As Rachel said, the Office of Neighborhoods has been over a year in the making. It was a great experience to co-chair the task force that came up with this recommendation. A lot of citizens volunteered tremendous time and effort to get to this point. It is always heartening to see how folks roll up their sleeves and do so much heavy lifting to help bring about outcomes such as this. This will be a great fit in the Community Development Department and Madeline Rogero is the perfect person to work with Jason to nurture its growth.

As to his choosing Knoxville.. interesting point that could apply to a lot of people. He talked a bit about this at the interview. I would imagine that the factors include home, family, good place to live, opportunity for personal and professional growth, nice mountains, and a chance to take part in building community.

I feel pretty good about this one too! (link...)

"...just wondering (after France, Netherlands, Romania, Washington DC), why, when still in his 30s(?), he chose Knoxville."

Probably because there's no place like home?

I've known Jason for years, and he is one of the very best and brightest (and handsomest) young people I can think of. I'm just glad he decided to ride out some tough times here and bloom where he was planted. But I've got to confess that I'm not all that crazy about Romania or Washington D.C.

France and the Netherlands are fun places to visit, but evidently this is where his heart is.

Yay, us!