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Seven Days

Wednesday, May 31
The Sheriff's Department floats the idea of raiding the county's emergency "rainy day" fund to make up for budget shortfalls—a "rainy day" evidently being any day the county executive doesn't give them enough money. The county Finance Department braces for a helicopter assault.

Thursday, June 1
The state House of Representatives finds a way to make Tennessee's tax system more regressive than it already is: a levy on utilities. The House's budget cuts $140 million from Gov. Don Sundquist's proposal and promptly rolls into roadblocks in the Senate. "There's something in here that everyone can like, and there's something in here that everyone can hate," says Rep. Chris Newton. Oh, that's what "balanced budget" means.

Monday, June 5
County Executive Tommy Schumpert shows up for a special meeting of County Commission, ostensibly to discuss next year's budget. But only a half-dozen commissioners make the scene. The rest boycott in a passive-aggressive protest of Schumpert's inability to explain what he'll do with the money saved by curtailing the justice center project. The whole thing recesses 'til June 21. 'Tis the season...

Tuesday, June 6
News-Sentinel headline of the week: "'Need more women,' Gore tells audience." Hey, it worked for Clinton.
West Knox County Commissioner Mike Arms sends a memo that proposes to cut some capital projects—like, say, a big sports complex in the next district over. Commissioner Mark Cawood, who happens to represent that area, says Arms is being "totally unfair." Oooh. Next up: the double-dog dare.

Knoxville Found

What is this? Every week in "Knoxville Found," we'll print the photo of a local curiosity. If you're the first person to correctly identify this oddity, you'll win a special prize plucked from the desk of the editor (keep in mind that the editor hasn't cleaned his desk in five years). E-mail your guesses, or send 'em to "Knoxville Found" c/o Metro Pulse, 505 Market St., Suite 300, Knoxville, TN 37902.

Last Week's Photo: Paul Robinson of Knoxville correctly identified the stone relief of the pelican/ crane/big duck as an architectural flourish on the Clinch Avenue side of the Tennessee Theatre. According to the theater's technical director, Tim Burns, the design has no particular relevance other than looking cool. As our Grand Prize Winner, Mr. Robinson will be awarded an official pair of Christus Gardens children's socks, decorated with a Noah's Ark motif (see photo in cover story). Congratulations, Paul!

Meet Your City
A calendar of upcoming public meetings you should attend

Metropolitan Planning Commission
Thursday, June 8 * 1:30 p.m.
City Council Building * Main Assembly Room
215-2500
The proposed Fort Sanders historic conservation isn't on the agenda, but there are plenty of rezonings. Check the MPC web site (www.knoxmpc.org) to see what's going on in your neighborhood.

"The Dollars and Sense of Historic Preservation"
Thursday, June 8 * 7:30 p.m.
Laurel Theater * 1538 Laurel Ave.
Nancy Jane Baker, a historic preservation specialist with the State of Tennessee Historical Commission, will discuss the economic aspects of historic preservation. Fittingly, the lecture will be held in the heart of the Fort Sanders neighborhood, where historic properties are disappearing at an alarming rate.

Knoxville City Council
Tuesday, June 13 * 7 p.m.
City Council Building * Main Assembly Room
215-2500
Mayor Victor Ashe always gets points for his machine-gun delivery when reading over the list of annexations on the table. That's about all that's happening.

Knox County's Lost Arts

Schools could go without arts funding once again

Every year for 15 years, Fred Patterson has tried to get funding for art teachers in Knox County elementary schools. Every year, it gets put off. For a while, it looked like this year might be different. Not anymore.

Knox County, unlike Nashville, Maryville, Oak Ridge, and many other school systems, does not have art teachers in grades K-5. (The exception is Beaumont, which has one as part of its magnet program.)

"We do have a systemwide curriculum for elementary schools, but we don't have anybody to implement it," says Patterson, the school system's arts supervisor. "It's not just a matter of throwing out some paper and crayons and having children draw. There's a body of knowledge, there are a lot of concepts."

Relying on "over 400 research studies and articles" and the support of Superintendent Charles Lindsey, Patterson made a presentation to the school board earlier this year arguing that art instruction is crucial to brain development and thinking skills. He even touts it for its value in making students employable (the gold standard by which education is currently measured). "Business demands students who are able to think creatively, to do creative problem-solving," he says. "That's what we do in the arts."

The board was convinced and approved Lindsey's recommendation of 30 new art teachers—enough to put one in every two elementary buildings. But the board's $285 million request to County Executive Tommy Schumpert was cut by $14 million in Schumpert's budget. That means any new positions are almost out of the question if County Commission approves Schumpert's proposal. The art teachers alone would cost about $1.2 million.

"All 30 I would doubt [could be funded]," school board Chairman Jim McClain says. But he promises the board will try to reallocate some funds to add at least a handful. "That's one of our priorities," he says.

The situation is as familiar to Patterson as it is frustrating. He knows many people still see art as a frill. But he notes that the state's Basic Education Program, passed in 1991, mandates one elementary art teacher for every 525 children. "Obviously, we are way behind the curve on that," he says.

In the meantime, some schools scrape together funds through PTAs and other sources to pay for part-time teachers. In other places, especially schools with lower-income populations, art instruction is left up to classroom teachers to fit in as they can.

"It's really varied and spotty," he says. "It depends on the expertise and comfort level of the teacher."

County Commissioner Mike McMillan, an ardent anti-taxer who also happens to be a high school teacher, says he doesn't foresee much new money for schools this year (they got a boost last year from a 20 percent property tax increase).

"[Art teachers] are probably going to have to come from reallocation," he says. "Or else you might just have to take a really close look at postponing it an additional year."

