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Seven Days

Wednesday, Dec. 6
About 100 UT students and employees march on campus to demand a "living wage" and an end to forced overtime. UT administrator Phil Scheurer responds that many workers want the overtime. You know, to supplement those low wages...

Thursday, Dec. 7
City and county lawyers strike a "growth plan" compromise during a hearing with a panel of judges in Nashville. Local officials promise panicked political reporters that they will find other things to fight about, soon.
Representatives from UT and ESPN argue in federal court over an ESPN request for athletes' academic records. UT officials say releasing the grades would violate the students' privacy. Unlike, of course, putting their name, height, weight, and family history on TV every week.
Developers announce a new nine-story office tower on the Knoxville riverfront. Among the possible tenants: lawyers from other local office towers who won't be able to see the river anymore once the new building goes up.

Friday, Dec. 8
Just when the city and county are playing all lovey-dovey, who can you count on to put the "ick" in politics? The school system, of course. Public Building Authority honcho Dale Smith announces the Knox County school board has canceled its construction management contract with PBA. School officials, who don't much like anybody telling them what to do, say they'll handle construction in-house. Like they used to. When projects routinely ran 30 percent over budget.

Saturday, Dec. 9
Headline on a News-Sentinel story about the arrest of the co-owner of an adult novelty store in Sevierville: "Sexy Stuff owner faces 3 battery charges." And rightly so. If you're gonna sell those things, the least you can do is include the batteries.

Tuesday, Dec. 12
County Executive Tommy Schumpert says he'll ask County Commission to stop subsidizing the Regional Farmer's Market in East Knox County, with an eye toward private development of the site. Where's Willie Nelson when you need him?

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:
We made you work a little this week, but several of you came up with the right answer. This vaguely Japanese bridge is in the middle of Racheff Gardens on Tennessee Avenue in Lonsdale. The public gardens were established in the 1940s by Bulgarian immigrant Ivan Racheff, who bought the old Knoxville Iron Works during World War II. He planted violets and a reputed 500,000 daffodils and tulips imported from Holland. His work gained national attention, and Racheff (who died in 1982) earned the Silver Seal from the National Council of Garden Clubs. The gardens may be best known now for an annual bulb sale. First correct response came from Robert Thompson. As a prize, he gets the work of another forceful Knoxville figure, Cormac McCarthy. Specifically, Mr. Thompson will receive a copy of the new paperback edition of All the Pretty Horses, released in conjunction with the upcoming film adaptation. It has Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz on the cover, for whatever that's worth.

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

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
THURSDAY, DEC. 14
1:30 P.M.
CITY COUNTY BUILDING
400 MAIN STREET
MPC is tentatively scheduled to consider (finally) an amendment to the city's zoning ordinance that would ban new billboards. Also on the MPC agenda: consideration of the East Knox County sector plan, a proposed guideline for development in that part of the county.

KNOXVILLE CITY COUNCIL
FRIDAY, DEC. 15
10:45 A.M.
CITY COUNTY BUILDING
400 MAIN STREET
Council called this special meeting earlier this week to consider the urban growth plan compromise with the county.

KNOX COUNTY COMMISSION
MONDAY, DEC. 18
2 P.M.
CITY COUNTY BUILDING
400 MAIN STREET
Based on committee agendas, this could be a quiet meeting. Unless, of course, commission considers the proposed urban growth plan accord reached in Nashville last week.

WW Plan De-Malled?

Consultants give Market Square priority

A scaled-down, piecemeal approach to Worsham Watkins International's downtown development plan is likely to emerge from a review of the plan by a Chicago-based consulting panel.

In a report commissioned by the Public Building Authority, consultants from RTKL Associates and Urban Engineers Inc. throw cold water on one of the plan's major components: namely, a double-decked, glass enclosed mall spanning Henley Street. And it further recommends that even a more modest pedestrian bridge over Henley be held in abeyance until WW has gotten what have so far been elusive commitments for a cineplex just to the west and a destination attraction (i.e. Scripps/HGTV center) in the World's Fair Park.

On the other hand, the panel urges full steam ahead on WW's plans for transforming Market Square into a hub of shopping, dining, and entertainment activity. "Failure to achieve a complete turnaround in Market Square will make the WW's proposal vastly less effective as a tool for revitalizing downtown Knoxville," the report states. And it also recommends proceeding with an apartment complex and a new hotel and office tower to the west of Market Square during what's envisioned as phase one of a three-phase development.

