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Seven Days

Wednesday, Jan. 31
Do you feel represented yet? Today, the assorted state reps and state senators from Knox and surrounding counties officially banded together into an East Tennessee Caucus in Nashville. Caucus chair and longtime legislator H.E. Bittle says the regional group will help save E.T. from the slights it's suffered in the past at both the state and federal levels. You know, slights like TVA, UT, ORNL, etc.

Thursday, Feb. 1
TDOT officials announce that not only are they building the UT campus bridge that no one wants, but they are also closing sections of several streets during the construction, making it almost impossible to drive from anywhere on campus to anywhere else. Is this what they mean by pedestrian-friendly?
Indian Giver Award: City Court Administrator Michael Martin is placed on administrative leave following allegations that after he doled out year-end bonuses to employees last year, he held private meetings with some of them and "requested" that they share with him.

Friday, Feb. 2
Knox County school officials cancel classes for Monday and Tuesday to give students and teachers a chance to recover from a rampaging flu bug. Superintendent Charles Lindsey blames County Commission for the epidemic, citing their refusal to fund his bubble-wrap program (in which children would be covered head to toe in anti-bacterial breathable plastic).
Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers announces he won't run for governor in 2002, raising an important question in many voters' minds: "Who the heck is Paul Summers?"

Sunday, Feb. 4
The News-Sentinel reports that TVA is letting its assorted (and often controversial) Washington, D.C. lobbying contracts lapse pending further review. Hmm. What about its big News-Sentinel advertising contracts?

Tuesday, Feb. 6
For the second time in two weeks, a UT dorm is struck by home-invasion burglars. As if tuition increases weren't bad enough.
Who needs News of the Weird? A Harriman man pleads guilty to possessing a sawed-off shotgun. He was apprehended after leaving photos on the windshields of several women's cars. The photos showed him posing nude with the gun. Eww...

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:

Ah, those mysterious ladies of North Broadway. As many readers correctly noted, the moody statues adorn the lawn of Kentshyr apartments on the corner of Broadway and Fairmont Avenue (on the site of the old Haynes mansion, home to one of Knoxville's most notorious unsolved murders). What are they doing there? We asked property owner and classicist-about-town Kristopher Kendrick, who explains that he wanted to make a park on the corner using some stonework he acquired from the Alexander Bonnyman mansion on Kingston Pike. "I needed some classically beautiful women to go with the scene," he says. "They're not old—I bought them from someone who got them in Florida." As for what exactly they represent, Kendrick admits he's not sure: "I can't remember who they are, but they have a place in Greek mythology." The first right answer came from Sara Bruce of Knoxville, who wins a copy of The Compleat Tennessee Angler ("One of the most informative books on fishing in Tennessee you'll ever read or need," says Jimmy Holt of "Tennessee Outdoorsmen"). Just remember, suspending jerkbaits work best in clear water.

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

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
THURSDAY, FEB. 8
1:30 P.M.
CITY COUNTY BUILDING
400 MAIN STREET
MPC's regular monthly meeting with consideration of amendments to the City of Knoxville Zoning Ordinance creating an Urban Center District that allows mixed-use development.

SOUTH KNOXVILLE EMPOWERMENT ZONE ADVISORY COUNCIL
THURSDAY, FEB. 8
6:30 P.M.
SOUTH NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER
522 MARYVILLE PIKE
The fourth of the Center for Neighborhood Development's public meetings on Knoxville's federal empowerment zone funding includes Vestal and Montgomery Village. Call Bob Booker at 522-5935 for more information.

EAST KNOXVILLE EMPOWERMENT ZONE ADVISORY COUNCIL
THURSDAY, FEB. 15
6:30 P.M. EASTSIDE YMCA
3724 WILSON AVENUE
The fifth of the Center for Neighborhood Development's public meetings on Knoxville's federal empowerment zone funding includes the Five Points, Cold Springs, Park City, Walter P. Taylor Homes, Tabernacle Apartments, Chilhowee, and Burlington neighborhoods. Call Bob Booker at 522-5935 for more information.

Amphitheatrics

If PBA builds a new amphitheater, who will come?