—Jesse Fox Mayshark

NC-1 Disinformation

The battle of Fort Sanders gets bloody

The fight over proposed legislation to protect the character of Knoxville's oldest neighborhood is heating up, with preservationists crying foul over inaccurate information being spread by landlords.

"Right now, we're kind of taking a beating with the untruths that are out there," says Ellen Adcock, the city's director of administration. "It seems like it's really difficult for people to slow down, calm down and think about this."

The NC-1 Conservation Overlay was proposed by the Fort Sanders Forum—a committee made up of landlords, developers, city administrators, students, hospital and UT officials, among others—as a way to preserve the neighborhood's historic character without hindering development. Less strict than the historic overlay used in neighborhoods like Fourth & Gill, the NC-1 requires that all demolition and new construction or additions be approved by the Historic Zoning Commission (it does not, however, forbid demolition or new construction).

The guidelines are currently being drafted by the Metropolitan Planning Commission and will be subject to public scrutiny before being adopted. The guidelines basically involve building setbacks and general dimensions.

The proposed guidelines will put emphasis on having new construction with dimensions and setbacks that mirror Fort Sanders' traditional architecture. Furthermore, the guidelines wouldn't require anything of existing buildings.

But apocryphal claims about the proposal continue to make the rounds.

Chief among these is that the city will be telling property owners what color to paint their buildings.

"We're not intending to do that," says MPC's Mike Carberry. "We're talking about continuing the use of traditional materials," such as brick, wood, or clapboard.

The more strict historic overlay in Fourth & Gill doesn't regulate paint color. And NC-1 supporter Randall De Ford, president of the Historic Fort Sanders Neighborhood Association, points out that his own rental property, 1528 Highland Ave., is wildly colored. "Anybody that knows me and knows that house would realize I'm not going to submit to someone else's paint colors," De Ford says.

But Fort Sanders landlord Brit Howard—who is president of the Ft. Sanders Neighborhood Association, which represents landlords and has a title confusingly similar to the older neighborhood organization—doesn't buy it. The group hired a public relations firm to lobby for it, and Howard recently sent out flyers attacking the proposal.

Howard points to phrases in the NC-1 overlay enabling legislation as proof that color regulations are on the way: "The guidelines may address the appearance of new construction...The appearance of exterior wall coverings also may be addressed."

"It doesn't matter who says what," Howard responds to the city's assurances. "That's what was given to me as part of the Forum."

Pointing to a 1994 study of a Philadelphia neighborhood published in the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Howard contends that the proposal will lower property values in Fort Sanders. Although such a study exists, neither a copy of it nor its authors could be located this week by Metro Pulse. De Ford says all the studies he's seen show that historic preservation has increased property values. Such has been the case in Fourth & Gill.

Howard also claims that the proposal was "developed without input from the property owners in the Fort Sanders community." However, Howard in fact sat on the Fort Sanders Forum, which developed the proposal, along with a number of other property owners. There have also been community forums and public hearings in which anyone could voice their opinion. More public hearings are to follow.

Proponents of the NC-1 overlay worry it may get defeated by inaccurate information. De Ford fears that respectable property owners and developers—who don't own property in the Fort—might end up believing the propaganda and lobby City Council against it.

"There are lot of slumlords hiding behind the issue of property rights," De Ford says. "But when you start bringing in other developers who are not slumlords, those people get council's ear."

To counter some of the arguments against NC-1, De Ford is sponsoring "The Dollars & Sense of Historic Preservation." The presentation by Nancy Jane Baker of the Tennessee Historical Commission will be at 7:30 p.m. tonight (June 8) at the Laurel Theatre.

The first public workshop on the NC-1 overlay and the proposed building guidelines will be held next Thursday—June 15—from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Laurel Theatre.

A final proposal is expected to go to the Historic Zoning Commission on July 20, the MPC on Aug. 10, and the City Council on Sept. 5.

—Joe Tarr

Hiking for Dollars

Can backcountry fees help the Great Smokies fight overcrowding?

The most popular backcountry camp sites in Great Smoky Mountains National Park bear obvious signs of overuse: They're littered, new fire rings have been established at the fringes of many sites, and the sites themselves are spreading out because they're often filled beyond their capacity. Park officials have opened discussion on charging backcountry fees to fund repair and maintenance of camp sites, holding meetings in Sevierville and Waynesboro, N.C., in late May to listen to public opinion. For now it's just talk, and park officials don't expect that fees will be implemented for several years. But what could a small fee for backpackers and horse campers mean for the park's embattled backcountry?

An underlying fear in discussion of the fees has been that they would discourage use of the backcountry. But Charles Maynard, executive director of the Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains, says that hasn't happened in other national parks. "Parks that have gone from zero to something [for backcountry use] have never experienced a downturn in visitation," Maynard says. "At Acadia National Park in Maine, where they implemented fees 10 years ago, their visitation continued to grow."

Park officials, in fact, don't want to limit visitation. "We prefer to make existing facilities accommodate people more efficiently," says Bob Miller, a spokesman for GSMNP.

The park already relies on volunteer groups to maintain trails, and that's apparently not enough, considering the condition of much of the backcountry. The estimated $150,000 or so generated by a hypothetical $10 permit, Miller says, could go toward repair and maintenance costs, or toward added registration personnel to enforce maximum capacities at the 30 most popular sites in the park.

It may be several years until even that small measure is taken. Until then, park officials will rely on luck and asphalt to keep the park a viable outdoor recreation destination. "We're fortunate that most people don't use most of the park," Miller says. "Most of them stay on the blacktop, and we can keep buying blacktop. It's not that expensive."

—Matthew T. Everett