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Knoxville Neighborhood Advisory

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Knoxville Neighborhood Advisory – Vol. 8, No. 39 – Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015

 

PDF Version: http://bit.ly/NeighborhoodAdvisory2015-11-10

 

  1. Mayor Rogero to Meet with Neighborhood Advisory Council
  2. Community Meeting to Focus on Paul Hogue Park
  3. Workshop Next Week: What Makes a Great Neighborhood?
  4. City Seeks Slide Shows for 2016 Neighborhood Luncheon
  5. Broadway Stakeholders Grapple with Corridor Challenges
  6. Plans for Central Street to be Unveiled Thursday
  7. BZA Decisions Can Impact Your Neighborhood
  8. Advocate to Address Effects of Domestic Violence on Children and Youth
  9. Use Your Driving Skills to Assist Seniors
  10. Neighborhood and Government Calendar

 

Published by the City of Knoxville’s Office of Neighborhoods to report news important to Knoxville’s residential neighborhoods. News & calendar deadline: 5 p.m. Mondays.

 

  1. Mayor Rogero to Meet with Neighborhood Advisory Council

 

Mayor Madeline Rogero will meet with the Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) beginning at 4:30 p.m.Wednesday, Nov. 11, at the Cansler Family YMCA, 616 Jessamine Street.

 

The Mayor will make some brief remarks and then discuss neighborhood issues and concerns with the NAC members. Neighborhood leaders and other members of the public are invited to attend.

 

Appointed by the Mayor, the NAC includes a total of 15 members — two from each City Council district and three at large. The NAC’s mission is to 1) give advice and feedback on the programs and policies of the Office of Neighborhoods,  2) bring neighborhood issues and concerns to the attention of the city administration, 3) propose responses and solutions to address these concerns; and 4) serve as a sounding board for city initiatives and proposals affecting neighborhoods.

 

For more, see www.knoxvilletn.gov/neighborhoods and click on Advisory Council.

 

  1. Community Meeting to Focus on Paul Hogue Park

 

A community meeting for residents in the Five Points community will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 600 S. Chestnut Street.

 

The meeting will focus on safety and security issues at Paul Hogue Park (known locally as Chestnut Street Park), and the surrounding area.

 

Several city officials will be on hand, including Captain Kenny Miller, commander of East District Patrol for the Knoxville Police Department; Ernie Pierce, a traffic engineer in the city’s Engineering Department; and Joe Walsh, director of Parks & Recreation.

 

The meeting has been organized by members of the immediate community, including Chelle Neal, who can be reached at 313-4368 or ms.michelleneal@gmail.com.

 

  1. Workshop Next Week: What Makes a Great Neighborhood?

 

The Office of Neighborhoods and the Knox County Health Department are partnering to host a community workshop next week, focusing on what makes a great and healthy neighborhood.

 

In addition, the workshop will show how community members can work with available resources to create places of beauty and pride in their own neighborhoods.

 

During the workshop, residents will learn about strategies to work on these efforts and brainstorm together to come up with innovative ideas of their own. Presenters will include Sarah Bounse, Public Health Educator from the Knox County Health Department, and Susan Shin, AmeriCorps member at the City of Knoxville’s Office of Neighborhoods.

 

The workshop is open to everyone and will be held Thursday, Nov. 19, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Cansler YMCA, 616 Jessamine Street. Light refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP by contacting Susan Shin at 215-3077 or sshin@knoxvilletn.gov.

 

  1. City Seeks Slide Shows for 2016 Neighborhood Luncheon

 

The Office of Neighborhoods is seeking slide show presentations to be made at the Neighborhood Awards and Networking Luncheon on March 5, 2016.

 

Presentations can focus on a creative neighborhood project or event, a program that addressed a neighborhood challenge, or a larger community project that benefitted nearby neighborhoods. Proposals will be considered from individuals, neighborhood groups, governmental agencies, civic groups, nonprofits and businesses.

 

Preference will be given to presentations that have been successful and have inspired others to improve their neighborhoods and community.

 

Please submit a brief description of your proposed presentation to Debbie Sharp no later than Monday, Nov. 16. Send to dsharp@knoxvilletn.gov or Office of Neighborhoods, City of Knoxville, P.O. Box 1631, Knoxville, TN 37901. If you need more time to submit your ideas, just call Debbie at 215-4382.  (Actual slide shows will be due at a later date.)

 

A committee of neighborhood leaders will review the proposals and select the winning ideas.

