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Seven Days

Wednesday, Jan. 2
Bill Moore, chief engineer for the Tennessee Department of Transportation is quoted as referring to the Legislature by saying, "We work for them and with them," in a story about the revival of the controversial extension of the James White Parkway in South Knoxville. What a shock. Nobody would have thought TDOT worked for anyone but itself and the road building lobby.
Republicans accuse the majority Democrats in the Legislature of "dirty politics" for proposing redistricting plans that would favor Democrats and punish opponents of such hot-button items as a state income tax. Uh, yeah, and the axiom that "all politics are local" is a silly one that should be replaced with "all politics are dirty."

Thursday, Jan. 3
Headline: "Auto dealer accused of fraud." That's news?
When Knox County students pass statewide tests required for high school graduation with flying colors, local school officials claim the scores needed to pass the tests must be too low. Does that tell us anything?

Friday, Jan. 4
When brilliant, abrasive Florida football coach Steve Spurrier resigns unexpectedly, UT's defensive coordinator John Chavis says, in effect, he'll miss Spurrier, because being the best requires beating the best, and the best is gone. There always was something we liked about John Chavis.

Saturday, Jan. 5
Top-ranked Connecticut throttles the No. 2 Lady Vols in their house by 14 points. UConn coach Geno Auriemma admits that orange is not so ugly and Rocky Top sounds a little less "hideous" under those circumstances.

Sunday, Jan. 6
The News-Sentinel leads off its business front with the headline: "Downtown nearly ready for tourist influx." The headline is over a picture, but not a story. The moral is: Don't write a headline when there is no story to hold it up.

Monday, Jan. 7
A predicted snow actually occurs. Local weather forecasters are nominated en masse for Emmys.
It's disclosed that Knoxville's murder rate for 2001 was as low as it's been in 30 years, proving that a populace not angry enough to recall its mayor and other annoying politicians (or even vote in local elections) is not angry enough to do much killing.

Tuesday, Jan. 8
Former UT assistant football coach Ron Zook is hired to replace Spurrier at Florida. Vol fans cry for a full body search of Zook for any pages from the UT playbook.

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:
Yes, as one astute observer told, it is graffiti. Patriotic graffiti no less—kind of a dare to effacers of defacement, we suppose. After all, who'd have the guts to wipe off the stars and stripes in these go-U.S.A. days? The flag in question is on a wall in Fort Sanders by the hellish shell of the Bel Air Apartments, at the corner of Laurel Avenue and 13th Street. And the first correct response came from an employee of the Tomato Head restaurant whose name we couldn't quite make out, but since the entry was forwarded by Head head Mahasti Vafaie, we'll just give her the prize (a copy of Jerry L. Patterson's card-sharp guide Blackjack: A Winner's Handbook) and let her ensure its safe delivery. Our only question is, when Tomato Head employees gamble, do they play with regular chips or blue corn chips?

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

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
Thursday Jan. 10
1:30 p.m.
City County Bldg., Large Assembly Room
400 Main Ave.
Regular monthly meeting.

KNOXVILLE CITY COUNCIL
Thursday, Jan. 10
4 p.m.
James White Parkway, at the Sevierville Pike overpass
Special meeting to discuss the future of the South Knoxville connector project.

KNOXVILLE DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIVISION
Tuesday, Jan. 15
3 p.m.
Luke Ross Center
2247 Western Ave.
Discussion of the division's Annual Action Plan and Consolidated Plan for use of federal funds.

Gay Pride

Gay Street redevelopment picks up speed

Chamber Partnership impresario Tom Ingram is bullish on downtown Knoxville's future. "We think there's going to be a new heyday for Gay Street, a whole new beginning," he said last week at the ground-breaking press conference for the renovation of the former Fowler's Furniture building at 418 S. Gay Street.

And Ingram has good reason to be upbeat on downtown. Not only did County Commission last month finally pass the long-hyped and long harangued-over Universe Knoxville proposal. This Monday saw the announcement that, after more than two-years of deal-making, Atlanta developer Leigh Burch will soon begin the work of converting the Sterchi Building on the 100 block of Gay Street into approximately 100 loft apartments. Both projects—Sterchi and Fowler's—bode well for the Ashe administration's new emphasis on promoting downtown residential development through various incentives.

"I was very open to doing residential, but could not make sense of the numbers and they were a long way from working," says Wayne Blasius of InSite Property Associates, the Fowler Building's developer. InSite's initial proposal called for developing the entire structure, a downtown landmark since 1899, as office space with ground floor retail and restaurant space. But plans had changed by Thursday's press conference. Now InSite is converting the top two floors, 100 feet over Gay Street, into 10 loft apartments. The change wouldn't have been possible without the city's new tax abatement incentives for residential development.

"The residential doesn't work as well economically as the commercial, and if we'd had to make the whole thing residential it wouldn't have worked," says Blasius. But, thanks to an annual savings of up to $70,000 worth of property taxes through the abatement program, residential use is now a viable part of the project. And one with added benefits.

"If you're a mixed-use building, you can market yourself as live-work space," explains Kevin DuBose, the city's deputy director of development. "The office market right now is somewhat soft. But there's a big demand for residential, and if you do the residential piece you create live/work space and a more marketable situation." Blasius agrees: "We think it's good for the project. The more diverse uses the better—24-hour occupancy is great for security, plus it makes the project more attractive for a restaurant."

