I laughed out loud and spit my coffee out when I read the title of this. Name a plan to drop $2.6 million on homeless shelters and call it "neighborhood stabilization."

How very...Bushian. PATRIOT Act removes constitutional rights of every American. Knoxville's "Neighborhood Stabilization Program" dumps the homeless in our neighborhoods.

Good job, Knoxville.

Didn't you mean to say: heckuva job, city?

There's some merit to some of the items but I want to echo Matt Edens :

It's the schools, stupid!

Shore up the schools and the rest will follow.

I don't mean physically shoring up. More like putting effort into programs and discipline and such.

An example: North Chattanooga used to be unremarkable if not downright dumpy in spots. But now Normal Park is a top rated school and it has become a desireable place to live.

The consolidation of Knox/City schools destroyed South Knoxville.

Hello Randy,
The Minvilla project is far out of control and not just from a costing standpoint but from a timeline and best use standpoint. Soon our County Commission will vote on whether or not to give even more of our tax dollars to VMC for Minvilla. In my opinion:

1. This resolution is not needed to prevent the further deterioration of Minvilla which has occurred during VMC's ownership. It is quite possible that the City's "demolition by neglect" ordinance could be
enacted.

2. Commissioner Broyles is correct that private development wasn't an easy option prior to VMC's acquisition; however, several things have occurred including the Broadway/Central corridor plan, the emergence
of "Downtown North", the historic designation of Minvilla, announcement of St. John's redevelopment of the NE corner of Broadway & Fifth, the condemnation and subsequent razing of the porn store as
the result of TDOT's expanded right-of-way and most importantly, the Ten Year Plan wasn't very far along. We have been told all along that the TYP will vastly improve the area adjacent to Minvilla. All of the
aforementioned will make the likelihood of private development much
more likely in just a few short years. This would also give our
government the opportunity to possibly engage others, such as UT's
School of Architecture or a private group willing to collaborate on
restoring Minvilla maybe for married student housing or such. By the
way, many married students would qualify as "low income" possibly
allowing other grant opportunities.

3. I disagree with Commissioner Broyles that chopping up 13 original
row homes is the "best use" of this property; the best use would be
complete restoration which may be a possibility in a few short years
given #1 and #2 above.

4. I also believe that it is wrong to spend ~$200+ / ft2 when other
options are available at a fraction of the cost. Why wouldn't we want
to house more people with the available funds? I have sent multiple
options to the TYP which are much larger but still less than $45/ft2.

5. As to any sunk costs incurred by VMC, I would like to request that
Commissioner Broyles request receipts of payments by VMC and post
those to the listserv. I like VMC's work but we should verify their
expenditures particularly given past promises not kept by VMC. Regardless though, every sound business person knows that sunk costs should not be consider for new expenditures for an incomplete project.

6. Diversifying the housing first for the recently homeless takes them
away from the demons which possibly haunt them as well as those who
might want to prey upon them and their weaknesses. It also puts them
closer to service level jobs and diversifies those that they are
around…thereby giving them better role models.

7. Finally, I find it very hard to ask our taxpayers to be part of a
$7,000,000 investment which has a projected appraised value of only
~$2,000,000.

Supporting Minvilla is not in the best interest of the property, the adjacent neighborhoods, the City nor the constituency supposedly being served.

As many of our County Commissioners read this blog, can any of them explain where I might be incorrect in the 7 points above or why in the world someone of sound mind would support this affront to common sense?
If not our County Commissioners, can any else explain how this project makes sense?

Why in the world do we want to help fewer people and delay the help?

Kindest regards,
Bill Pittman

So this is the rebate/bribe that persuaded me (as in the collective me, i.e. US congress) to sign on to the bailout bill.

It works out to about $25 for each Knoxville resident. It's like I got $25 for agreeing to "loan" the financial industry $2300.

This can be put to good use or bad but my point is that it is a pitifully small crumb out of the 800 billion bailout bill. Think what a prosperous place Knoxville could be if we spent that 400 million (our share of the bailout) locally.

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"Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse."

Bill's point is you wouldn't even have to build the units. Pick up some older apartment blocks at a bargain price, replace the worn carpet with durable floors and start housing the homeless ASAP.

How many units do you need to support an on site case manager?* That's the key ingredient IMHO.

*I'm worried about the answer to that question. I overheard a conversation at a thrift store where a customer said he no longer had a case manager from Helen Ross Mcnabb because Bredesen wasn't giving them enough money.

____________________________________
"Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse."

Aah, yes. Good explanation.

____________________________________
"Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse."