Rachel, while we have somewhat divergent views on some political matters, I am truly sorry South Knoxville has no representation on the MPC. It is difficult to imagine how either the city or county governments can ignore one of the four quadrants of the county. Your point is entirely correct.

Why am I not surprised. Thank you for your public service.

Rachel, you made a comment at MPC today of which I took special note. You said (I'm paraphrasing) sector plan amendments are enacted in response to changed or changing conditions. (Note: Shades of the Fansler-Midway ruling) You went on to say you were concerned that we're (the commission) saying the current usage does not accord with the sector plan so the sector plan must be wrong.

Sadly, such subtlety was lost on most of your fellow commissioners, but kudos for making the effort.

LVG

I'm glad you got one final chance to vote in the minority. Your studiousness will be missed, and I think you made a number of other commissioners work harder and be more thoughtful. Hopefully they will continue to do so.

Can we expect you to become more candid about MPC now? Oh, wait, that's not possible. You've always treated public work like it should be done in sunlight. Thanks for that.

Thanks for serving. No South Knox representation, both city and county, is a serious wrong in my opinion. As I have said before, I don't think much of mayors having full sway on appointments to this commission. That is a problem with the system. However they do make ok appointments at times, like yours.

So who are the current active commissioners?

City:

Art Clancy
Bart Carey
Ursula Bailey
Nate Kelly
Jack Sharp
Michael Kane
George Ewert

(Bart, Jack, and Michael were just reappointed to a new 4 year term.)

County:

Laura Cole
Becky Longmire (vice-chair)
Wes Stowers
Stan Johnson
Robert Anders (chair)
Mose Lobetti
Brian Pierce

(I was the only county appointee up for reappointment this year.)

Then there'll be the new guy, but his appt has not been approved by the state yet (yes, the state approves MPC appts), so I don't think it's appropriate for me to release his name.

More info (backgrounds, dates of terms) at (link...). All terms are 4 years and run from July 1 to June 30.

Thanks, Rachel. I'm sure your attention to details will be missed. It's sad that South Knoxvillians get used to this type of treatment.

thanks for your service rachel. i felt more confident about MPC with you there.

rht/t3p

One thing I neglected to say in the OP and should have: after conversations over the past couple of years with Bill Lyons, I am confident that City administration would appoint someone from south Knoxville if a vacancy opens up.

Thank you Sylvia. I know some southies who serve on city boards. My husband is on the city Board of Environmental Appeals. There's a south Knoxvillian on City BZA, on city Better Building Board, and on the Solid Waste Board. And of course we have representation on the city Neighborhood Advisory Council, but that's mandated (e.g. the NAC has so many reps from each part of town).

I know there's a south Knox countian on county BZA, but beyond that I'm not sure about the county side.

South Knoxville certainly needs and deserves representation on all governmental boards. It is important we have a voice in our community.

Rachel, I couldn't agree more with those who have stated they felt better about MPC with you 'on board' - so to speak.
You have been diligent in researching issues and making sure your vote is in accordance with guidelines that govern issues.
While indeed the county mayor can appoint whoever he wishes, he should not remove an individual that has done an outstanding job in service. bleah... I really don't have much good to say about the county mayor.
The fact that there is no SoKnox representation on this board is reprehensible!

BTW, MPC will soon take up the new South City Sector Plan. Next up after that - the South County Sector Plan.

How's that for irony?

You like so many others on the MPC have shown your true colors. Don't let the door hit you in the ass. >:)

Scarlett, you're truly classy. Thanks for the performance review.

With all due respect you had one of the worst attendance records on mpc, perhaps that is why you were not reappointed. I hear you bemoan the lack of representation for south Knoxville but as a commissioner you only showed up for about half of the meetings you had a vote in.Where was the passion when your chair sat empty at so many meetings? I know you care about these issues it just really bothers me that you had a position like that and you wasted it.

Apparently, I'm not the only one with concerns about this.

Yet another take on the issue.

My hope was that when the Mayor heard concerns from elected officials (Nick Pavlis, Mike Brown) that he might acknowledge this as a legitimate concern, and suggest he would factor it into future appts (this is the response I've gotten from the City). Instead he appears to be doubling down.

Nice to know, tho, that he "has no animosity to the people in South Knoxville."

“I mean, they helped me get elected mayor.”

Sheeh.

