerns about the district. It continues to be long on broad educational objectives and short on specifics, results and change.

OJT

Even Cash supporters acknowledge that the period of “on the job training” is challenging and difficult, and off the record, few are willing to predict whether the Cash Administration will in the end be a success or become the transition to a more seasoned reformer of the single most expensive public service in this community.

There is one thing that all sides can agree on: Memphis City Schools remains a long way from the Cash team’s motto of “Breakthrough Leadership, Breakthrough Results.” Here’s hoping that it can get there.

Shrinking Cities Without Shrinking Ambitions

Why does one city succeed while another very similar city is left behind?

This week on Smart City we take a look at two such industrial towns, and we'll also examine the uncertain future of Cleveland.

Sean Safford is the author of the book Why the Garden Club Couldn't Save Youngstown: The Transformation of the Rust Belt" He'll tell us about the history of two former steel towns and how one succeeded while the other languished.

We'll also speak with Terry Schwartz of the Cleveland Urban Design Collective. She'll tell us about the unique challenges of redeveloping Cleveland and how she is using design to re-imagine the shrinking city.

Smart City is a syndicated, weekly hour-long public radio talk show that takes an in-depth look at urban life: the people, places, ideas and trends that affect us all. Host Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, talks with national and international public policy experts, economists, business leaders, artists, developers, planners and others on the pulse of city life for a penetrating discussion on urban issues.

Smart City is broadcast at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sundays on WKNO-FM, but it is also webcast and podcast so you can listen to it anytime you like. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.

Getting The Question Right Is A Healthy Start

It appears that the Health Department answered the wrong question.

It’s not how much would the department lose in state and federal money if Memphis City Council eliminates city funding of $14 million. Instead, the real question is: would be any cuts in state and federal money if Shelby County Government replaced the $14 million and wouldn't this be fairer to Memphis taxpayers?

We’ve always been impressed by the Health Department’s ability to summon up apocalyptic forecasts of the future at any time a change in its funding is mentioned. About a decade ago, City of Memphis government suggested that it might reduce its funding, and the Health Department said it would no longer be able to provide rat control programs and mosquito spraying.

Master Stroke

It was a masterful political maneuver and instantly froze city government in its tracks, conjuring up images of children in urban neighborhoods sharing playgrounds with rats and mosquitoes buzzing around the heads of students on their way home from school. No elected officials wanted to appear soft on grime.

Of course, the truth was that the Health Department could have cut the funding from myriad line items, but nothing was as certain to enflame grassroots concern as rats and mosquitoes. So, it was no surprise that in response to Memphis City Council’s proposal to eliminate Memphians’ double taxation for the Health Department, the prognosis for the future was dire and portentous. It said that the city cut in funding would result in $57.3 million in state and federal money.

Some say that Memphis City Council acted precipitously. We beg to differ.

20 Years In The Making

For 20 years, city government has been asking for a serious intergovernmental discussion about tax equity, one that could lead to the elimination of the dual taxation of Memphians and one that levels the playing field so that city residents do not pay a disincentive to live here, largely because they are subsidizing the zoo, the museums, and other amenities for the rest of the region.

For 20 years, city government has gotten lip service and no action. So, finally, this Memphis City Council – in a burst of political courage – said enough is enough and forced the issue. First, they eliminated double taxation for schools, and this year, they served notice that they want to eliminate double taxation for health services.

As a result, there seems to finally be some movement toward the kinds of discussions that can bring about fundamental change and reform on the tax issue. That’s not to say that we weren’t disappointed, as we wrote at the time, when City Council eroded some of its high ground last year when it funneled a significant part of its school cut into city operations.

Walking The Walk

It was a missed opportunity – the chance to make real progress in lowering the Memphis tax rate to a level commensurate with the largest municipalities in Shelby County.

Ultimately, that should be the end goal, and unless and until the City Council can prove that its intent is to use these health department reductions to cut the city tax rate, it will find the public reluctant to rally around it. However, the wonkish aspects of tax policy finally seem to be attracting some attention, and like it or not, it never would have happened without the Council’s bold action.

There are of course some people who just don’t get it. Shelby County Commissioner Joyce Avery, in response to the Health Department’s report on the impact of budget reductions, said the county can't afford to pick up the city's tab without a tax increase and said the city is "playing with people's live." Actually, the dual taxation is already disupting people's lives and taking money out of their pockets twice for the same service or program.

Through The Nose

The overwhelming majority of citizens in Shelby County pays taxes to a municipality, and every one pays taxes to county government. At the heart of the problem is the lack of coherency in county tax policies.

