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No, for Now
We learned yesterday that Burnett Construction has requested a demolition permit for the "Coughlin house" on Lyons View. Better known as the J. Allen Smith house, the handsome ca. 1915 mansion has been the subject of a preservationist fight for several months; adjacent Cherokee Country Club acquired the house a couple of years ago with the intent of razing it. However, yesterday the city law director, Michael Kelley, recommended that the city deny the permit for now because there's been a formal request for H-1 overlay protection for that house and some of its neighbors. "The request for historic zoning provides a safe harbor during which no demolition permits will be issued," he says. The argument will now follow two tracks, one via the Metropolitan Planning Commission, and one via the Historic Zoning Commission.
So, Which is the Publico?
Is lawyer Robert Watson going to end up working pro bono? Watson, who represents the school board in its ongoing fight to get out from under the fiscal thumb of Knox County Commission, has been pressing the case that the school board has the legal right to spend its own money and hire its own lawyers without Commission oversight, despite provisions in the county charter requiring Commission approval of expenditures of more than $50,000 and the hiring of independent counsel. A recent ruling by Chancellor Sharon Bell upheld Commission's interpretation of the charter. Knox County Law Director Mike Moyers has said he does not feel legally obligated to pay Watson from his department's coffers. Meanwhile school board members are trying to figure out a way to appeal Bell's ruling without voting to do so, and Watson has opined that filing suit in the first place means a willingness to go forward with any necessary appeals, although he acknowledges that he might have a problem getting paid.
Watson might do well to ponder the section of board member Margaret Maddox's web site that deals with the issue:
"As to the question of expense, which has been a criticism of many, the fact is the School System's attorney has stated in three public meetings that he would seek no compensation for his services. He has challenged the Commission and their attorney to do the same."
www.knoxhell.com?
We didn't have a chance to check it for the smell of brimstone, since it came in the form of an email, so we can't say definitively that it really came from the nether reaches of eternity. But we're presenting it here as proof that Chamberguy Tom Ingram's recent musings about running for mayor are causing tongues to wag and wags to giggle.
The subject line read thusly: "Demon Fromhell announces for mayor."
And the body of the message says this: "Early polling results show a 14% lead over Tom Ingram. Mr. Fromhell stated that he expects his lead to increase as voters focus on the qualities and background of both candidates: 'Most citizens of Knoxville will choose a Demon Fromhell over a Tom Ingram. '"
But the Board Elected Me
When the Knox County school board and superintendent sat down to a dinner discussion with the county's legislative delegation Monday night at Morton's in Nashville, the seating arrangement put state Rep. Jim Boyer at one end of the table and Supt. Charles Q. Lindsey at the other, as far apart as possible. Boyer is a co-sponsor of legislation that would require the county to go back to a voter-elected superintendent. Lindsey, who is board-appointed, is apparently undaunted by recent publicity that he refers to himself as "an elected official." A lawmaker who dined with the board says he kept up the "elected" reference. Maybe he thinks if he says it often enough, the legislators will believe it and withdraw the bill.
February 21, 2002 * Vol. 12, No. 8
© 2002 Metro Pulse
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