Michael Haynes

In another setting, walking the less than a mile from the riverfront to the Old City would be a leisurely stroll. But making that trek can feel more like a hike.

A few weeks ago I read a post on a local Internet forum that touched on a familiar theme.

There’s a lot to downtown that isn’t on the surface. Beneath our streets and sidewalks, a labyrinth of sewers, pipelines, and conduits make up part of the infrastructure needed to sustain a city. With the coming of the digital age, ...

As downtown continues its revival, the effect of playing host to more people has meant several things, not the least of which is more traffic.

A few months back, I lamented that Gay Street, despite having just won accolades as one of the best streets in America, still needed a significant amount of improvement to function well as an urban thoroughfare.

It’s weird how the mind works. For example, every day we’re assailed by sights, smells, sounds and more. Yet we’re able to filter out so much of it.

Monday through Friday, anyway, the southern end of downtown around the city’s tallest buildings smelled like fried chicken. More specifically, it smelled like Chick-fil-A fried chicken. After years in the First Tennessee Plaza, the recently embattled chain has moved out ...

I doubt anybody’s noticed yet. But that’s to be expected, considering. After all, at the beginning of the month, all eyes were on the northeast in anticipation of a freakish storm.

I was on my way back home the other day from one of those excursions, having just crossed the Gay Street Bridge to my side of the river late one Saturday morning, when I noticed something.

Next week, the City of Knoxville will take yet another blind step in its uninformed quest to enhance downtown parking when it boots up two multi-space parking meters on the 100 Block of Gay Street next month.