March 11,2010 -General Meeting: Speakers - School Board Candidates - Pam Trainor, Tammy Sommers, J Max Houser and Robert Bratten.  The meeting started with KPD reporting "no action" in Colonial Village for the month. Good News! Tammy Sommers spoke first and outlined her experience: 20 years as a teacher, Student counscelor and now CEO of a company that deals in education issues. Ms Sommers would like to raise the standards for graduation.  J Max Houser gave is experience as 42 years in the schools and Time as a Drug and School counselor. Mr Houser would like "class room teachers" to have a greater voice in school issues and more infrastructure replacement. Robert Bratton is currently on the school board and spoke about a new school to remove disruptive sudents from the current schools and into a special environmert. He also mentioned the use of Title One funds and the boards use of special funds. Ms Trainor arrived late due to another engagement and spoke briefly of her 13 year experience with the school system and work with the PTA. Question from the floor started with asking for the candidates opinion about a recent proposal for a "national standard" for education. The candidates were generally supportive of the standard. Another member ask about "outsourcing" some work in the school system to save money.

Other CVNA business for the night consisted of a vote on changes to the bylaws, approved. The time and place to meet for the "Cleanup Day" April 3 at the church parking lot around 8:30 - 8:45. Call a friend and bring him/her along.  Also there will be a "meet and greet" for all candidates in the May elections at the South Knoxvlle Community Center on April 13, 7-9PM. The center is also known as the "Vestal Boys & Girls Club.

January 14,2010 - General Meeting: Speaker Terry Caruthers - Colonial Village History. KPD came to the meeting and showed the "crime map", not much to report there except that the "panhandlers" are being targeted by the police now. There has been some success. Terry gave a talk base on her research and some history collected by Sharon Webb about Colonial village. Terry covered "1000AD to 1950 in a quick rundown of the  prehistory of the area and then the relationship of South Knoxville to the rest of the city from the mid 1800 to the present. Her talk was recorded and can be heard at this linkhttp://www.discoveret.org/colonial/history.mp3

January 14,2010 General Meeting: Speaker Russ Jensen Director Knoxville 311 call center. Prior to Mr. Jensen's presentation Mrs. Tammy Sommers introduced herself as a candidate for the school board. She passed out a handout outlining her goals as a school board member.  Mr.  Jensen's talk gave an outline of his experience prior to running the 311 call center. How the center was staffed and some of the problems solved during the startup. Some of the current plans are to put the "leaf pickup schedule" on line, both on the city Web sites and the local TV stations Web sites. The call center handles calls to the municipal court (traffic tickets etc.) and during high call volume periods they handle the overflow to KUB.  When the call center is overloaded you can leave a voice mail message. They will get back to you as quickly as possible - often the same day. The call center handles 260,000 calls a year at a cost of $1.50 per call. Quality checks are done by a random sampling of callers being called back and interviewed. The ratings are 98% favoriable and 80% timely response to problems reported. Mr. Jensen's phone number is 215-2066 if you have a problem that needs his attention. One item that he mentioned is of interest to anybody doing a cleanup of their attic or basement, the city will provide a FREE dumpster on request, there is a six to eight week waiting list however. Also no construction material can be placed in the dumpster. City council member was at the meeting and ask that people be notified of his email address (npavlis@comcast.net) and his Web site (http://www.nickpavlis.com/) he also has two phone numbers listed on his card (865-579-2055 and 865-454-7216).

November 12,2009 General Meeting: Speaker was a no show. In place of the speaker there was an exchange of information among the members attending. We expect the speaker will be at the January meeting.

Sept. 10, 2009 Cook Out - Had a good turn out for the picnic.

August 13, 2009August 13, 2009- General Meeting: Speakers - Robert Marlino and Nick Pavlis, candidates for City Council First District.  KPD reported no serious crime this month but a "tree cutting" scam, the guys don't clean up the mess and the city won't either. Mr. Pavlis spoke first and introduced his wife Joy. He is retired from 16 years in the family food distribution business. He was City Council member "at large" from 1995 to 2003. He works for Charter Communications in goverment relations in TN and LA. Mr. Pavlis has a web site: www.nickpavlis.com  Mr. Marlino was born in Oak Ridge and is 47, the single father of two. He interest include Urban Design and Historic Preservation, he has lived in Washington DC and in New Mexico and moved back to TN. This allows him to "see the First District with outsider eyes". He is active in various public committee organizations. His web site is www.robertmarlino.com.