Wow. What a shameless suck up to special interests. Also didn't realize you were so anti-growth. How long did you work on that planned growth project over there in South Knox?

Yes, Wow! Who voted for this guy and why? Knox County could be in a bit of trouble. Knox County residents might be begging for another Ragsdale. :)

Two words:

Mose lobetti

Who did Stowers replace? Who appointed Stowers?

Looking at the page it seems like some of them have been on the committee longer than the dates indicate. Are those reflective of the entire term they have served?

From the Metro Pulse article ...

“I don’t think she represents my personal philosophy about things,” Burchett says. “[Roth] comes from a pro-business background, and I think that’s very important in this economy.”

“You need a committee to consider the community as a whole,” says Johnson. And Burchett says that was his thinking when it came to selecting Roth."

So which one is it? Burchette's personal philosophy or the community as a whole.

His personal philosophy should have nothing to do with it.

MPC commissioners should be representative of the community as a whole. We look to be drifting back to an atmosphere several years ago that seemed to cause problems.
article

80 % of success is showing up

Vernon,

Ok, you don't like me or the job I did. We get it.

The real issue here is whether it's ok for south Knoxville to have no representation on MPC. What's your Loudoun County opinion on that one?

A review of last night's meeting.

I'm sorry I missed it, but I was at the Council/Commission Hillside/Ridgetop mtg. Will post a report on that one ASAP.

Mayor Burchett would have no problem finding libertarians in South Knoxville/ south Knox county. He should have told Grant Rosenberg that's what he was looking for.

It was bad enough he snubbed south knox county, but his subsequent comment couldn't have been any less diplomatic.

Maybe we need to get ourselves declared an ethnic group to get some representation.

Maybe we need to get ourselves declared an ethnic group to get some representation.

Ok, THAT's funny.

oh, never mind.

If all members of a committee are supposed to think the same way and they can all be from same part of town, what is the point of having 15 of them? Knock it down to three. In fact why did Burchett replace Rachel. Just whittle down to who you want and say that's my committee.
From what I gather is Burchett's interpretation, just have one person.

Ok, I'm going to comment on this once, and that's it. I'm done on the subject of attendance. Y'all can keep throwing rocks if you want.

I'm not proud of my attendance record. It wasn't what it should have been, and I'm not happy about it. I have legitimate reasons for every meeting I missed (I certainly did NOT blow them off, especially after spending hours preparing for them), but I'm not going to whine about those reasons in public.

I would also just like to mention the numerous meetings I attended that aren't on public record. Like all the workshops, meetings out in the community on various subjects (e.g. sector plans), etc. There's a lot more to being a Commissioner than showing up for a meeting once a month.

However, none of that is to excuse missing meetings.

However, the Mayor said nothing about not appointing me based on attendance. He said I didn't represent his personal philosophy - that he wanted someone who "understood growth" and why it was important, and who was "pro-business."

(I would argue that I understand growth and development pretty darn well, and I am in no way anti- either of them. I simply advocated for qualify development and growth in the right places. As for being anti-business, as I've said before, that's just stupid. Nobody with a lick of sense in anti-business.)

Based on the Mayor's statements, I would not have been reappointed if I had a perfect attendance record.

However, as I keep saying repeatedly, this isn't about me. I'm ok with not being reappointed. I'm not ok with reducing diversity on the panel, and excluding south Knoxville is certainly doing that.

Ok, bad title. I was trying to be cute.

Fixed now. Happy?

Nice to see someone uses dictionaries these days.

Clyde, Shannon, I don't know who you people are, but it is obvious you do not understand the passion some have for South Knoxville and the need to overcome how that side of the river is treated. Rachel is an excellent advocate for South Knoxville whether she is on MPC or not. Therefore, why don't you give it a break. We need to encourage the powers that be in Knoxville and Knox County to give respect where it is due.

Burchett doesn't have a clue as to the need for representation throughout the city and he needs to be told about the need. He's even blaming his inability to chose someone to represent South Knoxville on the MPC and Knox County Commissioners, as if he didn't know he was leaving that section of town unrepresented.

Hmmmmmmm.
This could have some real interesting implications for the mayor's race,
Think this could make SoKno turn out for a candidate who lives among them?
(And no, I wasn't thinking about Hultquist)

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, nooooooooooooo!!!

Volunteerism and social justice?
We're dooooooooooomed. Once again Shannon has proved that it is a genius (see its deep thoughts on slope protection).