Metro Pulse/Cover/Year in Review 2001

Photo by Ed Richardson

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Introduction

Government and Politics

Environment

Park Closed Today. Go Golfing.

It was undoubtedly political punishment. Frustrated with the Legislature's refusal to pass an income tax bill, Gov. Don Sundquist closed 14 of the state's 54 parks, including Frozen Head in Morgan County, Norris Dam in Anderson, Big Ridge in Union, and Panther Creek in Hamblen. He also reduced the number of days non-resort parks are open from seven to five. The cutbacks were expected to save $3.2 million. Critics said the park closings demonstrate the state's misguided approach to managing its parks—it emphasizes "revenue-producing" resort parks (like the Bear Trace golf courses), even though those parks are much more expensive to maintain (and potentially much more harmful to the environment) and they compete with private resorts. Should parks exist to make money for the state, or are they for the public enjoyment, these critics wonder. They also questioned whether the park closings will be money well spent, as millions in sales tax revenue from tourists will likely be lost. Sundquist announced a plan in December (after some prodding from Mayor Victor Ashe, among others) to reopen the parks next spring. But the conflict over what state parks should be will remain.

A Road Too Wide

As with many TDOT projects, this one seemed to make little sense. Considering that Gatlinburg is a small tourist town infested with automobiles, why would you want to widen one of the routes dumping cars into it from two to five lanes, with no plan for those cars to go once there? Considering that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most polluted park in the country, why would you want to build a bigger road to bring more exhaust-coughing cars directly along its border and reroute an already polluted stream? Opponents of the project never got clear answers, but they can guess why TDOT is spending $29 million to widen a 2.6-mile stretch of Route 321—economic development. The widened road would provide a swath of new land (on the privately owned side, at least) for Pigeon Forge-style development. Most disturbing about the 321 project is the way TDOT went about planning for it. With several environmental permits still pending, TDOT gave the green light to the bulldozers in March, telling them to work around the areas where permits were needed. With that kind of work plan, it's hard to imagine the public comment required for the permits (or even the permits themselves) is more than a formality to TDOT officials. Nine months later, two permits have yet to be approved. But Gatlinburg will get its road. Environmentalists are hoping to stop other sections of 321 from being widened.

Cough, Cough

Knoxville's dirty air became a whole lot harder to ignore this year when the city made the American Lung Association's top 10 list for most polluted cities, at number nine, right behind Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. The air in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is often more unhealthy to breathe than the air of a large city. Several factors conspire to make this region so polluted: an over-reliance on ancient coal power plants, lack of conservation, geography, warm weather. Although TVA—the region's biggest polluter—is making some slow strides toward reducing its share of the pollution (and has started a cutting edge, if small, Green Power program), the air quality will likely stay bad for a while. Especially with the Bush Administration relaxing pollution standards and heavily subsidizing fossil fuels. While many people are worrying about terrorist threats like Anthrax, they're unfortunately ignoring the poison we're spewing into the air.

Sprawling Destruction

In the next 40 years, the Southeast will lose 31 million acres of forest land, according to a study by the U.S. Forest Service. The chief culprit (or, consumer) of all that forest land is the growing problem of suburban sprawl. But with more than five million acres cut a year in the Southeast, logging is also responsible for its share of loss. The rate of logging is expected in increase by 50 percent during the next four decades. The loss is more than aesthetic—water and air quality will likely suffer and several species of plant and wildlife will be threatened.

Downtown Island

The city's been talking up pedestrian-friendliness lately, but this wasn't the year to see it realized. For pedestrians, downtown hasn't been so isolated from the rest of town since Longstreet's siege. The Clinch Avenue viaduct, for more than a century the most important pedestrian link between downtown and the UT/Fort Sanders area (which contains perhaps the city's highest density of pedestrians), was closed the entire year for rehabbing in connection with the convention center project. All year, all pedestrians and bicyclists trying to get downtown from the west had to deal with crossing at the dangerous major-thoroughfare intersections of Henley Street. Many chose to stop bothering.

Meanwhile, early in the year, construction of the controversial UT/TDOT Ag-campus bridge project commenced, decisively cutting off bicycle and pedestrian traffic from the near west to the UT/downtown area with no provisions for detours. A couple miles to the west, this past fall, the city and TDOT completed the trail with a short extension to serve the Bearden area. But until TDOT's done with the UT bridgework—we heard they'd be done in September, but it still doesn't even look close—the new, improved Third Creek Bike Trail's just a nice way to get from the Bi-Lo to Tyson Park.

Then, in early December, TDOT closed the Gay Street Bridge for an extensive rehab project, severing an automobile and pedestrian connection to South Knoxville until perhaps 2004.