July 9, 2009 - Sorry no notes from meeting.

June 11, 2009 - General Meeting: Speaker Joe Hultquist , subject "Conversion of the Smokey Mountan Railway to a Greenway". Joe discussed some of the background of this project. The difficulties that have to be overcome and what actions that CVNA could take to aid the project. Brief remarks were made by Terry Sharp - Knox County Greenway Coordinator, Carol Evans - Legacy Parks Organization and Roger Doudy - Economic Development Office.  KPD gave a presentation on local "crime" events for the month of May. Nothing exceptional happened in Colonial Village.

 May 14, 2009 - Summer Cookout - We had a good turnout. Thanks to all who brought "extras".

April 9, 2009 General Meeting Speaker Mike Carberry MPC, subject "Chapman Highway Corridor Plan". Environmental study expected to be completed by 2012. Changes to Chapman Highway would make it a "complete" street ie cars, walkways and bike paths. The mixed use plan would put residential and shops together like the waterfront development. Also there is a park plan that could involve "Butterfly Lake". It also would change the way parking lots are constructed. The idea is to produce less harmful water runoff. A greenway plan using the "Smoky Mountain Railroad" was mentioned as still being a project in development. There is also a proposal to put in a local park, perhaps along Stone Road. All this is still expected to be slow moving due to a number of factors.  Chip announced that the Traffic Calming project has had two speed enforcement areas added. The plan is expected to get final approval this month.

March 12, 2009 General Meeting

I.  KPD Report

No significant issues were addressed.  It was noted that two burglaries were reported in our neighborhood in February.  Neighbors in attendance were not aware of these but they could be related to know burglary attempts in January.  The officer noted that car break- ins seem to be on the rise through out Knoxville and provided some suggestions for preventing these.

II. Speaker- Dr. Neal Shover

        Preventing and Coping with Household Burglary – Dr. Shover gave some statistics related to home burglaries and break-ins.  He noted that most home burglaries happen during the daytime hours in areas that are easily accessible to major roads.  He suggested some ways to prevent burglaries by using light timers, having attentive neighbors, security systems, managing landscaping, etc.  The presentation was well received and attendees asked many questions.

III. Announcements:

 Mooreland Heights School PTA request – The association voted to approve the Boards request to contribute 100.00 to Mooreland Heights PTA to help pay for the trip to DC for the students volunteering with the Safety Patrol.

 Trash Pick-up Date Saturday March 28, 2009. Meet at 9:00am at the Church

 City of Knoxville Neighborhood Small Grants – Chip presented the grant proposal to have a quarterly newsletter.  With no opposition, Chip will follow-up with Sandy Ammons to complete the grant application

 South Knox Business Watch meeting?  Nobody in attendance tonight attended the meeting.  No updates

 Other announcements/Ideas for presentations (Chip-384-7480)

12 Feb. 2009 General Meeting - Speaker Kelley Fre're of Guyton & Fre're Elder Law Attorneys. KPD announced that a house on Red Bud was broken into, the door was knocked in. They say that the economy will drive up the crime rate. Our main speaker, Ms. Fre're started her talk by giving out a test to the members. It consisted of eleven questions about making wills, for example should you do if you have a permanently disabled child. All the questions were answered by "true or false". She then went through each of the questions and explained the correct answer. It was a truly informative and interesting lecture. The firm is located at 9424 Kingston Pike (ph 865-694-0373) they are certified in "Elder Law" and handle estate planning,special needs planning and other legal matters for the elderly.

  8 Jan. 2009 General Meeting - Speaker Carol Evans, Executive Directory - Legacy Parks Foundation. Founded in 2005 this non-profit organization works with the City, County and Iams Nature Center to help preserve green space and help with grant applications and other issues in preservation of green space. The current emphasis is to preserve the "ridge views", provide for park creation in underserved areas among other activities. We in Knoxville have only about one-third of the green space of other cities.  Ms. Evans discussed at length the orgainzations efforts in preserving green space in the "Log Haven" area. Pointing out that from the Iams Nature Center to Alcoa Highway there is a strip of nearly 1000 acres of preserved areas that are (or can be) connected. Properties that are currently under preservation activities are Fort Stanley and Fort Higley. Joseph Houltquist mentioned the Smokey Mountian Railroad Greenway and the preservation of Butterfly Lake as two local projects that need the support of CVNA and locals from the South Knoxville area. Michale McGuness collected some money for the family of Jake Sharp who house was burned during the Christmas season.