Shelby County's rationale for service delivery has been schizophrenic since its restructuring 30 years ago and confusing to the people who pay its bills. For example, county government delivers some services countywide, such as public health and criminal justice. For some cities, it provides fire protection and law enforcement. In others, it provides ambulance service. Outside of Memphis, Shelby County Government pays the total cost of education, and the towns pay nothing. Outside of Memphis, it has entered into partnerships with cities to help fund major road projects.

This is especially graphic when it comes to joint city-county agencies and construction projects. On the many projects in which Memphis and Shelby County split the costs, Memphians do much more than pay their share. They pay all of the city government's portion, and then turn around and pay about 65 percent of the county's portion. This means that overall, on these joint projects, Memphians pay 83 percent of the total.

Making The Main Thing The Main Thing

Put another way, older sections of Memphis are subsidizing their own decline.
Perhaps, some are right in that this issue is headed for court, where it can join the tin-eared lawsuit filed by Memphis City Schools against City Council for cutting its funding. It is said by some that a court judgment is the wisest way to resolve this issue. But that position fails to recognize the obvious fact that this is not about contractual obligations and 50-year-old legal agreements.

More to the point, it is a question of equitable tax policy for Memphians. Surely, no one in county government would argue that it is fair that Memphians pay twice for services and that city taxpayers - who have lower median incomes - should pay a greater percentage of their incomes in taxes than taxpayers outside Memphis - who make higher median incomes.

Leveling The Field

We’ve said it until you’re tired of hearing it, but Memphians should only be paying for services that are comparable to services in the county towns. All other services should be regional, or countywide, and they should be supported by the larger tax base.

In other words, Memphians should be paying primarily for fire, police, sanitation, parks and libraries. Everything else should be immediately moved to the county tax base, especially regional amenities like museums that should be backed with the broader tax base, and Memphis Area Transit Authority, which is running buses to the towns although citizens of Memphis are footing the bill. These are regional services and should be treated and funded as such.

If we had the power, we would then move to the countywide tax base all libraries and all parks. We deserve to have a coordinated, interconnected system that delivers services seamlessly and without regard to the imaginary government borders that we put so much stock into.

No Time Like Present

As long as the playing field is so uneven for Memphians, who pay twice for services like schools and health while taxpayers in other county cities pay for them once, our city has a high barrier to attracting and retaining the middle class and talent. It’s not that these cities and county government are more efficient. Their lower tax rates are simply the result of Memphians paying for services that are in truth more regional than municipal.

Memphis and Shelby County have talked for two decades about negotiating a tax structure that is fairer and a tax burden that is equitable for all Shelby Countians. There’s no reason it can’t be done now.

Communications Needed To Cross City, County And State Lines

Now that the chief administrative officers have fired off letters claiming that the other one’s government owes his government money, let’s hope they now schedule a time to get in the same room and talk seriously about the tax equity issues that bedevil Memphis taxpayers.

In fact, it’s been a good week to remember that there’s just no substitute for good, old-fashioned communications, which has seemed so often to be a missing part of our civic culture.

First, there was the letter from Shelby CAO Jim Huntzicker to Memphis’ finance director claiming that city government has shortchanged county government by $125 million in the payment-in-lieu-of-tax payments that Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division makes to Shelby County Government. It seemed most of all to be the return volley for Memphis CAO Keith McGee’s letter a couple of months ago suggesting that city government would no longer provide $14 million in funding to the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department.

Answering The Right Question

While all of this makes for interesting political theater, it makes for little else. Now that each government has staked out its territory, it’s past time for city and county governments to meet and begin the long overdue discussions to answer the fundamental question that has eluded us for 30 years: what is a city service that should be funded by taxpayers of Memphis and what is a regional, or county, service that should be funded by taxpayers of Shelby County?

The present problem is not of either CAO’s making. Long before either of them took up their posts, Memphis and Shelby County governments, with the best of intentions, tried to consolidate many of its services and its programs. Unfortunately, its byproduct was that both governments funded these services, producing an inequitable tax burden for the citizens of Memphis.

For example, for a project like The Pyramid, where the Memphis and Shelby County halved the cost of the building, Memphians at the time actually didn’t pay half. Because they paid 100% of the city’s half and 80% of the county’s half, they were in truth paying 90% of the building’s cost. The same goes for the other departments, agencies, programs and projects in which the governments were (and are) full partners.

