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A Stay For the Sprankle
For months, city officials and prominent preservationists have been working behind the scenes to try to convince Home Federal's administration—specifically, Chairman David Sharp—to at least explore the option of selling or renovating the ca. 1904 Sprankle Building on Union Avenue. The "hometown bank" acquired the five-story brick building in 1991 and, last year, announced plans to demolish it. Home Federal's purposes for the property remain vague. Claiming that renovation of the former apartment building is "economically unfeasible," the bank has reportedly declined to allow preservation-friendly architects to survey the building's potential for renovation.
With all its tenants evicted except for Pete's Coffee Shop—March is the bank's stated eviction deadline—the mayor's office made a bold and perhaps unprecedented challenge to the popular bank. This week, Mayor Victor Ashe proposed historic zoning for the building in the form of an H-1 overlay, the most restrictive historic zoning available. The sign went up at the corner of Union and Walnut on Tuesday. The mayor's action alone will not save the building, but will forestall its demolition for at least 180 days. Before it can be demolished, the project has to be reviewed by the Metropolitan Planning Commission and the Historic Zoning Commission—and then by City Council.
Victor Ashe: Man in Tights?
Who knew that a charity fundraiser could be so subversive? Those who checked out the Akima Club's bi-annual Cabaret last Friday and Saturday evenings at the Bijou might have had a clue during the first 15 minutes, when Knoxville's own Tina Wesson (played by Kimberly West) was good-naturedly skewered in one of the skits. This group of gals who use the event to raise money for local charities didn't stop with Ms. Tina; in the next 50 minutes we were treated to vignettes featuring Mickey Bilbrey as a Godfather-esque Jim Haslam, Tim Irwin, dressed in a superhero outfit, as Tom Ingram singing the theme to "Mighty Mouse"—you know, "Here I come to save the day!"—and Dodie Manalac as our estimable mayor doing a lovely term limit ballet complete with a pink tutu and tights. Congrats, Akima, on a fun, playful night.
Well, Well, Hello...
Mary Lou Horner, the longtime county commissioner, was asked at the annual Moxley-Carmichael office bash last week about the surprise filing by another Mary Lou, Bearden High School Principal Mary Lou Kanipe, to oppose Horner's re-election. "You mean 'Mary Lou Q.' don't you?" asked Horner, a sometime nemesis of schools Supt. Charles Q. Lindsey.
Rubber Chicken Hell
Last week we introduced you to our newest source, Demon FromHell, whose internal polling shows him running ahead of Tom Ingram for mayor. It's only natural that he'd fit right in at an event like the GOP's annual Lincoln Day bash last Saturday, and here are some excerpts from his report:
"It was definitely Jim Henry night...The crowd of 800-plus hard-core Republican activists was overwhelmingly decked out in Henry for Governor buttons and stickers. Supporters of the former legislator swarmed the attendees while the Van Hilleary people walked around saying, 'Lincoln Day Dinner—it's not really that important.'
"Not that important to a candidate for governor? Without carrying vote-rich Knox County, a governor-to-be will have hard going in racking up a statewide majority in the August Republican Primary. Hilleary chose to skip the event and instead spoke to a much smaller crowd in Middle Tennessee."
February 28, 2002 * Vol. 12, No. 9
© 2002 Metro Pulse
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