13 Nov. 2008 General Meeting - Patti Thighpen and Tom Barnard and a Mr. Stewart came to tell us about the state of Butterfly Lake. They had arranged for KUB to add water to the lake and were asking for donations/purchase of  printed T-shirts etc to support the cost.  They have a web site "www.supportbutterflylake.com" where you are invited to contribute both information about the lake and purchase the T-shirts. The man speaker was Jennifer Wilson of the Knoxville Health Department, her topic was emergency planning. The emergencies discussed ranged from Snow, Tornados, panademics, chemical spills and terrorist attack. The basic routine is to have food and water for several days. The food should be easy to prepare, dry package or canned. For a pandemic you could be ask to stay inside for as long as three weeks. All in all it was a sober assessment of all the things that can go wrong in a very big way. For more information check out: "the city web site" link to the health department and fema.gov

9 Oct. 2008 General Meeting - Joe Hultquist ask people to attend the South Knoxville Summit meeting on 1 Nov. starting at 8:00AM at the Tennessee School for the Deaf. The meeting will go on all day with groups and panels. Check with Joe for more details. KPD officers Willaiams and Marros gave a report of the last months police activity. We did have a couple of breakin problems. The main speaker Wayne Loveday of KUB gave an update on the PACE 10 project. Basic outline is that the result of a concent decree from a lawsuit involving the "Clean Water" act, is causing KUB to  undertaking extensive repair/updates to the existing sewer system. The total project will cost $76 million. The work in our area is almost complete and work will start on East Lake Forest soon. The work there will be much more extensive due to sink holes and sewer pipes running through their "lake". Mr. Loveday mentioned that "in a few months" KUB will be checking the sewer "lateral" from the street to your house. If they find problems on your side you will receive notice and have to fix it at your expense. There are several financial options for people who qualify - Financial Aid, Interest Free Loans & outright free fixing. He also mention the need for donations for the "heating bill" help for the low income this winter. See your KUB bill for details. There is a South Knoxville Waterfront meeting on Oct 16 at 6PM at South Koxville Elementary School Gym.

11 Sept. 2008 Cookout - Had a good attendance. Hope everybody was well feed.

14 Aug. 2008 General Meeting - The speakers were supposed to be both the local organizations for the McCain and Obama elections. The McCain representive didn't show. The Obama representive was Chris Ivey a student from UT. A self described "young first time voter". He had all the Obama talking points in his speech. Other interesting points were: of the 1400 volunteers in the local effort 30% are republicans. This is the biggest turnout in UT history.  There was an announcement about the South Knoxville Council meeting on Nov 1st - 9AM - 2PM. There will be breakout groups - subjects are transport, educiation, development and beautification. Anyone interested should contact Kim Rogers at kimrodg@gmail.com.

10 July 2008 General Meeting - The speakers were Mr. Mike Brown , County Council candidate, Mr. Chuck Ward, County Council candidate and Mr. Joseph Hultquist, City Council member. KPD reported no local crime for the month. Mr. Brown gave his biography as a Knox county resident and answered questions from the floor about cuts in the funding for the library system and about how the County Council could influence funding for the school system. Mr. Hultquist requested volunteers for the South Knoxville Foundation to plan for a meeting to be helt on 11 Oct. or 1 Nov. this year. He also gave an update a local motel that is planned for demolition. Mr. Ward gave his biography and offered a three point plan for his County Council representation. The points were: Safe Streets/Successful Schools and Strong Community. He answered several questions from the floor, including expansion of the tax base and plans to make time from his businesses to serve on the council. Electons were held for new officers and area representives.

