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Seven Days

Wednesday, September 3
The "run it up the flagpole" award for the year goes to the Clinton Utilities Board, which delivered a used utility pole to the home of the Clinton mayor and erected it for the mayor's use as a flagpole, then issued the word that such free services are standard practice and are available to any citizen. Uh-huh.

Thursday, September 4
The governor and his education commissioner report that Tennessee schools were pretty much left behind in meeting requirements of the federal education law entitled the No Child Left Behind Act. It's worrisome until you consider that it isn't the children who were left behind—just the schools.

Friday, September 5
The Tennessee Valley Fair opens its gates for its 2003 extravaganza, meaning we'll be able to hear the lovely musical beat emanating from the tractor pulls for a few evenings. Oh, joy, would that it were a year-around phenomenon.

Saturday, September 6
The football Vols rally to whip Marshall U., after the coaches tell the team at halftime that Marshall was the school whose administration gave them former UT President Wade Gilley.

Monday, September 8
Knoxville mayoral candidates Bill Haslam and Madeline Rogero debate on live television. An informal survey after the debate determines that most Democrats think Rogero won, and most Republicans think Haslam won. It's a good thing the city election is non-partisan.

Tuesday, September 9
The News Sentinel reports that the on-again, off-again sale of our own Clayton Homes is "still in limbo" weeks after it was first announced. It's finally divulged on Wall Street that the deal was arranged by a team of experts who also designed the NBA playoffs.

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:
Heeee's back! Bright and early last Thursday, our ever-observant City Councilman Rob Frost sent us a dispatch with his correct identification of last week's photo. However, it arrived just minutes too late to be this week's winner.
The prize this week goes to Wade H. Boswell II, who pegged 709 Market Street as the location of the Stuart Building, the home of his law firm McGehee, Newton, Stewart, Cole, Dupree & Boswell. Wade tells us that his partner, Keith Stewart, has been lobbying for the past two years to have the spelling on the marble changed to match the spelling of his last name. Good luck on that, Keith.
As for Wade, he'll be receiving a copy of Tokyo Sucker Punch by Isaac Adamson, the latest installment in the Billy Chaka Adventure series.

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

ENVIRONMENTAL APPEALS BOARD
Friday, Sept. 12
1 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Small Assembly Room
400 Main St.
KUB decision hearing.

CITY COUNCIL
Tuesday, Sept. 16
7 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Main Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular meeting.

MAYOR'S NIGHT OUT
Thursday, Sept. 18
5 p.m.
Chilhowee Elementary School
5005 Asheville Highway
Meet with the Mayor to discuss issues one on one.

Lighting Up Light Rail
The outline is there, if the funding is found

If a Regional Transportation Authority is successfully established, Knox and adjoining counties could eventually embark on a railway relationship. A rail or fixed-guideway form of mass transportation and downtown revitalization have been the two most popular goals gleaned from public input to the Nine Counties group.

The RTA, born of Nine Counties. One Vision, will be headed by Mass Transit Rail/Bus task force chairman and City Councilman Joe Hultquist, and vice co-chairs Mark Johnson and Mark Hairr. "We are currently in the process of approaching all the cities and counties in the nine county region, and asking them to support the concept—at this point not making a commitment, financial or otherwise," Hultquist says. "And we're also pursuing funding on a start-up basis for establishing the RTA."

The Rail/Bus Task force is looking to federal funding, TDOT, and private foundations for start-up costs of "under half a million dollars."

Ideally, a light rail system would travel from Knoxville to surrounding areas, including parts of Sevier, Anderson, and Blount Counties, with satellite buses bringing people to the train within those outlying areas. Light rail is structured for passengers and is not as heavy or as large as freight train systems (hence the name).

"I think that it is important for us to look at alternative modes of transportation for the future," says Mark Johnson, City Manager of Alcoa. "I am not against the automobile and highways; what I am in favor of is looking at a choice of transportation alternatives. As this area grows, the traffic and congestion problems we're facing now will only get worse. That also contributes to our air quality problems."

Knoxville and other communities would benefit from a regional transit system in a variety of ways, Hultquist says. Tourist-supported Gatlinburg in Sevier County, a potential "walking" town, could benefit from quick and easy transportation to and from McGhee Tyson Airport. Rail transit has also proven to "drive development patterns" in cities like Portland, and may do so in the Knoxville area. And the system would address the needs of both citizens who don't drive and commuters.

"It would be for everybody," Hultquist says. "Certainly commuter service would be a big chunk of it—that's both workers and school attendees—but also (transportation for) senior citizens is becoming a very large issue."

Such a transit system would likely start out going from Knox County to Sevier, Anderson, and Blount, and then move to other adjoining counties. "Beyond Knox County, those (three) hold the most promise because of what we call the "generators" there—tourism, employment, the airport," says KAT general manager and vice co-chair Mark Hairr. Hairr says that KAT would be "actively involved" in creating a regional transit system.

