It is a perfect storm at Memphis City Schools, and that’s not necessarily all bad.
There's investigations, scandals, academic crisis, fumbling management and general lack of direction. Despite some predictions to the contrary, it could actually attract a reformer, one who understands how he can leverage the perfect storm to create a more receptive attitude toward ambitious change. That’s because usually only in the midst of absolute crisis is a bureaucracy like the city district willing to accept the kind of overhaul that is fundamentally needed for progress.
In this way, Memphis City Council’s vote didn’t just succeed in reducing taxes. It created the requisite crisis by giving energy to the gathering storm that could blow in a new day for Memphis City Schools. There’s nothing like the challenge of reducing a budget $72 million to give a new superintendent the freedom to make expansive changes.
Smart Money
The smart money at Memphis City Schools says that Kriner Cash, chief of accountability and systemwide performance for Miami-Dade County (Fla.) Public Schools, will be offered the job as next superintendent of Memphis City Schools, effectively thwarting Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton’s plan to stake his claim to the job.
This is no intended criticism of the other candidate, Nicholas Gledich, chief operations officer for Orange County (Florida) Public Schools, who, along with Mr. Cash, did an admirable job of answering questions from the public last week, but more to the point, did a convincing job of showing that they are courageous enough to take the helm of Memphis City Schools despite a litany of things that should scare them off.
While Mr. Gledich did a fine job in his star turn, Mr. Cash seemed to have more of the persona of an urban superintendent, someone who could inspire confidence in his agenda for change and someone who would be a no-nonsense leader willing to make the tough calls that are needed to turn around our district.
Dream Team
While the Democratic Party toys with its dream team, perhaps, it’s not too far-fetched that our school board pursue their own - a Cash-Gledich dream team for Memphis City Schools. The school commissioners have previously expressed concern about the need for a succession plan to prevent the district from running into a ditch as it did after the resignation of Carol Johnson. Mr. Gledich seems to be looking for a place to put down roots, and his presence might just be the succession plan the board is looking for.
More to the point, if the school commissioners want to send a message that something important is happening in their district, this would sure do it, sending powerful ripples throughout the district itself, but also generating national attention.
The candidates came off positive and strong, and they should send Mayor Herenton a thank you card for his help. It was in breaking a rule known to every rookie politician that Mayor Herenton set the stage for their command performances.
The rule is this: you never ever lower expectations for your competition.
On Stage
When Mayor Herenton called the men “third rate” candidates, he so lowered expectations that when both men could actually speak in complete sentences, it seemed pretty impressive. When they discussed their approaches to urban education in a thoughtful and well-reasoned way, they could have passed for members of the Mensa Club.
In truth, even without Mayor Herenton’s help, both acquitted themselves in the interviews and in the process, they essentially marginalized the mayor from the entire debate. Most of all, both Mr. Cash and Mr. Gledich seemed to possess a more up-to-date understanding of urban schools than the mayor who had so tactlessly criticized them.
It’s worth remembering that neither of them would ever have had this time in the limelight if the Memphis City School commissioners had not stood their ground in the face of City Hall pressures and support for a Herenton superintendent by some in the business community.
Cashing In
It was only a short time ago that the school board didn’t seem convinced of the value of a national search – and there were concerns by us that it would eventually look inside the district for a new leader – but once board members decided on the national search, they did not break, much less bend, in their resolve.
Their task now is to give the new superintendent the power to act as a much-needed agent for change and the power to execute a bold reform agenda that can transform operations and academics from top to bottom. Chalk it up to a temporary bout of Pollyannaism, but we think there’s even the possibility that this could actually be the year when the city district turned itself around and set off in a dramatic new direction.
Mr. Cash promised as much, and while it would be easy to dismiss his pledge as interview excess, any one who’s earned the endorsement from Miami superintendent and reformer Rudy Crew would seem to have what it takes to get it done.
In The Moment
That said, when we optimistically interpret the potential of this particular moment in Memphis City Schools, it’s not just because a new superintendent is waiting in the wings.
After all, we all had similar high expectations of former superintendent Carol Johnson, and in hindsight, it seems clear that the reality of the district had only a passing acquaintance with the public relations of the district during her administration. If our gullibility now approaches buyer’s remorse, consider it a symptom of how desperate Memphians are for improvements in the city schools and how equally desperate we are for real leadership in our superintendent.
As we said, there’s more now than a new superintendent to inspire hope once again. In addition, a majority of the school board do in fact seem determined to open a new era for Memphis City Schools. That’s why they are also bringing in the impressive Warren Simmons of the Annenberg Institute of School Reform at Brown University (at the recommendation of Partners In Public Education [PIPE], according to board members) to conduct a Transition Review that will assess where the district has been and where it is now so that the new superintendent will have a factual foundation for where it is going.
Hope Against Hope
Finally, the board has been accepted into the Reform Governance in Action program of Center for the Reform of School Systems headed by Don McAdams and whose Broad Foundation program is a long-term training and consulting program aimed at improving the effectiveness of urban school boards. In particular, the program focuses on accountability and transparency, two areas that the school board want to emphasize.
We’ll know about a year from now whether all of this is simply a fanciful chimera, or whether something new was in fact set loose that can fundamentally change the district now in crisis. The school board seems at least for now committed to this spirit of reform, and there are now 72 million reasons why it should stay the course.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Saturday, June 07, 2008
The Crime Is In Not Facing Facts And Acting On Them
Memphis has always been a tale of two cities – black and white, wealth and need, downtown and Boxtown, golf scores and body counts.
That last pairing comes from two disparate, and ultimately disturbing, reports this week.
The first appeared in an online post by a PGA Tour writer who described Memphis as a magical place and one of only a few cities that can boast of such a defined identity.
The Plague
The second appeared in a 12-page spread in the July/August Atlantic magazine – called American Murder Mystery - that asks the damning question: “Why has Elvis’s hometown turned into America’s new South Bronx?” and then proceeds to use our city as the star of a report into why crime is rising in so many American cities.
Unfortunately, in the report, Memphis comes off like a city that is out of control – “as large as New York City, but with one-seventeenth as many police officers, and a much lower cop-to-citizen ratio.”
The magazine said that the story investigates “why crime has been plaguing so many mid-sized cities...a disturbing trend – one very few politicians will want to talk about.” After this article, it’s should at least be hard for our politicians to remain mute, even a city mayor who professed during last year’s campaign that a mayor can’t do anything to reduce crime.
The Diaspora
Building on the fact that Memphis is America’s most violent city, the article suggests that the diaspora of the Memphis poor to all parts of the city created a “bleak new landscape” for the city. The dispersal was fueled by the razing of public housing and the spread of Section 8 housing vouchers for former residents.
According to the writer Hanna Rosin, the seedbeds of crime were no longer located in a few places, and as a result, it spread like a virus all across Memphis, creating a serious spike in violence and lawlessness that grips the city.
Central to the article are University of Memphis researchers and married couple Richard Janikowski and Phyllis Betts, whose respective work in creating more data-driven crime prevention programs and in analyzing housing data pointed toward the cause for the widespread crime problem.
Voila
The voila moment occurred, according to the article, when Dr. Janikowski overlaid his map of Memphis crimes with Dr. Betts’ map of Section 8 rentals. Both progressive thinkers and with finely honed social consciousness, they were “deflated” to see how perfectly the maps matched.
Co-conspirator to the exporting of crime was Memphis’ impressive success with Hope VI grants. While ballyhooed by the news media, the federal grant funds only did more to feed the proliferation of crime, the article said. Unfortunately for the poor, the motivation for the Hope VI projects was more to attract young professionals to the new, attractive, gentrified places than to create a better environment for poor families.
In the end, only 5 per cent of former public housing residents moved back into new homes on the sites of their former public housing projects, locked out by stricter criteria for residents of the new developments. By 2005, the number of people displaced from public housing totaled more than 20,000, and as they moved from the inner city outward, many neighborhoods reached their crime tipping points, the author said, adding that the key determinant seemed to be whether public housing residents moved out on their own or where forced out.
The Cold Hard Facts
Of course, the warehousing of the poor clearly wasn’t working, and even more clearly, it wasn’t even compassionate or defensible, but the lack of coaching and support services as the poor was pushed out into the broader city only exacerbated the malignancy of their problems.
Hope for Memphis, as identified by Dr. Janikowski, will come in the form of information and technology, as reflected in better policing that is better connected to new residential patterns.
We’ve written often about the need for all of us in Memphis to face the cold hard facts and to abandon the search for simplistic answers to complicated problems. This Atlantic article certainly is cold water in our collective faces.
Improved Reality Leads To Improved Image
We’ve also written that while we need to improve our self-image, we first need to improve our reality. No amount of positive marketing can overcome the Atlantic coverage of the underbelly of our city, not because it exposes our worst aspects to a national audience, but because it only reminds us of what most of us already know.
Fortunately, the Memphis Police Department and Dr. Janikowski are working more as partners, producing breakthroughs like the real time crime center. Obviously, more innovations are needed, and at least in the wake of the opening of the new real time crime center, our mayor at least acknowledged his office’s role in fighting crime.
There’s always power in seeing ourselves as others do, and in the end, perhaps that is the greatest impact of the Atlantic article. It’s a wake-up call for bolder strategies and more entrepreneurial public policies.
The Mantra
After all, to repeat our mantra, our solutions must create more than incremental progress, because incremental progress keeps us in our same relative position among the 50 largest U.S. cities – in the bottom rungs in most measurements that matter. The greatest challenge to Memphis is not in developing good programs, but in developing transformative ones that leap frog Memphis over competitive rivals in a world economy defined by its relentless competitiveness.
A crisis is a terrible thing to waste, and the Atlantic magazine article should be required reading for every city official – appointed and elected – because it gives valuable insight into a problem that plagues Memphis and undermines its opportunities to compete in the knowledge-based economy.
** The Atlantic article is not posted yet on the magazine’s website and when it is, it will also include “video clips on crime and poverty in Memphis."
That last pairing comes from two disparate, and ultimately disturbing, reports this week.
The first appeared in an online post by a PGA Tour writer who described Memphis as a magical place and one of only a few cities that can boast of such a defined identity.
The Plague
The second appeared in a 12-page spread in the July/August Atlantic magazine – called American Murder Mystery - that asks the damning question: “Why has Elvis’s hometown turned into America’s new South Bronx?” and then proceeds to use our city as the star of a report into why crime is rising in so many American cities.
Unfortunately, in the report, Memphis comes off like a city that is out of control – “as large as New York City, but with one-seventeenth as many police officers, and a much lower cop-to-citizen ratio.”
The magazine said that the story investigates “why crime has been plaguing so many mid-sized cities...a disturbing trend – one very few politicians will want to talk about.” After this article, it’s should at least be hard for our politicians to remain mute, even a city mayor who professed during last year’s campaign that a mayor can’t do anything to reduce crime.
The Diaspora
Building on the fact that Memphis is America’s most violent city, the article suggests that the diaspora of the Memphis poor to all parts of the city created a “bleak new landscape” for the city. The dispersal was fueled by the razing of public housing and the spread of Section 8 housing vouchers for former residents.
According to the writer Hanna Rosin, the seedbeds of crime were no longer located in a few places, and as a result, it spread like a virus all across Memphis, creating a serious spike in violence and lawlessness that grips the city.
Central to the article are University of Memphis researchers and married couple Richard Janikowski and Phyllis Betts, whose respective work in creating more data-driven crime prevention programs and in analyzing housing data pointed toward the cause for the widespread crime problem.
Voila
The voila moment occurred, according to the article, when Dr. Janikowski overlaid his map of Memphis crimes with Dr. Betts’ map of Section 8 rentals. Both progressive thinkers and with finely honed social consciousness, they were “deflated” to see how perfectly the maps matched.
Co-conspirator to the exporting of crime was Memphis’ impressive success with Hope VI grants. While ballyhooed by the news media, the federal grant funds only did more to feed the proliferation of crime, the article said. Unfortunately for the poor, the motivation for the Hope VI projects was more to attract young professionals to the new, attractive, gentrified places than to create a better environment for poor families.
In the end, only 5 per cent of former public housing residents moved back into new homes on the sites of their former public housing projects, locked out by stricter criteria for residents of the new developments. By 2005, the number of people displaced from public housing totaled more than 20,000, and as they moved from the inner city outward, many neighborhoods reached their crime tipping points, the author said, adding that the key determinant seemed to be whether public housing residents moved out on their own or where forced out.
