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Seven Days

Wednesday, September 18
Three Northwest Middle School students are arrested, and face mandatory expulsions, for having a loaded gun at school just a couple of days after the school board discussed lending some flexibility to its "zero tolerance" policy toward weapons. Sorry, kids, guns weren't meant to be part of any discretionary change in policy. It's the law. Period.

Thursday, September 19
The state releases student achievement test results, showing Tennessee kids' scores hovering around national averages, despite the fact the state ranks 49th in school spending. The news comes just as Knox County students began selling $10 coupon books to raise $1 million or more for their schools. Just think how well those students might do on tests if they spent their time studying instead of raising money for their own education.

Friday, September 20
A UT plan to erect a monstrous, 12-story, 200-plus-unit high rise apartment and condo complex in the heart of Fort Sanders gathers support from preservationists when the university announces it will have architects cleverly disguise the complex as a Victorian house.

Saturday, September 21
You don't want to know about the Florida game if you don't already. You really don't.

Sunday, September 22
Rains that contributed mightily to the debacle at Neyland Stadium Saturday linger to spread flooding across Knoxville and Knox County. It's a fit area only for gators, with a capital G.

Monday, September 23
A study of air quality reveals that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park ranks only behind Los Angeles in inflicting dirty air on people. California's Yosemite National Park, of all places, ranks fourth. National parks take four of the five top spots. It's those trees, you know, pouring out the pollution.

Tuesday, September 24
Smokies' Park Superintendent Michael Tollefson is being transferred to Yosemite, the National Park Service reveals. For what? To get Yosemite more competitive in the race to be most-polluted?

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:
Perhaps not the most interesting of compositions, last week's Knoxville Found photo was, nonetheless, provocative in its obscurity. Few were the responses to it; fewer still were the correct ones.

The bird sanctuary sign graces the wall of the James White Fort by the office near the chimney. How the fort came to be an avian asylum is unknown to us; even our resident expert on things local (who shall remain nameless but who writes a column called Secret History) was stumped by this designation. But Annette B. Eldridge, who works at Pellissippi State Community College, recognized the sign from accompanying her daughter on one of the youngster's many field trips. In acknowledgment of her superiority over us in awareness of things obscure, we award Annette with the book, Knowledge in a Nutshell, which holds the secrets of "Over 500 amazing, astounding, fun facts—a treasure chest for trivia buffs."

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

KNOXVILLE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP.
Thursday, Sept. 26
11:30 a.m.
Western Heights
1331 W. Oldham Ave.
Regular monthly meeting.

13th HOUSE DISTRICT CANDIDATE FORUM
Thursday, Sept. 26
6:30-8 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Small Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Harry Tindell and Chuck Meyer are the candidates.

19th HOUSE DISTRICT CANDIDATE FORUM
Monday, Sept. 30
6:30-8 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Small Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Candidates are Larry Bayless, Harry Brooks, and Ronnie Greene.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Tuesday, Oct. 1
7 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Main Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular meeting.

Strange Harmony
Bearden's TDOT project actually getting praise from city, residents

When thousands of West Knoxville residents get stuck in traffic during the next few months because of yet another road project, they can at least ponder the happy thought that the city, the state, and many of the people who live in the area are in favor of it.

A major reconstruction of the intersection of Kingston Pike and Lyon's View Drive is getting underway. As a part of the project, several hundred feet of Kingston Pike will be widened from four to six lanes to accommodate two new turning lanes: one that will enable westbound drivers to turn left onto Lyon's View, and another for westbound drivers turning right into the Western Plaza shopping center. Lyon's View will be redirected to intersect with Kingston at a sharper angle. (It now runs into Kingston at about the same angle as an interstate on-ramp). A traffic light will be placed at the intersection. New sidewalks will be laid on at least one side of Kingston Pike, with trees planted on both sides of the street. Finally, a new Knoxville Area Transit bus stop will be built adjacent to the shopping center, all the power lines in the immediate area will be buried, and a pedestrian cross-button will be installed.

About 80 percent of the cost of the project is being funded by federal gas tax money, according to Knoxville engineering director Sam Parnell. Other contributors include the state itself and Western Plaza owner Nick Cazana (who is footing the bill to bury the power lines). The project is in general harmony with a 2001 document prepared by the Metropolitan Planning Commission known as "The Bearden Village Opportunities Plan." That plan is intended to make that part of Knoxville more friendly to pedestrians, bicyclists, and users of mass transit.

Parnell says that the details of the construction project have already been presented to the Sequoyah Hills Neighborhood Association, which he says received it favorably. Terry Faulkner, a co-founder of the Forest Heights Homeowners' Association and a member of the Knoxville Area Transit Citizens Advisory Committee, also gives the plan four stars. "I think that this project will be wonderful for the area in many ways, because this is the main entrance into what we call the Bearden Village," Faulkner says. "And right now, this area is a terrible bottleneck, with a policeman posted there every afternoon to keep the cars moving through."