It’s Tax Equity, Stupid

That’s why we hope the recent letter-writing doesn’t degenerate into one of those political battles about who looks best or one of those legal battles about whose contractual rights are strongest. If it is, the majority of Shelby Countians – the people living inside Memphis – will have been ill-served by their elected officials in both governments.

Some Shelby Countians like Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald will undoubtedly continue to contend that Memphians should pay twice because so many of the social, health and judicial services are frequented by Memphians more than non-Memphians. But that misses the point. This isn’t about who uses the services most and it’s not about where the services are located.

No, more to the point, it’s about tax equity. It’s a fundamental principle of American democracy that taxes are redistributed in a way that results in affluent areas supporting services needed by less affluent areas. It’s the same in Shelby County. This isn’t about who uses services the most. It’s about regional services – such as health, planning, arenas and museums – being placed on the largest tax base, the regional county one, so that Memphians pay an equitable tax burden.

Twice Burned

As long as the playing field is so uneven for Memphians, who pay twice for services like schools and health while taxpayers in Germantown pay for them once, our city has a barrier to any programs to attract and retain the middle class and talent. There’s just no logic to the proposition that a family can move from Memphis to the unincorporated area or any other city in Shelby County and receive a tax break of several thousand dollars.

It’s not that these cities and county government are more efficient. Their lower tax rates are simply the result of Memphians paying for services that are in truth more regional than municipal.

Memphis and Shelby County have talked and talked and talked for two decades about negotiating a tax structure that is fairer and a tax burden that is equitable for all Shelby Countians. The idea surfaced again a few months ago after the city’s letter about Health Department funding and it was suggested that city and county decision-makers would begin discussions on this issue.

West Memphis Goes East

Hopefully, it wasn’t the same sort of idle talk that has characterized this question for so long, and that soon, someone will pick up the phone and dial the other and Mr. McGee and Mr. Huntzicker will have the kind of serious, deliberative conversations that can mean so much to the future of our city. In fact, that alone should be reason enough to put it at the top of the priority list for Shelby County.

While we have made no secret of our belief that a number of services should be moved to the county’s tax base, we suspect that most people in our city are like us – open-minded but hopeful that something substantive will take place to help Memphians.

Speaking of communications, we were intrigued by a news report that the West Memphis economic development director has been touring China to build business ties with the emerging Asian economic power house. Our first thought was that the Greater Memphis Chamber and our local government have made the same trek, and we suspect that officials from Northern Mississippi have been part of a similar mission.

Sinking Or Swimming Together

It seems reasonable that all economic development officials should join hands and work together to tout the benefits of doing business with and in our region. As long as we operate on the principle that Memphis and Shelby County have to compete with DeSoto County (mentioned recently as the basis for loosening up the policy for tax freezes here) or that West Memphis operates on the theory that they somehow can sell their city without selling ours as well, we’re not engaging more in wishful thinking than economic development.

It’s counterintuitive to us that the various parts of our region can’t set aside jealousies and rivalries long enough to establish a shared plan and a mutual message to the world. Somehow, the notion that our neighbors across the river seriously believe that their motto, “Turn to West Memphis,” will identify the beleaguered city as a manufacturing and logistics dynamo seems as baseless as the idea that Memphis shouldn’t be selling the assets of our entire region to anyone who will listen.

Meanwhile, we were encouraged by an op-ed column in The Commercial Appeal by Robert L. Barber, Hernando planning director, who made a persuasive case for regional cooperation. It’s so rare for that kind of message to be coming from south of our border. Unfortunately, regionalism here (and in many other cities) results in the hub city reaching out to the region with little of the interest and commitment reciprocated on.

Smart Talk

But Mr. Barber makes the wise point that the current economic meltdown should be used as the impetus to think differently and to create a “common effort for the region’s advancement.” He suggested that perhaps the development of the I-269 corridor should be the vehicle for this new thinking so that it’s not just the vehicle for more unbridled sprawl and runaway development.

In particular, he said that we should think about regional assets like a continuous, interconnected network of greenways, and added that the “destructive nature of development sprawl, the enormous importance of environmental preservation to community health, and many of the ingredients and methods for developing technology-driven economic activity” should be regional priorities.

To this end, he wrote about the importance of “creating and preserving mixed use, pedestrian-friend neighborhoods with a variety of housing and transportation choices, preserved open spaces, and broad community collaboration, among others.”

Plan Now Or Pay Later

We can’t remember when a suburban voice has so eloquently defined the value of smart growth and sustainability. While it is unfortunate that I-269 – the poster child for wasteful spending and developer influence in public works decisions – is the trigger for this level of concern and commitment, Mr. Barber’s comments are welcome nonetheless.

