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Seven Days

Wednesday, April 25
A state House committee approves a resolution to ban truckers from using the left lanes on I-40 through Knoxville. But the ban would be lifted when one or more lanes is closed for construction work. So, um, can anyone remember when one or more lanes of I-40 hasn't been closed?

Thursday, April 26
Blount County officials say they're working on plans for a $25 million hockey arena to lure the Knoxville Speed hockey team away from Knoxville. Oh no! Where will we ever go for athletic events in this town?
Knoxville officials say they may close the Truancy/Curfew Center on Keith Avenue, created as a detention center for adolescent absentees. Apparently the truants aren't showing up...

Friday, April 27
The Knoxville News-Wessonel continues its breathless front-page coverage of the most vital regional story of the year: a local woman's participation in a game show. (Other major front-page news this week: dog bites girl.)

Monday, April 30
An American Lung Association study ranks Knoxville ninth for worst air quality in the U.S.A. Of course, you have to consider the source; the ALA is clearly biased toward lung usage. The fact is, most people breathe way more than they need to.

Tuesday, April 24
Knoxville City Council proudly passes the toughest campaign financial disclosure laws in the state. Candidates must now enter their genetic code into a computer at the Election Commission, which will determine their fitness for office. Mayor Victor Ashe has offered to provide a sample of his own DNA as a benchmark.

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:
Lots of people know where it is—on Keith Avenue, near the intersection with Liberty Street—but quite a few expressed long-standing puzzlement about what it is. A Scottish piper, one ventured; or maybe a Swiss peasant dancer. Actually, a few knowledgeable Knoxies informed us that it is a mannequin of a Greek palace guard in full Greek uniform, at the home of Gus Karalis. (Several others noted the mannequin had been missing for a while but has returned.) First with the most was Kathleen Bailey of Knoxville, who wrote, "When I take my daughter to Beaumont, we always look for the guard." As a prize, Kathleen and her daughter win a pack of genuine fake money. Don't spend it all in one place!

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

BILLBOARD BAN PETITION SIGN UP
SATURDAY, MAY 5
9 A.M.-5 P.M.
VARIOUS LOCATIONS
Community groups will circulate a petition in support of a ban on new billboards within the Knoxville city limits at the Kroger stores on Asheville Highway, Broadway (at the Broadway Shopping Center and in Fountain City), Chapman Highway, Clinton Highway, Kingston Pike (in Bearden), and Western Avenue, and at Stanley's Greenhouse on Davenport Road.

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
THURSDAY, MAY 10
1:30 P.M.
CITY COUNTY BUILDING
400 MAIN ST.
MPC will consider a proposed Town Center zoning, similar to a designation recently approved by Knoxville City Council, that will allow mixed-used, New Urbanism-style development.

Starry-Eyed?

A planetarium expert at UT likes Universe Knoxville but doesn't expect it to make money.

Mark Littmann's official position at the University of Tennessee is chair of science, technology and medical writing in the School of Journalism. But he's more than just a science writer; he's also a professor in UT's department of physics and astronomy, and for 18 years he was head of one of the most successful planetariums in the United States. And he hopes that the Knox County Commission brings the Universe Knoxville planetarium and science complex to downtown Knoxville.

Littmann, who served as director of the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City from 1965 to 1983, has joined a loose-knit group of local scientists from UT and Oak Ridge to offer tentative support to the concept and execution of Universe Knoxville.

"I have, for a long time, hoped Knoxville would have a major planetarium and science museum. It would be an enormous help to the community," Littmann says of Universe Knoxville. "It could serve the general public, tourists, school children, the college community...I'd like to see such a facility done—and done right."

As proposed to County Commission by developers Worsham Watkins International, Universe Knoxville would not simply be a planetarium. Influenced by the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City, it would also include a hands-on children's museum, some sort of affiliation with the Smithsonian Institute, a virtual reality theater, and a TVA museum. Boosters of the project have said it could be a major tourist draw and a key component of downtown revitalization.

But Littmann is concerned about the attendance figures projected for Universe Knoxville. An independent study predicts 1.1 million visitors a year, and a consultant retained by WW indicates $23.4 million in revenues each year, with $10.1 million left over after $13.3 million in operating costs. Littmann says that, based on his experience, those numbers are "much higher than reasonably possible."

Still, he's not opposed to a subsidy of Universe Knoxville. In fact, he expects a project like this to be supported with public money.

"That doesn't mean it can't be a good project or that it shouldn't be done," he explains. "But I think if they conceive of this project as a money-making project for the county or the operator, they're going to be disappointed. No planetarium I'm familiar with has ever shown a profit."