As of now, there is no public mass transportation to McGhee Tyson Airport from Knoxville or anywhere else. Alcoa's Johnson says that unless transportation is provided to the airport, air and traffic problems will grow in the future. "We think as the airport grows, there will be a need to plan some sort of a transportation route, a light rail system perhaps, from the airport to at least downtown Knoxville," he says.

Jeff Welch, executive director of the existing Knoxville Regional Transportation Organization, says he supports any regional transportation effort, but he believes talk of a light rail system is premature.

"Addressing the transportation issues from a regional perspective is a great idea," he said. "(But)there's so little money at the federal level to support light rail." He adds that Knoxville would be competing for federal funds against cities and regions with larger population densities and greater apparent needs for a light railway. He suggests that the RTA pay more attention to developing healthy bus transit systems first, then evaluate the need for light rail. Once the public is riding the buses, he says getting funding for a light rail system will be easier.

The RTA is not jumping on the tracks headfirst, however. Hultquist says the first order of business is to establish the regional authority, then have public meetings and create a dialogue with surrounding counties. He is aware that a light rail system would take many years and hundreds of millions of dollars to develop. Still, he seems enthusiastic about the possibility of trains. He has done and continues to do research on light rail systems around the country, and he says that whether by bus or by rail, a successful transit system should ultimately be more convenient and more attractive to passengers than other options.

"In Portland, 60 percent of trips in and out of downtown are on mass transit," Hultquist says. "And people love their cars in Portland, but they have a wonderful mass transit system. They're able to say 'Gosh, I really don't want to fight traffic and deal with parking. I'm going to leave my car at home today.'"

—Cassie J. Moore

Businesses that Face Relocation
A partial list is made available by MPC

Last week, City Council tabled a proposal from TDOT to begin right-of-way acquisition along the proposed I-40/James White Parkway improvement. Opponents to the controversial project saw the two-month delay as a small victory. The Tennessee Department of Transportation claims it was all a mistake.

Local TDOT representatives referred questions to TDOT's public relations office in Nashville. Kim Keelor says the proposal sent to Knoxville City Council was the end of a "routine procedure" that began months ago. "It should have been shelved, and wasn't," she says. "It's a moot point until there's a decision" about whether the state will proceed with the multi-million-dollar project as proposed. Keelor expects that decision to come this fall. She says no property owners have been contacted about the prospect of losing land, buildings, homes, or businesses to the project, and that the only way to speculate about who the affected property owners are would be to walk around in the affected neighborhoods, on the northeast corner of downtown, and knock on doors.

However, unfurled in a project room at the Metropolitan Planning Commission's office in the City County Building are TDOT maps of the project as well as lists of affected property owners.

Among those businesses that would be demolished and require relocation are Harrison's Chicken City, which shares a building with Knoxville Poultry and Egg Co. at 523 Magnolia Ave.; the Electric Supply Co., which also operates as The Lighting Gallery, at 515 Magnolia; Add-Rite Business and Financial Systems, at 301 Magnolia; Landis Service Co., on Humes Street; Smoky's Hen House, a restaurant on Randolph—and, in another part of the project to the northeast, the venerable Glenwood Sandwich Shop, at N. Sixth and Glenwood on the fringe of the Fourth and Gill neighborhood.

In all, 38 businesses and eight residences would require relocation. Dozens of other businesses would lose portions of their property to the highway project without having to face demolition or removal.

Not all are opposed to the project. Ken Hudson, manager of Add-Rite Business & Financial Systems at 301 Magnolia, says he's been aware they might have to move for the last 20 years. "The community needs this done desperately," he says. "It will cause us to relocate, but we have no objection. The big picture is what's important." He has no definite plans of when or where he'll move his nine-employee office-equipment business; he says they'll consider that "when they walk in and tell us we have to go."

Marvin Thomas, owner of Electric Supply Co. and the Lighting Gallery, which employs 16, says he and his colleagues have "mixed feelings" about the project. "It's gonna be hard to come up with a better location, one with this visibility," he says of his company, which has been in the neighborhood for almost 40 years. He's willing to move—but he's frustrated about being left in limbo. Yet he's resigned that it's going to happen, and wants to go ahead and get it over with. "OK, if you're going to do something, let's go ahead and do it."

He says his companies haven't gotten any indication of how much they'll be paid for the property, and has heard different reports about TDOT's generosity on such matters. He understands that he'll have 90-to-120 days to move after he gets the offer. "That's too short a time frame," he says. "We realize that progress forges on," he says, "but we'd like to be able to make plans."

Meanwhile, the widening project is being questioned by the Sierra Club and Knox Boulevard group, which proposes replacing I-40 altogether in through the downtown with a non-elevated boulevard.

—Jack Neely