The Cold Hard Facts
Of course, the warehousing of the poor clearly wasn’t working, and even more clearly, it wasn’t even compassionate or defensible, but the lack of coaching and support services as the poor was pushed out into the broader city only exacerbated the malignancy of their problems.
Hope for Memphis, as identified by Dr. Janikowski, will come in the form of information and technology, as reflected in better policing that is better connected to new residential patterns.
We’ve written often about the need for all of us in Memphis to face the cold hard facts and to abandon the search for simplistic answers to complicated problems. This Atlantic article certainly is cold water in our collective faces.
Improved Reality Leads To Improved Image
We’ve also written that while we need to improve our self-image, we first need to improve our reality. No amount of positive marketing can overcome the Atlantic coverage of the underbelly of our city, not because it exposes our worst aspects to a national audience, but because it only reminds us of what most of us already know.
Fortunately, the Memphis Police Department and Dr. Janikowski are working more as partners, producing breakthroughs like the real time crime center. Obviously, more innovations are needed, and at least in the wake of the opening of the new real time crime center, our mayor at least acknowledged his office’s role in fighting crime.
There’s always power in seeing ourselves as others do, and in the end, perhaps that is the greatest impact of the Atlantic article. It’s a wake-up call for bolder strategies and more entrepreneurial public policies.
The Mantra
After all, to repeat our mantra, our solutions must create more than incremental progress, because incremental progress keeps us in our same relative position among the 50 largest U.S. cities – in the bottom rungs in most measurements that matter. The greatest challenge to Memphis is not in developing good programs, but in developing transformative ones that leap frog Memphis over competitive rivals in a world economy defined by its relentless competitiveness.
A crisis is a terrible thing to waste, and the Atlantic magazine article should be required reading for every city official – appointed and elected – because it gives valuable insight into a problem that plagues Memphis and undermines its opportunities to compete in the knowledge-based economy.
** The Atlantic article is not posted yet on the magazine’s website and when it is, it will also include “video clips on crime and poverty in Memphis."
Friday, June 06, 2008
This Week On Smart City: Neighborhood Change
Marty Sumner is the Chief of Staff of the High Point North Carolina Police Department. A decade ago, street-level drug dealing and criminal activity were rife on the streets on High Point North Carolina. The police force was both ineffectual and it had alienated the community. Major Sumner’s ground-breaking technique for getting drug-dealers off the streets has reduced violent crime and won the department a 2007 Harvard Innovations award.
And we’ll speak with Julia Kim. She’s the Executive Director of the Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail. Her organization is striving to take an unused elevated train line on the west side of Chicago and turn it into a three-mile long park and walkway. We’ll talk to her about using this unconventional green space to connect neighborhoods.
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. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
And we’ll speak with Julia Kim. She’s the Executive Director of the Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail. Her organization is striving to take an unused elevated train line on the west side of Chicago and turn it into a three-mile long park and walkway. We’ll talk to her about using this unconventional green space to connect neighborhoods.
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. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
City Council's Taxing Job Only Half-Done
Here’s hoping that the Memphis City Council isn’t too busy toasting its historic vote to cut school funding by $73 million to see that its work is only half-done.
In the midst of the wall-to-wall media coverage of the vote on schools, overlooked was the fact that the Council actually increased spending by city government in the budget by more than $40 million.
It’s possible that support for cutting school funding may not be as strong when the public realizes that the schools took a hit to allow city government to continue business as usual.
Real Progress
It’s too bad, because if Council members really want pats on the back from taxpayers, they’ll turn their concerted attention to the hard part – whittling the city tax rate to get it below $3.
In that regard, the proposal by Councilman Jim Strickland deserves more consideration, not to mention more support.
His failure to support the massive cut in school funding caught the attention of numerous political activists who were puzzled by his no vote. He favored a different approach, one that would not have increased the city budget at a time when City Council was willing to cut school funding despite the risk that it would throw the district into disarray and chaos.
Budget Neutral
Seemingly acting on a philosophy that every one has to feel the pain, Councilman Strickland’s plan was built on a $50 million reduction in school funding, which he believed would prevent any changes in classroom programs, because that amount could be replaced from school board reserves, slight cuts in spending and savings in health insurance. Meanwhile, he proposed the beginning of negotiations that would lead to county government taking full responsibility for school funding.
Here’s where he took the road less traveled. He called for a balanced budget with no net increases in spending. And yet, the plan allowed for $32.2 million - for pay raises ($17 million which deserves re-thinking in our opinion), $3.6 million for more police; $3 million for health care premium increase; $2.5 million living wage impact, and $6 million in an OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefit) Investment Trust obligation.
Courage Under Fire
In the end, it would have been revenue neutral because his plan had offsetting reductions that came from a hiring freeze and a reserve fund appropriation.
But the best thing of all was this: his plan would have taken the city property tax rate all the way down to $2.93, rather than the $3.25 set by City Council. Put another way, the reduction in the tax rate would have been 50 cents, rather than 18 cents, creating three times more savings for homeowners.
Now that’s true courage.
In the midst of the wall-to-wall media coverage of the vote on schools, overlooked was the fact that the Council actually increased spending by city government in the budget by more than $40 million.
It’s possible that support for cutting school funding may not be as strong when the public realizes that the schools took a hit to allow city government to continue business as usual.
Real Progress
It’s too bad, because if Council members really want pats on the back from taxpayers, they’ll turn their concerted attention to the hard part – whittling the city tax rate to get it below $3.
In that regard, the proposal by Councilman Jim Strickland deserves more consideration, not to mention more support.
His failure to support the massive cut in school funding caught the attention of numerous political activists who were puzzled by his no vote. He favored a different approach, one that would not have increased the city budget at a time when City Council was willing to cut school funding despite the risk that it would throw the district into disarray and chaos.
Budget Neutral
Seemingly acting on a philosophy that every one has to feel the pain, Councilman Strickland’s plan was built on a $50 million reduction in school funding, which he believed would prevent any changes in classroom programs, because that amount could be replaced from school board reserves, slight cuts in spending and savings in health insurance. Meanwhile, he proposed the beginning of negotiations that would lead to county government taking full responsibility for school funding.
Here’s where he took the road less traveled. He called for a balanced budget with no net increases in spending. And yet, the plan allowed for $32.2 million - for pay raises ($17 million which deserves re-thinking in our opinion), $3.6 million for more police; $3 million for health care premium increase; $2.5 million living wage impact, and $6 million in an OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefit) Investment Trust obligation.
Courage Under Fire
In the end, it would have been revenue neutral because his plan had offsetting reductions that came from a hiring freeze and a reserve fund appropriation.
But the best thing of all was this: his plan would have taken the city property tax rate all the way down to $2.93, rather than the $3.25 set by City Council. Put another way, the reduction in the tax rate would have been 50 cents, rather than 18 cents, creating three times more savings for homeowners.
Now that’s true courage.
Council Halbert Replies To Blog Post Commending Council Vote On School Funding
We were sent a copy of a letter addressed to us from Council member Wanda Halbert in the wake of our Tuesday blog post, so we're sharing it here.
As a point of clarification, the clause at the end of the second italicized paragraph from that blog post only appeared for a couple of hours, because we later edited it out. We point that out in the event that you noticed that it no longer appears and wondered what happened to it.
Here's Councilwoman Halbert's letter:
I was a little surprised and disappointed when I read the following on your blog:
Right On The Money
While the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioner may object to the cut in funding, they seem to understand that City Council should rightly be considering precisely this kind of issue. In this regard, Board Chair Tomeka Hart set the proper tone when she said: “It is a conversation that the City Council has to have. They have every right to decide what role municipalities play in the school system.”
It was an example of statesmanship that is often lacking in local public affairs, and was especially impressive in light of the intemperate emails that she has been receiving from City Council member and former school board member Wanda Halbert, who seems intent on settling old political scores in her new position.
I am not certain where you are getting your information, however, as a member of the Memphis City Council given responsibility to serve as liaison to Memphis City Schools and Chair of O&M Budget, I have reached out to MCS on several occasions via email to forge a positive relationship and partnership. My colleagues on the Council will attest to the fact, it has been a real struggle working with the MCS leadership.
My direct communication has been with President Tomeka Hart and Vice President Martavious Jones with somewhat negative connotations and attitudes and little more than insults/innuendoes of, “don’t talk to me”. I have attached some of those emails and responses for your personal view, therefore, if anyone told you I was intent on settling old political scores in my new position, they were misleading you obviously to garner the print they were seeking. I contacted several board members and expressed my concern regarding their leadership with the hope the board would be more sensitive to the need to have a positive relationship with the Council, however, I never heard back.
While your interpretation of the President of the school board has been viewed as setting the proper tone, many of us have witnessed her as being insulting, and disrespectful to the legislative body and its requests. As late as last Thursday and Friday, the Council had MCS scheduled for its last budget wrap-up discussion only to receive a call from President Hart’s assistant less than 2 hours prior to the meeting stating they would not be present due to a previous meeting. This is the second time this kind of absence has happened with little to no notification. Mind you, this is after they failed to respond to very important questions submitted to MCS relevant to Council’s budget decision. There is a lack of transparency and accountability at MCS!
In addition, the Council was informed on Friday night, MCS “forgot” to request the dire need for $1.7M in capital funding which was (still) approved by Council on Tuesday. This was followed by members of the school board negatively discussing the Council members during dinner break, unaware they were being broadcast live via the Council speaker system and internet where Council members and reporters overheard the conversation.
Tom, it has been very difficult to be in my position because I love the children of Memphis City Schools and for the past 7 years I have fought to ensure they had the best education they should receive. Often times this fight was met with individuals who attempted to manipulate my personality and intent, however, I am a strong woman who is up for the challenge. The misconceptions about what is really happening operationally, academically, and politically in MCS along with the absence of holding some of our “favorite sons and daughters” accountable is a disservice to our city.
I offer you my contact information should you ever need to discuss any issue that involves me or my representation so there will be no future misrepresentation of any facts. I would appreciate if you and those who support you would give me that much respect.
As a point of clarification, the clause at the end of the second italicized paragraph from that blog post only appeared for a couple of hours, because we later edited it out. We point that out in the event that you noticed that it no longer appears and wondered what happened to it.
Here's Councilwoman Halbert's letter:
I was a little surprised and disappointed when I read the following on your blog:
Right On The Money
While the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioner may object to the cut in funding, they seem to understand that City Council should rightly be considering precisely this kind of issue. In this regard, Board Chair Tomeka Hart set the proper tone when she said: “It is a conversation that the City Council has to have. They have every right to decide what role municipalities play in the school system.”
It was an example of statesmanship that is often lacking in local public affairs, and was especially impressive in light of the intemperate emails that she has been receiving from City Council member and former school board member Wanda Halbert, who seems intent on settling old political scores in her new position.
I am not certain where you are getting your information, however, as a member of the Memphis City Council given responsibility to serve as liaison to Memphis City Schools and Chair of O&M Budget, I have reached out to MCS on several occasions via email to forge a positive relationship and partnership. My colleagues on the Council will attest to the fact, it has been a real struggle working with the MCS leadership.
My direct communication has been with President Tomeka Hart and Vice President Martavious Jones with somewhat negative connotations and attitudes and little more than insults/innuendoes of, “don’t talk to me”. I have attached some of those emails and responses for your personal view, therefore, if anyone told you I was intent on settling old political scores in my new position, they were misleading you obviously to garner the print they were seeking. I contacted several board members and expressed my concern regarding their leadership with the hope the board would be more sensitive to the need to have a positive relationship with the Council, however, I never heard back.
While your interpretation of the President of the school board has been viewed as setting the proper tone, many of us have witnessed her as being insulting, and disrespectful to the legislative body and its requests. As late as last Thursday and Friday, the Council had MCS scheduled for its last budget wrap-up discussion only to receive a call from President Hart’s assistant less than 2 hours prior to the meeting stating they would not be present due to a previous meeting. This is the second time this kind of absence has happened with little to no notification. Mind you, this is after they failed to respond to very important questions submitted to MCS relevant to Council’s budget decision. There is a lack of transparency and accountability at MCS!
In addition, the Council was informed on Friday night, MCS “forgot” to request the dire need for $1.7M in capital funding which was (still) approved by Council on Tuesday. This was followed by members of the school board negatively discussing the Council members during dinner break, unaware they were being broadcast live via the Council speaker system and internet where Council members and reporters overheard the conversation.
