Mon
Dec 11 2006
03:07 pm
Mark Harmon on Tennessee This Week
By: Paul Witt

For those that missed it, Mark Harmon was on Tennessee This Week yesterday.

Streaming video available here.

Mark and Gene discussed the upcoming, and much anticipated, ruling from the TN Supreme Court on our Charter and term-limits. They also discussed zoning and sprawl and Mark's appointment to the cable committee.

For the rest of the show Mark was joined by Kelvin Moxley and the topic changed to more national subjects.

Topics:
Rachel's picture

Hmm, they added questions

Submitted by Rachel on Mon, 2006/12/11 - 4:17pm.

Hmm, they added questions since I looked at this - I got 2 or the additional ones, for a total of 13 out of 20. I did not guess at the ones I didn't know.

Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes - maybe in geologic time that could be affected by global warming but it seems unlikely.

Update: oops, sorry, wrong thread.

Bill Pittman's picture

Mark Harmon's Discussion of Sprawl

Submitted by Bill Pittman on Mon, 2006/12/11 - 5:36pm.

I found it refreshing to hear a county commissioner demonstrate understanding of sprawl and relate it to specific actions within our government.

Sandra Clark's picture

Problem is, Dr. Harmon was

Submitted by Sandra Clark on Mon, 2006/12/11 - 10:03pm.

Problem is, Dr. Harmon was one of the 12 commissioners who signed the letter asking the law director to drop the suit challenging the biggest example of sprawl in recent memory -- the one man/one vote annexation and $2 million city subsidy of a Lowe's and Target on Chapman Highway at Governor John Sevier. -- s.

Rachel's picture

Umm, Sandra - annexation

Submitted by Rachel on Tue, 2006/12/12 - 12:09am.

Umm, Sandra - annexation does not equal sprawl. That development is sprawl whether it's inside the city limits or not.

In fact, if Knox County is going to make any progress on sprawl, a lot of action will be required by the county - something that I see absolutely zero political will for.

Sandra Clark's picture

Agreed, sprawl is sprawl

Submitted by Sandra Clark on Tue, 2006/12/12 - 10:14am.

Agreed, sprawl is sprawl whether it's inside the city boundaries or not.

However, this particular developer got a $2 million subsidy from the county's industrial development board for infrastructure improvements and a second $2 million from the city for his consent to be annexed.

It's hypocritical for elected officials -- city or county --to denounce sprawl while voting for such subsidies. -- s.

bill young's picture

government retail investment

Submitted by bill young on Tue, 2006/12/12 - 11:57am.

i dont think one can say...i will never support city county investment in retail projects.from the begining west towne has worked & was a smart city county investment.however,knoxville center has always been a stuggle & i think its days are numbered.futhermore,to invest public money in these big box retailers is a mistake because when traffic patterns change & sales projections are down..these folks will lock the doors.

Rachel's picture

this particular developer

Submitted by Rachel on Tue, 2006/12/12 - 1:49pm.

this particular developer got a $2 million subsidy from the county's industrial development board for infrastructure improvements and a second $2 million from the city for his consent to be annexed.

It's hypocritical for elected officials -- city or county --to denounce sprawl while voting for such subsidies.

Agreed. Although the county provided its subsidy before Harmon was in office, I believe.

I can understand Commissioners not wanting to get in a pissing contest with the City over this annexation, so I think you're being just a tad bit hard on Harmon.

Although you are absolutely correct that this entire deal stinks. It actually smells downright Victoresque.

Mark Harmon's picture

Annexation, Lawsuits, Sprawl and County Commission

Submitted by Mark Harmon on Tue, 2006/12/12 - 11:17pm.

I hope some folks get a chance to see the CTV tape of the Intergovernmental Meeting on Monday. I spoke out strongly against sprawl, and specifically against giving the Development Corporation more money to carry our its ill-conceived Midway Business Park plan.

I was not on County Commission when it gave $2 million in corporate welfare for the South Knox Lowe's+. I spoke out against that too, at the meeting and said we were too quick to do such things. I'm not sure an annexation lawsuit has much merit (especially suing our own election commission). I hope this event gets people talking about one advantage of metro government, we can't as easily be snookered by developers playing games and double dipping with city and county cash.

Mark Harmon

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