12 June 2008 General Meeting - The speaker was Mr. David Watson, Executive Director of The East Tennessee Community Design Center. KPD officers: John Willams and Sergieo Mannero gave a report of the past months crime activity in the neighborhood. There was a burgurlary reported, turned out to be a false alarm, that was all.    Mr. Watson's talk was on traffic calming. He has 38 years of experience in the field. The program used by the Design Center is called the 3E program, Enforcement, Education and Enginering. Enforcement is by asking the police to monitor areas where there is speeding. The police will monitor an area 4 hours a day for 4 days. However: continual monitoring is depending on them writing enough tickets - at least 4 tickets a day. Education can be done with signs and rumble strips. The strip gets the drivers attention and the sign shows the speed limit for the street. Engineering requires care to avoid problems with fire trucks and drainage (this would be speed bumps). Some of the elements used have to be approved by the City Council. Mr. Watson can help us get the speed limit lowered in the neighborhood and other steps in the engineering process. Kelvin Francis and Brian Mischely will look into problems.

8 May2008 CVNA Cookout - The cookout became a cookin, rain. We cooked in the church kitchen. The attendance was good in spite of the weather.

10 April 2008 General Meeting - Speaker couldn't make the meeting. KPD gave a crime report: Officers Chucd Sands and Lt. Armstrong. There have been three burglaries in the neighborhood, Stone Road, Magazine Road and West Ford Valley. The officers gave us several tips for avoiding theft and prevention of breakins, mainly good lighting. A general discussion held on the Welcome Sign plantings and work being done by KUB on the sewers around Colonial village. Joe Houltquist ask for volunteers for a "South Knoxville Summit". He also suggested in dealing with the 311 problem reporting service that we always request a "ticket" number. This allows the problem to be traced back if it is not resolved promptly.

8 March. 2008 General Meeting - Speaker  Jerry Reed of Senior Citizens Awareness Network (SCAN). Mr Reed started is talk by pointing out that Knoxville ranked seventh in crime when compared to the total US on a scale of 1 to 10.  Theft (56%) and burglary (16%)  are crimes for which seniors should "be prepared". He then listed various ways to avoid theft of purses.  Keeping your purse in the grocery cart child seat when taking your purchases to your car and putting your purse in the car before loading your packages into your car.  Don't take unnessary credit cards with you. Keep a list of all cards so their loss can be reported. Using a "buddy" system - try to not go alone to a shopping center and not to shop at night. If you are concerned about going to your car alone ask a store manager to provide an escort.  Home safety begins with a sturdy front door with a wide angle "peep hole" installed. This allows viewing the visitor before opening the door. He also recommended that you have a storm door as a second barrier to entry. Use care in admitting people to you home. Verify employment of workmen. Trim shrubs so they do not offer cover near or above window level. This leaves a place for a burglar to hide while gaining entrance. Motion detector lights are good to have. If you leave a radio on when you are not at home that can help also, "burglars don't like lights and noise". Pick up your garden tools and store them, they make convient weapons for the burglar or thief. Don't leave your purse where it can be seen from an entrance. Beware the buddy system - a visitor keeps you occupied while his buddy enters and steals. Keep a list of emergency numbers and have you address on the list. If somebody needs to use it they may not know your exact address, for example a friend calling for help for you. He also warned of the dangers of computer emails. Offering the Nigerian scam letter as one example. More important is the "phishing" email, asking for account information for your bank or your social security number. He suggested that the "credit card" offers we all get can be stopped by use of a service, www.optoutprescreen.com or by calling 888-567-5688. Getting your credit report once a year to check who has been accessing it is a good idea. The "once a year" credit report is available from the three major credit reporting companies for free. Phone 877-322-8228 or use the internet.

14 Feb. 2008 General Meeting - Speaker Dennis Bernard (KUB). Subjects: conservation, "being Green", increase costs in providing services. Fully one third of the total load on KUB gas and electricity is for heating/cooling. Mr. Bernard recommended that heat pumps be set back only 3/5 degrees to save on energy by decreasing the night time temperature, the unit operates differently than a gas furnace and should not be set back 10or 15 degrees. Another way to save energy is to only run a dishwashers and laundry with a full load. The new charges on waste water are the result of a requirement to totally upgrade the sewer system within ten years.  Savings on your water bills for water that does not go back into the sewer system can be had by using an external water meter, KUB will deduct the water you use to water your lawn or fill your pool from the total consumption. The new regulations on the "secondary" meter are a bit more restrictive that last summer. KUB wants the meters in a fixed location and attached to your house. They can be removed during the winter to keep them from freezing. Mr. Barnard also discussed the purchase of appliances with a high SER rating. The minimum SER rating is set by Federal regulation, you can purchase equipment with a higher rating. The very high rated equipment (16 to 24) is expensive and you may want to question if it will pay back the initial cost over the life of the equipment.

