my two cents

I think it's good for the interests of Downtown to be represented in Knox County Government. While we hold on to our redundant two-government system here, we need to make sure that the whole county is fairly represented. Downtown Knoxville is well represented in City Government (as it should be) but very often District 1-A is overlooked or mishandled by the County Government.

The County has A LOT to do with Downtown. Let's use the County's State Street property as an example: the whole Baseball Stadium/Justice Center/Transit Center fiasco might have been averted if an educated pro-Downtown voice had been heard from within County Government. If someone who was really looking out for the interests of the center city had been in the 1-A seat, I might be able to walk down the street and catch a Smokies game this summer, ala the Chattanooga Lookouts stadium. Instead, our team is out in All-You-Can-Eat Pancake Buffet Sevier County.

The City, unfortunately, isn't the sole authority in the city. If it was, I think we'd have a stadium here as well as more projects like the Riviera. So while we have this flawed system, we need someone in County Government who understands Knoxville's central city and will work in harmony with the City Government. In my humble opinion, that someone should be John Spellings.

A Downtown Citizen Representing Downtown