County Commissioner Larry Stephens and Tom Ingram, president of the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership, dispute Littmann's assessment. "If this was just a planetarium, a traditional planetarium, I might agree," Ingram says. "But a planetarium like the Rose Center, coupled with a children's museum, coupled with a Smithsonian-affiliated exhibition, is a totally different animal than what he's familiar with...Based on the projections, I think there's a great likelihood that it will make a profit."

Littmann says he hasn't been approached about participating in the planning process over the next four months, but Ingram says he has heard Littmann's name and will ask for a meeting with him. And Littmann, despite his skepticism of the attendance projections, thinks Universe Knoxville could hold significant benefit for Knox County.

"It can increase the quality of life, and in that respect it can return a fine dividend to the community," he says. "A fine dividend."

—Matthew T. Everett

Cough, Cough

Knoxville's pollution rivals that of Los Angeles, Houston and Atlanta, but Green Power might help clear the air.

Knoxville has cracked a new top 10 list, but it's not one the Chamber of Commerce will likely advertise. The city has the ninth worst air quality in the country, based on its high number of unhealthy ozone level days, according to the American Lung Association. Last year, the city ranked 12th.

And on the list of worst ozone-polluted air counties in the country, Sevier and Blount ranked 12th and 13th, respectively, with Knox County coming in 15th.

The rankings come from the Lung Association's second annual State of the Air report, which was released this week.

Knoxvillians weren't alone, with 141 million people living in cities with similarly polluted air—an increase of 9 million from last year's report. However, the report is alarming because it ranks Knoxville worse than the metropolises of Philadelphia, Dallas, New York, Nashville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Memphis and San Diego when it comes to air quality. Worst on the list was Los Angeles, with Bakersfield and Fresno, Calif., following second and third.

Dr. Timothy Frazier, a Lung Association volunteer and pulmonary specialist, was surprised Knox, Sevier and Blount counties ranked so high.

"We don't seem to be nearly as industrialized, we don't seem to have the traffic problems," he says. "But you have to wonder about the impact of having both interstates 40 and 75 converge right in town. That probably has a lot to do with it."

The 2001 report examined air quality data from the Environmental Protection Agency from the years 1997 to '99. (Last year's report looked at '96 through '98.)

The report focuses solely on ozone pollution, for which the best historical data is available, the Lung Association reports. The main component of smog, ozone is formed when sunlight acts on hydrocarbons (a by-product of cars, oil and chemical storage facilities) and nitrogen oxides (which are produced when fuels are burned in power plants, industries and cars).

A lung irritant, ozone can cause shortness of breath, headaches, wheezing, and chest pain. Long-term exposure can change the structure of the lung. Ozone is particularly dangerous for children, the elderly and anyone with chronic lung problems, such as asthma and emphysema.

"What we really don't know why is, as each year goes by, it seems the number of asthma cases is increasing," Frazier says. "A lot of people wonder if this isn't part of it."

In 1997, 4,500 Tennesseans went to the emergency room because of breathing difficulty, Frazier says, and 1,500 were hospitalized.

People can help reduce ozone by driving less, car pooling, and filling their gas tanks after dusk. However, any significant cuts in ozone will have to come when power plants are cleaned up and cars and trucks are made more efficient and cleaner, Frazier says.

One thing that people can do is sign up for Green Power. Started last year, the program allows residents to purchase blocks of renewable energy (a $4 charge for every 150 kilowatt hours, on top of regular rates). The money goes to support wind, solar and methane gas from landfill energies.

The program has been much more successful than expected. According to TVA, 3,260 residential customers purchased 5,683 blocks of green power per month in the first 11 months; 150 businesses bought 6,920 blocks—for a total of 12,603. The utility expected to sell 9,000 blocks a month in the that time.

Stephen Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy says the demand has been bigger than expected.

"That's even with some of the highest utility bills that we've seen. I was paying more than I've ever paid, but people still stuck with the program. Now that weather is migrating, we'll hopefully pick up a whole new group of people," Smith says. "The demand for Green Power has outstripped the supply because so many people signed up and signed up so fast...TVA is chasing the demand, which I think is great, because it keeps the pressure on them and shows that more people want this. It's not going to be millions of people, but it will be thousands."

So far, eight solar sites and one wind-turbine site have been put on-line for the program. A landfill gas generator will be up this summer, which will mean the program is producing 5 megawatts of green power.

Supported entirely by its users, the program is in stark contrast to President Bush's energy policy to date. Bush has cut funding for renewable energy sources and stressed increasing the supply of fossil fuels over conservation.

"There is a lot to be done to squeeze more work out of a kilowatt hour. We don't have enough power, but at the same time we're using inefficient appliances and lighting," Smith says. "The Bush administration is setting themselves up for a real hard fall in mid-term elections."

—Joe Tarr