Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Park(ing) is a Four-Letter Word

The garage beneath the City County Building is a multi-level facility that until recently furnished public parking to citizens doing weekday courthouse business. After hours, as per a negotiated agreement between Mayor Victor Ashe and Calhoun's on the River owner Mike Chase, it was used by employees and customers of Calhoun's Restaurant, as well as by sightseers who took the pedestrian bridge from the garage over Neyland Drive so they could enjoy the amenities on the riverfront (which is devoid of public parking). On some seven fall weekends, football fans gobbled up the 800 parking spaces there and set out on foot for Neyland Stadium.

The garage was closed to public parking during the recent "Orange Alert," and now, battle lines are drawn on both sides of the City County over a security firm's recommendation to shut the public out of the cavernous garage, permanently. County Commission favors closing the garage to public parking while City Council not only voted unanimously to keep the garage open to the general public, but took a roundhouse swipe at County Executive Mike Ragsdale and his staff. The resolution, in part, said:

"Whereas it has been disclosed by (Public Building Authority executive Director) Dale Smith that an area on L4 has been set aside for a special reserved parking area from which the public might be further banned even if the garage is reopened to the public,

and whereas this area would be available for elected officials and high level appointed officials, and whereas it is inappropriate for any elected official to have VIP reserved parking while the taxpayers who pay our salaries must search for parking in a public garage..."

County officials, who would not comment for the record, are not amused, and some groused that Ashe isn't much worried about searching for parking because he is chauffeured around by a driver furnished by the city's police department.

Presumptions

On Monday afternoon, County Commission passed a resolution agreeing to state legislation that hadn't been passed yet. The unusual state bill to hand over administrative authority of the Knox County Public Library, long held by the County Commission-nominated library board, to the Knox County executive, has passed the state legislature without much discussion. However, Senate Bill 859, introduced by Sen. Ben Atchley in February, has gathered significant objection in recent weeks, some of it from prominent professional librarians both at the state and local level who fear the infusion of (more) politics into library administration.

Gov. Phil Bredesen apparently caught wind of the grumbling; perhaps responding to the criticism that the bill was "a permanent solution to a temporary problem," the governor asked that it be amended with a termination date of April 30, 2006. That amendment was quickly OK'd by the Legislature.

To go into effect, the bill would call for a two-thirds majority on County Commission. Commission apparently decided to go ahead and agree with the unfinished legislation without waiting for the punctuation at the end of the sentence. After a lively debate, only Wanda Moody voted against the resolution; John Griese abstained.

Naturally, County Executive Mike Ragsdale likes the idea. He'll now have more control over the 19-branch public library system than any politician in Knoxville history: that is, assuming Gov. Bredesen signs or otherwise allows the bill to pass. Two days after County Commission endorsed the governor's presumed approval, he has still not done so.