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Seven Days

Wednesday, Dec. 13
Leadership in Action, Part 1: Knox County Commission's Finance Committee recommends closing the Knox County Regional Farmer's Market. The vote is 8 to 1 in favor.
Fifty workers are evacuated from Oak Ridge's K-25 plant because of a feared fluorine leak. Officials say they're cleaning it all up. Good thing, too. Can you imagine if that stuff got in the water?

Thursday, Dec. 14
Craven Crowell announces he'll step down as TVA chairman in April. He's going to license his name to the villain in the next Batman movie.
The Metropolitan Planning Commission endorses a proposed Knoxville ordinance banning new billboard locations. No response yet from God.
State officials say Tennessee is facing a $229 million budget shortfall. And just wait 'til those Christmas credit card bills come in...

Monday, Dec. 18
Leadership in Action, Part 2: County Commission decides not to do anything at all about the Farmer's Market—at least not while actual farmers are there in the audience watching.
The Tiger Haven big-cat sanctuary in Roane County is ordered closed after a judge finds it guilty of zoning violations. The judge rules the cats are "inherently dangerous to humans." That's funny; considering the conditions of many of the animals—who came from circuses, roadside zoos, and abusive former owners—you might think that any inherent danger is on the other side of the equation.

Tuesday, Dec. 19
No, it's not the apocalypse or biological warfare or nuclear fallout, but we can see why you got confused and bought 68 gallons of milk. For future reference, it's called "snow."
A small herd of wild elk is released in the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area north of Knox County. No punchline, it's just kinda cool.

Knoxville Found

(Click photo for larger image)

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:
A surprising number of people correctly identified this apparently innocuous neighborhood street. It's Speedway Circle off Holston Drive in East Knoxville. And as many spotters pointed out, its name derives from its origins—it was a racetrack at the turn of the century. The nicest note we got was from Jane Chipser, who grew up nearby. "The only street I didn't live on in the immediate area is Speedway Circle," she reminisced. But the first right answer came from Keith Richardson—who is unfortunately disqualified on account of having just won a few weeks ago. So the prize—a special promo box of teal Reynolds Plastic Wrap, in its own special plastic tube—goes to runner-up (and former Metro Pulse editor) Bill Dockery. Merry Christmas, Bill!

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

KNOX COUNTY COMMISSION
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 3
3 P.M.
CITY COUNTY BUILDING
400 MAIN STREET
County Commission is tentatively scheduled to hold a combination work schedule/public hearing on the proposed urban growth plan agreement with the city on Wednesday afternoon.

KNOX COUNTY COMMISSION
THURSDAY, JAN. 4
10 A.M.
CITY COUNTY BUILDING
400 MAIN STREET
Commission is expected to vote on the urban growth plan at a special meeting on Thursday morning.

KNOXVILLE CITY COUNCIL
TUESDAY,JAN. 9
7 P.M.
CITY COUNTY BUILDING
400 MAIN STREET
Among the topics which may be up for consideration by City Council at the post-Christmas meeting: the mayor's proposed ban on new billboards. See "Billboard Ban?" in "The Knoxville 2000 Year in Review."

Park Benched

PBA cuts delay parts of its World's Fair land plans

The Public Building Authority is cutting back on renovations to the World's Fair Park in order to meet its $160 million convention center budget but insists it will still be one of the best urban parks around.

"I think this is going to be a first-class urban park. It's going to stack up against anybody's," says Mike Fowler, an architect consulting with the PBA on the project. "It's going to be a neat, fun place to be."

City Council adopted the amended budget last week.

Extra expenses in several areas forced the PBA to scale back its plans. Most notable were the costs of acquiring the University of Tennessee garage and providing replacement parking—which went some $4 million over budget—and the acquisition of the Holiday Inn, estimated at $13 million.

The $13 million figure is only an estimate, because the hotel's owner, Franklin Haney, is fighting the city's attempt to take the hotel. City law director Michael Kelley says despite numerous meetings with the Holiday Inn's attorneys, "There's been no agreement yet."

To keep the budget within the $160 million price-tag it promised, PBA had to trim back a variety of things. A new garage on Poplar Street, south of Cumberland Avenue, was axed, saving about $8 million, says PBA project manager Dick Bigler. Instead, the University of Tennessee is building a 1,500-space garage at the corner of 11th and Cumberland.

Other major cuts include getting rid of the man-made stream that would have lined the west side of the park north of Clinch Avenue ($1.2 million), the stair tower/elevator at the west end of the Clinch Avenue Viaduct that would have allowed people to go up and down from the park ($1.1 million), and a security/restroom building at the west side of the park ($900,000).

The PBA also cut the $1 million budgeted for public art—both indoor and out. Although it had not included money for it in this budget, the PBA is also postponing acquisition of the UT property south of Cumberland. Having the land would have connected the World's Fair Park with Neyland Drive and the riverfront.