Tom, it has been very difficult to be in my position because I love the children of Memphis City Schools and for the past 7 years I have fought to ensure they had the best education they should receive. Often times this fight was met with individuals who attempted to manipulate my personality and intent, however, I am a strong woman who is up for the challenge. The misconceptions about what is really happening operationally, academically, and politically in MCS along with the absence of holding some of our “favorite sons and daughters” accountable is a disservice to our city.
I offer you my contact information should you ever need to discuss any issue that involves me or my representation so there will be no future misrepresentation of any facts. I would appreciate if you and those who support you would give me that much respect.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
The "One Thing" About Economic Growth
Maybe City Slickers’ Curly was an economic development consultant, because it would be hard to come up with better advice for Memphis: “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean s---.”
Forget the 20-point economic development priorities and the multi-volume strategic plans for economic growth. It’s really only about one thing – getting the level of education in the Memphis region up to the national average.
Few things offer a bigger payoff - $3 billion.
Connecting The Dots
That’s because there is a direct line between our low educational attainment and our low per capita income. Of the 50 largest metros, we’re 44th in the percentage of 18-24 year-olds in college, so it’s no wonder that we’re 45th in per capita income.
As a result, the strategy for the future is the “economic benefit of being average,” according to economist Joe Cortright of Portland, Oregon. “Just getting Memphis to average is worth $3 billion in new wealth and new spending,” he said in a recent presentation to Leadership Memphis. “Sometimes, it’s demoralizing to grapple with how to move Memphis to the top tier of American metros. Just focus on getting it to the middle of the pack, because the economic impact of just doing that is huge.”
In a world where educational attainment is a proxy for a city’s success in the knowledge-based economy, it’s the presence of college-educated workers that determines if cities succeed today, because these workers are the magnets for more jobs, not the other way around.
The Raw Material
Because they aren’t here, Memphis is third from the bottom of the 50 metros in the percentage of creative professionals, and to compete in a high-skill economy of innovation and entrepreneurship, that’s got to change.
So, how does Memphis attract these talented workers? We don’t have to.
Memphis has the youngest population of the top 50 metros. “In the future, many cities will have to deal with shortages in the workforces as the Boomers retire,” Cortright said. “Memphis has a greater percentage of young people, so you will have the workers to avoid the problems that other cities have to face.”
Battle Of The Bulge
But, he said, and it’s a big but: “You have to educate them first and get more of them to graduate from college.”
Already, taxpayers in Memphis and Shelby County pay a $200 million annual surcharge for the bulge in school-age population and the status quo. The bulge largely accounts for Memphis’ high property tax rate when compared to Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, where the percentage of school age population is about 20 percent less.
It’s a point also made by Marlin Mosby, managing director of Public Financial Management and former Memphis chief financial officer, as part of his crusade to spread the word about how the combination of a regressive tax structure and the cost for so many students produces a greater financial burden on a proportionally smaller workforce, limiting our city’s ability to finance adequate public services.
Pressure Point
No one has seen the impact of these realities from more vantage points than Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton, and because of it, his presentation in support of his proposal to take the helm of Memphis City Schools has even greater import.
Disparaging of all that has taken place at the city district since he left the superintendent’s job in 1992 to run for city mayor, the pressure is on Herenton to make a compelling, persuasive case for improving the schools. After all, as Cortright pointed out, the future competitive position of Memphis depends on it.
Clearly, it won’t come easily, because the district’s three-year TCAP average for grades 3-8 is D+, more than 100 city schools are not now meeting state benchmarks (17 have not met them for six years in a row), and about 30,000 students are too old for their grades.
Facing Facts
That said, if Herenton does nothing but get the facts out about Memphis City Schools and dismantle the “all is well, stay the course” attitude of too many board members and administrators, it will have been enough.
It often seems that too many people at Memphis City Schools have been lulled to sleep by their satisfaction that Memphis City Schools is not on the state’s “high priority list” while the Nashville school district is. The fact that it has more to do with former superintendent Carol Johnson’s aptitude for using the arcane language of the state’s No Child Left Behind policies to keep the district off the list does little to temper their self-approval.
Meanwhile, comparisons convincingly show that the Nashville district is performing better than ours across the board. Because of Herenton’s bully pulpit, this misinformation is likely to change, and along the way, perhaps it will become increasingly clear that our entire economic development agenda is really “just one thing.”
*This post was previously published as the City Journal column in the May Memphis magazine.
Forget the 20-point economic development priorities and the multi-volume strategic plans for economic growth. It’s really only about one thing – getting the level of education in the Memphis region up to the national average.
Few things offer a bigger payoff - $3 billion.
Connecting The Dots
That’s because there is a direct line between our low educational attainment and our low per capita income. Of the 50 largest metros, we’re 44th in the percentage of 18-24 year-olds in college, so it’s no wonder that we’re 45th in per capita income.
As a result, the strategy for the future is the “economic benefit of being average,” according to economist Joe Cortright of Portland, Oregon. “Just getting Memphis to average is worth $3 billion in new wealth and new spending,” he said in a recent presentation to Leadership Memphis. “Sometimes, it’s demoralizing to grapple with how to move Memphis to the top tier of American metros. Just focus on getting it to the middle of the pack, because the economic impact of just doing that is huge.”
In a world where educational attainment is a proxy for a city’s success in the knowledge-based economy, it’s the presence of college-educated workers that determines if cities succeed today, because these workers are the magnets for more jobs, not the other way around.
The Raw Material
Because they aren’t here, Memphis is third from the bottom of the 50 metros in the percentage of creative professionals, and to compete in a high-skill economy of innovation and entrepreneurship, that’s got to change.
So, how does Memphis attract these talented workers? We don’t have to.
Memphis has the youngest population of the top 50 metros. “In the future, many cities will have to deal with shortages in the workforces as the Boomers retire,” Cortright said. “Memphis has a greater percentage of young people, so you will have the workers to avoid the problems that other cities have to face.”
Battle Of The Bulge
But, he said, and it’s a big but: “You have to educate them first and get more of them to graduate from college.”
Already, taxpayers in Memphis and Shelby County pay a $200 million annual surcharge for the bulge in school-age population and the status quo. The bulge largely accounts for Memphis’ high property tax rate when compared to Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, where the percentage of school age population is about 20 percent less.
It’s a point also made by Marlin Mosby, managing director of Public Financial Management and former Memphis chief financial officer, as part of his crusade to spread the word about how the combination of a regressive tax structure and the cost for so many students produces a greater financial burden on a proportionally smaller workforce, limiting our city’s ability to finance adequate public services.
Pressure Point
No one has seen the impact of these realities from more vantage points than Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton, and because of it, his presentation in support of his proposal to take the helm of Memphis City Schools has even greater import.
Disparaging of all that has taken place at the city district since he left the superintendent’s job in 1992 to run for city mayor, the pressure is on Herenton to make a compelling, persuasive case for improving the schools. After all, as Cortright pointed out, the future competitive position of Memphis depends on it.
Clearly, it won’t come easily, because the district’s three-year TCAP average for grades 3-8 is D+, more than 100 city schools are not now meeting state benchmarks (17 have not met them for six years in a row), and about 30,000 students are too old for their grades.
Facing Facts
That said, if Herenton does nothing but get the facts out about Memphis City Schools and dismantle the “all is well, stay the course” attitude of too many board members and administrators, it will have been enough.
It often seems that too many people at Memphis City Schools have been lulled to sleep by their satisfaction that Memphis City Schools is not on the state’s “high priority list” while the Nashville school district is. The fact that it has more to do with former superintendent Carol Johnson’s aptitude for using the arcane language of the state’s No Child Left Behind policies to keep the district off the list does little to temper their self-approval.
Meanwhile, comparisons convincingly show that the Nashville district is performing better than ours across the board. Because of Herenton’s bully pulpit, this misinformation is likely to change, and along the way, perhaps it will become increasingly clear that our entire economic development agenda is really “just one thing.”
*This post was previously published as the City Journal column in the May Memphis magazine.
Authentic Memphis
There's just something special about Memphis, says a PGA Tour writer. Read it here.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
City Council Schools Memphis On Tax Equity
In its decisive vote to cut funding for Memphis City Schools, Memphis City Council showed the political courage and the new thinking that are becoming characteristics of this overhauled, and dramatically improved, legislative body.
Last year, when more a super majority of the Council was replaced, political observers thought – or at least hoped – that they would usher in a new approach to the city’s business.
Nothing punctuated the change more than yesterday’s vote to take city funding for city schools from $93 million down to $20 million. Because of this cut, the Council set the city property tax rate at $3.25, a drop of 18 cents.
The Longest Journey Begins
That may not sound like much to some people, but to us, it was a start.
It was in fact the first step in a journey toward a fairer tax structure, one that addresses the disincentive that Memphians pay to live within the city limits.
It is inarguable that there is no public service more important than public education. And yet, the tax system funding public services must be equitable and even-handed. The tax structure in Memphis is just the opposite.
Reverse Logic
Memphians not only have the highest combined city-county tax burden of any Tennesseans, but our tax structure is built on the backs of people who can least afford it. The poorer you are in Memphis, the more you pay in taxes as a percentage of your income.
The average tax burden for 51 cities across the U.S. – the largest city in each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia - was 7.3 percent for families earning $25,000; 8.3 percent for families earning $50,000; 9.1 percent earning $75,000; and 9.2 percent at the $100,000 and $150,000 levels.
In other words, most cities have a tax structure that responds to a person’s “ability to pay.” Meanwhile, Memphis’ is antithetical.
Facing Facts
The more a family earns, the less it pays. The family earning $25,000 pays 7.0 percent, right in line with the average for the 51 cities. But, the family earning $50,000 doesn’t pay more. It pays less – 6.2 percent. A family earning $75,000 pays 6.3 percent, one-third less than the national average; and the $100,000 income family pays 5.9 percent and the family earning $150,000 pays 5.6 percent.
In other words, the higher income brackets in Memphis pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than families making one-fourth as much. These Memphis high-income families are paying roughly 40 per cent less than the average of 51 cities.
That’s because government has an overreliance on property taxes and sales taxes when compared to other governments across the U.S. With no real options except the two primary tax sources allowed by state law, city and county governments are left with two inequitable places to go for more revenues – the regressive sales tax or the regressive property tax.
Mandated Services
While local efforts to expand tax sources are well-intended, in the end, the current tax structure is so badly flawed that even new sources are just stopgap answers that don’t address the fundamental flaws in the system.
That’s why the Memphis City Council had no choice but to target the services that it is not mandated to provide, but more to the point, it had to look at services that are legally the responsibility of Shelby County Government but are funded by City of Memphis.
Education topped that list, but we expect that the $13 million spent on health services will be next. Like schools, county governments are mandated to fund health departments in Tennessee.
Up And Out
We know the City Council cut in funding for schools is not the optimal way to create public policy, but it’s clear that doing the same thing and expecting different results is not only the definition of insanity, but the definition of political myopia at City Hall.
After all, we’ve been talking for 30 years about putting all school funding where it belongs – on Shelby County’s larger tax base. We’ve also been talking way too long about making the Memphis tax burden more rational, and despite all the talk, nothing had changed.
Meanwhile, the city tax rate has moved up and the middle class has moved out.
Open To Interpretation
While some people want to interpret yesterday’s decision as a vote of no confidence in Memphis City Schools, that was never the primary motivation for the Council. It was always more about tax equity.
Those who attacked the Council yesterday for failing to value our children simply missed the point. It’s not city government’s job to educate our kids, and any way, it’s pretty hard to argue in a city where schools spend $1 billion a year in operating and capital funding that we’re not doing enough for our children.
It seems to us that this is a message that’s not lost on the taxpayers of Memphis. They place the high Memphis tax burden as the second most troubling problem in their city (after crime). It also is, after crime, the reason that the middle class voted with their feet. The public’s understanding of this problem seemed to be reflected in yesterday’s turnout at the Council meeting. With 16,000 employees and 113,000 students, the school district was able to mobilize about 200 people to show up for the meeting.
Right On The Money
While the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioner may object to the cut in funding, they seem to understand that City Council should rightly be considering precisely this kind of issue. In this regard, Board Chair Tomeka Hart set the proper tone when she said: “It is a conversation that the City Council has to have. They have every right to decide what role municipalities play in the school system.”
It was an example of statesmanship that is often lacking in local public affairs, and was especially impressive in light of the intemperate emails that she has been receiving from City Council member and former school board member Wanda Halbert.
Councilman Bill Morrison was precisely correct when he said that the vote on school funding was about “equalization” of the city tax burden. The Council’s objective is to reduce the tax rate below $3 in the next couple of years, but its ultimate objective must be to pursue a strategy that levels the fiscal playing field by making the Memphis tax rate comparable to Germantown and Collierville.
