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Rhodes College research to map Shelby County pilot recipients; presentation scheduled
Summary
Austin Harrison said he and his students converted trustee data into parcel-level maps showing where pilot tax breaks go and offered a brief presentation and student walkthrough at the next meeting.
Austin Harrison, an assistant professor of urban studies at Rhodes College, told the committee his students transformed the trustee'9s pilot data into mapping visualizations that can show where pilot tax breaks go and who benefits.
"They looked at pilot data and kinda created different ways to examine it, and they even did a really cool map," Harrison said, describing a class project that linked parcel data and pilot payments and showed many tax breaks flow to companies headquartered outside Memphis. Harrison offered to bring a 5- to 10-minute PowerPoint and the student who worked on the mapping to the next meeting.
Committee members welcomed a visual, shared-data baseline. Chair Brooks and Trustee Newman emphasized that the trustee report is primarily fiscal and limited in tracking contractual performance; Harrison said the mapping is workable but that his class focused on a subset of boards and that further work could include additional pilot-granting agencies.
The committee asked Harrison to circulate the presentation in advance and to make the underlying parcel mapping available so staff can begin cross-checking contracts and extension status with mapped parcels.
