Metro Pulse

Insights by Joe Sullivan: One need only visit the quarters of the University of Tennessee’s Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology (ASP) in the bowels of Neyland Stadium to realize it’s a stepchild in the UT College of Arts and Sciences. Despite the fact the department is highly regarded in its field and also provides much-needed clinical services, it doesn’t really fit or sit well in the college’s academic scheme of things Full story »

Insights by Joe Sullivan: Even niggardly County Commissioner Paul Pinkston knows Knox County needs to raise more revenues to cover a $6 million annual sheriff’s pension plan liability that’s draining county reserve funds to the point where there won’t be anything left for new schools or roads or any other capital projects within a year or so Full story »

Insights by Joe Sullivan: Full story »

Insights by Joe Sullivan: UT is sitting on state appropriations from prior years that would be more than sufficient to cover the painful cuts in this coming year’s operating budget. Full story »

Insights: County Mayor Mike Ragsdale’s spin on the budget he presented last week is that despite hard economic times he’s increasing the county’s commitment to education while cutting back in other areas. Full story »

Insights: n the absence of some form of comprehensive health care coverage in this country, perhaps the most pernicious gap has been the inability of individuals with chronic diseases to get any form of health insurance at any price. Until TennCare terminated coverage for some 60,000 uninsurables in 2004, Tennessee had gone further than any other state toward closing this gap. But especially given the budgetary bind in which the state now finds itself, it’s hard to quarrel with Gov. Phil Bredesen’s conclusion that escalating TennCare costs had become prohibitive. Full story »

Insights: After lowering its standards of student proficiency a few years back as a stratagem to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Tennessee is now commendably in the forefront of states that are raising them. More rigorous curriculum standards recently adopted by the State Board of Education will take effect next school year, and the state’s TCAP exams are due to be upgraded to reflect them starting in 2010. Full story »

Insights: The time has come to draw a line on property tax abatements that subsidize developers. The prevalent form of abatement, known as Tax Increment Financing (TIF), has proven to be a valuable tool in downtown revitalization by making it financially feasible for developers to restore to active use the many vacant and often dilapidated buildings that once lined Gay Street. And as long as they are confined to historic buildings and blighted or underdeveloped areas such as the South Knoxville Waterfront, the use of TIFs continues to be justified. Full story »

It’s unfortunate that Knox County Commission—at 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning—kiboshed a way to relieve the confusion and contention that have arisen over the numerous changes to Knox County’s charter being pushed by a citizen reform group. Full story »

When the state Legislature approved Gov. Phil Bredesen’s plan for increased public school funding last year, it came with strings attached. One of those strings was a requirement that every school system adopt “differentiated pay plans” under which “high-need schools and high-need fields should receive priority, rewarding quality teachers who are willing to teach in high-need schools.” Full story »

Publicly inspired amendments to the Knox County Charter remain in limbo this week, despite the action of County Commission a week ago to put most of them on the August general election ballot for up or down votes by referendum. The problem is that the Commission actions were on first reading of the amendment referendum items, and the voting was close enough to suspect that not all may pass on the required second reading March 24, or that some of the recommended charter changes might be altered in the process. Full story »

When Market Square’s public plaza got an $8 million makeover five years ago, I was skeptical how much it would do to restore the moribund square to its rightful place as the vital heart of the city. The redevelopment plan under which the city invested in the makeover called for a coordinated effort to attract retail tenants to the ground floors of the historic buildings that give the square its character. But the developer, Kinsey Probasco, abjured such a coordinative role and left the square’s numerous property owners to their own devices in attempting to line up tenants for their mostly vacant buildings. At the same time, the owners were squabbling among themselves about whether Kinsey Probasco’s plans for enhancing the public plaza itself were conducive to commercial development. Some subscribed to the warnings of a Michigan-based consultant that retailers would only prosper if shoppers were brought to their doorsteps by running a street through the square with provision for lots of on-street parking instead of open space. Full story »

Last week’s Knox County election results represented a big step toward getting county government out of the ditch in which it has been stuck. In defeating nearly every candidate associated with last year’s abortive appointments to fill a dozen vacancies in county office, voters resoundingly rejected County Commission’s back-room wheeler-dealings epitomized by that appointment process. Full story »

Knox County Voters have spoken, in a shout. They’ve turned out of office most of the people involved in any way in the mess a former County Commission majority and the county’s fee officeholders made last January of the invocation of term limits and the appointments to fill the suddenly empty seats. Full story »

Next week’s Knox County primary elections hold promise of righting much of what has been wrong with county government over the past year. A big increase in voter registration, the numerous candidate forums that have been held all across the county, and the record pace of early voting all point to a truly democratic process of filling the many vacancies in county office that have been a big part of the problem. These vacancies were, of course, created initially by the State Supreme Court’s ruling that 12 elected officials were term-limited and then by a Chancery Court’s voiding of County Commission’s appointments to fill these vacant posts for violating the state’s Sunshine Law. Full story »