 

  1. Broadway Stakeholders Grapple with Corridor Challenges

 

Over 70 neighborhood leaders, property owners, and business representatives last week huddled with government officials and other stakeholders to re-imagine the Broadway Corridor between Fifth Avenue and I-640.

 

For details about this three-hour event, see www.knoxvilletn.gov/neighborhoods and click on the Office of Neighborhoods Blog.

 

  1. Plans for Central Street to be Unveiled Thursday

 

The City of Knoxville will hold a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. this Thursday, Nov. 12, to discuss a $3.3 million infrastructure upgrade project for a 12-block section of North Central Street between Magnolia Avenue and Woodland Avenue.

 

All stakeholders, including businesses and nearby neighborhoods, are invited to attend the meeting at All Occasion Catering, 922 N. Central Street.

 

The project, which will begin next spring, will include the repair and replacement of sections of sidewalks, new curbs, “bulb outs” and other features to improve pedestrian safety; better-defined on-street parking; better-marked bike lanes; storm water and utility improvements; resurfacing; and landscaping.

 

The work — funded jointly by the City, the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration — is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017.

 

“One unique aspect will be a linear park at Baxter Avenue and Central Street, which will serve as a gateway to Historic Happy Holler,” said Redevelopment Deputy Director Anne Wallace.

 

“Central will truly be a ‘complete street’,” Wallace added. “We’ll be reducing the amount of asphalt in favor of increasing green space. These improvements will make the corridor more inviting and create safer options for people who are walking, parking vehicles or bicycling.”

 

  1. BZA Decisions Can Impact Your Neighborhood

 

Nine properties are on the agenda for next week’s meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).

 

Established by city ordinance, BZA hears appeals of denials of building permits by the city’s Building Inspections Department. The board, consisting of five citizens appointed by the Mayor, meets at 4 p.m. on the third Thursdayof each month in the Small Assembly Room of the City County Building.

 

BZA meets next Thursday, Nov. 19. Addresses on the agenda include 5800 Clinton Highway, 1421 Southgate Road, 1612 Elm Street, 227 E. Anderson Avenue, 6215 Enterprise Drive, 6909 Quail Drive, 209 E. Anderson Avenue, 714 W. Hill Avenue, and 2701 Spence Place.

 

Keep up with how the BZA might impact your neighborhood. Watch for the black and white signs indicating that there is a pending decision on a particular piece of property. Most signs are for Metropolitan Planning Commission issues — which are also important — but signs with the word “variance” are BZA items.

 

The BZA agenda is posted on the city website. Browse to www.knoxvilletn.gov/boards and click on Board of Zoning Appeals. The agenda is posted no later than the Monday prior to the BZA meeting each month.

 

A neighborhood group that keeps track of BZA will call the Plans Review & Inspections Department at 215-3669 to request and study the paperwork on a particular appeal, decide whether to take a position on the appeal, and then attend the BZA meeting to voice the group’s support or objections. A group can also request a postponement to allow time to meet with the applicant.

 

Decisions of the BZA can be appealed within 15 days of the BZA decision to Knoxville City Council. Appeals of a City Council decision are made to Chancery Court within 60 days of a City Council decision related to BZA.

  1. Advocate to Address Effects of Domestic Violence on Children and Youth

 

Jennifer Rose, MSW — a national and international advocate for ending violence against women and children — will speak in Knoxville on Friday, Nov. 20, from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. at the Phyllis Wheatley Center, located at 124 South Cruze Street in East Knoxville.

 

This training is being presented by Game Changers, a YWCA program geared toward middle school boys that teaches about domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and about how they can help prevent violence against women and girls.

 

Register here for this free event. If you have questions or have trouble getting

registered, contact Hanna Brinson at 523-6126 or hbrinson@ywcaknox.com.

 

  1. Use Your Driving Skills to Assist Seniors

 

CAC — the Knoxville/Knox County Community Action Committee — is seeking volunteer drivers in its “Volunteer Assisted Transportation” program, which assists Knox County seniors and people with disabilities who require aid and assistance to travel safely.

 

Volunteers transport seniors to medical appointments, shopping trips, beauty appointments, and other activities. They also assist with communication challenges, filling out paperwork, helping the rider in and out of the vehicle, etc.

 

Volunteers drive agency-owned, hybrid sedans or wheelchair accessible mini-vans and receive training to include First Aid & CPR certification.  Volunteers are needed for weekdays, evenings and weekends.  For more information, please call 865-673-5001 or email nancy.welch@cactrans.org.

 

  1. Neighborhood and Government Calendar