Even Mayor Victor Ashe endorses the project and gives the Tennessee Department of Transportation mild praise for their role in it. "This has been in the planning stages for 27 years, and the current situation is a safety hazard, although it is not as bad as I-40 and James White Parkway," Ashe says. "I support TDOT on this one with the reservation that their track record for completing projects on time and on budget is weak."

The westbound stretch of Kingston Pike leading to Lyon's View is already one of Knoxville's worst bottlenecks. At the peak of rush hour, it takes as much as 20 minutes to drive the two-mile stretch of the pike between Neyland Drive and Lyon's View.

Of course, the bad news for West Knoxville residents is that, during the project's construction phase, Kingston Pike will be locked up even more than usual. Jeff Welch, director of transportation planning organization for the MPC, says that since most of the people who use the intersection are locals, he is hoping that a lot of them are able to use alternate routes, such as Sutherland Avenue or Interstate 40. But referring to the likelihood that the construction will increase commuter time for thousands of Knox County residents, he says "there will be some short-term pain for long-term gain."

The Knoxville Utilities Board is in the process of moving power, gas, and water lines out of the way and wants to complete that process by Oct. 31, after which TDOT will get started. If all goes well, TDOT assistant regional director David Borden says that the project should be completed next June. "We had actually hoped to get started with this about a year ago," he says.

Borden says the company that will be doing the work, Long Land Corp. of Knoxville, intends to keep four lanes open on Kingston Pike for as long as possible. "But the speed limit will definitely come down in that area in the meantime," he says.

—Bill Carey

Upping the Ante
Voters are asked to raise the archaic limits on fines

Last year, Jerry Hughes razed six old houses at 16th Street and Highland Avenue, to the dismay of city officials and historic preservationists. Although Hughes had broken the law, all the city could do was fine him $50.

The case of Jerry Hughes is now being used to illustrate the need to pass Question number 2 this November. The proposal would give local ordinances more bite in Tennessee, and it is one of two referendums on the ballot in Knoxville that historic preservationists are pushing. But Question 2—which will appear right after the lottery referendum and the governor's race—will affect a lot more than historic preservation.

The Knoxville demolitions were one of many incidents around the state where municipal officials have, during the past year, felt stymied in their attempts to enforce regulations. Article VI, Section 14 of Tennessee's Constitution states that "No fine shall be laid on any citizen of this State that shall exceed Fifty Dollars, unless it shall be assessed by a jury." According to Lewis Laska, a Nashville attorney who has written a book on the Tennessee Constitution, the clause was first written in 1796 and remained a part of the law after the document was rewritten in 1870.

What all this means on a practical level, preservationists say, is that the fines local governments are allowed to impose are as little or even cheaper than doing things the legal way. "It's not just a preservation fine," says Ann Bennett, who deals with historic preservation and rezoning for the Metropolitan Planning Commission. "That's codes enforcement, that's everything. In a way, [the referendum] is a way to factor inflation over the last 200 years. We don't make the salaries nor we do spend the money that people did in 1796."

Knox Heritage executive director Kim Trent agrees. "If you're going to do illegal dumping, it's cheaper to do the illegal dumping than pay to do it legally," she says.

Cities do have the option of prosecuting offenders in state court. But, according to the Tennessee Municipal League, which is pushing for the amendment, state courts are bogged down with felony trials, which means it can take months to get a trial.

The constitutional clause didn't used to be interpreted to apply to local governments. But in September 2001, the Tennessee Supreme Court (in a case involving a Chattanooga traffic violation) ruled that the Constitutional $50 limit did apply to local governments.

Advocates of the amendment aren't certain they can get enough votes to change the law. For the amendment to pass, the number of yes votes must be more than half the number who vote in the gubernatorial election. (In other words, if 1 million people vote in the governor's race, 500,001 people must approve the change.) The vote also has to be held in a gubernatorial election. "If we don't get it done this year, it'll be four more years before we can do it again," Trent says. If it passes, the legislature will set the maximum fine that cities may levy.

A much simpler law to pass for Knoxville citizens will be City Charter Amendment II. This would require the Metropolitan Planning Commission to give a yearly report on the condition of historic structures and districts to the mayor and City Council. Much of this information is now prepared by MPC for the Historic Zoning Commission, Bennett says, and could easily be passed along more formally to the mayor. It needs a simple majority to pass.

"It'll keep people's eyes on preservation, year after year, even after Mayor Ashe is gone," Trent says. "So people will have to consciously think about it every year. A lot of it is symbolic—to say that preservation is important."

—Joe Tarr