Blasius also has good things to say about the experience of working with the city and the application process for the incentive program. "It was reasonable stuff to ask for," he says. "Some of it we had to reformat or reorganize, but generally it was the sort of thing we already had. For instance, a building has to be historically significant to qualify for the program, so we just took the paragraph from our [Preservation] Tax Credit application and plopped it in." And the incentive program—dubbed CityLife—should get more user-friendly in the weeks ahead. The Development Department is preparing promotional brochures (which should be out by the end of the month), presentation folders and a web presence to highlight the program with a flashier, less-bureaucratic look aimed to establish downtown's image as a vibrant urban neighborhood. The strategy, says DuBose, is that "we want to market downtown as an emerging live/work neighborhood." And it's a strategy that, he says, other cities have used with great success: "We felt that one of Memphis' secrets was how they marketed and presented their image."

Apparently, the market is ripe for the message. Ingram says the Chamber has, in recent weeks, received numerous inquiries about downtown opportunities. Asked about the sudden spike in interest, Ingram cites a multitude of reasons: "I think the incentives have helped; I think the enthusiasm for Universe Knoxville has helped." Ingram goes on, singling out several of downtown's pioneer developers for praise: "And I think a few people stepping out front like Wayne [Blasius] and David [Dewhirst, who's developing a loft project in the Emporium building] and Leigh Burch has certainly helped. They're willing to take a risk. We need more of that in this city. And I think we're starting to see that."

But, says Ingram, as he gestures at the Fowler Building's ornate fa�ade, there's one underlying reason behind what he sees as a bright future: "We've got a great downtown, with wonderful buildings like this one."

—Matt Edens

From Fifth Ave. to 5th Ave.

PETA gives fur coats back to the people

Jay Kelly isn't a likely fashion consultant. For one thing, his utilitarian wardrobe of slacks and a sweatshirt wouldn't get him far on Fifth Avenue. For another, as the sweatshirt attests, he works for the advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which has made a point over the past decade of assailing the high-end fur industry. Nevertheless, around noon last Thursday, Kelly was playing the role of floor salesman to a parade of women clutching heavy fur coats in the back office of the Knoxville Area Rescue Mission on North Broadway.

"Excuse me," says one girl with matted blond hair, a teenager by the look of it. She's wearing one coat and carrying another one. "Um, my friend wants to know, do you know what kind of fur this is?" Kelly fingers the thick brown coat, purses his lips and shakes his head apologetically. The girl nods. "I don't care what kind I get," she says. "But my friend really wants a mink."

Kelly's visit to Knoxville was the latest in a series of stops PETA representatives have made to distribute fur coats to the needy. The coats were donated by former fur owners who decided to give them up as a protest against the farming and slaughter of fur-bearing animals. In the past, Kelly says, PETA has used some of the coats to provide bedding for animals at shelters. Some have also been used in anti-fur demonstrations, where they're doused with fake blood. (One of the coats on the rack at the Rescue Mission, a tight-shouldered black manteau that probably isn't made of poodle fur even though it looks like it, still bears a splash of red paint on one sleeve.)

But recently, PETA officials decided to let some of the coats continue their original function, albeit for a somewhat different demographic group. Past giveaways to the homeless have occurred in Atlantic City, New York, Baltimore and Charleston. Kelly, who works out of PETA's Norfolk, Va. headquarters, says a Knoxville member contacted the group about bringing the program here.

"We had a member who told us this had been a really cold winter and more was on its way," he says.

But warmth is clearly not the first thing on the mind of the women, most of them enrollees in indigent-aid programs, who crowd the small Mission office. Judy Gaddis, a robust middle-aged woman with graying blond hair, acknowledges she needs a new coat. "I wouldn't have dared ask for mink," she says, smiling broadly and extending her arms to show off the rippling brown coat she's wearing. "But this is what the Lord decided. This is the first fur I've ever owned. I ain't comin' out of this one."

"The ladies were really excited," says Melissa Monroe, the Mission's media relations coordinator. "A lot of them said they never expected to get a fur coat in their lives. It's kind of like a late Christmas party."

One woman wearing a bandanna, blue jeans and a sweatshirt under her new floorlength fur turns to a group of her friends and says exultantly, "It says the Lord dresses the lilies of the valley, and ladies, look what He's done for us! He's dressed us like kings! I feel like the bridegroom has just sent me a free wedding present."

Kelly stands at the back of the room, smiling a little uneasily. All the excitement about fur isn't exactly in line with PETA doctrine. "It's definitely a concern," he says. "But we don't feel like giving fur coats to homeless people is helping to perpetuate the fashion industry or the myth that fur is fashionable. We certainly wouldn't give them to high school students. Our view is we're only giving them to people who have a right to wear them. They have no other choices."

The women seem vaguely aware of PETA's agenda. On the way out of the room, a few stop to thank Kelly again. "You're welcome," he says. One woman pauses. "I do feel," she says, and looks at Kelly and then down at the ground, "for the animals." Kelly nods. The black coat with the red stain is still on the now depleted rack.

Outside, it's sunny and chilly. The cold that will bring snow this weekend is already making its presence felt. By the door of the Rescue Mission office, across the street from the Salvation Army store, five women are talking loud and laughing and smoking cigarettes. They are all wearing fur coats.

—Jesse Fox Mayshark