Conversation Changer
That of course can’t be achieved by cuts in services or responsibilities, but requires a new discussion with Shelby County Government about rationalizing the local tax structure with a fiscal equity plan that assigns local services to the appropriate tax base, such as putting regional amenities like museums and arenas on the broader tax base of county government.
We’ve said here before that often it’s not that we’re coming up with the wrong answers in Memphis. More to the point, we’re not even having the right conversation.
With its vote to cut school funding, Memphis City Council served notice that the conversation is definitely shifting to the right one.
Last year, when more a super majority of the Council was replaced, political observers thought – or at least hoped – that they would usher in a new approach to the city’s business.
Nothing punctuated the change more than yesterday’s vote to take city funding for city schools from $93 million down to $20 million. Because of this cut, the Council set the city property tax rate at $3.25, a drop of 18 cents.
The Longest Journey Begins
That may not sound like much to some people, but to us, it was a start.
It was in fact the first step in a journey toward a fairer tax structure, one that addresses the disincentive that Memphians pay to live within the city limits.
It is inarguable that there is no public service more important than public education. And yet, the tax system funding public services must be equitable and even-handed. The tax structure in Memphis is just the opposite.
Reverse Logic
Memphians not only have the highest combined city-county tax burden of any Tennesseans, but our tax structure is built on the backs of people who can least afford it. The poorer you are in Memphis, the more you pay in taxes as a percentage of your income.
The average tax burden for 51 cities across the U.S. – the largest city in each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia - was 7.3 percent for families earning $25,000; 8.3 percent for families earning $50,000; 9.1 percent earning $75,000; and 9.2 percent at the $100,000 and $150,000 levels.
In other words, most cities have a tax structure that responds to a person’s “ability to pay.” Meanwhile, Memphis’ is antithetical.
Facing Facts
The more a family earns, the less it pays. The family earning $25,000 pays 7.0 percent, right in line with the average for the 51 cities. But, the family earning $50,000 doesn’t pay more. It pays less – 6.2 percent. A family earning $75,000 pays 6.3 percent, one-third less than the national average; and the $100,000 income family pays 5.9 percent and the family earning $150,000 pays 5.6 percent.
In other words, the higher income brackets in Memphis pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than families making one-fourth as much. These Memphis high-income families are paying roughly 40 per cent less than the average of 51 cities.
That’s because government has an overreliance on property taxes and sales taxes when compared to other governments across the U.S. With no real options except the two primary tax sources allowed by state law, city and county governments are left with two inequitable places to go for more revenues – the regressive sales tax or the regressive property tax.
Mandated Services
While local efforts to expand tax sources are well-intended, in the end, the current tax structure is so badly flawed that even new sources are just stopgap answers that don’t address the fundamental flaws in the system.
That’s why the Memphis City Council had no choice but to target the services that it is not mandated to provide, but more to the point, it had to look at services that are legally the responsibility of Shelby County Government but are funded by City of Memphis.
Education topped that list, but we expect that the $13 million spent on health services will be next. Like schools, county governments are mandated to fund health departments in Tennessee.
Up And Out
We know the City Council cut in funding for schools is not the optimal way to create public policy, but it’s clear that doing the same thing and expecting different results is not only the definition of insanity, but the definition of political myopia at City Hall.
After all, we’ve been talking for 30 years about putting all school funding where it belongs – on Shelby County’s larger tax base. We’ve also been talking way too long about making the Memphis tax burden more rational, and despite all the talk, nothing had changed.
Meanwhile, the city tax rate has moved up and the middle class has moved out.
Open To Interpretation
While some people want to interpret yesterday’s decision as a vote of no confidence in Memphis City Schools, that was never the primary motivation for the Council. It was always more about tax equity.
Those who attacked the Council yesterday for failing to value our children simply missed the point. It’s not city government’s job to educate our kids, and any way, it’s pretty hard to argue in a city where schools spend $1 billion a year in operating and capital funding that we’re not doing enough for our children.
It seems to us that this is a message that’s not lost on the taxpayers of Memphis. They place the high Memphis tax burden as the second most troubling problem in their city (after crime). It also is, after crime, the reason that the middle class voted with their feet. The public’s understanding of this problem seemed to be reflected in yesterday’s turnout at the Council meeting. With 16,000 employees and 113,000 students, the school district was able to mobilize about 200 people to show up for the meeting.
Right On The Money
While the Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioner may object to the cut in funding, they seem to understand that City Council should rightly be considering precisely this kind of issue. In this regard, Board Chair Tomeka Hart set the proper tone when she said: “It is a conversation that the City Council has to have. They have every right to decide what role municipalities play in the school system.”
It was an example of statesmanship that is often lacking in local public affairs, and was especially impressive in light of the intemperate emails that she has been receiving from City Council member and former school board member Wanda Halbert.
Councilman Bill Morrison was precisely correct when he said that the vote on school funding was about “equalization” of the city tax burden. The Council’s objective is to reduce the tax rate below $3 in the next couple of years, but its ultimate objective must be to pursue a strategy that levels the fiscal playing field by making the Memphis tax rate comparable to Germantown and Collierville.
Conversation Changer
That of course can’t be achieved by cuts in services or responsibilities, but requires a new discussion with Shelby County Government about rationalizing the local tax structure with a fiscal equity plan that assigns local services to the appropriate tax base, such as putting regional amenities like museums and arenas on the broader tax base of county government.
We’ve said here before that often it’s not that we’re coming up with the wrong answers in Memphis. More to the point, we’re not even having the right conversation.
With its vote to cut school funding, Memphis City Council served notice that the conversation is definitely shifting to the right one.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Temporary Phase Doing Lasting Damage For City Schools
Interim Memphis City Schools Superintendent Dan Ward’s good-bye lunch was held Friday at Blue Fish restaurant.
When Interim Chief of Staff Thelma Crivens asked the district’s senior staff to pony up for Mr. Ward’s going away party, it was to take place on his last day at the helm, but subsequently, he decided to delay his departure.
It becomes clearer and clearer that it’s time for him to follow through.
Politeness Aside
More and more, there’s no polite way to put it: Put directly, the city district has jumped track, and the selection of this interim superintendent has been the disaster predicted by observers who advocated for someone with better experience and less of a “good old boys” attitude toward management.
There is absolutely no question that Mr. Ward is the kind of person that we’d love to have as a dinner guest or as a friend. Unfortunately, those aren’t two qualifications needed right now to be effective as the head – even the temporary one - of the nation’s 21st largest school district.
There’s always been a unique culture at Memphis City Schools. Despite lagging student academic performance and data spotlighting disturbing trouble signs, the district administration often seems more focused on rewarding friends and relatives, consolidating power, tweaking organizational charts, settling personal grudges and feeding a culture defined too much by race and patronage.
Agent For Same
Given the chance to act as an agent for change, the interim superintendent has succeeded in only making things worse, chiefly out of a failure to understand that the district today is not the one that he left so long ago.
It’s all come at the most inopportune time for Memphis City Schools, because it erodes the confidence in Memphis City Schools that is needed to find receptive allies in city and county governments. More to the point, the turmoil and lack of credibility fuel City Council’s growing certainty that its $93 million funding for Memphis City Schools will be slashed this year.
All this said, in the midst of the current turmoil, we do of course need to keep our collective balance. There are inspiring stories of success at Memphis City Schools – teachers devoting their lives to their students’ success in life; principals driven by a singular focus on student learning; and students who, despite obstacles that most of us can only imagine, achieve and succeed in miraculous ways.
The Story Line
In other words, Memphis City Schools does not lack for these kinds of stories, but rarely do they hit the media’s radar, because they are obscured by continuing controversies at the mother ship at 2597 Avery Avenue.
There are federal and state grand jury investigations. There are questionable appointments made by interim management. There was lack of decisive action in the wake of the Mitchell High School rape dance controversy and the disastrous appearance by Mr. Ward on Bill O’Reilly’s national cable program. There was the reappointment of a coach at Ridgeway Middle School who had been removed from Hamilton High School for physical abuse of his players. There was creation of a new department that opened up jobs for the favored few. There was the principal’s outing of gay students at Hollis Price Middle School. There were the missing files (then found) in criminal investigations. There was the embarrassing nutrition services debacle that Mr. Ward called a “glitch.”
And as one of our grandmothers used to say, “And that’s just what we know about.” These are but the most well-known symptoms of a management structure that cries out for serious and permanent reform and a culture in need of overhaul.
Tough Jobs
While all of us should feel sympathy for the people who fill the toughest elected offices in Memphis – school board members – even their harshest critics should empathize with their constant buffeting from management controversies over which they have little or no control.
That was the case again Friday, when, just hours before his noon festivities, Mr. Ward asked for the resignation of executive director of capital planning and transportation Louise Mercuro. Curiously, according to an HR official, it was only a few months ago that he greatly expanded her responsibilities and gave her an evaluation that cited no serious shortcomings.
In the wake of the demanded resignation, school board members were again dismayed by a decision that they were being called on to explain or defend. Many of them didn’t even try, exhibiting frustration that a major personnel decision like this one was made by someone who has about four weeks left in his job.
Again And Again
The flare-up, according to a senior manager, resulted from a difference of opinion – and fact – between Ms. Mercuro and the head of facilities maintenance. In the words of this African-American staffer, “An African-American woman isn’t going to win when she is pitted against an African-American man (head of maintenance) and that goes double for a white woman (Ms. Mercuro).”
One board member even suggested that it was all the result of a “set-up.” The fact that these explanations were even given says volumes about the district these days. Whatever the cause, the effect was to once again throw school operations into question and to hold up the district to embarrassing questions about its standards.
Ms. Mercuro was known by reporters and FBI investigators as a source of accurate information and reliable data, and the latter in particular took careful note of her ordered resignation in the midst of an investigation in which they relied on her for subpoenaed material. In addition, one local researcher said that she “gave the district its first real planning office,” and that previously, the district made decisions about school attendance zones, construction budgets and student assignments using data that was years out of date.
Crisis Communicating
Following his decision, Mr. Ward declined comment, and school board members report that his email to them gave no reason for his action. It’s hard to disagree with School Commissioner Kenneth Whalum that the public deserves to know precisely what’s going on.
All in all, it’s no wonder that the district’s communications guru is taking this opportunity to escape to points west and return to a job at Warner Brothers Entertainment. If the school board is the toughest elected office in Memphis, surely communications director for Memphis City Schools is the hardest appointed job. In two years as the district’s primary spokesperson, she’s got enough material to pitch a television series when she returns to the friendlier confines of the dog-eat-dog entertainment business.
Meanwhile, the folks who hold the hardest elected office in this city should consider an entirely new communications strategy. We think the school board should declare a crisis at Memphis City Schools and implore every Memphian to join them in turning things around.
Not only would this get them off defense, where they are too often called on to defend things that are indefensible and explain things that are inexplicable, but it sends the message that they are determined to be on the front lines, fighting for the district’s mission statement to be more than mere verbiage: Memphis City Schools will be an internationally competitive urban school system that produces well-rounded, high achieving students.
When Interim Chief of Staff Thelma Crivens asked the district’s senior staff to pony up for Mr. Ward’s going away party, it was to take place on his last day at the helm, but subsequently, he decided to delay his departure.
It becomes clearer and clearer that it’s time for him to follow through.
Politeness Aside
More and more, there’s no polite way to put it: Put directly, the city district has jumped track, and the selection of this interim superintendent has been the disaster predicted by observers who advocated for someone with better experience and less of a “good old boys” attitude toward management.
There is absolutely no question that Mr. Ward is the kind of person that we’d love to have as a dinner guest or as a friend. Unfortunately, those aren’t two qualifications needed right now to be effective as the head – even the temporary one - of the nation’s 21st largest school district.
There’s always been a unique culture at Memphis City Schools. Despite lagging student academic performance and data spotlighting disturbing trouble signs, the district administration often seems more focused on rewarding friends and relatives, consolidating power, tweaking organizational charts, settling personal grudges and feeding a culture defined too much by race and patronage.
Agent For Same
Given the chance to act as an agent for change, the interim superintendent has succeeded in only making things worse, chiefly out of a failure to understand that the district today is not the one that he left so long ago.
It’s all come at the most inopportune time for Memphis City Schools, because it erodes the confidence in Memphis City Schools that is needed to find receptive allies in city and county governments. More to the point, the turmoil and lack of credibility fuel City Council’s growing certainty that its $93 million funding for Memphis City Schools will be slashed this year.
