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KKB's
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Archive Index
What is a BLOG?
A blog is a web log. For KKB it is a diary of the activity of our
organization.
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Friday,
July 30
Environmental Achievement Awards meeting. Staff from KKB,
Keep Sevier Beautiful and The News Sentinel met today to
begin discussions about expanding the Environmental Achievement
Awards from Knox County to the Nine County region.
Any change in the program will likely NOT take place this year - 2004
awards are set to be announced on October 12th. Additional
discussions will take place.
- posted by KKB staff @ 5:15 PM
Monday, July 26 through Friday, July 30
Moving week! Many regular operations of Keep Knoxville
Beautiful were suspended this week so we could move our offices from
402 11th Street to 100 S. Gay Street. We got a lot of help from UT
student Margaret Grigsby, and John Evans and Chuck
Oliver of Knox County Solid Waste. We got some nice
donated furniture from the City of Knoxville.
- posted by KKB staff
Thursday, July 22
AAA of East Tennessee, Knox County, City of Knoxville and Keep
Knoxville Beautiful held a joint press conference today at the John
Sevier Solid Waste Convenience Center. Don Lindsay of AAA,
Chuck Oliver of Knox County and Tom Salter of Keep
Knoxville Beautiful spoke to the press. The News Sentinel, WATE
and WBIR covered the event. During the hour we were there,
more than 20 vehicles arrived at the convenience center with improperly
secured loads, technically a violation of City, County and State
ordinances. The AAA Foundation study of vehicle-related
road debris more than 25,000 accidents and 90 deaths per year are caused
by road debris.
- posted by KKB staff @ 5:15 PM
Tuesday,
July 20
Help for South Knoxville! A group of 16 high school students
and their 3 adults leaders from the Salem Evangelical Church of
Christ, Salem-Quincy, Illinois on a mission trip
stopped in Knoxville and helped plant shrubs at Paul Duff Park in
South Knoxville. Bob Santore of the South
Knoxville Beautification Committee was extremely thankful for the
help. Here are some pictures of the project:
- posted by KKB staff @ 3:30 PM
Wednesday, July 14
The Orchids & Onions committee met today. The
awards luncheon will be held on Tuesday, October 12th at The
Foundry. There will be a winners reception before the
luncheon. The video shown at the end of the luncheon will likely
be dropped. Individual ticket prices will remain at $25.
Full table sponsor donation is $500. Most other elements of the
awards program will remain the same. Other details will be
determined over the next few days.
- posted by KKB staff @ 7:45 PM
Tuesday, July 13
KKB staff went to litter court today. We didn't get busted
- we observed an interesting case. In June, Chuck Oliver, Knox
County's Litter Officer, observed teenagers in one care throwing
trash at teenagers in another car. He followed them and issued two
citations for littering. The kids appeared in 4th Circuit Court
today. The two drivers pled guilty to littering with fines and
court costs for each one - $160. It was pretty cool!
- posted by KKB staff @ 10:30 AM
Monday, July 12
Back on my head. I just returned from a super vacation. My
wife and I visited friends, she went to a school and family reunion and
we had five great days on a beautiful beach. The reason I am
sharing this is to give me a chance to editorialize about litter in
Knoxville. I did my own informal litter survey on the trip.
We were in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and New York. (Road Trip!) As you know,
from time-to-time, our local paper prints letters to the editor that say
something like this: "I travel all around the country and Knoxville
is the trashiest city I have every seen". To those who
believe that I say hogwash! (Since this is a family-friendly
website I can't express myself any stronger and it wouldn't be
professional). Every one of those states has plenty of litter -
just like we do. In Virginia I saw overflowing dumpsters at rest
stops, dirty diapers in the parking lots of restaurants and cigarette
butts everywhere. In Pennsylvania there was plenty of roadside
trash and we walked in a park in an upscale neighborhood where people
were putting trash on the ground next to a trash can frame that was
missing its trash can. At Far Rockaway, New York, it seemed like
many people used the mesh trash cans on the beach but the ocean breezes
blew the trash out or it was pulled out by seagulls - see pictures below
of seagulls as if waiting in line for fast food. The
"strip" at Princeton University had plenty of trash on the
sidewalks and in the gutters. However, there were many very
beautiful areas. The second row of pictures are from the
Antietam (Sharpsburg) Battlefield and the Island Beach State Park in
Seaside, New Jersey. Both of these areas, and many others were
spotless. Some areas littered, some areas clean...just like here.
My deepest apologies to my Keep America Beautiful colleagues in the
states mentioned above. I know you are all doing the best you can
- no disrespect intended by my observations.
- posted by KKB staff @ 11:30 AM
Thursday, July 1
The board of directors held its regular monthly meeting today at the
Candy Factory at World's Fair Park.
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