Two Steps Forward...

Downtown boosters have long complained that our local leadership is a little clueless about what exactly downtown is and what's there (not to mention what it should be). Mayor Victor Ashe has gone some way toward alleviating those concerns in the past year. He talks about downtown a lot, and he just got an award from Knox Heritage for orchestrating the KUB rehab of Gay Street's Miller's Building. His appearance Sunday on WBIR's Inside Tennessee gave some other reasons for hope. We give him bonus points for mentioning the V-Roys, of course (and invite him to join us in a rousing chorus of "Cold Beer Hello"). And most of his responses—whatever the questions—included his laundry list of downtown projects. Why, you'd think he expects this to be an issue in next year's mayoral contest. He did, however, keep referring to Market Square as "Market Mall," an ugly designation our town center went under briefly from the mid-'60s to the mid-'80s. It could be part of his plans to lure unsuspecting suburbanites downtown ("They have a mall there?"). Or it could be he just got a little confused—the same way he kept calling homegrown digital superstars Cyberflix "Cyber Effects."

Speaking of the Mayoral Contest

The return address on the odd-sized brown envelopes that hit Knoxville's mailboxes Friday said "PROMISES MADE—PROMISES KEPT."

Inside were two documents. One, a four-page letter, is labeled "Final Report of State Senator Bud Gilbert" and displays a smiling photo of the newly-retired 41-year-old state senator. The other is the latest, and, presumably the last, in a long series of the government directories Gilbert distributed during his tenure as an elected official.

The slogan "Bringing Knoxville Together" is on the line on the top of the directory that used to contain Gilbert's Capitol Hill address and the three-star state emblem.

So Bud Gilbert, a private citizen for no more than two weeks, has evidently done a mass mailing. Why?

"It's my way of saying thank you," Gilbert said. "I had some money left in my campaign account, and I believe in a high degree of accountability, and I also think it's important to thank people. So this is to say thanks and to account for my actions over the last eight years."

Gilbert's "Bringing Knoxville Together" is strikingly similar to the "Let's Work Together" slogan that Mayor Victor Ashe used as a rallying cry in 1987. The mailing will be seen as significant because Gilbert has been openly considering running for mayor in 1999 against three-time incumbent Ashe.

So how many of these brown envelopes are in the mail? Gilbert declined to be specific, saying only that it is "...a substantial mailing to my former constituents. Definitely that, and more..."

Affirmative Action

That old Ear favorite the Tennessee Conservative Union will not only be opposing the candidacy of former Sundquist aide and present check-cashing industry executive Chip Saltsman as state GOP head, but will likely be fielding a candidate of its own. TCU Chairman Lloyd Daugherty says his group is looking for a particular kind of candidate.

"We're looking for a woman," said Daugherty, who is not unaware that such an undertaking is rather atypical of conservative groups.

"There is some logic to it. The great bulk of party work is done by women. They have a high level of dedication. We need more diversity in Republican leadership."

The Anti-Leo

In October the neo-hipster publication Time Out New York ran a cover story about Knoxville actor and teen icon Brad Renfro, calling him "the Anti-Leo." Author Dennis Cooper interviewed Renfro in Los Angeles.

"Knoxville...looks very nonstressful in pictures," Cooper observed.

"Yeah, it's cool, but it's getting violent these days," Renfro said, describing the recent shooting outside the Underground. "For such a small town, that seems pretty hard-core."

In response to Cooper's question about why Renfro, the young star of Apt Pupil, chooses to live in Knoxville, Renfro responded, "Staying in Knoxville keeps me away from the business stuff.... It keeps me real."