Proposed high-rise would ruin riverfront and years of work by me and subsequent mayors
The proposed 16-story high rise at Hill and Locust in downtown Knoxville facing the Tennessee River has to be one of the ugliest proposals for our waterfront that one can imagine.
It lacks any reasonable architectural connection to neighboring buildings. Current residents would lose their view of the river.
Improvements to the waterfront were a significant goal for me as mayor, and subsequent mayors have improved upon it.
This project, beyond enriching a few developers, brings ostentatious attraction to the worst in architecture. Inappropriate would be a mild term to describe it, and one can only hope city leaders, including the council and the mayor, take steps to halt this atrocious project.
Recently, workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga votedoverwhelmingly for the United Auto Workers to represent them. The vote was 73% in favor, despite Gov. Bill Lee, Sen. Bill Hagerty and Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp urging rejection.
Why they (two of whom are millionaires) thought speaking out on this issue would influence the blue-collar workers escapes me. Some of these workers make $23 an hour, while the UAW in Michigan has secured $40-an-hour minimum wages in the past year in several plants. A $17 hourly jump in wages was attractive and persuasive to the Chattanooga workers.
Interestingly, not all Republicans jumped into the fight against the UAW. U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann declined to participate, as did State Sen. Todd Gardenhire. Chattanooga is in both officials' districts. Also, management at Volkswagen did not oppose UAW and was neutral.
Lee also lured Ford to Tennessee when it announced its union would come with it. But thanks to high-profile GOP involvement, the Volkswagen vote is pictured as a defeat for the GOP when the party could have stayed out of it.
U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett on May 2 asked a judge to dismiss a federal lawsuit filed by a Kansas City-area resident who says a false tweet from the congressman caused him distress.
The defamation lawsuit by Kansas City resident Denton Loudermill Jr. is assigned to U.S. District Judge John Broomes in Kansas City, Kansas. For those wishing to Google it, the case number is 2:24-cv-2109. The complaint shows three attorneys – two in Missouri and one in Kansas – represent Loudermill.
After a fatal shooting at a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration Feb. 14, Burchett tweeted a photo of Loudermill, falsely saying he was one of the shooters and was an illegal resident. Neither is true.
Burchett's attorneys say the lawsuit was filed in the wrong court and that the congressman can't be held responsible for reposting a photo that was shared widely across social media.
"Unfortunately for plaintiff, onlookers and media outlets began taking pictures and video recordings of plaintiff, which images immediately went viral showing up on social media platforms ..." Burchett's filing says.
His filing goes on to falsely claim that major news outlets linked the man in the photo to the shooting.
Retired News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy has written a book, “Citizen Carl,” about Carl Magee, founder of The Albuquerque Tribune, originator of the Scripps “Give Light” motto, fighter of public corruption and inventor of the parking meter.
It is published by the University of New Mexico press. McElroy worked for The Albuquerque Tribune, Rocky Mountain News and served almost 20 years as editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel. He lives in Knoxville.
Magee helped shape events in Arizona and Oklahoma after they achieved statehood. He was involved in issues such as press freedom and gun violence. It is a fascinating book, well written and available at Amazon. It can be ordered from Union Ave Books.
At the Baker School formal gala dinner April 12 at the Press Room, guests were able to take home excerpts from two books that will appear later this year and in 2025.
Nashville writer Keel Hunt’s book is about Howard Baker and John Seigenthaler and how that relationship influenced Tennessee politics. It will be published later this year.
The other excerpts were from former Gov. Lamar Alexander’s forthcoming memoir and dealt with the start of Baker’s successful 1966 U.S. Senate campaign.
Both books will be must reading for people interested in Baker and Tennessee politics.
Two Knoxvillians ran in the LondonMarathon April 21. They were David Colquitt, owner of The Swag Inn in North Carolina, and University of Tennessee System President Randy Boyd. Colquitt finished in 3:56 hours, while Boyd, who had a partial knee replacement only four months ago, did well to complete it without injury.
Birthdays
May 8: Caroline Cooley is 73. Former state Rep. Ryan Haynes is 39. David Keith is 70. Bob McClellan is 58. Former deputy to the mayor Gene Patterson is 70. Grant E. Rosenberg, who works for Mayor Kincannon, is 44. Javiette V. Samuel is 51. David Williamson is 82.
May 9: Former city engineering director Jim Hagerman is 68. Mark L. Hill is 71. Jim Jennings is 82. Randy Lockmiller is 76. Kyle P. McDonald is 42. Retired architect Richard Norris is 70. Former County Commission chair Hugh Nystrom is 57. Steve Richardson is 69. Anne Templeton is 45. Bill Weigel is 86.
May 10: Trudy Hughes is 64.
May 11: Rebecca Longmire is 78. Former Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey is 75. Dr. Dwight Wade is 84.
May 12: Mark Clark, former UT development assistant, is 49. Dick Graf is 89. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is 44.
May 13: Alfred B. Coyle is 66. Robert Durrett is 48. Mark Carson English is 58. Retired Chancellor Daryl Fansler is 72. State Rep. Justin Lafferty is 53. Joan Monaco is 39. Margaret Petrone is 74. Warren Sanger is 59. Businessman Paul Varlan is 31.
May 14: Dr. Herman Botero is 50. David J. Icove is 75. Anna Lee is 40. Cortney Piper is 44. Kittrin R. Smith is 53.
May 15: Margaret Connolly is 39. William Furlong is 85. Prince Harry is 40. Joan Heminway is 63. Retired educator Mary Lou Kanipe and retired CPA Jeff Novinger are 80. Lisa Stowers Rottmann is 41.
Victor Ashe can be reached at vhashe@aol.com.
Victor Ashe is a former Knoxville mayor and former ambassador to Poland. He is a columnist for Shopper News.
Knox News and Shopper News promptly correct all errors. If you think we have published incorrect information, please email accuracy@knoxnews.com.Describe the error, where you saw it, the date, page number or the URL.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Proposed Knoxville high-rise would ruin riverfront and years of work
