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Seven Days

Wednesday, July 2
The Associated Press reports that a group of Overton County parents has sued the county school system, charging school officials with allowing locker-room security camera images of undressed 10-14 year olds to be stored on a computer accessible through the Internet. Hey, no fair. Those grownups were just a-funnin'.

Thursday, July 3
The Bush administration thinks the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in great shape, according to the News Sentinel. Do you suppose they read their own EPA's air-quality reports?

Friday, July 4
The deposed dean of the UT College of Architecture discusses appealing her demotion by the incoming chancellor. Lines are drawn among colleagues of the dean. One of them reminds us that politics in academia are uniquely intense and vicious "because the stakes are so low."

Saturday, July 5
Here it goes. The first politically controversial group to follow suit to the "Choose Life" special-license-plate authorization by a naive General Assembly appears to be the Tennessee chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Next up: The McNairy County chapter of the Unborn Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Monday, July 7
The AP reports that the previous state administration's TDOT insisted on starting a $13 million road project in Bradley County when there was no local support for it. None. Zip. Nil. Would TDOT do such a thing?

Tuesday, July 8
Big headline on the NS sports front: "Patience not a virtue for new Vols." Of course, Vol fans don't fit the same description.

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:
Last week's photo stumped the whole city. That surprised us a little, because this time of year, hundreds, maybe thousands of people regularly see this stylized, royal R on a dark, peculiar H. Maybe we threw you a curve with the washed-out reproduction quality, but we didn't get a single correct response. If you were to look at a wider angle of it, in color, you'd see bold red R with its hole filled by a stitched softball, superimposed on a larger black H with a bat for its crossbar, and, beneath, the words "Rocky Hill Softball." It's the distinctive logo of the ball park on Alki Lane in the old West Knoxville neighborhood of that name. The painted sign hangs near the scoreboard.

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

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
Thursday, July 10
1:30 p.m.
City County Building
Main Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular meeting.

POLICE ADVISORY AND REVIEW COMMITTEE
Thursday, July 10
6 p.m.
Knoxville Area Community Center for the Deaf
3731 Martin Mill Pike
Citizens are invited to offer comments and suggestions on matters relating to law enforcement.

Groceries Downtown
An upscale store is in the works

A grocery store has long been coveted as an amenity that would make downtown a more attractive place to live. Now, as the number of downtown dwellers continues to grow, plans for a store that would feature fresh produce, meats and seafood appear to be taking shape.

While the store isn't due to open until next spring, its prospective proprietor, Robbie Black, says only one thing stands between him and making it a reality: namely, a $25,000 grant or loan for equipment. The store would be located in a building at the intersection of Wall Avenue and Market Square that's due to be renovated within the next several months by owners Scott and Bernadette West.

Black has applied to the Central Business Improvement District for the funds he needs, and a grocery store has been oft mentioned by CBID officials as a prime candidate for what's termed a "catalytic" grant. More than half of the CBID's $627,000 budget for the year beginning July 1 is earmarked for parking initiatives and catalytic projects.

"Robbie's grocery store is a cool idea, and I'm sure the board would entertain it," says outgoing CBID chairman Wayne Blasius.

One thing that's cool about it is the way in which it draws upon Black's expertise as a technology consultant and software developer. Shoppers could order on line and either have their groceries delivered or pick them up pre-bagged at the store. "We believe that would appeal both to downtown residents and to office workers who could pick things up on their way home.

At 3,000 square feet, the planned store is smaller-but not that much smaller-than the 5,000 square foot Fresh Market at Western Plaza, and their offerings would be similar. In addition to produce, meats, and seafood, these would include bakery products, berries and cheese. The store would be named A.G. Hamby's, which is his wife's name, and both she and her mother, Barbara Lynnees, would be partners in the venture. Indeed, Lynnees would serve as the store's manager.

"We've got a business plan, floor plans, everything it will take to get the store open except the money for equipment," Black says. The Empowerment Zone's business loan program is another potential source of funding.

While its product lines will be distinctive, the store won't be first to offer groceries since downtown residential redevelopment commenced in earnest a couple of years ago. Already, J's Mega Mart at 417 Gay Street stocks an array of grocery products amid a much broader array of merchandise that includes everything from hardware, office supplies and toiletries to you-name-it at its 11,000 square foot location. Groceries available at the Mega Mart include canned meats and vegetables, cereals and everything from soup to nuts by way of convenience store-type goods.

"We're trying to become a one-stop shopping center for downtown," says the Mega Mart's proprietor, Jason Nguyen.

Unparalleled Parking
Freebie spaces open at coliseum garage

City officials are counting on new incentives at the Civic Coliseum parking garage to be a first step in solving space woes and remedying the long-standing chaos of downtown parking in general.

