by Jesse Fox Mayshark
Well, County Commission more or less did the right thing at Monday's meeting, however half-heartedly. Giving supervision of the justice center project back to County Executive Tommy Schumpert and promising to hold a public hearing before proceeding further both seem like sensible moves.
But there's been so much obfuscation and disingenuity on this issue that several things still need to happen before anything like a reasonable discussion can resume.
First, members of County Commission could use a few lessons in civics and representative government. After saying for weeks that they didn't need to hold a public hearing on the justice center because "all County Commission meetings are public hearings," a lot of the commissioners—particularly in the body's ruling majority—were visibly irritated Monday that they actually had to spend a few minutes listening to their constituents. Some of them made boneheaded and blatantly spiteful attempts to limit the scope and volume of public input. Never mind that the speakers were mostly courteous or that they presented petitions with close to 3,000 signatures asking for a delay in the project. (The civics lessons could maybe be taught by Commissioner Frank Leuthold, who headed off some of his colleagues' despotic efforts.)
Second, whoever produced the ridiculous "K2K" binder and delivered it the night before the meeting to the homes of 13 commissioners should be both exposed and ashamed. By selectively reprinting emails from a completely open Internet group and organizing them under ominous chapter headings, the snazzy anonymous booklet (complete with color pull-tabs) attempted to make a diverse public dialogue—one that has included some intemperate comments, as all public dialogues do—look like some kind of cabalistic conspiracy. That Mayor Victor Ashe, Commissioner John Schmid, and assistant attorney general John Gill are among the dozens who have participated in the discussions was used as evidence of sinister machinations. What it really means is they know how to turn on their computers and they're not afraid to talk to the people they ostensibly represent. And unlike the well-funded phantom who put out the binder, they sign their names to their opinions. K2K, which is more a bulletin board than a "group" of any sort, is an example of new technology's potential for fueling public debate and participation—something that would only be threatening to people who prefer to operate out of public view. The binder itself was an act of bozo McCarthyism; the lack of attribution was simple cowardice. There are only a few people with the motives and the resources to produce the book. All of them deny it. Somebody's lying.
(Metro Pulse warranted its own sub-chapter on the basis of a handful of posts by staff members. As usual, we're happy someone thinks highly enough of our influence to suggest we could orchestrate public policy or anything else in Knox County. The fact is, we went on record a good four months ago—before K2K existed—calling for re-evaluation of the justice center, a position from which we haven't wavered. Anyone who wants to read the damning "evidence" for themselves can simply join K2K by sending a blank e-mail to [email protected].)
Third, Mayor Ashe needs to come clean on the justice center. He has played political footsie with the issue from the get-go. His withdrawal three years ago of the Safety Building site—one of the original consultant's preferred locations—contributed to the m�lée that eventually landed the justice center on its current State Street/Gay Street pad. While cheering from the sidelines as civic activists take on his political foe Sheriff Tim Hutchison, Ashe has recently started mentioning the Safety Building property again, without actually saying whether or not it's available. Memo to Victor: put up or shut up.
Fourth, Commissioner Wanda Moody should drop her justice center lawsuit against her commission colleagues. If the suit's goal was to dislodge Hutchison from managing the jail's construction, it has been accomplished. Anything else—particularly invasive depositions of Sheriff's Department employees, who now have to worry about some vague threats of "criminal charges" resulting from the lawsuit—is simply politics, and it belongs in commission meetings, not in a courtroom. And the involvement of blustery lawyer Herb Moncier doesn't help anyone's cause.
Fifth, the various citizens' groups who have recently started fighting the justice center have a long way to go. While the surge of interest is nice to see, however late in the game it has come on this particular project, local officials are accustomed to interest groups that get heated up for a few months and then evaporate. It's possible that Knoxville finally has a critical mass of concerned residents who want the city, and especially its downtown, to be more than it is. But if the current groundswell—including K2K—is going to have any lasting effect, it will have to sustain itself well beyond one meeting or one issue.
Finally, now that Schumpert has again taken the justice center reins, he needs to proceed carefully. The promised public hearing should be a truly open forum with plenty of opportunity for exploring and explaining the issue in all its facets. If it takes more than one hearing to do that, so be it. Whatever proposal Schumpert (or the Public Building Authority, if he brings it back on board) puts forth, it will have to be clear what the plan is, where it's going, why it's needed, and when it will happen. The inability to answer those questions is at the heart of the current controversy. And no matter how many times commissioners say "We've discussed all this," their own failure to understand and articulate the project shows they need the education as much as anyone.
In inflated rhetoric at Monday's meeting, Commissioner Schmid referred to the K2K binder as "a Gestapo tactic." Maybe it was. But like the rest of the dubious politicking going on around this issue, it was also something much simpler: Bullshit. It's time to get out the shovels.
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