10 Jan.  2008 General Meeting - Speakers Senior Citizens Awareness Network (associated with the sheriff's office). The speaker discussed the organization of SCAN and its work in Knox county. They provide visits to the elderly on a weekly basis. The organization consists of volunteers who are trained by the sheriff's department and drive offical cars. The organization provides in addition to visits to the elderly, lectures on subjects such as: ID Theft prevention, Home Safety and Security.  Much of the time for the talk was taken up describing the organization. The subject of the lecture was advertized as ID theft prevention. There were several suggestons make to prevent ID theft. Including seperating all documents (medicare cards etc.) that contain your Social Security number from other documents that you carry on a daily basis and only taking them with you when you have a need for them.  The candidates for district 9A, Tim Greene and Mike Brown introduced themselves. Business from the floor was the discussion of the current status of the Helen Ross McNabb Center project proposal. The funding for the purchase of the site at Easton & Colonial did not happen, so the projects is off for the time being. The group from CVNA who was working to find out more about the centers operation of their "homeless shelters" proposed alternative sites for the home. Ms. Leann Human-Hiliard from HRMC was at the meeting and thanked the association for our cooperation so far. Also an MCP package and photos of a proposed cell phone tower to be erected on property owned by Tim Berry was passed out. The tower is to be sited behind the tree line and is a "monopole" type - that is no antennas are visable just a smooth round tapered shaft. It should not stand out from the trees. Jan Steffan and Sandy Ammons will head up the spring fixup of the Welcome Sign and the Trash Pickup day will be Saturday March 29th. This year the work may be lighter as Stone Road and a couple of other streets have already be picked up by the city.

8 Nov. 2007 General Meeting - Speakers 1. Mark Donaldson MCP on R-1 EN Zoning,   2.Andy Black on Helen Ross McNabb Center plans for an apartment for their clients on lot at corner of Easton and Colonial. Mr. Donaldson  The purpose of R-1 EN zoning is to require new building to take into account the appearance of the existing neighborhood. Several subdivisions in the city have requested the zoning to be able to avoid the problem of builders coming in and packing houses together to maximize their profit without regard to the neighborhood appearance. Currently under R-1 zoning a minimum lot size is 7500 square feet. Most of our lots are larger, EN zoning would establish an average lot size for new building. Trailers under R-1 EN have to meet 5 sets of design criteria. This is to force them to "look more like houses" according to Mr. Donaldson. It also makes trailors less attractive because of the expense of meeting the criteria. Large lots that could be subdivided to build multiple houses also have to meet severial criteria, 250 foot frontage minimum and at most 3 units per acre. Attached houses are allowed by special ruling by the MPC on a case by case basis.  We can get R-1EN for the neighborhood by having meeting, dicussions scheduleing a hearing with the MPC and then going to City Council for the final approval. Mr. Donaldson said that MPC would work with us on each step. He also said that a petition would be useful. CVNA will form a work group to address this after the first of the year.

The Helen Ross McNabb presenter, Mr. Andy Black discussed the preliminary plan to build an eight unit apartment building on the lot at the corner of Easton and Colonial. The building would be used to service the clients of the McNabb center. They would be people who have mental or addiction problems but who have been selected to live in a supervised setting. Many of them have jobs and need a controlled environment in order to function in a normal fashion. The unit would have a resident manager and support staff provided by the McNabb center. There were several question about the problems that would/could be caused in the community by these individuals. A group of CVNA members will be preparing a detailed report on this matter using information provided by the McNabb center and gathered from other sources. There are several apartments units of this type in various areas of the city, they will be examined and we will talk to the neighbors of these units to get their impressions. The lot in question is currently not zoned for residential and the MCP must rezone the lot and the City Council must vote on the rezoning. The time line for the rezoning is not too clear but should take at least til Jan. of 2008. The report by the group will be make available to the community by email (the CHNA list serve) as well as a mailing to those people who do not have email. The report will also be available on this Web site and copies will be provided to MCP and the City Council

