Comment on this story

Develop No, Annex Yes?

Some Knox County commissioners are livid that Knoxville has resumed annexing developments just outside the city limits, while rejecting development inside the city. Particularly galling for some commissioners was the City Council rejection of a 300-unit condo development in South Knoxville in October. The finished development, inside the city limits, would have represented property tax income of about $675,000 annually—about half of that for the county and half for the city. Mayor Bill Haslam is getting hammered for resuming annexations, but pressure for annexations is coming from some City Council members. The only thing Council members hate worse than annexation is voting for tax increases. The best way to avoid property tax increases is to continue to expand the city and take in more taxpayers. Annexing might anger the people being annexed, but tax increases anger everybody. After a 34-cent property tax increase for this year’s budget, Council members are aware that next year’s budget coincides with Council elections, making tax increases anathema.

County Commission is getting restive, though not currently in open revolt against annexation. Haslam has gotten approval for a land swap downtown to secure a site for the Cineplex, but there are several other issues that require city-county cooperation, most notably the complex deal on the State Street site for the Transit Center. At present the anti-city fervor is limited to outside-the-city commissioners north, east and south. In-city commissioners and West Knox commissioners are still holding on to a majority.

Commissioners and developers say development isn’t occurring inside the city because of the hassles involved, citing the South Knoxville condos. Then the city annexes developments just beyond the city limits.

Face from the Past

Old-timers were taken aback to see the list of finalists for University of Tennessee vice-president last week. The list included Wendell Potter.

Jake Butcher, at the height of his banking and World’s Fair career, carried on like a head of state, or at least a governor. Potter was his “press secretary.” When the banking empire of Jake and brother C.H. Jr. crashed, the taxpayers were out $300 million in insurance costs and many East Tennesseans were financially ruined.

When Jake went to jail, Potter would visit his old boss and take him barbecue sandwiches. That minor concession couldn’t compare to the similarly jailed C.H., who still managed to have sex every week in a Broadway condo while supposedly attending strategy sessions with his lawyer.

Potter went to Kentucky and has been working for CIGNA Corp., but he has applied for the UT job, which involves lobbying the Legislature and running public relations operations for the university.

Soup’s Back On

Last Friday marked the end of a 22-year era, when Elaine Graham closed the doors at Market Square’s Soup Kitchen for the last time. The restaurant reopened Monday as the Market Square Kitchen, with new ownership and the same or similar soup, salad and sandwich offerings. Graham will be around as a consultant before taking a couple of months off and firing up a new career as an auctioneer specializing in antiques. Starting this coming Monday morning, the Kitchen will be open for coffee, bagels and eggs, and in two weeks it will remain open on Thursday and Friday nights to complement its previously lunch-only hours. The Kitchen also plans to host Sunday brunch. As long as the new ownership maintains the crab bisque recipe, we wish them all the best.

PLANET on the Square

Vagabondia, the Market Square boutique, is hosting a trunk show by Floridian Lauren Grossman, owner/designer of PLANET, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 6 and 7. Andie Ray, the Vagabondia owner, is agog over the show, the first of its kind in downtown Knoxville in “I don’t know how long,” Ray says. She says the featured fashions are silks and woolens, “unconstructed, loose, and away from the body” in designs that can serve as day or evening ware and are offered for sale as separates.

A Penny for Your Dreams

Congressman Jimmy Duncan got a note from a mother whose family took in the Duncan Family Barbecue last month, and whose 3-year-old son got a “Lucky Penny” from the usually more frugal Rep. Duncan. The mom told Duncan the boy put the penny under his pillow that night and allowed his parents their first good night’s sleep in months. “Who knew a congressman could help a child with his fear of the dark,” the rested mom wrote.

To Dumb to Serve?

Sharp’s Ridge is so notorious for public sex that the park has a curfew and is the subject of almost constant late-night police patrols. There are still desperate citizens who go there and wind up getting caught.

But how dumb do you have to be to go there if you are in law enforcement?

A corporal for the Knox County Sheriff’s Department was arrested by city police for indecent exposure in the park and trespassing.

You Saw Her Here First

You may have seen in the New York Times this week that Knoxvillian Allison Glock just won the prestigious Whiting Award for her book Beauty Before Comfort, an affectionate but unsparing look at her grandmother’s youth in West Virginia. She’s one of only two nonfiction recipients of the prize, decided by an anonymous panel of literary professionals, that’s bestowed each year to writers of “exceptional talent and promise.” We usually hate people who win $35,000 literary awards, but in this case, Allison deserves it. It’s a swell book.

Glock’s features appear regularly in several glossy magazines. We’re more likely to volunteer this information than Allison is, but she’s also a former Metro Pulse contributor. OK, it’s been a long time, but she can’t deny that she did write a couple of features for us, including the last known profile of Johnny Majors, sometime back in the ‘90s. She was the subject of an MP profile herself about a year ago. Glock moved back to Knoxville with her family last year after a decade’s pilgrimage to the big city. After an out-of-character gig writing the authorized biography of pop star Clay Aiken, she’s reportedly at work on another book.

November 4, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 45 © 2004 Metro Pulse