Oak Ridge Today

Guest column: Anderson County court, criminal prosecution programs at risk

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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

Proposals to redistrict Tennessee’s 31 judicial districts may cost Anderson County its full-time judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and their staffs. Proponents want to jumble 15 of Tennessee’s 31 judicial districts containing the state’s 95 counties. The pending proposal would eliminate the 7th Judicial District consisting of Anderson County and combine Anderson, Scott, Union, Campbell, Claiborne, and Fentress counties into a single district. If the move is approved in Nashville, local officials and their offices may be relocated, and many other programs may be terminated.

Currently, Anderson County has a single circuit judge, chancellor, district attorney general, and public defender. All of these offices are located in the county seat in Clinton on a full-time basis. The other counties that are part of the proposed new super-district are headquartered in Scott County in the city of Huntsville, Tenn. It is unclear if redistricting would result in all of Anderson’s current officials relocating to Huntsville. However, what is clear is that under the proposal, Anderson County officials would have duties in other counties, some of them an hour or more away, such as Jamestown, the county seat of Fentress County, located on the Cumberland Plateau bordering Kentucky.

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Guest column: The velocity of money is 70 mph

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By Pat Fain and Leslie Agron

The usual theory behind economic development for a community is that the local economy is too small. So, economic development experts seek to bring in new companies, especially industrial ones, to enhance that economy. The theory is that increased local purchases by new companies and their employees are multiplied several times as the money spreads throughout the community. Every additional purchase results in additional sales tax from the same original dollar that exited the new company. Companies that manufacture goods or provide services externally have the greatest value theoretically as they actually bring new money into the community. The rate at which this happens is called the velocity of money.

In Oak Ridge, however, the size of the economy that occurs within our city limits is enormous for our population. The problem for Oak Ridge is that much of that economy occurs within non-taxable institutions and the vast majority of their staff does not live in Oak Ridge. Thus, in Oak Ridge the velocity of money is 70 mph—the speed at which those folks are cruising down Interstate 40 on Friday evening as they take their paychecks home!

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Guest column: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts collect food pantry donations

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Scouts Sort Food at Grace Lutheran

Scouts, leaders, and family members from Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Cub Scouts troops sort food donations in Grace Lutheran’s Fellowship Hall. (Submitted photos)

Submitted by Scoutmaster Mike McEahern

The need is greater than ever.

As families continue to struggle across the country, local organizations like the Great Smoky Mountain Council of the Boy Scouts of America are striving to make a difference close to home.

On Feb. 9, Boy Scouts from Troop 224 from Grace Lutheran Church; Troop 328 from Kern United Methodist Church; and Cub Scouts from Pack 328 and Girl Scouts from Troop 20737, both from First United Methodist Church, teamed up to collect donations in the annual Scouting for Food drive. Donations were collected from neighborhoods throughout Oak Ridge and delivered to the Grace Lutheran Food Pantry. Additionally, Pack 328 led collection efforts at First United Methodist and Woodland Elementary—rewarding the leading classroom at Woodland with a pizza party.

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Guest column: Electronic signs a reality, responsible use should be allowed

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Note: This is a copy of a Jan. 28 letter from the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce that was received by the Municipal Planning Commission during a recent public hearing on electronic signs.

On Aug. 23, 2012, the City’s Community Development Director sent a letter to the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce requesting Development Forum help in clarifying and updating the city’s electronic reader board (moving copy) sign regulations. The Forum first discussed this issue with Community Development staff on Sept. 6 and provided broad feedback associated with issues such as light intensity and the need to incorporate new sign technologies into the city’s regulations. The Chamber remained in contact with city staff, but proposed language was not provided until December.

Since then, the Development Forum and representatives of the Oak Ridge Business Coalition have collaborated in discussions associated with proposed revisions to the city sign ordinance pertaining to reader board signs (moving copy signs). It is our shared opinion that:

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Guest column: The beginning of hopeful change in economic development

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By Pat Fain and Leslie Agron

On a cool Monday evening at a recent Oak Ridge City Council work session, City Manager Mark Watson did something else. He offered the city and the Council a creative and achievable road map to changing the decades-old paradigm that is today’s Oak Ridge. He offered new exciting ideas geared to the 21st century and designed to promote both the fiscal health and the allure of the city.

The focus of the room was total, and one could almost hear the gray cells churning to take it all in. It is really fun to be present at the very beginning of hopeful change. The inertia of the city has been challenged, the status quo has been shaken, and the restlessness of the citizenry has been given a positive direction around which to coalesce.

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Guest column: City needs a return on public spending on Chamber, ORCVB

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By Leslie Agron and Pat Fain

This coming Monday evening, the Oak Ridge City Council and the city manager will hold a work session that has the potential to become the seminal discussion on the future growth and success of Oak Ridge. This discussion will probably begin with the question of the city contracts with the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce ($250,000) and the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau ($400,000) and, unfortunately, it may just end there. If this happens it could be another significant opportunity fumbled.

There are very legitimate reasons to question the continued expenditure of public dollars for the type and quality of results delivered by these two entities. The need for growth of revenue is real. Several years ago, without even a minimal public discussion of what kind of city we want to be in the future, the city and the Chamber entered into a series of open-ended contracts. That produced amorphous and inadequate results. The Chamber can well blame a lack of direction and vision on the city. The city can point to lots of sound and fury and fast food restaurants as being an inadequate answer to long-term financial woes and economic growth needs.

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Guest column: Oak Ridge not an island anymore

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By Leslie Agron and Pat Fain

“This Island Earth” is a classic 1950s sci-fi flick. Its gifts to the popular culture include the “interocitor” (an all-purpose communicator and weapon) and the origin of the sound bite “They’re pulling us up!” In it we learn not only that we are not alone, but that we are not even remotely enough located to stay uninvolved in cosmic conflicts.