All this said, in the midst of the current turmoil, we do of course need to keep our collective balance. There are inspiring stories of success at Memphis City Schools – teachers devoting their lives to their students’ success in life; principals driven by a singular focus on student learning; and students who, despite obstacles that most of us can only imagine, achieve and succeed in miraculous ways.
The Story Line
In other words, Memphis City Schools does not lack for these kinds of stories, but rarely do they hit the media’s radar, because they are obscured by continuing controversies at the mother ship at 2597 Avery Avenue.
There are federal and state grand jury investigations. There are questionable appointments made by interim management. There was lack of decisive action in the wake of the Mitchell High School rape dance controversy and the disastrous appearance by Mr. Ward on Bill O’Reilly’s national cable program. There was the reappointment of a coach at Ridgeway Middle School who had been removed from Hamilton High School for physical abuse of his players. There was creation of a new department that opened up jobs for the favored few. There was the principal’s outing of gay students at Hollis Price Middle School. There were the missing files (then found) in criminal investigations. There was the embarrassing nutrition services debacle that Mr. Ward called a “glitch.”
And as one of our grandmothers used to say, “And that’s just what we know about.” These are but the most well-known symptoms of a management structure that cries out for serious and permanent reform and a culture in need of overhaul.
Tough Jobs
While all of us should feel sympathy for the people who fill the toughest elected offices in Memphis – school board members – even their harshest critics should empathize with their constant buffeting from management controversies over which they have little or no control.
That was the case again Friday, when, just hours before his noon festivities, Mr. Ward asked for the resignation of executive director of capital planning and transportation Louise Mercuro. Curiously, according to an HR official, it was only a few months ago that he greatly expanded her responsibilities and gave her an evaluation that cited no serious shortcomings.
In the wake of the demanded resignation, school board members were again dismayed by a decision that they were being called on to explain or defend. Many of them didn’t even try, exhibiting frustration that a major personnel decision like this one was made by someone who has about four weeks left in his job.
Again And Again
The flare-up, according to a senior manager, resulted from a difference of opinion – and fact – between Ms. Mercuro and the head of facilities maintenance. In the words of this African-American staffer, “An African-American woman isn’t going to win when she is pitted against an African-American man (head of maintenance) and that goes double for a white woman (Ms. Mercuro).”
One board member even suggested that it was all the result of a “set-up.” The fact that these explanations were even given says volumes about the district these days. Whatever the cause, the effect was to once again throw school operations into question and to hold up the district to embarrassing questions about its standards.
Ms. Mercuro was known by reporters and FBI investigators as a source of accurate information and reliable data, and the latter in particular took careful note of her ordered resignation in the midst of an investigation in which they relied on her for subpoenaed material. In addition, one local researcher said that she “gave the district its first real planning office,” and that previously, the district made decisions about school attendance zones, construction budgets and student assignments using data that was years out of date.
Crisis Communicating
Following his decision, Mr. Ward declined comment, and school board members report that his email to them gave no reason for his action. It’s hard to disagree with School Commissioner Kenneth Whalum that the public deserves to know precisely what’s going on.
All in all, it’s no wonder that the district’s communications guru is taking this opportunity to escape to points west and return to a job at Warner Brothers Entertainment. If the school board is the toughest elected office in Memphis, surely communications director for Memphis City Schools is the hardest appointed job. In two years as the district’s primary spokesperson, she’s got enough material to pitch a television series when she returns to the friendlier confines of the dog-eat-dog entertainment business.
Meanwhile, the folks who hold the hardest elected office in this city should consider an entirely new communications strategy. We think the school board should declare a crisis at Memphis City Schools and implore every Memphian to join them in turning things around.
Not only would this get them off defense, where they are too often called on to defend things that are indefensible and explain things that are inexplicable, but it sends the message that they are determined to be on the front lines, fighting for the district’s mission statement to be more than mere verbiage: Memphis City Schools will be an internationally competitive urban school system that produces well-rounded, high achieving students.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Drawing Up The Economic Development Agenda
We began a conversation Wednesday to develop a list of priorities for Memphis. We hope you will join in and add your comments.
To catch up, here's the original post, "Building An Agenda For Economic Growth," and the follow up comments.
To catch up, here's the original post, "Building An Agenda For Economic Growth," and the follow up comments.
This Week On Smart City: Conversations About Diversity
America is no longer a nation of red states and blue states. We are a nation of red neighborhoods and blue neighborhoods. That’s because of The Big Sort described by Bill Bishop in his new book of the same name. Bill says we are dangerously sorting ourselves according to our values, beliefs and lifestyles and while the overall result is that we have more choices than ever, our communities are also becoming significantly more segmented and specialized.
Susanne Justesen believes that the homogeneity Bill writes about threatens innovation and productivity. Her unusual approach to capturing the value of diversity works for major corporations and may just work 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. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
Susanne Justesen believes that the homogeneity Bill writes about threatens innovation and productivity. Her unusual approach to capturing the value of diversity works for major corporations and may just work 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. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
National Search Headed Toward Mayor's Office
Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners deserves credit for doing what was right – conducting a national search to find a new superintendent – but it’s becoming obvious that soon, they will be forced to admit that they cannot ignore the person who wants the job more than anyone else – Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton.
Of course, these days, it’s not just about desire. It’s also about the mayor sitting on a pile of political grenades that he’s clearly willing to toss into the board’s process, either to sabotage the search (in the view of the haters) or to shock the board into recognizing his qualifications (in the view of the lovers).
Either way, his motivation at this point is secondary. The primary fact is that the mayor has effectively destroyed the opportunity for Memphis City Schools to hire anyone but him.
Third-rate Behavior
Despite widespread opinions to the contrary, both of the candidates for the vacant superintendent’s job are actually quality possibilities for the job, according to people who keep up with emerging talent in the education field. No, they may not have ever been a superintendent of a large urban district, but they have track records within two similar districts that indicate that they possess the intellectual honesty, the requisite skills and experience that would make their appointment less than a high-risk decision.
In fact, both are as experienced as Mayor Herenton was when he was named superintendent in 1979, and to get where they are in their present positions, they obviously have the ability to get an accurate view of the political landscape. That’s why it’s impossible to see either of them taking a job in a city where the mayor has already labeled them as third-rate candidates for the job.
Calling them third-rate was an unfortunate rhetorical lapse, even for someone famous for them, because surely Mayor Herenton knew, as soon as the adjective escaped from his mouth, that he had stepped over the line. In a more combative political environment, the school board, not to mention the candidates themselves, could have fired back with similar rhetoric about City Hall itself. After all, there are few key indicators for Memphis that have improved in the past decade.
Passionate Politics
That aside, all in all, it demonstrated powerfully yet again how Mayor Herenton commands the political stage whenever he wants to, and because of his unpredictability and rhetorical excesses, there just aren’t too many people who have the guts to respond to him, much less challenge him directly.
Because of it, we predict that the school board may take some twists and turns in its journey to a new superintendent, but the destination nonetheless is fated to end up at the mayor’s door.
Close political allies of Mayor Herenton say that they have not seen him as personally engaged about anything since his finest hour in the late 1990’s when he defeated the “tiny town” legislation that threatened to encircle Memphis with municipalities. Some say that the mayor’s outburst to The Commercial Appeal’s new City Hall reporter Amos Maki – whose stories are almost daily setting the news agenda – stemmed not so much from his disdain for the superintendent candidates as his simmering frustration with the school board for its failure to contact him about the job.
Writing On The Wall
So far, the board, which cumulatively barely has as many years of political experience as Mayor Herenton does singly, has stuck to its mantra: We are conducting a national search, and it must continue to its conclusion. Less obvious to them is that they probably have now reached its conclusion.
Proving his political mettle, Mayor Herenton’s endorsement for superintendent by key Memphis business leaders Henry Turley and Gary Shorb only hints at the broad support that the mayor is generating from the business community. While some are solidly in the Herenton column because they believe he is more qualified for the job than the two current finalists, others seem motivated by the opinion that no one can screw up Memphis City Schools more than it is now. As a result, their reasoning goes like this: What damage can he really do, and at any rate, it opens up City Hall to new leadership (or at least new leadership from county government as Mayor AC Wharton becomes the prohibitive favorite to take the next city mayor’s oath of office)?
Regardless of the reason, the support of the business elite (which we predicted several months ago) also sends a powerful message to the two finalists for the superintendent’s job that they should bow out before things here really get ugly. After all, absent strong support from City Hall and the private sector, any one who would take the job would seem to be interested in resume-building because they can’t intend to stay long without support that is so instrumental to success.
Instant Impact
Supporters of the mayor for the superintendent’s job claim that he would have be an instant impact player, because there would be no learning curve and because he would command attention and support that the district has not been able to garner in years. There is the prevailing belief by friend and foe alike that he could put his clout behind the district in a way that could translate into higher community confidence and greater private financial support.
One thing for sure is that the district’s budget hearings in local government would sure change, and Memphis City Schools’ appearance yesterday before the Shelby County Board of Commissioners is a case in point. The current school administration essentially threw its staff under the bus, allowing county commissioners to get away with their political body blows to staffers who could never penetrate their preconceived opinions with the facts.
It is impossible to imagine a scenario in which Superintendent Herenton would have allowed his staff to endure such a beating or sat quietly through it. That alone defines what he would bring to the district’s highest job, according to his advocates.
Needs
A footnote to the county budget committee meeting is the way that a mythology is building up around a consultant’s report for the Needs Assessment Committee who opined that no new schools ever need to be built in Memphis and Shelby County. It’s hard to take an objective view at the population shifts within Memphis and the deplorable conditions of so many city schools and comprehend how such a conclusion could be stated so flatly.
Perhaps, on paper, our community has enough physical structures, but the truth is that many of them are located in the wrong places, and dozens of the city schools are more than 50 years old (about 10 are more than a century old). In other words, students are being educated in the age of the Internet in buildings that were constructed before the invention of the radio.
If there was no need for new schools, it would of course be welcome news to Shelby County’s budgets, and that’s why it sometimes seems that wishful thinking has set in as county officials hope desperately that the consultant is right. That said, it’s not lost on city school officials that as long as the demand for new schools emanated from the white-majority county district, there seemed to be few questions in previous years, but now that the black-majority city district needs funds for better facilities, a hardening resistance surfaces.
A Deal’s A Deal
Because some county commissioners on the education committee went into a closed attorney-client meeting, the public is left to speculate on what decisions were being discussed that involved their tax dollars (not to mention the fact that closing the discussion seemed a stretch under current state law). On the surface, it seems fairly clear that an existing agreement obligates county government to satisfy the last year of its three year, $180 million capital funding agreement with the city and county districts.
County commissioners are right to be frustrated about the districts’ lack of sensitivity to their budgetary woes in the past, but it’s hard to see why they would think that the districts would waive a legally binding contractual agreement that they have with county government.
Whether you are for or against Mayor Herenton as superintendent, it’s provocative to imagine how he would have responded to the combative questioning and withering criticisms from Commissioners Mike Ritz and Wyatt Bunker. Selling tickets to that tug-of-war could be the “alternative revenue source” that’s the only sure-fire way to raise enough money to balance the county’s budget.
Of course, these days, it’s not just about desire. It’s also about the mayor sitting on a pile of political grenades that he’s clearly willing to toss into the board’s process, either to sabotage the search (in the view of the haters) or to shock the board into recognizing his qualifications (in the view of the lovers).
Either way, his motivation at this point is secondary. The primary fact is that the mayor has effectively destroyed the opportunity for Memphis City Schools to hire anyone but him.
Third-rate Behavior
Despite widespread opinions to the contrary, both of the candidates for the vacant superintendent’s job are actually quality possibilities for the job, according to people who keep up with emerging talent in the education field. No, they may not have ever been a superintendent of a large urban district, but they have track records within two similar districts that indicate that they possess the intellectual honesty, the requisite skills and experience that would make their appointment less than a high-risk decision.
In fact, both are as experienced as Mayor Herenton was when he was named superintendent in 1979, and to get where they are in their present positions, they obviously have the ability to get an accurate view of the political landscape. That’s why it’s impossible to see either of them taking a job in a city where the mayor has already labeled them as third-rate candidates for the job.
Calling them third-rate was an unfortunate rhetorical lapse, even for someone famous for them, because surely Mayor Herenton knew, as soon as the adjective escaped from his mouth, that he had stepped over the line. In a more combative political environment, the school board, not to mention the candidates themselves, could have fired back with similar rhetoric about City Hall itself. After all, there are few key indicators for Memphis that have improved in the past decade.
