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Seven Days

Wednesday, October 15
The News Sentinel carries a brief, but intriguing account of a cell phone tower in Memphis disguised as a 130-foot-tall pine tree. If the ruse works, maybe one will sprout up one day in Sequoyah Hills.

Thursday, October 16
An Associated Press report says the sale of logging rights to 84 acres of the Cherokee National Forest in Carter County has been delayed and possibly canceled due to "complaints about possible harm to wildlife and plants." If that were the case, the U.S. Forest Service would be out of the timber-sale business altogether.

Friday, October 17
Gov. Phil Bredesen is quoted as saying that the new Tennessee lottery administration now "has enough Georgians." Apparently he missed the football game at Neyland Stadium last Saturday, or he'd realize that one can't have too many Georgians if success is the object.

Saturday, October 18
The football Vols have an off Saturday. It's not their first this year, either.

Monday, October 20
There's something a little screwy about a Cocke County couple filing suit against the makers of a video game called Grand Theft Auto, charging that the game inspired violence in their sons. Violence? In Cocke County? We thought the game inspired chop shops.

Tuesday, October 21
The News Sentinel reports that a majority of Knox County Commission members would likely vote to return the schools superintendent job to an election, rather than the school board appointment that has been in effect for several years. That sentiment pretty well characterizes most of the commissioners, who would have preferred to have their mothers elected.

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:
Built in 1906 and designed by New York architects Cleverdon & Putzel, the Arnstein Building on the corner of Market Street and Union Avenue was the first steel frame building constructed in Knoxville.
As Jack Neely notes in this week's edition of Metro Pulse, the Arnstein was originally built to house a department store but has been used as office space for the past 70 or so years. The building is also the home of the Metro Pulse offices.
The ever-observant Dr. Wes Montgomery of the University of Tennessee was quick with his e-mail identification of the marker that sits above the front door of the Arnstein. He will be receiving a Pigeon Forge Winterfest 2003 Christmas tree ornament to help kick off the holidays.

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

KNOX COUNTY OFFICE OF NEIGHBORHOODS
Thursday, October 23
6 p.m.
Burlington Branch Library
4512 Asheville Hwy.
Meet with Knox County's mayor to discuss issues one on one.

CITY COUNCIL
Tuesday, October 28
7 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Large Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular meeting.

Traffic Calming
But will speed-demon drivers follow suit?

Speed up. Slow down. Speed up. Slow down. Stop. Grrr.

The principles of traffic calming have been utilized since cars hit the streets. Added to traditional traffic controls (traffic lights, stop signs, posted speed limits), the idea is being applied in a more elaborate fashion to area neighborhoods. A "traffic-calming" program is primarily used to discourage speeding and deter creative drivers from using residential areas as short cuts. It's a great idea, but Knoxville currently lacks the public funding to implement the program on any scale.

"As far as a traffic-calming program to go out and build things, there is not a citywide capital program for traffic calming," says Sam Parnell, Department of Engineering Director. "We have a traffic engineering division that is working with neighborhoods and the East Tennessee Community Design Center. Before you really want to do traffic calming within a neighborhood, you want to build consensus within the neighborhood."

Once a majority of two-thirds support is reached, the responsibility lies within the community to contact the city. When a request is filed, Department of Public Service Director Bob Whetsel explains, "The city would turn it over to traffic engineering to evaluate the situation, and they would determine whether something needed to be done, could be done and could afford to be done."

According to Parnell, traffic calming as a capital program is something that outgoing Mayor Victor Ashe supported. "With the state's shared tax issues and the economy, there was not money to start a new program even though he wanted to push for it. It just wasn't going to get done."

The Department of Engineering has three neighborhoods that would serve as a foundation if a funded traffic-calming program were put into place. These neighborhoods are Westwood, Westmoreland and Fort Sanders.

To date, three speed humps in the Westwood community have been installed by the city. "Our service department wanted to see if they could do that type of construction," Parnell explains. "We did some demonstrations there just to see if it was something that the city could do with city forces. It benefited the neighborhood and also was something to see if the public service department could do if we had a citywide program."

Another beneficial public service was the street design treatment given to the same neighborhood. Because of the sheer number of cars that pass through the intersection at Northshore Drive and Kingston Pike, Parnell says, "The one-way street pattern in Westwood was something that was done that way specifically for traffic calming. It continues to make it circuitous and difficult to use the local streets in Westwood as a cut-through from Kingston Pike and Papermill Roads. A lot of folks try to avoid Kingston Pike and Northshore and cut through the neighborhoods, so the one-way street system is in Westwood to make it take time to weave your way through the neighborhood and discourage cut-through traffic."

The Westmoreland neighborhood secured agreement of two-thirds in favor of employing the city to install three speed humps on Lawford Drive. The humps will be located in a newer section of the neighborhood between the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks and Gleason Drive east of Morrell Road.

