Things to be Thankful for

Over the past few months there have been several things going on in and around Old North Knoxville that we at Old North News want to say thank you for. By no means is the list below comprehensive, and if anybody's name is missed, please don't take offense. Nobody's name or good deed was left off on purpose.

Thanks to Stephanie Lavoie for taking the time and effort to plant around the banner poles near the corner of East Scott and Central. These Victorian-style poles hold the recently erected banners telling all who see that they are in Old North Knoxville. The daisies and other flowers she put around the poles add a further welcoming touch to the neighborhood.

Thanks to Greg and Rena Webb for doing all they can to make Old North Knoxville a safer place to live. As frustrating as it is at times to deal with the recurrence of prostitutes and drugs and drunks, they have worked and worked and worked not only with the neighborhood but with the Knoxville Police Department to address these issues. There may be no perfect answer, but trying for a solution is better than no solution at all.

Thanks also to Sgt. Sherri Uzzle, Officer Bible, Lt. Hoskins, and other members of the Knoxville Police Department for working with us in Old North Knoxville, meeting with us, and listening to us. The open communication and help of these and other members of the KPD is always welcome.

Thanks to all those who wrote, e-mailed, and called Nashville in order to keep the onerous Haynes amendment from becoming law. This Cherokee Country Club backed amendment would have gutted historic preservation efforts statewide. While we in Old North Knoxville did not do this alone, we raised our voices and our pens and we made a difference.

Thanks to all those who wrote, e-mailed, and called members of city council in support of the H-1 Overlay for the Lyons View Pike area, including the Smith/Coughlin House. The vote to create the overlay and provide protection to this historic house was 6-3 on both readings. Again, we did not do it alone. Knox Heritage, historic neighborhoods, and concerned citizens across Knoxville and Knox County came together and worked to persuade city council to preserve a piece of Knoxville's history.

Thanks to Caesar and Dorothy Stair for hosting a thank you gathering recently at their house in celebration of the passage of the H-1 Overlay. They are members of the Cherokee Country Club, and they along with many other Club members want to see the Smith/Coughlin House preserved and they worked extensively to see that it was done. And once the second vote was in, they opened their home and hosted the gathering.

Thanks to Mayor Victor Ashe and members of city council for their leadership and votes not only to enact the H-1 Overlay for the Lyons View Pike area. All the votes for it were important and were not cast randomly or with disregard for those opposing the Overlay. Even those members of council who voted against the Overlay were not saying no to historic preservation, as evidenced by their voting for funds for Knox Heritage and passing a resolution urging the Knox County School Board to save the Old South High from demolition. 

Thanks to Mayor Ashe for working to put historic preservation in the City Charter. He hopes to place a referendum on the November ballot to add historic preservation as a reason for the city's existence. While there are plenty of other reasons to go out and vote, this is as good a one as any for us who believe in preservation. While it is symbolic, it does raise historic preservation to an official level.

Thanks in particular to Councilwoman Barbara Pelot who represents the district that is home to the Cherokee Country Club. She sat in the hot seat and handled it with grace and compassion when voting for the H-1 Overlay, despite the strong opposition of the Club. On top of that, she interrupted her vacation in order to attend the July 9th council meeting and vote again for the H-1 Overlay. Passage of the Overlay on second reading was not certain and she drove 10 hours to vote for it. Certainly, that shows a commitment worth saying thank you.

Thanks to Knox Heritage and members of other historic neighborhoods across Knoxville for writing, e-mailing, calling, and attending meetings regarding both the Haynes amendment and the Lyons View Pike H-1 Overlay. It was a wonderful sight to see the auditorium filled with people from different neighborhoods all working toward the same goal. Even Ellen Adcock, Mayor Ashe's assistant, said it was wonderful to look out in the auditorium and see so many seats filled. She has labored long long hours trying to work out a win-win agreement with the Cherokee Country Club and deserves our thanks as well.

Thanks to Ann Bennett of the Metropolitan Planning Commission for attending the neighborhood's monthly meetings, offering guidance and suggestions, working to answer questions and helping out in whatever way she can. She doesn't live in the neighborhood, but she puts up with us anyway.

Thank you to Charlie Richmond for saving a house that many thought was beyond hope. He saw promise where others saw despair and saved an old house, making it and Old North Knoxville better for his vision and efforts.

Thank you to Beth Booker for coordinating the recent clear up of a section of 1st Creek. She worked to coordinate with WBIR-TV, the Izaak Walton League, KUB, and Old North Knoxville to make the first ever neighborhood involved clean up of the Creek a success. A second one is being planned for the fall. Thank you, also, to Beth and Tomica Miller for taking the time to appear on TV to promote the clean up.

Thank you to Dave Palmer for creating the newsletter Old North News  for Old North Knoxville and for being its editor. Unfortunately, he and Lynne, his wife, are moving. They've both worked very hard over the past 8 years on the newsletter and on many of the committees, including the yearly Holiday Home Tour. Know that you and your efforts to make Old North Knoxville a better place to live will be missed, as will your big screen TV and your brownies.

This is by no means a complete list, and in the future other thank yous will be noted. If you know of somebody who has done a good dead to help a neighbor or the neighborhood, please let us at Old North News  know. Good deeds should not go unpunished … huh … we mean unpublished.

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