Mayor Victor Ashe announced a new program Wednesday morning wherein downtown workers will be allowed to park free of charge in the 20,500-plus spaces at the coliseum garage for a 90-day period running through September. Thereafter, coliseum garage parking will be available at a "bare-bones" monthly rate of $15, less than a fourth the charge levied at most downtown commercial lots. That's down $10 from the current rate.

According to Knoxville Director of Development Leslie Henderson, the program constitutes an effort to provide more long-term parking for downtown employees, while simultaneously maintaining sufficient temporary parking for patrons of downtown establishments.

"We've had businesses say, 'We're going to move out of downtown if you don't make more parking,'" Henderson says. "We've done such a good job of drawing people downtown, we've created a crisis."

The Metropolitan Planning Commission estimates that the downtown area is short about 2,300 parking spaces right now, roughly the number made available through the coliseum parking plan. Only 250 spaces have recently been used on an average day.

Henderson assures that KAT will run its free trolleys to the coliseum at 10-minute intervals between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays beginning July 9. The trolleys will transport workers throughout the downtown area, chiefly on the so-called "blue route" which includes the City-County Building, the Marriott Hotel, and the heart of downtown at Center Square.

"We're trying to get everyone enthusiastic about this," she says. "It's silly, because there's all this space sitting here, not being used. We've been trying to more heavily use the coliseum parking for years now, but there's always been something in people's minds, that maybe it's too far. This might be the nudge we need."

The news is both good and bad for some downtown employees. Through the coliseum program begins Thursday, parking scofflaws who have long parked as they pleased in the center city will also find that Knoxville Police have begun ticketing violators more assiduously in an effort to ensure temporary parking for retail patrons. "Some businesses lose hundreds of dollars when there's no in-and-out parking available," Henderson says.

The coliseum plan is only one in a series of efforts to impose order on a downtown parking situation grown woefully out of control due to construction zones, a proliferation of residential permits, and rampant abuse. The coming months should also see the former proposed justice center site between James White Parkway and State Street and the former site of the Knoxville News Sentinel along Church Street converted for parking in the short term.

"This is a first step," Henderson stresses, "not a complete answer."

—Mike Gibson

Beck Center Gets a Boost
A major county grant allows for expansion

With its vast assortment of African-American artifacts and archival treasures, the Beck Cultural Exchange Center in East Knoxville is truly one of the city's most under-appreciated resources. Visitors to the charmingly Victorian two-story house on Dandridge Avenue can touch the hard ruddy links of manacles that fettered black slaves 150 years ago, view ball-gloves and bats owned by mid-century baseball legends like Jackie Robinson and Satchell Paige, or absorb any of hundreds of audio- and videotaped oral histories from local black citizens who lived through decades of oppression and change...

But the center's excellence is maintained despite scarce resources. When current Executive Director Avon Rollins took over in January of '99, Beck was dated, debted, and in danger of falling apart. "The roof was falling in, and the equipment was all too old," says Rollins, a 60-ish man with gray-frosted hair and twinkling eyes. "When you flushed the toilet, it took 10 minutes for the commode to fill back up."

After four years of upgrades and careful money management, Beck is on better footing than before. But the museum still struggles in managing a visitor count swollen to more than 20,000 per year on an annual budget of about $125,000 from local government contributions, private donations and membership dues.

"Sometimes we don't have room to accommodate visitors," Rollins says, noting that Beck plays host to a number of school and tour-bus groups. "We've had instances of people standing outside in the rain, waiting to get in."

But that may change, thanks to a new partnership with Knox County and the county library system. Though many details are still uncertain, the arrangement would provide Beck with new funding, yet preserve its essential character, allowing it to operate in much the same fashion as the East Tennessee Historical Society does today. The ETHS works in concert with the library system in many ways, but it has its own board of directors and funding sources.

"[County] Mayor [Mike] Ragsdale knew Beck needed more support," says Mike Cohen, county director of communications and government relations. "Looking at what we'd done with the historical society, it looked like a logical place for a partnership."

The pairing would provide Beck Center an additional $1.25 million over the next two to three years, with much of that total going toward construction of new facilities as well as further renovations of the existing one. Much of the renovation should take place in the coming fiscal year, including the enclosure of the front porch to create more indoor exhibit space and the addition of new, more secure exhibit casings for displaying valuable artifacts currently in storage.

Further plans call for 7,000 square feet of new construction, probably on the lot in back of the house, including a large multi-purpose room as well as a library. Those additions and new parking space to accommodate them may be funded in the county's capital improvements budget for fiscal '04-05.

The Beck board has reportedly signed off on the basic structure of the partnership. Officials say they expect county commission to approve the first wave of funding (about $250,000) next month. The search for an architect will commence in the coming weeks.

The library partnership should also enable Beck to maintain a high degree of autonomy, Cohen says, with its current board of directors remaining in place in a slightly altered role.

"The idea is to support and help Beck without taking over its identity," Cohen says. "What they've done on basically a shoestring is really impressive. It's important to have people like that operating the center, people who are totally committed to that mission."

—Mike Gibson