Here’s the thing: anyone familiar with the political machinations that produced I-269 knows that there is little justification to it, except for the political payback by U.S. Senator Trent Lott to powerful political insiders. As we have said several times, the interstate should be our region’s first toll road, with revenues mitigating the negative financial impact on the urban health of our region.

That said, I-269 is a fact of life, and its impact can be profound and transformational. Apparently, because it is widely seen as the antithesis of smart growth and a vehicle for greater and more destructive sprawl, we have been in denial as a community. As a result, there has been no planning for the corridor and the development that it will attract.

To Mr. Barber’s point, it would be good if we do that sooner rather than later. After all, we already know what later looks like.

Small Improvements Can Pay Big Dividends For Memphis

With real estate values in the tank, retail sales plummeting, new construction halted and lay-offs mounting, the budgets of our local governments in the Memphis region are under severe pressure.

It's clear that there won't be money for anything that is not absolutely essential this year. (And even spending on essentials will be questionable.) The federal stimulus package could help in some key areas, but extra money is unlikely to be available to plug the operating budget.

Is there anything we can do to save ourselves? Surprisingly, there is.

There are three actions that collectively we can take that have the potential to pump significantly more money into the local economy. CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders, has calculated that by making small improvements in performance in three key areas, cities can realize big annual financial gains.

According to the latest data, we have 189,645 college graduates over the age of 25 in the Memphis metro area, or 23.7 percent of 800,189 (the total number of 25-year-old and over population). If we could increase that number by just one percentage point to 24.7 percent, or 8,002 additional graduates, it would mean an additional $1 billion annually to our economy.

Call it the Memphis Talent Dividend.

The people in this metro area currently drive an average of 26.6 miles per day. If we could reduce that by just one mile -- from 26.6 to 25.6 -- it would mean another $232 million that circulates in our local economy rather than leaving our region to pay for foreign oil and cars built in other cities.

That is the Memphis Green Dividend.

The Memphis metropolitan statistical area has more than its fair share of poverty. Today, the portion of our population living below the poverty line is 17.8 percent. Once again, if we can reduce that number by just one percentage point to 16.8 percent, we realize a cost savings of $109 million.

That is the Memphis Opportunity Dividend. And that only counts the savings on family assistance, Medicaid and food stamps.

Add it up.

If we could make these relatively modest adjustments in performance, it is worth an additional $1.3 billion every single year. That is twice the total general operating budget for the city of Memphis for 2009. Plus, it is money that can be spent right here at home.

And as performance improves, that dividend grows.

These gains are not only significant to Memphis. They are also significant to the nation. If each of the top 51 metro areas could make the same gains -- a one percentage point increase in college attainment, one less vehicle mile traveled per day per person, and a one percentage point decrease in poverty -- the nation would realize a $166 billion annual dividend, thanks to its cities.

By making these very small changes in performance, the Memphis MSA and the nation can pump "found" money -- money we very much need right now -- into local economies.

The good news is there are already a number of local initiatives that address these very issues.

Sustainable Shelby is working to execute a comprehensive list of recommendations that will contribute to a reduction in vehicle miles traveled, helping the region to realize its Green Dividend.

There is also an obvious opportunity to capture the Talent Dividend: 22.7 percent of Shelby Countians age 25 and older enter college but don't graduate. If we can graduate simply those who began college but didn't finish, we could nearly double the college attainment rate of the region. One percent, then, seems well within reach.

Given the billion-dollar gains that are just within reach for the region, capturing Memphis' City Dividends seems like an effort definitely worth making.

This was published in The Commercial Appeal as an op-ed column by Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders dedicated to building and sustaining the next generation of great American cities. She is also host and producer of Smart City, a nationally syndicated public radio talk show.

Herenton Investigation Stirring Up Old Wounds

With the odds against an indictment of Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton ebbing, we can only hope that federal investigators know what they are doing.

It seems that more and more, after a decade of federal investigators stirring up rumors that involved everything from drugs to sex to bribery, the current grand jury investigation seems dead serious about taking action.

While the taint of the overreaching in the Joseph Lee fiasco lingers, the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office’s have nursed their bruises and ramped up the Herenton investigation with a passion that often makes it appear to be a holy crusade. We only hope that grand jury members inject more caution into the process since they hold the match that could ignite an explosion – political, racial and civic – with dire consequences for our city.

Different View Of The World

Much of this risk stems from the polarizing figure that Mayor Herenton has become, so it should be no surprise that the ongoing – and expanding - grand jury hearings are amplifying and intensifying old familiar themes.