Passionate Politics
That aside, all in all, it demonstrated powerfully yet again how Mayor Herenton commands the political stage whenever he wants to, and because of his unpredictability and rhetorical excesses, there just aren’t too many people who have the guts to respond to him, much less challenge him directly.
Because of it, we predict that the school board may take some twists and turns in its journey to a new superintendent, but the destination nonetheless is fated to end up at the mayor’s door.
Close political allies of Mayor Herenton say that they have not seen him as personally engaged about anything since his finest hour in the late 1990’s when he defeated the “tiny town” legislation that threatened to encircle Memphis with municipalities. Some say that the mayor’s outburst to The Commercial Appeal’s new City Hall reporter Amos Maki – whose stories are almost daily setting the news agenda – stemmed not so much from his disdain for the superintendent candidates as his simmering frustration with the school board for its failure to contact him about the job.
Writing On The Wall
So far, the board, which cumulatively barely has as many years of political experience as Mayor Herenton does singly, has stuck to its mantra: We are conducting a national search, and it must continue to its conclusion. Less obvious to them is that they probably have now reached its conclusion.
Proving his political mettle, Mayor Herenton’s endorsement for superintendent by key Memphis business leaders Henry Turley and Gary Shorb only hints at the broad support that the mayor is generating from the business community. While some are solidly in the Herenton column because they believe he is more qualified for the job than the two current finalists, others seem motivated by the opinion that no one can screw up Memphis City Schools more than it is now. As a result, their reasoning goes like this: What damage can he really do, and at any rate, it opens up City Hall to new leadership (or at least new leadership from county government as Mayor AC Wharton becomes the prohibitive favorite to take the next city mayor’s oath of office)?
Regardless of the reason, the support of the business elite (which we predicted several months ago) also sends a powerful message to the two finalists for the superintendent’s job that they should bow out before things here really get ugly. After all, absent strong support from City Hall and the private sector, any one who would take the job would seem to be interested in resume-building because they can’t intend to stay long without support that is so instrumental to success.
Instant Impact
Supporters of the mayor for the superintendent’s job claim that he would have be an instant impact player, because there would be no learning curve and because he would command attention and support that the district has not been able to garner in years. There is the prevailing belief by friend and foe alike that he could put his clout behind the district in a way that could translate into higher community confidence and greater private financial support.
One thing for sure is that the district’s budget hearings in local government would sure change, and Memphis City Schools’ appearance yesterday before the Shelby County Board of Commissioners is a case in point. The current school administration essentially threw its staff under the bus, allowing county commissioners to get away with their political body blows to staffers who could never penetrate their preconceived opinions with the facts.
It is impossible to imagine a scenario in which Superintendent Herenton would have allowed his staff to endure such a beating or sat quietly through it. That alone defines what he would bring to the district’s highest job, according to his advocates.
Needs
A footnote to the county budget committee meeting is the way that a mythology is building up around a consultant’s report for the Needs Assessment Committee who opined that no new schools ever need to be built in Memphis and Shelby County. It’s hard to take an objective view at the population shifts within Memphis and the deplorable conditions of so many city schools and comprehend how such a conclusion could be stated so flatly.
Perhaps, on paper, our community has enough physical structures, but the truth is that many of them are located in the wrong places, and dozens of the city schools are more than 50 years old (about 10 are more than a century old). In other words, students are being educated in the age of the Internet in buildings that were constructed before the invention of the radio.
If there was no need for new schools, it would of course be welcome news to Shelby County’s budgets, and that’s why it sometimes seems that wishful thinking has set in as county officials hope desperately that the consultant is right. That said, it’s not lost on city school officials that as long as the demand for new schools emanated from the white-majority county district, there seemed to be few questions in previous years, but now that the black-majority city district needs funds for better facilities, a hardening resistance surfaces.
A Deal’s A Deal
Because some county commissioners on the education committee went into a closed attorney-client meeting, the public is left to speculate on what decisions were being discussed that involved their tax dollars (not to mention the fact that closing the discussion seemed a stretch under current state law). On the surface, it seems fairly clear that an existing agreement obligates county government to satisfy the last year of its three year, $180 million capital funding agreement with the city and county districts.
County commissioners are right to be frustrated about the districts’ lack of sensitivity to their budgetary woes in the past, but it’s hard to see why they would think that the districts would waive a legally binding contractual agreement that they have with county government.
Whether you are for or against Mayor Herenton as superintendent, it’s provocative to imagine how he would have responded to the combative questioning and withering criticisms from Commissioners Mike Ritz and Wyatt Bunker. Selling tickets to that tug-of-war could be the “alternative revenue source” that’s the only sure-fire way to raise enough money to balance the county’s budget.
Continuing The Conversation: Making Memphis Competitive
We began a conversation yesterday to come up with a list of priorities that we need if Memphis is to compete in the knowledge economy. We hope you will join in.
Here's what fieldguidetomemphis would add to our list:
Investment in Universities: This is a no-brainer. The budget cuts that will affect higher education are truly unfortunate. We should always prioritize investing in education. Moreover, we have tremendous research engines and very smart and capable local talent already living and working here at the universities, and their knowledge and expertise should be sought out for local business growth, feasibility and projections studies. Why we continually outsource when we have the local resources makes no sense.
Redevelopment in the Urban Core: Let's start with Overton Square. I would love to see that big ugly parking lot which is running off businesses turned into a park, with landscaping and grass and a place for people and pets to socialize. I've mentioned this to others who comment that it will attract homeless people. Pshaw. So we shouldn't have public spaces because public people might show up? This makes no sense. Homelessness and public parks are related but separate issues.
Transportation: We must have some MATA schedules and routes that make sense (i.e. not routing people so that they have to spend the night on Lamar).
Understanding our Competitive Context AND Building a 21st Century Workforce AND Eco-Assets: Look soon for a comprehensive FieldGuide plan to the Green Economy in Memphis and Shelby County. It builds on our regional assets and is a viable strategy for getting people to work in jobs that are good for people, communities and the environment. Many of the available jobs in our area can't be filled with the existing workforce because many people - 100,000 or so - have less than or only a high school diploma and the well-paying jobs require more than that. Yet jobs for people with low levels of education need not be exploitative of workers or the environment.
The best thing to add to your already very smart list is investing in a comprehensive Green Collar Jobs and Green Economy strategy. Green Collar Jobs are blue collar jobs in green industries - ones that pay a living wage, have benefits, a career ladder, make use of existing resources and assets, and promote smart growth and good stewardship of the environment.
Unfortunately we have some "framing" work to do on this issue because when people hear the word Green, they think polar bears and global warming - or cursory changes like changing light bulbs or shutting off the tap while brushing your teeth. This is certainly part of the Green picture, but not what is intended for in our local economic strategy.
Here's what fieldguidetomemphis would add to our list:
Investment in Universities: This is a no-brainer. The budget cuts that will affect higher education are truly unfortunate. We should always prioritize investing in education. Moreover, we have tremendous research engines and very smart and capable local talent already living and working here at the universities, and their knowledge and expertise should be sought out for local business growth, feasibility and projections studies. Why we continually outsource when we have the local resources makes no sense.
Redevelopment in the Urban Core: Let's start with Overton Square. I would love to see that big ugly parking lot which is running off businesses turned into a park, with landscaping and grass and a place for people and pets to socialize. I've mentioned this to others who comment that it will attract homeless people. Pshaw. So we shouldn't have public spaces because public people might show up? This makes no sense. Homelessness and public parks are related but separate issues.
Transportation: We must have some MATA schedules and routes that make sense (i.e. not routing people so that they have to spend the night on Lamar).
Understanding our Competitive Context AND Building a 21st Century Workforce AND Eco-Assets: Look soon for a comprehensive FieldGuide plan to the Green Economy in Memphis and Shelby County. It builds on our regional assets and is a viable strategy for getting people to work in jobs that are good for people, communities and the environment. Many of the available jobs in our area can't be filled with the existing workforce because many people - 100,000 or so - have less than or only a high school diploma and the well-paying jobs require more than that. Yet jobs for people with low levels of education need not be exploitative of workers or the environment.
The best thing to add to your already very smart list is investing in a comprehensive Green Collar Jobs and Green Economy strategy. Green Collar Jobs are blue collar jobs in green industries - ones that pay a living wage, have benefits, a career ladder, make use of existing resources and assets, and promote smart growth and good stewardship of the environment.
Unfortunately we have some "framing" work to do on this issue because when people hear the word Green, they think polar bears and global warming - or cursory changes like changing light bulbs or shutting off the tap while brushing your teeth. This is certainly part of the Green picture, but not what is intended for in our local economic strategy.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Building An Agenda For Economic Growth
Rather than selling themselves at a discount -- cheap land and cheap labor – cities that are succeeding are investing in better workers, high-quality universities, quality of life and efficient public services.
So, what would should we start doing right now to get ahead?
• 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.
• 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.
• 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, answers produced organically from a reservoir of innovation and creativity that is embedded throughout Memphis.
• Understanding Our Competitive Context. Memphis starts by understanding its competitive context, including market and demographic trends in the region and its strengths and liabilities. Most of all, we need to use new measures that matter in the knowledge economy rather than on the indicators from traditional economic development. Memphis can find its distinctive niche to leap frog ahead of other cities, but it must be based on solid research that sparks more imaginative strategies.
• Fixing the Basics. Local government needs to concentrate on fixing the basics, such as safety, taxes, services, land, infrastructure and schools. Governments must look for ways to streamline its 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 a “we versus them” mentality and a “if you’re winning, we must be losing” attitude when it comes to our neighboring counties. 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.
• 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 culture as tourist amenities, but in truth, its value is much broader since quality of life is 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.
• 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. Green assets are a key factor for Memphis to compete successfully for the workers of the Knowledge Economy. 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.
• 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 will also become known for their low levels of economic growth.
That's the start of our list. What do you think we should add?
So, what would should we start doing right now to get ahead?
• 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.
• 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.
• 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, answers produced organically from a reservoir of innovation and creativity that is embedded throughout Memphis.
• Understanding Our Competitive Context. Memphis starts by understanding its competitive context, including market and demographic trends in the region and its strengths and liabilities. Most of all, we need to use new measures that matter in the knowledge economy rather than on the indicators from traditional economic development. Memphis can find its distinctive niche to leap frog ahead of other cities, but it must be based on solid research that sparks more imaginative strategies.
• Fixing the Basics. Local government needs to concentrate on fixing the basics, such as safety, taxes, services, land, infrastructure and schools. Governments must look for ways to streamline its 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 a “we versus them” mentality and a “if you’re winning, we must be losing” attitude when it comes to our neighboring counties. 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.
• 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 culture as tourist amenities, but in truth, its value is much broader since quality of life is 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.
• 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. Green assets are a key factor for Memphis to compete successfully for the workers of the Knowledge Economy. 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.
• 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 will also become known for their low levels of economic growth.
That's the start of our list. What do you think we should add?
Free Workshop To Train Film Crew Members
My nephew was in town from Hollywood for Memorial Day.
He’s working in the movie business -- recent credits include Indiana Jones movie and G.I. Joe – on the financial side of the house. It just proves that there are other avenues into the industry that don’t begin with a casting call.
My nephew made his first movie contacts through the Memphis and Shelby County Film and Television Commission, and his first jobs were in Memphis and led to work in New Orleans, Austin and Hollywood.
Now, you can get your chance by attending a special, free June 7-8 workshop, “Breaking Into Film and Getting Your First Job.” Led by producer James Spies and sponsored by the Film Commission, the special crew training covers all aspects of the movie business.
Applications can be downloaded from the Commission’s website at www.memphisfilmcomm.org and faxed to the Commission at 527-8326 along with proof of residency and a letter of reference from a professor, teacher or work supervisor.
Deadline for your applications is June 2. If you have questions, please call 527-8300, Extension 3.
This is the first free workshop of its kind sponsored by Memphis and Shelby County Governments and offers proof of a stepped-up emphasis by local government on the movie industry in our community. In offering the workshop, Memphis joins progressive film states in offering workforce incentives that can lead to film jobs.
He’s working in the movie business -- recent credits include Indiana Jones movie and G.I. Joe – on the financial side of the house. It just proves that there are other avenues into the industry that don’t begin with a casting call.
My nephew made his first movie contacts through the Memphis and Shelby County Film and Television Commission, and his first jobs were in Memphis and led to work in New Orleans, Austin and Hollywood.
