To Build a Better Community

It takes a village.

That's the famous quote right? Well, I'm not so sure about the parental implications and how much child rearing does or does not require the input of neighbors, but I do know that the village itself is needed for its own reasons.

The village, or community as the case is in District 1, has been separated from itself. This happened a long time ago, by people who, for whatever motives, sliced our community into pieces. An interstate superhighway was determined to be of greater use to Knoxville than those pesky residential neighborhoods that ringed our city.

Today, we have the residuals of this lack of planning which has resulted in the partitioning of the Center City into disconnected cells that have been neglected and allowed to deteriorate in favor of the suburban sprawl that has been so popular for the past 50 years. Downtown, Mechanicsville, Park Ridge, The Fort, 4th and Gill, these are just a few of the historic and character rich neighborhoods we have that we have nearly lost.

Over the past few years, there has been a "re-urbanization" in which people look at these areas and see that the neighborhoods perpetuate a deeper sense of community and relationship than they were able to have in many newer developments. My desire is to continue that trend by encouraging more homeownership and community empowerment, while using the joint tools of county resources and city partnership to begin repairing the flaws in the infrastructure that prevent the organic growth and economic vitality that could make Knoxville the jewel of East Tennessee. (Because come on, we all want to make Chattanoogan's jealous)

Let's take back our village and continue making it the best place to live in Knoxville.