Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Satire on State Street

Oops, they did it again. The anonymous satirists who constructed a wicked web send-up of Universe Knoxville earlier this year (replacing the slogan, "Reach for the stars, Knoxville!" with "Reach for your wallet, Knoxville!") have an updated website. The title: UnKnoxville. You can find it at unknoxville.netfirms.com. As before, it closely mimics the official site (universeknoxville.net), with some alterations. Instead of conceptual drawings, we get posters for Plan 9 From Outer Space. Instead of rah-rah happy talk, we get lines like, "The Universe Knoxville proposal offers a centerpiece in the nonexistent plan for the city...It will infuse new visitors into existing attractions, raising the number of infusions for everyone infused. It will provide endless hours of enjoyment for those who profit from it." One part they left unchanged: the page where you can contact your local representatives and tell them what you think of the project. How civic-minded of them.

Doing Time

Local Democrats had a meet-and-greet session at Michael's Tuesday night, where they were entertained by blast-from-the-past rocker Gary Poteet and their own stable of candidates for city, county and state offices. Not so entertaining were concerns about another controversial plea bargain deal reported being struck by District Attorney General and gubernatorial wannabe Randy Nichols. A growing "soft on crime" buzz around Nichols is worrying Knox Dems who can't get on board with front-runner Phil Bredesen while their guy is still an announced candidate.

Big League

The League of Women Voters has signed up a new member—Mayor Victor Ashe. Why has Hizzoner given in to the urge to join the League after all these years?

Could be coincidence, but perhaps Ashe is concerned that the group has veered off on a dangerously leftward trajectory, given the League's endorsement of the "Living Wage" push for higher minimum compensation for government workers. If there's one issue that gets our mayor pig-biting madder than all the Recallistas and Harmon-supporting firefighters combined, it's Living Wage-ites, and the League's position has undoubtedly pushed a red-hot button with Ashe, who has been a tireless foe of this dangerous notion—even to the extent of quizzing supplicants seeking city appropriations at budget hearings and sending pre-primary letters to all the City Council candidates to sound the warning.

Mary Lou's Big Secret

When County Commissioner Mary Lou Horner appeared at a Fountain City Town Hall meeting Monday night, she was asked what the disposition of the old Fountain City Public Library building will be once the new library on Essary Road is completed and opened. She told the gathering the future use of the old library is "a secret." Pressed to explain why, since the most frequently proposed use of the pretty old structure in Fountain City Park has been for a relatively innocuous center for senior citizens, Horner said she did not have to tell what she knew about any plans for the building, which is in her commission district, because "it's county property."

Oh, yeah, we forgot. County property ain't public business.