maybe the city itself should do it. hire subcontractors. hire workers. pay them union wages. get the thing done.

I am not a planner nor do I want to be one...but everybody says the same thing about this project.

How can you cut off a major road to downtown without an alternative route being assigned for direct travelers within the plan?

Rachel, you just said, "unless I have business on the strip" and that is of course what I was talking about...

Add in come 30 year TIF's. Obviously no lessons were learned from closing the Henley Street Bridge. Tin Roof packed it in. Wonder if Copper Cellar will stay? I don't think people will take the two alternative routes. They will just stay away. UT cannot support those businesses on the strip alone. It takes more than that. And football games will be more of a nightmare during construction. Esthetically better in the future, but not economically better for the businesses that are there now.

When country controlled Metro is pitched soon, this and the James White Parkway will be two big reasons. And the 30 year TIF's. And the debt. And the retirement debacle. The city has big ideas. And breakeven's are very long.

This is rich.

A bids coming in at over twice the estimated cost--by $14 million. The Mayor is a planner and this lack of judgement should speak volumes. It is shocking. Shame on them all.

Sell one project, deliver another.

Just imagine the horrific cost overruns if this trophy project ever gets built. As planners (in partnership with developers!) they had to know an $11 million estimate was way off. Or, perhaps, they did not know.

In either case they have disqualified themselves to manage or plan such an undertaking. Dishonesty or incompetence. Take your pick.

Think carefully about this, KUB is in the midst of replacing gas, water, storm drains, and sewer lines all over the city. This alone should have given them an accurate cost idea and estimator for a major component of this project.

A plethora of trophy projects are currently being floated by the office of the Mayor: a host of downtown projects including proposed narrowing of Henley (so much for the renovated and widened bridge), sidewalk projects, major developments in the Warehouse District, and a new major mixed use facility on the Supreme Court property.

Add grandiose plans for a new civic performance space, sports arena, skating facility, and removal of the Civic Auditorium, and one quickly sees financial disaster on the way to Knoxville.

Someone is talking to himself again...

Only in K-Town would making a heavily traveled road smaller be seen as an "improvement."

Neyland? That won't really help all the hospital workers and patients. There is no alternative route for them.

If they would just coordinate the traffic lights up and down Cumberland to all be green if you drive 25-35 MPH, it would alleviate all sorts of trouble for those trying to get through that area. I hate going, stopping, going, stopping (for no reason), etc. I think if the thru-traffic could go, it would be much easier on those who need to turn, walk, etc.

Did I ever tell you about coming down Cumberland from Gay an hour before kickoff time while having a heart attack a few years ago? I raised up from my seat a couple of times to see a world of pot-bellied orange sweat shirts on pedestrians who refused to let us make the turn from Cumberland to 17th until my friend held the horn and inched forward through them.

I think I know how Tricky Dick felt in South America.

And please remember that some of this work will IMPROVE traffic flow on Cumberland. Like, for example, no backups when somebody wants to turn left because there will be turn lanes at intersections. That's safer, too.

It is important not to leave unexamined the assumption that the businesses in the area of University Commons are in some way victimized by the project. For decades Cumberland merchants have faced difficult challenges leading to a lot of unfortunate failure and turnover and vacancy. The main challenge the owners articulate to City staff in our regular meetings is their dependency on the UT calendar for their customer base.

The Cumberland Avenue project has at its heart the transformation of Cumberland to a year round retail/dining destination. All, or virtually all of the Cumberland businesses looked favorably upon the University Commons project because it serves as an anchor that brings people to the area over a twelve month period.

The big retailers at University Commons do not compete with the merchants on Cumberland with the possible exception of Walgreens, and Walgreens sees itself as greatly benefiting from the large increase in student housing within close proximity to the Cumberland store. These customers will walk to the store just as people in the area are now walking, biking, and taking the trolley to University Commons. The Cumberland project was key to the increase of student housing and key to the investment in University Commons.

These continued conversations are helpful because they help us get beyond the usual abstract ideologically driven narratives and help us focus on the reality of what can we do to invest in brownfields in underserved areas in the core of our city. These investments pay off in every way, culturally, socially, and economically. I could see all three at work when I rode the trolley to University Commons with a number of people who lived in near East Knoxville and who were literally thrilled to have access to a great grocery store and a large retailer that they could get to without an automobile.

Property tax abatements have been around for years, the programs makes slight changes and gets a new acronym every few years, but it's still a property tax abatement program. With every new retail development funded by tax abatements, an established business closes and stops paying sales taxes. If the property owner is unable to find a new tenant, the building is razed to reduce property taxes.

Before property tax abatements, developers struggled making payments on new building, but once the mortgage was paid, the profits improved. Today older building struggle to compete with new developments that don't pay property taxes, so the answer is raze the building to reduce taxes that parcel.

When calculating the increase in tax revenues from TIF programs. Don't forget to deduct the lost taxes when established businesses close and the building is leveled.

Today older building struggle to compete with new developments that don't pay property taxes, so the answer is raze the building to reduce taxes that parcel.

As the list of projects shows, the vast majority of TIFs in Knoxville have been for older buildings. TIFs have not led to older buildings being razed, they've led to them being renovated, restored and repopulated. With the result of a real net gain in the urban center of residents, businesses and sales and property taxes.

That's not to say the problems you're describing haven't happened somewhere. Like any tool, these incentives can be used well or poorly, carefully or recklessly. But if you look at that list of Knoxville projects, you see an awful lot of urban revitalization in the last decade.

This kind of looks like what is planned for Cumberland Ave.

From "Project for Public Spaces" ...

Streets as Places: How Transportation can Create a Sense of Community

Rightsizing Streets