There seems to be something almost gleeful in many parts of the “white community” about Mayor Herenton’s travails, while there’s a growing sentiment in the “African-American community” that’s equal parts sympathy and frustration.

Nothing more dramatically symbolizes the divide that separates the way that blacks and whites in Memphis perceive and experience the city in which they live than this federal investigation. From where many African-Americans stand, media coverage regularly seems to reflect white attitudes and opinions. That’s why there’s the feeling in many quarters that the news media have “piled on” in their Herenton coverage.

Learned Behavior

In addition, there’s an opinion by many influential African-Americans that the media seem intent on suggesting that there is some unholy conspiracy by black insiders to benefit from the decisions of the public sector. “Who do you think we learned that from?” asked one rhetorically.

“It’s strange to many of us that there was so little interest in showing the connections between white politicians and white businessmen, especially those in the real estate industry, for years although it was the worst-kept secret in Memphis. Now, there seems to be a determination to smear anyone (African-American) who’s been successful and who has anything to do with city government as somehow unsavory or unethical.”

Defenders in City Hall point to lack of action, if not interest, by the federal government on a number of questionable dealings by white businessmen, and even Mayor Herenton himself has called out the grand jury investigation into the former Shelby County mayor as a prime example of politics trumping justice.

In that case, a number of prominent white political figure were called to the grand jury, but the case unraveled when Republican-appointed officials with the Department of Justice pulled the plug on the investigation into a Republican politician by issuing a ruling that stunned investigators but which eliminated the grounds for their investigation.

Changing The Rules To Win The Game

To the most cynical, it is no accident that under a Republican Administration that blatantly blurred the lines between politics and justice, the African-American power structure in Nashville was obliterated, and attention now turns to the city mayor.

As a highly-regarded African-American political observer said: “White people think we didn’t notice, but once we got control of the ballot box in Shelby County, there was a push to create a bunch of autonomous nonprofit groups to take control of some of our most valuable public places.

“Just look around: how many black folks head up these major nonprofits and quasi-government groups? Zero. How many black folks head up the major social services agencies even though they’re mainly serving people of color? None. These aren’t just coincidences. It’s part of the power structure that was invented to offset the growing power of African-Americans. Once we figured out how to win with the game, the rules were changed.”

The World In Black And White

In this way, the indictment of former MLGW president Joseph Lee not only proved the truth of the old adage that federal prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich, but that they would do anything to bring down any African-American with power. “Just think. Could Herenton have appointed any black person with strong ties to him that wouldn’t have been crucified by the paper?” an African-American businessman said. “But as soon as he appointed a white guy from City Hall to run MLG&W, the media got quiet as a mouse.”

Because of all of this, we just don’t see any way that the current U.S. Attorney’s Office can get the indictment it seems to want so badly without opening racial wounds and serious questions about its objectivity. For us, it’s three strikes and out.

Strike one: the U.S. Attorney is not only a lame duck from the Bush Administration but an interim lame duck at that. The Lee debacle tainted the office’s reputation with political overtones, and as a result, any grand jury action taken as a result of this U.S. Attorney would immediately be suspect.

And You’re Out

There’s strike two: the image of the U.S. Department of Justice has been seriously tarred by revelations of how much Bush Administration politics has played in investigative decisions and prosecutors’ appointments. And it’s worth remembering that the decision to convene a grand jury to investigate Mayor Herenton had to be approved in the Washington offices of the DOJ.

Strike three: a new U.S. Attorney will be appointed in the coming weeks by President Barack Obama. The truth is that most of the career prosecutors in the office will remain, not to mention that the FBI agents handling the investigation will remain as well. In other words, these allegedly non-partisan members of the system will be there to advocate their positions and present their evidence to the new U.S. Attorney.

In the end, if an indictment is to be returned by the grand jury, it should be done under the Obama Administration to mitigate suspicions of selective prosecution, selective media coverage and selective leaks.

Trust Matters

Why does all of this matter? Unless lines of trust are stronger and there is a belief in the innate fairness of justice, Memphis will be a wounded city limping into the future in which its divisiveness prevents any hope of success. But, more fundamentally, until lines of trust are stronger, we fail at the basics of American democracy.

As long as African-Americans see racism in events like the Tennessee Waltz and white people complain that the African-American community is paranoid, we create a civic brand of quicksand that slowly pulls all of Memphis under, and at precisely the time that together, we need to be staking out a strong competitive place in the global economy.