Now, you can get your chance by attending a special, free June 7-8 workshop, “Breaking Into Film and Getting Your First Job.” Led by producer James Spies and sponsored by the Film Commission, the special crew training covers all aspects of the movie business.
Applications can be downloaded from the Commission’s website at www.memphisfilmcomm.org and faxed to the Commission at 527-8326 along with proof of residency and a letter of reference from a professor, teacher or work supervisor.
Deadline for your applications is June 2. If you have questions, please call 527-8300, Extension 3.
This is the first free workshop of its kind sponsored by Memphis and Shelby County Governments and offers proof of a stepped-up emphasis by local government on the movie industry in our community. In offering the workshop, Memphis joins progressive film states in offering workforce incentives that can lead to film jobs.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
It's Not Just Schools
While we're spotlighting some special comments by our readers, we don't want to overlook the following which was posted by our fellow blogger fieldguidetomemphis in response to our post about the search for a superintendent of Memphis City Schools:
The future superintendent will have his/her hands full in dealing with the myriad interconnected problems facing children in Memphis who attend public schools. And it is so incredibly important that s/he understand that all of the problems hold hands - schools are microcosms of the community.
There seem to be three interrelated key issues that keep surfacing: test scores, dropout rates and the effects of poverty. Kids in poverty tend to have lower test scores and be at risk for dropping out, and they cost more to educate.
We might consider the idea that test scores in Memphis are actually higher because 1 in 3 students does not graduate from high school. If we were to retain these students who are likely behind their peers in reading, math and science, the test scores that - while on par with the state - are somewhat discouraging might be even more so if the dropouts contributed to the achievement tests.
This is a tremendous quandary. What do we do? If we kept more kids in school, our test scores could drop, jeopardizing AYP and succeeding under NCLB. But what is the alternative? Are we supposed to let kids drop out in droves to be scooped up by the prison system? To be scooped up by social services? To end up with dead-end low-paying jobs with no career ladders? Are we supposed to lower the bar so it's easier to pass the tests, to make the grade and to graduate?
Or do we hold on to higher standards and make everyone accountable and make the processes of determining achievement more transparent and less labyrinth-like? (This gets my vote.)
We all have to acknowledge that every child is worth saving. Every child is worth our investment. The future of children in economically and racially segregated schools is intimately tied to the future of our community. This "underclass" so named by William Julius Wilson does not have to exist in perpetuity. It is possible to envision and create another future where kids thrive, and where opportunities are not a zero-sum game. Some don't have to win, succeed and thrive at the expense of many.
We must have a comprehensive educational plan that starts in the prekindergarten classrooms and extends through early adulthood so we can recapture the dropouts and give them the skills and training (through GED or vocational or on-the-job) to create a successful life that breaks the cycle of poverty.
This is the key: a comprehensive strategy that begins in early childhood and extends to early adulthood, acknowledging the interrelatedness of all the issues facing students and schools.
"Every Day, Every Child, College Bound" is a fantastic slogan that should and can be true, but it's presently unrealistic given the massive middle-class opt out from public schools in our community and the public/private chasm that continues to widen. Susan Mayer's work ("How Economic Segregation Affects Children's Educational Attainment," Social Forces; September 2002) should be mandatory reading for our new superintendent.
The future superintendent will have his/her hands full in dealing with the myriad interconnected problems facing children in Memphis who attend public schools. And it is so incredibly important that s/he understand that all of the problems hold hands - schools are microcosms of the community.
There seem to be three interrelated key issues that keep surfacing: test scores, dropout rates and the effects of poverty. Kids in poverty tend to have lower test scores and be at risk for dropping out, and they cost more to educate.
We might consider the idea that test scores in Memphis are actually higher because 1 in 3 students does not graduate from high school. If we were to retain these students who are likely behind their peers in reading, math and science, the test scores that - while on par with the state - are somewhat discouraging might be even more so if the dropouts contributed to the achievement tests.
This is a tremendous quandary. What do we do? If we kept more kids in school, our test scores could drop, jeopardizing AYP and succeeding under NCLB. But what is the alternative? Are we supposed to let kids drop out in droves to be scooped up by the prison system? To be scooped up by social services? To end up with dead-end low-paying jobs with no career ladders? Are we supposed to lower the bar so it's easier to pass the tests, to make the grade and to graduate?
Or do we hold on to higher standards and make everyone accountable and make the processes of determining achievement more transparent and less labyrinth-like? (This gets my vote.)
We all have to acknowledge that every child is worth saving. Every child is worth our investment. The future of children in economically and racially segregated schools is intimately tied to the future of our community. This "underclass" so named by William Julius Wilson does not have to exist in perpetuity. It is possible to envision and create another future where kids thrive, and where opportunities are not a zero-sum game. Some don't have to win, succeed and thrive at the expense of many.
We must have a comprehensive educational plan that starts in the prekindergarten classrooms and extends through early adulthood so we can recapture the dropouts and give them the skills and training (through GED or vocational or on-the-job) to create a successful life that breaks the cycle of poverty.
This is the key: a comprehensive strategy that begins in early childhood and extends to early adulthood, acknowledging the interrelatedness of all the issues facing students and schools.
"Every Day, Every Child, College Bound" is a fantastic slogan that should and can be true, but it's presently unrealistic given the massive middle-class opt out from public schools in our community and the public/private chasm that continues to widen. Susan Mayer's work ("How Economic Segregation Affects Children's Educational Attainment," Social Forces; September 2002) should be mandatory reading for our new superintendent.
Response To Sidney Shlenker Post
Sidney Shlenker's daughter posted this comment to a blog post of ours from last summer, and we wanted to highlight it here:
First, I would just like to thank all of you for your truly brilliant analysis of my fathers hard work; he would have been riveted. Secondly, to the columnist, I am deeply touched by the title alone and the honest defense for my father. I plan on following in his footsteps and hopefully I am able to finish all of the projects he poured his heart and soul into. I will bring the "Man of the Year" kind of respect back to the Shlenker legacy in Memphis and to hear your opinions have been very helpful.
If anyone would like to email me for further discussion you my do so.
alanashlenker@gmail.com
First, I would just like to thank all of you for your truly brilliant analysis of my fathers hard work; he would have been riveted. Secondly, to the columnist, I am deeply touched by the title alone and the honest defense for my father. I plan on following in his footsteps and hopefully I am able to finish all of the projects he poured his heart and soul into. I will bring the "Man of the Year" kind of respect back to the Shlenker legacy in Memphis and to hear your opinions have been very helpful.
If anyone would like to email me for further discussion you my do so.
alanashlenker@gmail.com
Changing Reality Starts With Race
Aaron always offers special insight into the issues of Memphis, and it's particularly instructive since he's one of those highly coveted young professionals who has moved to our city. We thought his comments to our post yesterday deserved to be highlighted here:
It takes time to reverse the momentum that has dragged Memphis in the wrong direction for years. That negative momentum has been fueled and driven by oppression of one culture by another. Although it's not nearly as measurable or tangible as in years past, its aftershocks will be felt for years.
There are two cultures here that don't mix very well.
One culture needs to seek forgiveness and provide tangible evidence of providing a way out for the culture it oppressed. This same culture says to the other, “Move beyond your past and seize the opportunities.” Sure, just tell the lion at the zoo to not let that barrier keep him from realizing his true capacity to roam. There are a lot of socio-economic barriers that have been raised as a result of the residual cultural infrastructure that exists here. You don’t see it if you visit Memphis, but you do if you move here.
It's this rift between two cultures that is absolutely revolting to the outsiders coming to Memphis. And nowhere is it more obvious then when an outsider family goes to a public school and is suddenly transported back to the segregated pre-Civil Rights era.
You can talk about all the great ways that people claim race relations have improved, but the public school system is the reality check. It tells the whole story to a family coming to move to Memphis. There is the change that people desire and preach and then there is their action to back it up. Let’s face it- it’s completely socially acceptable within the churched culture here to segregate your kids. How’s that for a selling point for our city?
THIS IS NOT NORMAL!
Memphis is plagued by hypocrisy - a putrid stench to the prospective working professional and to the Memphian that has smelled it their whole life and is aching to get out of it. This hypocrisy is the running joke with one of my Australian colleagues.
A culture that preaches forgiveness and tolerance and yet continues to promote segregation by placing its children into private schools. How do our children learn racial tolerance and harmony if they don't grow up together? Most of the parents that I have met who do place their kids in Memphis City Schools are non-religious folks. What does that say about what people believe? Does God only live in private schools? Why is it that the “non-Christians” are more Christian in their convictions (or at least actions) than the “true Christians.”
Yes we need more high tech jobs, low tech jobs and such. But for people to sink their roots down and commit to a community we need racial harmony and congruity. The church here needs to live out the principles and actions and align their beliefs with their actions.
On the brighter side, times are changing.
As more outsiders move in, the melting pot is starting to stir again especially in the Midtown areas but it's slow and even slower within the native culture. But it’s happening and I have met Memphians that are equally disturbed with this incongruity. But wait! MCS are terrible and not safe. Right? Not true. That's a smokescreen or code word for the MCS being mostly populated by blacks. There are some great MCS schools out there!!
As you see racial reconciliation continue to unfold, this city will become a beautiful vibrant place - inside and out. It already is a beautiful little city but it's the culture, the tension and the manifestations of this rift that start to wear on those of us who are new to Memphis.
Let’s start with a Forgiveness Garden perhaps on the grounds of Auction and Main.
This is the area visible from the trolley route where slaves were traded and the property has been for sale for along time. H-m-m. Why not get churches to donate money to jointly buy, run and maintain the site? Why not host inter-racial worship services on Mud Island on Sunday nights?
People will stay and not leave as the day-to-day gritty realities around us begin to fade. And they will fade as harmony is restored between the cultures belief system and it’s actions.
It takes time to reverse the momentum that has dragged Memphis in the wrong direction for years. That negative momentum has been fueled and driven by oppression of one culture by another. Although it's not nearly as measurable or tangible as in years past, its aftershocks will be felt for years.
There are two cultures here that don't mix very well.
One culture needs to seek forgiveness and provide tangible evidence of providing a way out for the culture it oppressed. This same culture says to the other, “Move beyond your past and seize the opportunities.” Sure, just tell the lion at the zoo to not let that barrier keep him from realizing his true capacity to roam. There are a lot of socio-economic barriers that have been raised as a result of the residual cultural infrastructure that exists here. You don’t see it if you visit Memphis, but you do if you move here.
It's this rift between two cultures that is absolutely revolting to the outsiders coming to Memphis. And nowhere is it more obvious then when an outsider family goes to a public school and is suddenly transported back to the segregated pre-Civil Rights era.
You can talk about all the great ways that people claim race relations have improved, but the public school system is the reality check. It tells the whole story to a family coming to move to Memphis. There is the change that people desire and preach and then there is their action to back it up. Let’s face it- it’s completely socially acceptable within the churched culture here to segregate your kids. How’s that for a selling point for our city?
THIS IS NOT NORMAL!
Memphis is plagued by hypocrisy - a putrid stench to the prospective working professional and to the Memphian that has smelled it their whole life and is aching to get out of it. This hypocrisy is the running joke with one of my Australian colleagues.
A culture that preaches forgiveness and tolerance and yet continues to promote segregation by placing its children into private schools. How do our children learn racial tolerance and harmony if they don't grow up together? Most of the parents that I have met who do place their kids in Memphis City Schools are non-religious folks. What does that say about what people believe? Does God only live in private schools? Why is it that the “non-Christians” are more Christian in their convictions (or at least actions) than the “true Christians.”
Yes we need more high tech jobs, low tech jobs and such. But for people to sink their roots down and commit to a community we need racial harmony and congruity. The church here needs to live out the principles and actions and align their beliefs with their actions.
On the brighter side, times are changing.
As more outsiders move in, the melting pot is starting to stir again especially in the Midtown areas but it's slow and even slower within the native culture. But it’s happening and I have met Memphians that are equally disturbed with this incongruity. But wait! MCS are terrible and not safe. Right? Not true. That's a smokescreen or code word for the MCS being mostly populated by blacks. There are some great MCS schools out there!!
As you see racial reconciliation continue to unfold, this city will become a beautiful vibrant place - inside and out. It already is a beautiful little city but it's the culture, the tension and the manifestations of this rift that start to wear on those of us who are new to Memphis.
Let’s start with a Forgiveness Garden perhaps on the grounds of Auction and Main.
This is the area visible from the trolley route where slaves were traded and the property has been for sale for along time. H-m-m. Why not get churches to donate money to jointly buy, run and maintain the site? Why not host inter-racial worship services on Mud Island on Sunday nights?