The report is likely to be music to the ears of PBA administrator Dale Smith who, while supportive of the WW plan, is known to harbor doubts about the proposed mall over Henley Street. Smith is due to make his own recommendations to the PBA board before year end, and PBA's recommendations will, in turn, be subject to approval by Mayor Victor Ashe and City Council.

Since WW has long insisted that all elements of its plan are interdependent on each other for viability, its willingness to take a truncated, piecemeal approach to what has been billed as a $370 million development is now in question. Negotiations between Smith and WW's two principals, Earl Worsham and Ron Watkins, reportedly nearly reached an impasse last week. "We're in a very tough stage, and I'm trying to avoid meltdown," Smith acknowledges.

Worsham says he and Watkins are now beginning to get comfortable with a piecemeal approach. "We could possibly proceed on an east to west basis, starting with Market Square and proceeding toward the World's Fair Park," he says. "That gives time for the cinema and downtown attraction to become reality, and that will drive whether the Henley Street walkover is justified."

However, he disputes the review panel's conclusion that, "this retail proposal appears to be problematic due to the very high cost of construction on a bridge, and because it is unclear whether the foot traffic generators proposed for the World's Fair site will be sufficient to support the amount of space being created on the bridge." WW's proposal calls for 93,600 square feet of mall-like retail and entertainment space along the bridge, and Worsham says, "They just don't understand our concept."

Be that as it may, the plug appears to have been pulled for now on the $15 million cost of the enclosed, climate-controlled bridge that was due to be borne by the city as part of a $130 million public sector investment in the development's infrastructure. In its stead, the review panel recommends that once a cineplex and World's Fair Park attraction materialize, a much less expensive connecting bridge over Henley should be built. "The bridge should be much wider than the Clinch Avenue pedestrian bridge, should be roofed and designed so that in the future full enclosure and climate control could be provided," the report states.

Under the phased development approach that's contemplated, the only public sector outlays in phase one would be for garages underlying the proposed 31-story office tower and 415-room hotel in one block and a 157-unit apartment complex in an adjoining block. The cost of these two underground garages are $34 million and $11 million respectively. However, the review panel questions the justification for the much higher costs of building these garages underground with the structural support needed for placing buildings on top of them. The cost of such garages is about twice as much per parking space as for stand-alone above-ground garages. But it's unclear where such garages could be located in proximity to the hotel and office building. "We're wrestling with that," Smith says.

A major impetus for the mall over Henley Street, if not the entire downtown development, was to generate sales tax revenues to help pay for the city's new $160 million convention center. Under a 1998 state law, the city is entitled to use these revenues—which would normally go to the state—for convention center debt service. When the WW plan was unveiled, $8.2 million in annual sales tax revenues were projected upon its completion. The mall was supposed to account for $1.7 million of this total (and an extension of the shopping complex into the World's Fair Park for an additional $1.8 million). Without these revenues, the city will have to continue to rely on property taxes already dedicated to pay for the convention center.

If the new Marriott Hotel and Market Square development materialize as envisioned, they are projected to generate a combined $2.5 million in annual sales taxes. Together with projected property taxes of $1 million on the hotel and office building, this would at least be enough to cover debt service on the city's investment in phase one garages—even the pricier underground ones.

—Joe Sullivan

Summitt on the Rebound

Clearing the air with a 'has-been' who still is

It's been a year of striking contrasts for Pat Summitt. This is the year she was named Naismith Collegiate Coach of the Century, inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame and watched another two Lady Vols at another Olympics wearing the red, white and blue Senior National Team uniforms. She guided her Lady Vols to another SEC championship and into their 12th Final Four. She was also called the second-best recruiter in the game; a has-been and yesterday's news.

How does such fickle commentary affect the only women's basketball coach ever to be pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated? Is her corner of Rocky Top crumbling? Has the wattage dimmed in the famous blue glare?

The answers, in order, are: Not much. Not so you can tell it. And Hell no.

For the most part, Summitt shrugs off such criticisms, but occasionally, things do get under her skin. "Over time, people want new blood and new teams," she says. "We've been there. Now, they want someone else to be there. I don't have a problem with that. That's their problem—not mine."

