Thu
Sep 14 2006
08:53 pm
But the Parking's Free...
By: tennesseevalues...

This is why nobody goes downtown anymore...er, wait...

Seriously, not to make light of Natalie's experience, but this is the kind of story that Simon usually tries real hard to keep out of the news and usually does, until someone of this stature is the victim. I recall too many conversations with people who talked about how unsafe downtown was even though crime statistics for the West Town Mall parking lot far outperformed anything that was believed to be happening in downtown.

I'll be looking for some feel good PR stories in the coming days about what a safe environment the mall truly is compared to the scary downtown. 

Topics:
Toad In The Hole's picture

Let's Watch the Play On Her Purse Winding Up In East Knoxville

Submitted by Toad In The Hole (not verified) on Fri, 2006/09/15 - 12:04am.

It's the classic steal in the West, haul it back East, let's see what happens.

Guess them feller's from the Big JC didn't know who that old lady was did they?

And what was Natalie Haslam doing at that dreadful mall anyway? I though she shopped exclusively at Phipps in Atlanta and Madison Avenue in New York. Was she lost?

tennesseevaluesauthority's picture

My point wasn't so much

Submitted by tennesseevalues... on Fri, 2006/09/15 - 7:51am.

My point wasn't so much about Natalie and her shopping habits as it was about my interest in how Simon's PR team would end up handling this. This sort of thing happens more frequently than the news reports but usually doesn't get reported unless the victim happens to be the mayor's step-mother and a major philanthropist in town. Now, however, if some anonymous fool like me were mugged downtown or in the Old City there would be plenty of follow up stories about crime downtown, etc.

Old Hickory's picture

Don't Look For Any Stores To Be Named

Submitted by Old Hickory (not verified) on Fri, 2006/09/15 - 8:36am.

and all references will be to the "parking lot" at West Town Mall.

No mention of the area of the parking lot, adjacent stores or mall access, no mention of her direction of travel, or the exit to Kingston Pike which was utilized to make the getaway. Ain't gonna happen.

Day in and day out, the parking lot at West Town Mall is the most dangerous place in Knoxville and Knox County, just pull the incident reports from the City Police Department. Problem is, that mall is the largest source of advertising for the News Sentinel and to a certain extent the local television media, and they're not going to do one thing to jeopordize any nickle of that ad revenue.

bizgrrl's picture

"people who talked about how

Submitted by bizgrrl on Sat, 2006/09/16 - 6:50am.

"people who talked about how unsafe downtown was even though crime statistics for the West Town Mall parking lot far outperformed anything that was believed to be happening in downtown."

Ok, give us some true verifiable crime statistics to validate this statement.

I was told this was the 2nd purse snatching this year in the police district that includes West Town.

What do you consider "downtown"? What crime statistics are worse in the West Town Mall parking lot than they are downtown?

Toad In The Hole's picture

Lonsdale is Lonsdale

Submitted by Toad In The Hole (not verified) on Sat, 2006/09/16 - 12:57pm.

It is not East Knoxville. Lonsdale is a world in and of itself.

Of course, we've got a major drug dealer located on Market Square Mall, not buried in the burbs between Belks and Dillards, right downtown in the middle of 37902.

Swanky's picture

East Knoxville is also North Knoxville

Submitted by Swanky (not verified) on Wed, 2006/09/27 - 4:34pm.

For the record, the Police department divides Knoxville up into three sectors and East Knoxville is one of them. I live in Fountain City, and that is part of the East Knoxville Sector. I guess that means I am black and a criminal...

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

TN Progressive

TN Politics

Knox TN Today

Local TV News

News Sentinel

    State News

    Wire Reports

    Lost Medicaid Funding

    To date, the failure to expand Medicaid/TennCare has cost the State of Tennessee ? in lost federal funding. (Source)

    Search and Archives