While it might very much look like a "demolition by neglect" it is not. In my opinion, it is more like owning a 30+-year-old car and the process it takes to restore it. Yes, we have some major parts that need repair. However, the location has in no way been neglected.
Most people don't realize how bad of shape it was before Mayor Rogero came into office. Credit to Eddie Mannis for creating a vision while he worked in her administration.

One of the great things about the paper I work for is that my publisher allows me to cover stories in long form. We do what our title says we do. We FOCUS on community issues. Right now, I am in year three of my beat of covering World's Fair Park. Most TV news reporters have not even been in this town three years!

The reason I chose this location as one of my beats is because yes, in my mind it is the heart of Knoxville! Also, I began to notice a slew of positive changes that the City of Knoxville and the PBA were implementing as a result of a plan implemented by Eddie Mannis, who was working in the Rogero administration.

Well since the "Eddie Mannis Project" for lack of a better term began here are just some of the many improvements that have occurred.

1) Lighting- Through the action of the City of Knoxville the Sunsphere is safer at night. Russ Jensen, the Director of 311, informed KCC Director Mary Bogart, that members of the public were afraid to take full advantage of the Sunsphere at night. It was very dark and scary. The Knoxville Convention Center, now keeps the lights on in front of the building. So now pedestrians have a fully lit view from the pedestrian overpass to the Sunsphere. Also note, PBA is currently repairing the pedestrian bridge and adding more lighting.

2) We now have a world-class restaurant in the Sunsphere. Icon!

3)Also, remember that Mayor Rogero, PBA, and Visit Knoxville combined efforts and modernized the 4th floor observation deck.

4) See some of my articles below for scores of other updates by the City and PBA.

That being said, yes not having chairs in an amphitheater and a broken lake...is not a good thing. Also, note, that I wrote that PBA removed the seats due to due to both safety reasons and also for allowing a quick install of new seats. The amphitheater seats did have some safety concerns, but the main reason they removed them was so when the powers that be select, purchase and fabricate; the new seats it could be installed quickly.

So with all that being written, yes World's Fair Park has some major issues. However, neglect is not one of them.

Thanks,
Dan Andrews

http://24x7.knoxfocus.com/2013/05/25/shine-brighter-the-sunsphere-and-the-many-positive-changes/

http://24x7.knoxfocus.com/2013/11/10/investigative-reporting-gets-results-sunsphere-brighter-safer/

http://24x7.knoxfocus.com/2013/01/18/city-and-pba-pitch-in-to-reestablish-sunsphere-as-local-icon/

http://24x7.knoxfocus.com/2013/05/15/sunsphere-at-night-looks-iconic/

Dan,good points here. I have to add some important history. Mr. Andrews was not here to see the neglect that Mayor Ashe brought. When Ashe left office the Sunsphere was closed and had been left to run down. The amphitheater was closed and fenced off and needed major repair. I know people here don't think much of him but Mayor Haslam renovated and opened the Sunsphere and the reparied and then reopened the amphitheater.

Mayor Rogero has made the park much better along all she has done to make downtown and our entire city better. Come today at six to hear her at the send off for marriage equality at World's Fair Park.

The lake has leaked since it was created. I remember seeing guys wading around in it with hypodermic needles in 1982 during the Fair. I learned that they were injecting dye into various areas to try to locate the leaks. So that's certainly not a new problem. And the South Lawn has had drainage problems since there's been a South Lawn. Even in the driest weather, you can almost always find a muddy spot.

I won't say there haven't been maintenance issues with the site. But some of these problems haven't developed so much as they have persisted.
~m.

But the goals of building a new tax base up and down Cumberland Avenue could never occur on the World's Fair Park.

I'd turn AC loose on it and get his input as to how to further its purposes as an entertainment venue. The convention center remains a white elephant with only occasional uses along the lines of what a true convention center purposes were, currently its bread and butter are community events, not conventions, that historically had been held in hotel ballrooms or other existing venues around East Tennessee.

I'd turn AC loose on it and get his input as to how to further its purposes as an entertainment venue.

AC was part of the study group two years ago. He provided very detailed information on what it would take to construct the kind of permanent stage and amphitheater that would be required to attract performers. Among other things (like the actual cost of building such a facility), it became clear it would occupy a sizable portion of the South Lawn. AC himself suggested that while Knoxville might have good use for such an outdoor venue, that might not be the best place for it.

Isn't there a real creek below the fake lake? I wonder if it would ever be feasible to daylight it through that stretch of WFP...

Rob Frost has some background/history on the Amphitheater...

While reading some on Knoxviews, I came across this (link...) about the World’s Fair Park and your question ‘didn’t they already fix that once?’ about the Tennessee Amphitheatre. When I served on City Council, the issue of what to do with the Tennessee Amphitheatre was an important topic. In my opinion, it had not been properly maintained over the years. There was a City Council workshop probably late in 2006 to discuss the future of the building. If I recall correctly, PBA had people look at it and had issued report (with some photographs of the condition of the roof’s structure) leading to the conclusion it could be taken down. I could be wrong, but I think Bill Haslam was leaning in that direction.

Both architects Bruce and Doug McCarty, who were involved with the World’s Fair, spoke about the significance of the structure and how only less than an handful of similarly roofed buildings existed anywhere else in the United States. I supported preserving it as well. What was surprising to probably everyone was that Steve Hall also supported preserving it. Steve was not known for preservation and was a big believer in property rights. I clearly remember Bill getting wide eyed with surprise over Steve’s comments that the building should be saved. Steve even had suggestions on how to do it within budgetary constraints, and Bill and the administration considered them. With the most generous offer of free professional assistance from Bruce and Doug McCarty, budgetary work at the City and the efforts of lots of people, the repair of the roof was undertaken. From an old email from the McCartys, attached is an article from 2008 about the repairs.

Considering this process began almost a decade ago, my memory isn’t perfect. I certainly don’t mean to slight anyone involved with the process and apologize if I did.

Rob Frost

A couple comments regarding Worlds Fair Site

There are a lot of new signs, maps going up around town, and that is good.

It would be good to have signs telling you exactly what is on the Worlds Fair Site, in the Sunpshere, and the days and hours they are open.

Even after you walk all the way to the Sunsphere elevator, the sign at the bottom just says the restaurant is open "evening hours"

I should know via signage, when walking from say Market Square, without making the trek, that there is a restaurant there, an observation deck, and exactly when they are open.

Incidentally, it seems like the elevator in the Sunsphere has been fixed. Nice work. Although it took several years it seems.