When the Public Building Authority makes its recommendation on downtown redevelopment to the city on Feb. 22, part of that presentation could be a proposal for an 8,000-seat amphitheater at the World's Fair Park. With as many as 100 performances hypothetically scheduled each year, the amphitheater would be a significant addition to downtown Knoxville's night life—but nobody knows just how big an impact it could possibly make, because no one seems to know anything about it yet.

PBA spokesman Mike Cohen says he can't discuss the amphitheater before the presentation to City Council, and Tom Conners, senior vice president for convention centers at the Philadelphia-based firm SMG (hired by the PBA to manage the city's new convention center, and a leading candidate to build and manage the amphitheater) referred questions back to the PBA. Local music promoter Ashley Capps, who may be expected to book shows at the amphitheater in addition to those sponsored by SMG, says he's not been contacted about the project.

Dick Bigler, the building authority's project supervisor for the convention center, says SMG has submitted a rough proposal to the PBA. But Bigler is still waiting for SMG to send back an amended draft proposal. "I've not heard anything back from them since last week," Bigler says. "In fact, they're on my list to call."

Bigler says the preliminary plan calls for a rectangular amphitheater with 5,000 seats under an elevated cover and another 3,000 seats on top of the cover, at an estimated cost of $4.5 million. If approved, the city would probably fund some portion of the amphitheater construction, but Bigler says a deal between the city and SMG has yet to be negotiated. "We've not discussed it with the city at all," he says. "The city may participate more or less, depending on what the return is for them."

If SMG is officially named to manage the amphitheater, the company would book acts there on its own, linked to activities at the adjoining convention center. Convention-goers—probably 1,000 or 2,000 people for each show—would get tickets to performances included with their registration at the convention center. The remaining tickets would be available to the public. Other bookings, separate from conventions, would be handled by an independent promoter such as Capps' AC Entertainment.

"Certainly we're interested in being involved in any way that makes sense," Capps says. "But I still don't know what any of this means. I haven't had any substantive conversation with anyone at this juncture, so it's hard to say."

Capps says he's concerned about the viability of a large amphitheater in Knoxville. "I'd love to have an amphitheater at the World's Fair Park. I think that would make Knoxville the smallest city in the country that has an amphitheater like that. But from most normal marketing perspectives—the population size and demographics—I'm not sure how much sense it makes...Some of them are very successful, and some have a bit of a struggle."

—Matthew T. Everett

Muffled Vaginas

Maryville College pussyfoots around the V-word.

Vagina. The word is enough to send shivers down the backs of administrators at Maryville College.

Next weekend, colleges around the country will be performing The Vagina Monologues, a play by Eve Ensler, as part of the national "V-Day" event. The play examines the shame that exists around women's private parts and the abuse that shame can cause.

Students at Maryville College are going to take part in the awareness-raising celebration, but not without some trepidation on the part of the college's administrators. The school's president, Gerald Gibson (in consultation with Dean Nancy Sederberg), has barred the students from advertising or promoting the play in any way. Students cannot advertise in publications, put up flyers or list the show in any entertainment calendars. They were allowed to call the media, but they could not send out press releases.

The play is free, but the audience is being asked to make a donation to the Knoxville Sexual Assault Crisis Center (proceeds from V-Day activities around the world are donated to similar crisis centers).

Laurie Lyza, the college's director of public relations, says the promotion ban was made "out of respect for the community."

"Some of the language in the play and some of the scenarios in the monologues might be considered offensive," she says.

Founded in 1819, the liberal arts college is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church but is open to students of all religions and does not require any religious education.

The play is not an official production of Maryville College, but administrators wanted to give the students the opportunity to express themselves. "We believe in their motivation to prevent abuse and violence. We don't believe hanging posters promoting the play necessarily meets that end," Lyza says.

The play presents a variety of women talking about various aspects of their bodies and lives. There are sections about first menstruation, wartime rape in Bosnia, sexual abuse, female mutilation, giving birth, the names people call vaginas and its various scents, masturbation and sex. It is explicit, but not pornographic or erotic.

Student Virginia Grant, an actor in the play who is also in charge of publicity (such as it is), says the students are making the best of the situation. "The administration really has been supportive, but at the same time it's their responsibility to protect the image of the college," Grant says. "This is the first time this production has been done on campus. It's the first time anything this explicit has been done on campus. They have interests we don't have. I respect their decision, because they're trying to do what's best for the college. I don't know what kind of consequences that advertising would have had."