Oak Ridge in the early 1950s was a remotely located, somewhat self-sufficient compound. It had been built that way intentionally by Gen. Groves in the 1940s. Nearly everyone who worked here also lived here because the government had made sure to offer them suitable rental housing.

The seeds of change were sown in the mid-1950s with the sale of those government-owned homes and the enactment of Eisenhower’s interstate highway system. As the interstates were built and the region grew a little closer, a few people began to commute to jobs in Oak Ridge.

As the 1970s and 1980s progressed, West Knoxville blossomed, and Pellissippi Parkway was built.

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Guest columnists offer New Year’s resolutions

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By Pat Fain and Leslie Agron

In this column, we offer our New Year’s resolutions.

Most New Year’s resolutions are known more their breach than honoring. As we have dared to insert ourselves into the public dialogue for the past eight months, without invitation or expectation of embracement, we again dare the whimsical and promise to really try to keep the following resolutions as guest columnists:

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Guest column: Holiday inn — Oak Ridge needs lodging for recreational visitors

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By Leslie Agron and Pat Fain

Not so much the old Holiday Inn on South Illinois Avenue next to the Skyway Drive-In Theater (with movie sound piped into the facing motel rooms!), nor even our newest hostelry on Tulsa Road… We’re reaching back to the 1942 Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire flick called “Holiday Inn” in a blatant attempt to stretch a holiday tie-in. With terrific Irving Berlin music, including “White Christmas,” for which it won an Oscar for Best Original Song, they sing and dance their way through the plot: “At an inn which is only open on holidays, a crooner and a hoofer vie for the affections of a beautiful up-and-coming performer.”

Coincidentally, another 1942 event was the founding of Oak Ridge as a part of the Manhattan Project.

Often in our vision for “Something Else” for the economic revitalization of Oak Ridge we have mentioned that this city could greatly benefit from serious development of the visitor portion of our economy. This is a proposal for additional lodging in Oak Ridge to forward that end. We need to take a long, hard look at the characteristics of what is available now versus what it would take to appeal to people coming here simply to visit.

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Guest column: UPF project at Y-12 not real Santa, ‘windfall’ short-term

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By Pat Fain and Leslie Agron

Sometime in about a year or so, when the $6.5 billion build at the Uranium Processing Facility building at the Y-12 National Security Complex gets under way, Oak Ridge could see a decided increase in revenue from sales taxes. The windfall should come to the city over a short period, but then it will then end.

During those years, however, there may be some who think that Santa Claus has taken up residence in Oak Ridge. This piece is to advise you in advance, that should you hear that sort of sentiment down the pike, it is time to check in with some five-year-olds. They will quickly remind you that Santa has always lived at the North Pole with elves and flying reindeer.

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Guest column: Vision for ‘something else’ in Oak Ridge

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By Pat Fain and Leslie Agron

This is the first of several columns about a different vision for Oak Ridge than has previously existed.

The default development plan Oak Ridge has been operating under, to rely on federal subcontractor and spin-off industry growth, has stalled. The degree to which it will revive as the U.S. economy revives remains to be seen.

The U.S. Department of Energy says the Uranium Processing Facility they are just starting is their last big build in Oak Ridge. Upon its completion the number of employees in this function will decrease by about one-third. Given this and other concerns, it behooves us to consider other possible engines to fuel the Oak Ridge economy. We think that any successful replacement development plan will be woven from a combination of elements, rather than from one major thread alone.

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Guest column: Residents encouraged to serve on city boards, applications due Friday

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By Oak Ridge City Manager Mark S. Watson and City Clerk Diana R. Stanley

It might sound like a cliché, but it certainly applies in Oak Ridge these days—exciting things are happening in our town!

The new Kroger Marketplace and the new Weigel’s development will impact economic growth through our Planning Commission. The added beauty and recreation opportunities with the construction of the new Melton Lake Water Pavilion are a major accomplishment of our Recreation and Parks Board. Let’s also not forget about the historic Alexander Inn, which is getting a new lease on life due in part to the work of the Industrial Development Board.

The city’s ongoing pursuance of a Manhattan Project National Park designation and the utilization of the Not in Our City campaign to address neighborhood improvements are also big projects for many other city boards. Make no mistake about it; exciting things are happening in Oak Ridge.

Our city board and commission members play an important part in not only the above projects being achieved, but also in many more. Board members volunteer their time, experience, and expertise to help guide projects, foster ideas, as well as interact with citizens and local businesses to help our community grow, and we would like to thank them publicly for their service.

The city’s boards and commissions oversee a variety of issues to fit the different public interests of our residents. For example, the Trade Licensing Board sets standards and procedures for the qualification, examination, and licensing of electrical, plumbing, and mechanical contractors; the Parks Board advises City Council and city staff on the recreation and parks needs of the city, while the Traffic Safety Advisory Board reviews traffic safety issues and gives advice to the city on other matters concerning traffic flow and speeds within the community.

We all want Oak Ridge to be the best it can be and our best resource for achieving it is the people of our community. We would like to urge residents to be a part of the “Something Big” by applying for membership on a city board or commission.

Oak Ridge residents interested in membership are asked to complete an online 2012 Boards and Commissions Application at http://tiny.cc/12boardsapp. Paper copies can be obtained in the City Clerk’s Office). Applicants may also submit cover letter or resumes in addition to the application. The deadline for all materials is 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16. Interested individuals may view the 2012 Election Notice by visiting the City Clerk’s departmental website for a list of the boards seeking members, terms of office, and special qualifications.

Margaret Mead once wrote “Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world: Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Positive changes are happening in Oak Ridge, so come and join your City Council in helping Oak Ridge achieve excellence in the years to come.