VOL. 53 NO. 29
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NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
July 23, 2014 Ryan Cox, James Dunn, Mike Blankenship, Jessica Costner and Johah McMahan Photo by Betty Bean
Kevin Julian reappointed to HPUD board Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett reacted quickly to the list of nominees submitted as candidates for an upcoming open seat on the Hallsdale Powell Utility District board of commissioners. The seat that board chair Kevin Julian holds will be filled for four more years by Kevin Julian.
Night of music Narrow Ridge will host a night of live music, free and non-alcoholic, on Saturday, July 26, at the outdoor stage “just up the road” from the Mac Smith Resource Center at 1936 Liberty Hill Road in Washburn. Bring blankets, lawn chairs and finger-food snacks to share. Info: Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener, 865-497-3603.
Democrats to meet Democratic Party members will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 28, at the Halls Branch Library, 4518 E. Emory Road. Info: Mary Ann Page, map@ parodee.net or 247-8155, or Dan Haney, bdl66@comcast. net or 922-4547.
IN THIS ISSUE More turmoil at school board Knox County school board drama continues with last week’s revelation that vice chair Gloria Deathridge has health issues that might make it difficult for her to serve a four-year term. She’s a candidate for reelection on Aug. 7, opposed by retired social worker Marshall Walker.
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Read Sandra Clark on page A-4
ESPN disses Vol backfield! Good old ESPN, more enthused than usual about SEC football, honors us with a backfield ranking.
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Read Marvin West on page A-5
Burchett trivia The Shopper-News interns visited with Judge Thomas Varlan and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett last week. Burchett amazed the kids with his eclectic interests and sent them away with Bigfoot bumper stickers. Intern Donna Mitchell compiled a quick list of “Five Things You Didn’t Knox About Mayor Burchett.”
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Read Interns on pages A-8-9
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Ag Ed restored at Halls, for now By Betty Bean Halls High School principal Mark Duff has had a tough summer. Last week he met with three rising seniors who told the school board how they felt about losing the Agricultural Education program at the North Knox CTE Center, taught by longtime agriculture teacher Mike Blankenship. Duff said he didn’t realize that terminating the Ag program and laying off Blankenship also meant terminating Future Farmers of America, and he told the students not to blame Superintendent James McIntyre. “If there’s a villain in this situation, it’s me. You made me aware. I got a lot of ragging on from our students. You represented us well,” he told Ryan Cox, James Dunn and Jessica Costner, who told the
school board about their anguish over losing not only a beloved teacher and a class they needed to finish out their high school careers, but the chance to compete for college scholarships via Future Farmers of America, which Blankenship sponsored. The three seniors were joined at Tuesday’s meeting by 2014 graduate Jonah McMahan, several family members, school board member Mike McMillan and County Commissioner Dave Wright. “I thought FFA was a student organization that, like every other club in my school, required a sponsor. I didn’t know that to have FFA you had to have an Ag program. “The decision was made based on the fact that I had to lay off someone. That’s not the superintendent’s fault,” he said. “You might as well blame the state of
Tennessee for not giving us money … and if we’re going to blame the economy, we can blame President Obama.” He said Blankenship’s replacement is working to become certified to teach agriculture in 2015. He asked the three rising seniors to help keep FFA going. “We need to populate these classes. The most important thing we can do this fall is recruiting. If there’s going to be a sustained FFA program, there’s got to be a sustained Ag program.” Blankenship, who has been hired at the new Career Magnet Academy on Pellissippi State’s Strawberry Plains campus, was present along with CMA principal John Derek Faulconer, who has agreed to allow Blankenship to teach one class a day in Plant Science and Hydroculture – growing
plants and fish in an enriched water culture – on the Halls campus for students from Halls and Gibbs. Duff told the students that Blankenship cannot return to the Halls campus full time because he has accepted the CMA job and said this is a one-year deal designed to help the rising seniors. “Once you pass a certain line you can’t come back. Mike passed that line,” he said. James’ father, David Dunn, asked why the county is closing down a CTE program in North Knox County while opening a CTE magnet school in East Knox. “I’m for keeping our schools in the community and keeping the money at the community level,” he said. Duff said he agrees and is worTo page A-7
Rogero supports ‘not-metro,’ with big ‘but’ By Anne Hart Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero says she supports the consolidation of Knoxville and Knox County governments with one very important stipulation: The end result must be a municipal form of government. “I wouldn’t want to live in a consolidated government that had the current form of county government,” Rogero told members of the Rotary Club of West Knoxville in response to a question from the audience. Rogero, who served on County Commission for eight years, said that soon after County Mayor Tim Burchett recently announced that he is going to actively push for consolidation of the two governments she met with him and told him her position. “We had a good conversation about it all,” she said. “We don’t always agree on everything, but we do talk about things, and we get along well.” Rogero said the city of Knoxville and the areas of Knox County surrounding it “are becoming more and more an urban area, and having one government makes sense. But I like city government. The buck stops with me. I hire the law director, I hire the tax collector, I hire the police chief, and they
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all report to me. I’m responsible for what happens.” In addition, she said, she likes the fact that elective offices in the city are nonpartisan, as opposed to the county’s highly partisan structure. Elected to the office in 2011, Rogero is the city’s 68th mayor. She told Rotarians that she understands that as business leaders and entrepreneurs “your job is to create jobs, and mine is to create the climate that makes that possible – that ensures we have the
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quality of life that people will want to live and work here.” To do that, she says, the city has used Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) and other “strategic tools,” including public infrastructure and façade grants, to help create a vibrant downtown. “Historically, there had been a lack of investment in downtown. We have used these tools to make things happen that otherwise would not have happened. We are now starting to see some of those TIFs roll off and tax dollars come to the city.” Rogero cited numerous initiatives sponsored by or encouraged by the city, including the University Commons soon to open on a former brownfield on Cumberland Avenue. “Six years ago, then-Mayor Haslam began working with stakeholders on that project. It represents $130 million in private investment.” The revamping of Cumberland Avenue itself has had some scheduling changes, as important factors like University of Tennessee football traffic have to be taken into consideration, Rogero said. One important visual blight will be eliminated: Knoxville Utilities Board has agreed to move utility lines into the back alleys that parallel the street instead of burying
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them underground, thus saving millions in taxpayer dollars. Rogero said another significant infusion of private money – some $165 million – along with a TIF that will delay payment of taxes for a certain time, is making the Tennova project south of the river on the old Baptist Hospital property a reality. A design model has been created for the first four blocks of a plan to revitalize Magnolia Avenue as the city moves to make that portion of East Knoxville more livable and attractive to visitors and residents alike, as it has done in North Knoxville near Central Avenue, she said. The mayor also pointed to the city’s massive Urban Wilderness project and bike trails as a success story that will bring ever-increasing numbers of tourists and their dollars to the area. She pointed out that outdoor recreation is a $6 billion industry in Tennessee. And yes, she says she hears complaints about the lack of parking downtown and in the Cumberland Avenue area, and that is why the city has granted TIFs for garage construction in those areas. “But here’s the good news,” she said with a smile. “We need more parking because there’s more development going on.”
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