The ban has upset many students and faculty, but there are also those who are offended by the play's content, Grant says.

Grant and a few other students saw the University of Tennessee's production of the play last year and were inspired to do their own. She says their goal is to draw attention to the problem of sexual and domestic abuse, and combat shame many women feel about their bodies. She admits there's something ironic and telling about the administration's restrictions. "We found the restrictions placed on us to be in contrast to the reason we're doing this play. Vagina is not a dirty word. We want to say that so women won't be ashamed of the essence of their womanhood.

"I hope the people who are not sure about the purpose and reason for the play will be more aware of the reasons we're doing this," Grant says. "I do think it's ironic, but at the same time, I'm having to keep a cool head about it and be grateful they're allowing us to do the play."

The Vagina Monologues will be performed at 8 p.m. on Feb. 16 and 17 in the Maryville College's Wilson Chapel Theater.

UT will perform the play at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, in the Clarence Brown Theatre. A $5 donation to Knoxville's Sexual Assault Crisis Center is being asked for at the door.

—Joe Tarr

How Now, Brownlow?

A new legal twist could give the county more choice in what it does with abandoned property.

The future reuse and restoration of Fourth and Gill's historic Brownlow School cleared a hurdle recently, one all too familiar to Knoxville's downtown advocates and progressive reformers: state law. Like tax abatement or stiffer penalties for zoning violations, the county's plan to sell Brownlow to a developer via a competitive request for proposal (RFP) was stalled for several months because it appeared to be in violation of state law.

The problem was a statute that apparently limited counties to disposing of property only by public auction or sealed bid. That wouldn't have allowed for any discretion in assessing the proposed use itself, a matter of great concern to Fourth and Gill residents in the case of Brownlow.

But when the county began what promised to be a tedious process of getting the law changed in Nashville, county purchasing director Hugh Holt made a fortunate discovery. County Law Director Mike Moyers explains: "The act that says 'public auction or sealed bid only' has to be adopted locally. It never was." Therefore, says Moyers, "we are looking at whether, at the local level, we can change our procurement policies to dispose of property by RFP."

For County Commissioner David Collins—whose district includes Fourth and Gill—that is good news. "It would allow us the flexibility we need in disposing of property," says Collins, adding that he is "hopeful that this will allow us to get a resolution of the Brownlow situation." In the interim, the county has taken one step to ensure the future of the circa 1910 building by applying for an H-1 Historic Overlay designation to protect the school's distinctive architecture. (Brownlow was closed three years ago when the new Christenberry Elementary School opened.) The overlay, according to Moyers, "would address many of the neighborhood concerns, but it won't control how the property is used."

"The building has got to be preserved," says attorney Wade Davies, chair of Fourth and Gill's Housing and Land Use Committee. But, according to Davies, its eventual use is equally important to the neighborhood organization. "We certainly want to have some say-so with the use, to ensure that it's compatible with an up and coming residential neighborhood," states Davies. That, according to Collins, is where the RFP comes in. "There are certain properties, Brownlow and others, where the development proposal should be considered along with the price offered. " Collins says. He says Brownlow could be converted to housing (� la Park Place, the former school in East Knoxville) or offices, like the recently renovated Tyson Jr. High School on Kingston Pike.

In Collins' opinion, the freedom to use RFPs is far larger than the Brownlow issue. "It's got potential implication for [the former jail site on] State Street, really any property the county owns. This could even come into play on the Farmers' Market."

But that statement troubles Moyers for two reasons. First is the uncertain future of State Street. According to Moyers, "Whether we can get rid of it in the near future is questionable. We don't know our future needs vis a vis the justice system. I don't think the issue has been put to rest. Until we have an alternate site, it's going to be awfully difficult to let go." The second, and of deeper concern to the law director, is the subjectivity of RFPs versus the finality of a bid process—subjectivity that could be questioned when the property in question is either highly sought-after or a specific potential user has received considerable attention.

"We need to make it very clear, and set up objective standards and take politics out of it," Moyers says. "Assuming we can do that, it should work." But even with objective standards, Moyers concedes that "there's always the chance that someone with a rejected proposal will sue us. And then a judge gets to decide whose proposal was better."

—Matt Edens