 11 Oct. 2007 General Meeting - Speaker: Mr. Fred Sisk Knox County Trustee. Mr. Sisk spoke on the "Real Estate Tax Freeze" for senior citizens. Knox county is the fifth county in the state to implement the freeze. The income limit for a couple is $32,400 and is tied to the Social Security index. Only deed holders for the property are able to apply for the tax freeze. Mr. Fisk pointed out that over a period of time the tax freeze could save the property owner(s) quite a bit of money, the real estate tax can double in ten years. The City has not implemented the tax freeze, he suggested that we call our council members. You can apply for the freeze to be given for this years taxes until 3 April 2008. Only one of the owners need be 65 or older to get the freeze granted. Documents needed to support the application for the tax freeze are: Social Security card, Medicare Card, proof of income ( the top page of your federal tax from - the 1040 will do). You can apply an any of the six county trustee offices. The tax freeze forms must be filled out each year, to keep the freeze amount in force.

13 Sept 2007 Cookout - The cookout was held at the church picnic area. The turnout and  good the weather were both good.

9 August 2007 General Meeting - Speakers: Ray Abbas, Joe Bailey. Ms. Isa Infanti was scheduled but had to cancel because of illness. Also there was a presentation scheduled by a developer who is asking for a rezoning of some property at the end of Stonecress Lane. He was a no-show but Marvin Johnson gave a presentation of what is know so far.

Mr. Abbas is running for the city council seat currently held by Joe Bailey. He presented his view of what should be the goals of a city council member as well as a brief summary of this experence in the Knoxville community. He would like to see more economic development of low income neighborhoods in Knoxville. Also he would address the problem of the homeless in downtown, he pointed out that the city has a program in place and money to fund it but that (his statment) nothing had been done. He also would like to see better salary and benefits for the city firefighters. The city has retention problems because of the low pay. He likes the real estate tax freeze for Seniors and thinks more should be done for that group. He summed up his view of public service by saying "I Will never forget I work for you".

Mr. Joe Bailey gave a short history of himself and then an overview of his work on the city council. His concerns are the "delivery of basic services", to study other cities that "work" to adopt some their solutions to Knoxville. He told us about his current project of providing a golf course access for Senior Citizens at affordable rates. He also mentioned that college scholorships are available for young people who shoot in the low 80s. He wished to continue service to the city and work with folks and their problems. He gave examples: the rezoning problems with both the Stone Road (Quarry) site last year and the "Maple Garden" project. He thinks that all projects should be a public process with input and debate. He gave as an example the South Knoxville Waterfront development. He said that projects should be run from tax on the economic development  not property taxes. When ask about problems with the Greyhound bus station he said that Goverment should not be in the private market place.

Stonecrest Lane Development - The developer Michael C. Rhodes who has a rezoning request before MPC had ask to address the association and was scheduled at the last minute. Mr. Rhodes ask for a 30 day postponement of the rezoning hearing. He did not make it to the meeting. Mr. Marvin Johnson ( a Colonial Village resident) gave a presentation of what is known of Mr. Rhodes plans.  Mr. Rhodes has ask to be rescheduled and a special meeting is scheduled for the 23rd of August at the church at 7pm. The request for rezoning and the MPC package is at this link Rhodes.pdf if you have a PDF reader (Acrobat) it gives a clear view of the MPC concerns about the project.

12 July 2007 General Meetng - Speaker Mr. Bill Haslam (Knoxville Mayor). Mr. Haslam gave a short history of his administration and then took questions from the members present. The discussion was very informative and  interesting. Jan Steffen passed out a survey on activities for the Senior Center.

14 June 2007 General Meeting - Speaker Dr. Bob Compton (UT) spoke on "The Changing Atmosphere of Earth". KPD officers Bruce and Powell gave an update on local crime problems - none to speak of. Jan Steffans gave an update on the new Senior Center that opened tuesday the 12th.

10 May 2007 Cookout - Had a good turnout for the Picnic.

12 April 2007 General Meeting - Speaker Mr. Roy Miller (Mooreland Heights School).  KPD Officer Jerrold George gave a short talk and answered some questons from the members.  Mr. Miller talked about events at the school, clarified some issues with the bathrooms and the plumbing and presented a "wish list" of things that the association could do for the school. Joe Harrison gave a short presentation on the "Chapman Highway Corridor" meeting held by TDOT.