The President's Corner

By: Tomica Miller
521-7884
daveandt@bellsouth.net

Well, all I can say is that there is never a dull moment in our neighborhood.  We have so many things going on, and so many people working very hard to improve ONK in many ways, that I'd like to take this column to let you know about them, and to acknowledge the people responsible.

Kim Davis has taken the lead on the Beautification Committee, and last Saturday we planted two trees in front of Glen Oaks Baptist Church, with their permission, of course.  Kim also has plans to "beautify" the ONK brick marker at the AmSouth location.  Donna Brechko got permission from the bank, and they were so enthusiastic they even donated $100 towards the project.  Thank you AmSouth, Kim and Donna, Beth & Ernie!

Greg and Rena Webb  have done a wonderful job heading up our Neighborhood Watch program.  They have built an excellent report with the police department and specifically Sgt. Sherry Uzzell.  Because of their efforts, we had radar set up on Glenwood, we had a prostitution sting one Saturday night, and the latest news is that ONK has been assigned bike patrols from April thru August.  many thanks to Greg and Rena!

Dave Palmer is working hard on expanding our newsletter to the entire ONK area; this will double the number of neighbors receiving neighborhood news.  Jesse Ursery plays a large part in this by working on the mailing list, which was a very time-consuming task.  This leads right in to another project ONK is tackling.  That is revising, and expanding our H-1 historic overlay protection to a larger area.  This will not happen overnight, but we think it is very important to strive to protect the historic homes in our neighborhood.  Thanks to Dave and Jesse!

Andy Anderson had the wonderful idea of writing a book about ONK, its history, and its exploits.  We are just getting geared up for that so stay tuned for progress.

We will also be looking into the schools in our area.  We have some really good schools, and we have some not so good schools in our district.  One thing is for sure, the perception of them is very poor.  We would like to look into improving the curriculum and the perception.  But, we also may need to think outside the box and explore charter schools, university schools, and/or grants for creating a school for urban kids.

Traffic calming is another key area of focus for us.  We are looking at coming up with specific solutions for specific areas.  For instance, the intersection of Glenwood & Scott could really use a stop sign.  Glenwood, Scott, and Oklahoma seem to be speedways, so some combination of traffic circles and undulations seem to be appropriate here. (Note from webmaster: Click here to see an excellent overview on City of Knoxville traffic calming approaches.)  

I'd like to know what more of you think about these issues.  Please call me or email me, please get involved and please come to the monthly meetings.

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