I am all for it, but I question how a neighborhood association can just close a city street. Are they doing this with the blessing of the City? Can my neighborhood association just close a street because we don't want the extra traffic?

It's not surprising that people seek out high-yield, low-risk neighborhoods for their trick-or-treat activities. Somebody should do a study comparing levels of Halloween action with other quality of life indicators. There are probably some valuable nuggets in there amongst the Jolly Ranchers.

Hi,I wanted to clarify for KnoxViews and others. The closure is focused on keeping the boulevard safe for trick-or-treaters. During Halloween we had just over 1200 visitors to the boulevard on Halloween and many of those young visitor's parents drive up and down the boulevard following their children as they visit homes. The neighborhood has experienced a huge re-birth (literally with lots of young residents (like 50+ kids under the age of 10) and concerns about the car/child interface during Halloween over the past few years have come up. There was also discussion about the fact that getting people out of their cars and walking makes a lot of sense from a health and emissions standpoint as compared to hundreds of cars idilling on the road, especially since Island Home has such good pedestrian amenities (sidewalks, boulevard, etc.).

Let me emphasize that this closure is not intended to be punitive or overly restrictive. Our residents love Island Home and welcome visitors from all parts of Knoxville. We want people to visit and absolutely welcome everyone! We want the trick-or-treaters and love having everyone here on Halloween and any other time of the year! We do however want the experience for everyone to be safe and healthy. The closure is also not intended to restrict anyone with a special need(s) due to a disability, age, etc. Anyone who needs to access the boulevard for those reasons can do so by communicating it to the police officers we'll have on duty.

As with any neighborhood process, the closure was vetted by the association and voted on by the membership. We agreed to try the boulevard road closure for this year and to do it as a "pilot". It wasn't a unanimous vote and concerns still exist about the closure, but again, it's a one year pilot and we'll see how it goes. We followed all of the City's requirements for a temporary road closure as managed by the City's Engineering Department. Officers will be staged at the closure locations and will be communicating options. The closure is only the boulevard from Maplewood to Fisher and parking will still exist at the Island Home park and along many other neighborhood roads. We do ask folks to be respectful of where they park and to plan on parking and walking down to the boulevard and enjoying Halloween on foot as compared to in their cars following their children.

I'm sure some conflicts will arise, so we appreciate everyone's support (residents and visitors alike). If it works, great! If not, we'll work as a group and take a different approach. As with most changes, I hope "common sense" rules the day on Halloween. Thanks!

Can people park at TSD?

I live in the neighborhood. I am on the neighborhood assocation board and I have helped in these efforts to close the boulevard on Halloween.

In regards to the Island Home Baptist Church, the answer is yes they are allowing us to park there. In addition to the three police officers who will be on duty in the neighborhood, there will be neighborhood volunteers at both entrances to the neighborhood handing out maps of where parking is available - all of which will let drivers know the church is available for parking.

People can not park at TSD. It is a tightly secured facility since there are deaf students living there.

Let me emphasize that we are NOT closing "streets", as said in the OP. We are closing only the Boulevard, and only to car traffic. Maplewood, Spence, Estelle, Willis, Hillsboro Heights, Fisher will all be open.

The reasons have already been covered.

I was one of those skeptical about this move - not opposed, just not convinced. We DO have a problem, but I'm afraid that this may just move it to other neighborhood streets.

The majority of the folks in the neighborhood felt we needed to try something to protect everyone's safety. If it doesn't work, then we'll rethink how to handle Halloween next year.

I think it's a great idea. Should make it safer and more fun for kids and parents alike.

They do that in our neighborhood, too. Big pickup trucks and vans loaded with kids from who knows where, some not very well behaved. And some guy drove up in our yard and over our Obama sign in 08.

We may go dark this year.