Gaining the property is still important, the PBA says. "Strategically, it's one of the most important pieces of land in the city," Fowler says. It's also one of the few places downtown where Second Creek is visible. Negotiations have been ongoing, and UT President Wade Gilley is enthusiastic about the idea, Bigler says.

The budget cuts forced the PBA to tweak the park in other ways. A walk-through fountain at the north end was expanded, and the Court of Flags—featuring flags from the 22 nations that were at the 1982 World's Fair—will be reestablished there.

—Joe Tarr

Nance's Chances

New KCDC head Alvin Nance wants to broaden the agency's agenda

There's already an air of historical significance around Alvin Nance's appointment as the new president of Knoxville's Community Development Corporation.

Nance, who took over at KCDC on Monday, Dec. 18, is the first African American selected for the post, and he's promised to make innovative changes in the agency's approach to public housing. Adding to the pressure of the appointment, Nance—who has spent his entire career as a private banker, most recently as a vice president of SunTrust Bank, and has never held elected office—has also been named by the Knoxville News-Sentinel as a potential candidate for mayor in 2003 or 2007.

Nance, 43, a native of Chattanooga and a graduate of Maryville College, isn't ready to dismiss the speculation about his political future, but he doesn't want to discuss it, either: "My first public sector job is at KCDC, and that's all I'm going to say about it," he says.

What Nance is eager about is the possibility of dramatically expanding KCDC's role in making affordable housing available, moving beyond just low-income housing projects to developing, rehabbing, and selling low- and medium-income housing all over the city.

The federally-funded Hope VI project in Mechanicsville, which is replacing the old College Homes housing project with mixed-use, mixed-income development, both public and private, is a model for what Nance envisions. He hopes to accomplish similar goals with money generated by KCDC private development. "I'd like to see us do something similar on a smaller scale," Nance says.

If KCDC could increase its private development ventures, that would allow the agency to do more innovative projects on its own. Under outgoing president Fred DeBruhl, who's run KCDC since 1985, the agency has largely depended on federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to maintain and operate public housing in Knoxville. "That's something we need to correct," says Mike Cohen, chair of the KCDC board of directors.

"There's a shrinking pool of money coming from HUD," Cohen says. "We need to find ways to develop revenue streams that aren't just government dollars allocated to us. If it's money that we're generating, we can try things that are riskier because there aren't as many strings attached to that money...There are more things we need to do outside of public housing, and Alvin has that vision."

Nance also plans to get KCDC actively involved in supporting downtown residential projects and continuing downtown redevelopment efforts such as Market Square and the World's Fair Park. "There's already affluent housing there, but if you're really going to create a residential environment downtown, you need individuals from all economic scales, a good diverse mix of people living downtown," he says. "The Worsham Watkins development could be a catalyst, a spearhead, to motivate more things happening."

—Matthew T. Everett

Time's Up

With term limits kicking in next year, the open seats for Council look to be hotly contested.

While most people might be sick of hearing about elections, many local residents have their eye on next November. And with good reason.

With four incumbents unable to run because of term limits, almost half of the nine-member City Council is guaranteed to be replaced next year. And many expect fierce competition for those open seats.

"There are a lot of people who will consider running who wouldn't in the past because there were incumbents [in those seats]," says Carlene Malone, who will vacate her Fourth District (Northeast Knoxville) seat at the end of next year. "Because incumbents do have an advantage."

Five of the six district seats are up for election next year. Of those, only one incumbent—Danny Mayfield, whose Sixth District covers East Knoxville, downtown and a small part of West Knoxville—can run again.

Gary Underwood (First District, South Knoxville and Fort Sanders), Jean Teague (Second District, West Knoxville), Ivan Harmon (Third District, Northwest), and Malone must give up their seats. In 2003, Larry Cox (Fifth District, North Knoxville), will have to surrender his seat, along with the three at-large Council memebers—Nick Pavlis, Jack Sharp, and Ed Shouse—and Mayor Victor Ashe.

Rob Frost, an attorney who lives in the Fourth and Gill neighborhood, has already announced his candidacy in the Fourth District and selected a treasurer. Frost is restoring his second historic home in the neighborhood and is knowledgeable about building codes and historic tax credits. Neighborhood preservation is a big concern, along with revitalizing downtown, Frost says. "It's important for Knoxville to have stable neighborhoods as well as healthy businesses," he says.

There are rumors of lots of other people being interested in a run, especially in Teague's West Knoxville district.

While it's early for most to be officially throwing their hats in the ring, everyone expects there to be a lot of them come filing deadline time next June 21.

"I can't imagine there won't be," says University of Tennessee political science professor Bill Lyons. Downtown could be a big issue, although it's too early to know what state the Worsham Watkins redevelopment project will be in next fall. However, development and neighborhood preservation are likely to be key issues, he says.

Malone says she's not sorry to retire. "I've served for 10 years. It's about time I leave," she says. "I really do look forward to new leadership and new elected officials."

"Change is good. That's why I supported term limits. New ideas, new approaches will be very healthy for this town."

—Joe Tarr