The has-been buzz started during Final Four week in Philly, when her rival, Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma (who, at 46, is two years younger than she), repeatedly gigged her via the media by joking that a local cheese steak eatery called Geno's was bigger, better and newer than Pat's, a nearby competitor that he wrote off as old and dilapidated.

The pointed jibes never ruffled the surface of Summitt's public aplomb, and even if they grated on her nerves, it wasn't something she was going to discuss, especially after Auriemma's Huskies followed up their coach's trash talk by walking all over her Lady Vols 71-52 in the national championship game. To Tennessee fans, the post-game remarks of ESPN commentator Jay Bilas put an exclamation point on Auriemma's taunts. Summitt remembers them vividly:

"He said the dynasty's over. He said that I was outcoached. And he said that there's been a changing of the guard in women's basketball." She acknowledges there was a hard kernel of truth to what he said.

"Outcoached? I can accept that. What would I do differently? I'd try to create a sense of urgency. As to the rest of it, I'd like Jay Bilas to know that if you know the history of the game, I don't think that's an appropriate statement. It doesn't represent our place in women's basketball. We beat Louisiana Tech in a similar fashion in 1998, and nobody wrote their obituaries."

Six months after the loss in Philadelphia, it was time to start fresh. The annual Tip-Off dinner was held in a curtained-off section of cavernous Thompson-Boling Arena, and fans of both the men's and women's teams attended. Summitt and men's coach Jerry Green introduced their teams and talked about their hopes for the upcoming year. Summitt turned to the guest speaker and thanked him for motivating her team.

"We're not playing for second place," she said. The person to whom her remarks were directed? Former Duke basketball player and present ESPN sports commentator Jay Bilas.

Lady Vols fans were shocked that Bilas had been invited, given his post-game remarks, which many of them considered deeply insulting. Summitt explains that the two programs alternate selecting speakers.

"Bilas was the men's choice."

The lawyer/commentator from Charlotte evidently isn't the sensitive type, because he not only missed the irony in Summit's tone, but says he is surprised to hear that half his audience would have preferred another speaker. "I smiled through the whole thing. She thanked me." He says Summitt and Tennessee fans are too sensitive.

"What I said was that I felt there would be a changing of the guard—for that year, and for the following year. That was what I meant to say, and I had 10 seconds to say it. I don't have a crystal ball to see 10 years into the future, and I felt UConn dominated last year, and I felt everything is in place for them to dominate this year. But it would be ludicrous of me to suggest that because UConn was the better team last year, that Tennessee is not a national championship contender...You say a thousand good things and one negative thing and everyone who wears orange wants to dwell on the negative. There's not a coach I respect more on any level than Pat Summitt."

Summitt doesn't need anyone to lecture her about what she calls "That Game."

"That Game clearly made an impact on our team and our staff," Summitt says. "While it was only one game, and we have lost a lot before, we just haven't been in a position to be blown out. Actually, we were blown out twice last season (a reference to a 27-point loss to Georgia). We froze. We had no emotion...UConn was a better team than we were offensively, and in their depth. They really wore on us. Their post people were more committed to rebounding than ours were. As much as those things hurt, they also teach you things."

The need for stocking up players wasn't exactly a lesson learned at That Game, but the experience spurred on Tennessee's recruiting efforts. Summitt and assistants Mickie DeMoss and Holly Warlick signed not only the top-rated point guard in the country, Loree Moore of Harbor City, California, but the number one overall recruit, 6'2" forward Shyra Ely of Indianapolis. Add another speedy California guard, Courtney Young; Tennessee sharpshooter Brittany Jackson of Cleveland; and last year's Miss Ohio Basketball Michelle Munoz, and Summitt has come up with the top-ranked recruiting class in the country yet again.

In the midst scooping up all these Class of '01 prospects, the top-ranked guard in the class of '02, Shanna Zolman, who led the state of Indiana in scoring her first two years in high school, called a press conference to announce her intention to become a Lady Vol.

"We have a lot to be proud of at Tennessee. Our Final Four appearances, our national titles, our graduation rates. What you are really talking about when you talk about quality programs is consistency. In sports, it doesn't just happen," says Summitt. "Our staff has worked incredibly hard to have a national championship contending team every season. Once we got our program to the level it's reached in the '90s, we have worked hard at staying there.

"And you can tell them that I may be old, but I'm not going away."

—Betty Bean