Metro Pulse/Editor's Corner/All Around Town

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Bulletins from the Knoxville front

by Jesse Fox Mayshark

Boy howdy, there's a lot going on in Knoxville these days. Too much for a monthly column to keep up with. So here's some quick thoughts on the ever-changing scene:

Judging from last week's Metro Pulse story on Raja Jubran, and from everything I've ever heard anyone say about him, he sounds like a good guy. He's built a successful business through a lot of hard work, become very influential in local affairs, and in the process overcome whatever barriers a person of Arabic descent may encounter in East Tennessee. That's why we put him on the cover. Still, I can't help feeling a little queasy about Jubran's dual role these days as chairman of the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership and head of Denark Construction.

Chamber President Tom Ingram insists Jubran has assiduously avoided any conflicts of interest. But I have a hard time reconciling that with Jubran's and the Chamber's relentless role in stumping for Universe Knoxville—a project in which Jubran-the-contractor has been a partner, official or unofficial, since the beginning. If Universe Knoxville gets built, it will be with a lot of public money, maybe as much as $60 million by the time the bills are all paid. And a good chunk of that will go to Denark Construction. How is one to take Jubran's comment, after County Commission gave initial approval to Universe Knoxville, that the project is "a win for the community"? Moreso for some parts of the community than others, yes? I know, nobody likes to talk about these things (especially not the many, many elected officials to whom Jubran has made campaign contributions). But there are a lot of communities where such chumminess would raise both eyebrows and questions.

I don't really blame Jubran—he's just playing by the accepted rules of our local incestuous system. But that system has a tendency to taint even the best intentions.

I know a lot of people who believe Mike Ragsdale could provide some needed vision and energy when he assumes the mantle of county executive later this year. I hope so. But I do wish he actually had an opponent. Call me old-fashioned (remember the two-party system?), but I don't think it's healthy for democracy and representative government when anyone can simply ascend unchallenged to a significant political position. I understand why nobody has chosen to take on the task—Ragsdale has worked hard over the past four years to position himself as an unbeatable candidate. But a good opponent forces a candidate to define himself (or herself), to clarify aims and motivations, and often to reach out to constituencies that might otherwise be ignored. And given parts of Ragsdale's record (his anti-gay posturing early in his County Commission career still rankles many who were there), a little forced outreach could be a good thing.

Our new City Council members have been in office just a few months, but they've already made a difference—particularly the refreshingly inquisitive trio of Mark Brown, Rob Frost and Joe Hultquist. They seem to have not only read the resolutions they're voting on (how novel!), but even researched them. The attention to detail on everything from zoning issues to Universe Knoxville has had a startling effect, most notably on members of Mayor Victor Ashe's administration. After a few Council meetings in which they were caught dozily off-guard by the entire concept of having to explain their recommendations on assorted resolutions, Ashe staffers have started coming prepared for actual discussion. Even some of the older Council members have started talking and asking questions, as if they've just been reminded they're allowed to. Some meetings have already dragged on well past 10 p.m., a time by which the old Council was usually home in bed. It's hard to tell where this is all headed, but it's just possible Council will eventually turn into an honest-to-goodness deliberative body. Here's hoping.

In the course of working on last month's package of Nashville stories, I visited that city's Civic Design Center. The impressive office is on the ground floor of a downtown building recently rehabbed for renovation in its upper stories. As we've noted in our pages before, the design director is Mark Schimmenti, who is technically still on faculty at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Mark, a tireless devotee of downtown restoration and revitalization, tried to start a similar center to help rejuvenate downtown Knoxville a few years ago. But he couldn't get funding from either the city or the university. The Nashville center is jointly funded by Nashville's metro government, the University of Tennessee (which is also partner in a similar center in Chattanooga) and Vanderbilt University. Mark was back in Knoxville briefly this past weekend. I complimented him again on the Music City center, which is already involved in several neighborhood redevelopment initiatives, "smart growth" issues and design review for proposed downtown projects. "It's great," he agreed. "I just wish I could do it in Knoxville." So do I.

News flash! Good things happening at the News-Sentinel! Lord knows we give our one and only daily paper enough grief, so it seems only fair to give them some kudos too. It's good to see the daily local news section, which was added last fall. (Now all they need is some more local news to fill it.) And under new editor Jack McElroy, the editorials are more local—fewer canned opinions from the Scripps Washington bureau—and livelier in tone. Nice to see.