"As I understand it, the residents of that community are going to pay to have those done, but the work order to do it has not hit my desk yet. The plan is for our service department to do that work, and we want to do it," Parnell says.

The third neighborhood tentatively scheduled for a traffic-calming program is Fort Sanders. The intended treatment is for concrete pavement to be installed the length of 11th Street.

"If you come off Western Avenue, there is a change in pavement texture. There is a concrete pattern like what already exists on Twelfth and Thirteenth. It was duplicated on 11th. When a driver hits that concrete pavement, it makes noise and rides a little rougher," Parnell says. "You're in a different type of roadway, and the intent was to calm the traffic on 11th Street."

Working with community and neighborhood associations is relatively new, but traffic-calming measures have been put into action in the past. The order of scheduled construction is Westmoreland (because it will be funded by the neighborhood), followed by Fort Sanders and then Westwood, should public funds become available. Asked about Mayor-elect Bill Haslam's stance on a citywide traffic-calming program, Parnell replied, "I don't know. I'll leave it up to the new mayor to speak to us."

—Clint Casey

More Than Buildings
KCDC and residents clash at Austin Homes

When KCDC officials look at the 23 buildings that make up the original Austin Homes, they see 62-year-old apartment buildings that are costly to operate, too expensive to renovate, and the "housing choice of last resort."

But when Elisanne Mead and Sarhonda Thompson walk around the public housing complex off Summit Hill, they see kids playing, neighbors chatting and some mentally ill people who wouldn't be able to survive anywhere else.

"This is not dilapidated housing. You may see some trash around here, but you'll find that anywhere," Mead says, walking through the development on a sunny afternoon, as kids trickle off the school bus. "It's an urban community. KCDC doesn't see the people.... We're not saying there's not problems. But those problems will not be solved by tearing down the buildings."

Mead and Thompson are among a group of residents fighting the proposed demolition of Austin Homes. KCDC plans to tear down the oldest section of the development, but the section built later, in the 1960s, will remain. The 139 families living in the old section are being given the chance to move into other public housing or given a Section 8 voucher they can use toward paying rent in the private market.

However, some residents say they've been lied to by the housing agency and that Austin Homes doesn't need to be demolished. They like Austin Homes because it's within walking distance to downtown, connects with four bus lines, and is close to several schools and churches.

"We didn't even have an opportunity to object to the property demolition," says Betty Reed, secretary of the Austin Homes Resident Association.

Reed compared the demolition with the urban renewal projects of the '40s, '60s and '70s, when large black neighborhoods were razed in the cause of public health and urban renewal. Some of the housing then was atrocious, but much of it wasn't and whole neighborhoods in and around downtown were destroyed.

"This has been going on for decades. Black people were here on Vine and Central. But because they wanted to develop downtown, they moved us a few blocks," she says. "Now they want this land and they want to move us out."

Reed suspects the homes are being cleared because the property is valuable. "This is more than bricks and mortar. This is an extended family," she says.

Billie Spicuzza, KCDC's vice president of housing, denied those claims. She says no one has approached KCDC about buying the property. The buildings are being razed because they're too expensive to maintain. "It is not an effective or efficient use of federal monies," she says. "The structures are such that we can't modernize them to current standards. It's our most expensive property to operate."

Spicuzza says KCDC did its best to notify residents about the proposal. The agency recently surveyed residents about where they'd like to go. Of the 139 occupied apartments, 127 responded. Of those, 106 apartments want Section 8 vouchers and 19 want to stay in Austin Homes. Two want to relocate to another housing development, 11 didn't respond and one is being evicted.

Residents are being given Section 8 vouchers as they leave.

Only four people attended a resident group meeting this week. (Seven signed the complaint to HUD, and they say they have a petition signed by 60 tenants.) They've enlisted the help of UT's law department and are looking for an architect to do their own analysis of the buildings. (They say all the architects they've talked to so far are reluctant to challenge KCDC.)

The residents accuse the agency of exaggerating the buildings' condition in order to get the HUD demolition funds. They say the old buildings are nicer than the newer section of Austin Homes.

They point to a KCDC report that shows there are 70 families on a waiting list for Section 8 vouchers and 1,253 families waiting to get into public housing and question whether Knoxville can afford to lose another development. (Spicuzza says the number was an error—there are actually 700 families on the list, but most of them are waiting for housing at a specific location.)

Mead is skeptical that so many families will be able to find decent housing in Knoxville. She says many families don't realize the extra costs they'll have to pay, such as deposits and higher utilities.

"I've been homeless in Knoxville," says Mead, who lived at the Knox Area Rescue Mission before getting a place at Austin Homes a year ago. "The last thing Knoxville needs are more homeless families. Here they're safe."

If HUD approves the demolition, KCDC hopes to raze the buildings next spring, although the timeline is flexible.

—Joe Tarr
 

October 23, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 43
© 2003 Metro Pulse