People will stay and not leave as the day-to-day gritty realities around us begin to fade. And they will fade as harmony is restored between the cultures belief system and it’s actions.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Simple Answers Only Complicate Economic Success
Memphis manages somehow to hold two countervailing attitudes.
On one hand, a lack of self-worth leads to a tendency to accept any big idea that rides into town claiming to be the magic answer to turning things around. On the other hand, there’s the widespread notion that our seriously deficient economic indicators are largely caused by image problems.
Both seem to stem from the same place – a civic propensity to grasp at simplistic answers to complex questions.
The Best Policy
Let’s all be brutally honest. Memphis has a reality problem. Not a marketing problem. Not a branding problem. Not a self-image problem.
Yes, we all know about Memphis’ pervasive negative self-image, and we all agree that we need to be more positive and more upbeat about this endlessly fascinating, funky place. But as we do too often, we use our self-image problems as an excuse to stall action and to tackle the toughest problems before us. Other favorite time wasters here are suggestions that we can’t do anything to change things because we have two local governments, we are too poor, we are spread over three states.
Here’s the thing. Most cities have self-image problems, but what makes the successful ones different is that they don’t get bogged down in justifications for non-action. Instead, they are honest about the facts facing their cities, and they are willing to do the hard work of place-making and city-building.
Change Happens
Remember when Chicago was called “Beirut on the Lake,” and today, it’s been praised as one of the world’s great cities by countless publications.
Portland had no reason to become one of the country’s premier cities. In the Sixties, it was called a dump. It had little going for it. It didn’t have any natural assets. It didn’t have any Fortune 500 companies. It didn’t have a great university. Today, it’s on every one’s list of most successful cities.
And, don’t even get us started on Nashville.
In other words, the future does not have to be merely an extension of the present. There are ways that cities have developed strategies that allowed them to leap frog over the competition and move from a regional city to a national and international city.
Turning Around
They all had image problems, and it was in transforming their realities that they transformed their self-image. No, we’re not saying that we shouldn’t be paying attention to creating a more positive vibe about Memphis – and that it necessarily will have to begin inside Memphis.
However, in countless meetings in Memphis, when it comes time to get to the hard, gritty work of turning around our city, people instead talk about how we just need to turn around our image. Even The Commercial Appeal recently opined on how poorly Memphis is doing in attracting foreign-born people and ended up suggesting that we need to improve our image. “It seems a big part of the equation boils down to image,” it said. “Many of us who live in the Memphis metro area share the responsibility for that…We also need advocates who are willing to step into the spotlight and tell the rest of the world how good Memphis is – and how great it can become.”
Nothing But The Truth
The truth is that tomorrow, we can become the masters of happy talk, the nation’s biggest civic braggarts or the world’s most positive thinkers, but that would do nothing to change the fact that our population growth is essentially the number of births over deaths, our lagging educational attainment is a drag on economic growth that is deadly, our failure to attract young professional talent is crippling and the people who have driven economic growth in cities for the past decade – foreign-born immigrants – are scarce here.
More to the point, we are on average in the bottom of the 50 largest U.S. metros in all these categories, and we really need to be doing better in all of these areas if we are to have a chance to drive economic success in today’s knowledge-based economy.
First and foremost is doing something about young and foreign-born talent. They are largely moving to cities where they find more people like themselves. We are in the bottom five of the largest 50 metros in foreign-born residents. We are in the bottom six in the percentage of 18-24 year-olds in college. We are in the bottom two in the percentage of people who have traveled outside the U.S. We are in the bottom two in innovation capacity. We are in the bottom eight in high-tech jobs. We are in the bottom four in degrees granted in science and engineering. We are in the bottom two in venture capital as a share of the gross metropolitan product.
Bottoming Out
All in all, it paints the portrait of an insular metro at a time when young workers are looking for welcoming cities known for their vibrancy, their tolerance, their knowledge-based jobs and a thick labor market for skilled jobs. Most of all, it paints the portrait of a metro that has never had more compelling reasons to act boldly if it is to get out of the bottom rungs of successful cities.
Just a couple of weeks ago, a new bizjournals study said it well: “Youthful spirit and economic vitality go hand in hand. Communities with large concentrations of young adults are more likely to prosper.”
The five top places for job opportunities for young adults were Raleigh, Austin, Washington, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, followed by Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Seattle, Orlando and Houston. At the bottom of the list of 67 cities, the report said the least desirable places for young adults are Memphis, Grand Rapids, Dayton, Cleveland, Detroit and New Orleans.
Danger Ahead
It’s just the latest warning shot for our city, but while we at least have put talent attraction on our economic growth agenda, we still have not put together the comprehensive strategy and the concentrated civic muscle to put it at the top of an agenda anchored in innovation, research, entrepreneurship and a culture of creativity.
In this regard, the ultimate challenge is to do more than to identify a batch of big projects but to develop strategies that imbed creativity and vibrancy into the culture itself rather than treating them like something that results from multi-million dollar buildings and projects.
Innovation is largely about change and culture. Already, we’ve seen that the old adage that trends start on the coasts is being upended by a new digital world where they can begin anywhere. Most important is the fact that these days, we know what works – strong regional assets and knowledge-based networks that include research universities, cultures that encourage risk-taking, incubators, civic appreciation of diversity and informal connections between people engaged in creativity on the edges of our economy.
Counterintuitive
Sadly, state government is now hacking away again at the budgets of our universities, and it couldn’t come at a worse time. Colleges and universities are keys to competitiveness in today’s economy, and it’s no coincidence that dynamic economic growth is occurring in cities where fine research universities are located.
It’s also no coincidence that while some states have acted on this fact, making major investments in the future of their workers and their own communities, Tennessee has failed to follow suit and the economic indicators offer proof of the short-sightedness of this decision. While this is troubling for all of Tennessee, it has special negative impact in our city where the state is a co-conspirator to our economic failures.
It’s a long, hard journey to a more successful future, but it begins with all of us telling the truth about the cold, hard facts about the challenges in front of us. That’s something we can all be positive about.
On one hand, a lack of self-worth leads to a tendency to accept any big idea that rides into town claiming to be the magic answer to turning things around. On the other hand, there’s the widespread notion that our seriously deficient economic indicators are largely caused by image problems.
Both seem to stem from the same place – a civic propensity to grasp at simplistic answers to complex questions.
The Best Policy
Let’s all be brutally honest. Memphis has a reality problem. Not a marketing problem. Not a branding problem. Not a self-image problem.
Yes, we all know about Memphis’ pervasive negative self-image, and we all agree that we need to be more positive and more upbeat about this endlessly fascinating, funky place. But as we do too often, we use our self-image problems as an excuse to stall action and to tackle the toughest problems before us. Other favorite time wasters here are suggestions that we can’t do anything to change things because we have two local governments, we are too poor, we are spread over three states.
Here’s the thing. Most cities have self-image problems, but what makes the successful ones different is that they don’t get bogged down in justifications for non-action. Instead, they are honest about the facts facing their cities, and they are willing to do the hard work of place-making and city-building.
Change Happens
Remember when Chicago was called “Beirut on the Lake,” and today, it’s been praised as one of the world’s great cities by countless publications.
Portland had no reason to become one of the country’s premier cities. In the Sixties, it was called a dump. It had little going for it. It didn’t have any natural assets. It didn’t have any Fortune 500 companies. It didn’t have a great university. Today, it’s on every one’s list of most successful cities.
And, don’t even get us started on Nashville.
In other words, the future does not have to be merely an extension of the present. There are ways that cities have developed strategies that allowed them to leap frog over the competition and move from a regional city to a national and international city.
Turning Around
They all had image problems, and it was in transforming their realities that they transformed their self-image. No, we’re not saying that we shouldn’t be paying attention to creating a more positive vibe about Memphis – and that it necessarily will have to begin inside Memphis.
However, in countless meetings in Memphis, when it comes time to get to the hard, gritty work of turning around our city, people instead talk about how we just need to turn around our image. Even The Commercial Appeal recently opined on how poorly Memphis is doing in attracting foreign-born people and ended up suggesting that we need to improve our image. “It seems a big part of the equation boils down to image,” it said. “Many of us who live in the Memphis metro area share the responsibility for that…We also need advocates who are willing to step into the spotlight and tell the rest of the world how good Memphis is – and how great it can become.”
Nothing But The Truth
The truth is that tomorrow, we can become the masters of happy talk, the nation’s biggest civic braggarts or the world’s most positive thinkers, but that would do nothing to change the fact that our population growth is essentially the number of births over deaths, our lagging educational attainment is a drag on economic growth that is deadly, our failure to attract young professional talent is crippling and the people who have driven economic growth in cities for the past decade – foreign-born immigrants – are scarce here.
More to the point, we are on average in the bottom of the 50 largest U.S. metros in all these categories, and we really need to be doing better in all of these areas if we are to have a chance to drive economic success in today’s knowledge-based economy.
First and foremost is doing something about young and foreign-born talent. They are largely moving to cities where they find more people like themselves. We are in the bottom five of the largest 50 metros in foreign-born residents. We are in the bottom six in the percentage of 18-24 year-olds in college. We are in the bottom two in the percentage of people who have traveled outside the U.S. We are in the bottom two in innovation capacity. We are in the bottom eight in high-tech jobs. We are in the bottom four in degrees granted in science and engineering. We are in the bottom two in venture capital as a share of the gross metropolitan product.
Bottoming Out
All in all, it paints the portrait of an insular metro at a time when young workers are looking for welcoming cities known for their vibrancy, their tolerance, their knowledge-based jobs and a thick labor market for skilled jobs. Most of all, it paints the portrait of a metro that has never had more compelling reasons to act boldly if it is to get out of the bottom rungs of successful cities.
Just a couple of weeks ago, a new bizjournals study said it well: “Youthful spirit and economic vitality go hand in hand. Communities with large concentrations of young adults are more likely to prosper.”
The five top places for job opportunities for young adults were Raleigh, Austin, Washington, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, followed by Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Seattle, Orlando and Houston. At the bottom of the list of 67 cities, the report said the least desirable places for young adults are Memphis, Grand Rapids, Dayton, Cleveland, Detroit and New Orleans.
Danger Ahead
It’s just the latest warning shot for our city, but while we at least have put talent attraction on our economic growth agenda, we still have not put together the comprehensive strategy and the concentrated civic muscle to put it at the top of an agenda anchored in innovation, research, entrepreneurship and a culture of creativity.
In this regard, the ultimate challenge is to do more than to identify a batch of big projects but to develop strategies that imbed creativity and vibrancy into the culture itself rather than treating them like something that results from multi-million dollar buildings and projects.
Innovation is largely about change and culture. Already, we’ve seen that the old adage that trends start on the coasts is being upended by a new digital world where they can begin anywhere. Most important is the fact that these days, we know what works – strong regional assets and knowledge-based networks that include research universities, cultures that encourage risk-taking, incubators, civic appreciation of diversity and informal connections between people engaged in creativity on the edges of our economy.
Counterintuitive
Sadly, state government is now hacking away again at the budgets of our universities, and it couldn’t come at a worse time. Colleges and universities are keys to competitiveness in today’s economy, and it’s no coincidence that dynamic economic growth is occurring in cities where fine research universities are located.
It’s also no coincidence that while some states have acted on this fact, making major investments in the future of their workers and their own communities, Tennessee has failed to follow suit and the economic indicators offer proof of the short-sightedness of this decision. While this is troubling for all of Tennessee, it has special negative impact in our city where the state is a co-conspirator to our economic failures.
It’s a long, hard journey to a more successful future, but it begins with all of us telling the truth about the cold, hard facts about the challenges in front of us. That’s something we can all be positive about.
Friday, May 23, 2008
This Week On Smart City: Eyes Open and Diversity
Seeing the world through new eyes can uncover a whole new set of possibilities. In his new books on London and New York, Fred Dust attempts to teach his readers how to look at the world with “eyes open” by showing them the intimacies of those cities that can easy to miss. Fred is partner and practice lead for IDEO, a global design and innovation firm.
Greg Zachary is a journalist who has covered the world for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He is certain that there is advantage in diversity and that, among the supersized nations, the U.S. will profit from its ability to embrace waves of immigrants.
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. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
Greg Zachary is a journalist who has covered the world for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He is certain that there is advantage in diversity and that, among the supersized nations, the U.S. will profit from its ability to embrace waves of immigrants.
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. For the webcast, times for the broadcast in other cities and to sign up for the podcast, visit our website.
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