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A blog is a web log. For KKB it is a diary of the activity of our
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Friday,
January 28, 2005
The KKB board held its annual retreat today at the KUB
facility on Middlebrook Pike. The theme was Litter & Crime.
Attendance was really good and we had several special guests. KKB
board members present included: Harold
Byrd, Tisha Calabrese-Benton, David Collins, Johnnie Conner, Stevan
Curtis, Martha Dooley, Scott Frith, Mary Lou Horner, Gary Loe, Sam
Maynard, Janet McGaha, Cassandra McGee, Edythe McNabb, Susan Rudell,
Sarah Surak, and Tim Wheeler. The retreat was staffed
by Tom Salter, Cortney Piper of KKB and Allison Teeters,
national award winning executive director of Keep Sevier Beautiful.
We had special guests Captain Gordon Catlett of Knoxville
Police Department and Chief Deputy Bill Christol of the Knox
County Sheriff's Office. To view the minutes from the 2005
retreat, click here. Below are some
images from the retreat:
- posted by KKB staff at 3:20 PM
Thursday,
January 27, 2005
KKB board member Sarah Surak spoke to the Farragut
Optimist Club today at lunch about participating in Earthfest.
John Homa, City of Knoxville Recycling Coordinator also spoke to
the group. The Farragut Optimist Club will likely be responsible
for one of several waste disposal centers at Earthfest. The
objective for waste disposal at Earthfest is to recycle or compost
virtually all waste at the event. To accomplish this we will be
making the act of waste disposal an educational experience with
volunteer staffed booths with plenty of recycling options.
Cortney Piper, our ex-staff member who recently took a new job,
returned this week to help out because we are really busy (and she is a
nice person to use up some of what would have been a little vacation
between jobs). Cortney attended the City of Knoxville Community
Development Block Grant training session at the Wee Course.
- posted by KKB staff at 5:45 PM
Saturday, January 22, 2005
The South Knox Beautification Committee led by Bob Santore held a
litter cleanup on James White Parkway this morning. UT students
from TeamVOLS volunteered. They picked up 18 bags of trash.
- posted by KKB staff at 8:15 PM
Friday,
January 21, 2005
Today we had a request from State Representative Harry Brooks for
information about litter and the impact of littering on the
community. We sent some information to his intern Jennifer
Wilson.
- posted by KKB staff at 3:30 PM
Thursday, January 20, 2005
This was a really long day today. I met with a KORRnet
board committee looking at the process of selecting a new name for
KORRnet and determining a strategic marketing plan to launch the new
name and identify new donors and partners. Then it was back in the
office to interview another applicant. Then a speech to the North
Knox Rotary Club at noon at Litton's. Johann Von Tilberg
arranged the speech. It was fun and there were lots of good
questions. Then it was back to the office again for three more
interviews. I met my daughter for dinner at the Downtown Grill
at about 5:30 and then headed to Vestal for a meeting with the Center
for Neighborhood Development, East Tennessee Community Design
Center and Vestal residents at the Candora Marble Company.
Guess what the meeting was about - litter.
- posted by KKB staff at 9:25 PM
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
This afternoon we interviewed two more applicants and Greg
Walters came by and offered to do some volunteer work in the office
until we get the staff hired.
- posted by KKB staff at 4:30 PM
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
This morning, County Commission scheduled a second reading of
changes to the tarp law in the litter ordinance. KKB staff
spoke to commission about additional improvements in the language
including redefining "litter" to be more inclusive of
"anything" that could fall or blow from a vehicle, not just
waste material being transported. After all, the wood pallets,
drywall, lumber, furniture and many other items found on our roadways
were not being transported as waste material. Anyway, the law
director said the recommendations were too many to change the language
on a second reading and the motion was withdrawn. Another meeting
will be held to make additional changes in the language.
Later in the day, KKB interviewed three applicants for the position
openings.
- posted by KKB staff at 5:30 PM
Friday,
January 14, 2005
KKB director Tom Salter made a speech to a women's club
called OMNI at the Bearden Banquet Hall. He
presented the same program that KKB presented to the business community
in December. There were about 25 present. There were a lot
of questions about litter prevention and behavior of litterbugs.
It was a good lunch.
- posted by KKB staff at 2:30 PM
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
KKB staff attended two meetings at the John T. O'Conner Center.
The morning meeting was for all groups intending to apply for Knox
County Community Grants. All the nonprofit people were
there. In the afternoon there was another meeting for public input
on Knox County's five year plan for community development. Most of
the same people attended this meeting. (More meetings).
- posted by KKB staff at 4:00 PM
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
The fledgling Cemetery Preservation group met at the Knox
Heritage office today. Robert McGinnis of James
White's Fort, Kim Trent of Knox Heritage and Cortney Piper
of KKB attended. The group will be promoting several formal
cemetery cleanups this spring to draw attention to the need for the
problem of cemetery neglect to be addressed. On the way back I
took a few minutes to watch this KUB crew fix something huge under the
Gay Street viaduct. You kind of have to turn your head to get the
right perspective of the cool picture:
- posted by KKB staff at 3:30 PM
Monday, January 10, 2005
KKB staff attended a meeting of groups interested in
forming an organization to develop and operate a "growing out
station". What is a growing out station? This one
will be a nursery dedicated to several purposes including 1) educating
the public about native plants, 2) providing a place for
"rescued" plants to be cared for until use, 3) providing a
place to receive donated plants from nurseries with overstocks, 4)
provide a place to propagate native plants for use in riparian zone
restoration, and 5) to offer these plants to non-profit groups and
neighborhood organizations at a very low cost for community
projects. Groups represented included the University of
Tennessee, Knox County, East Tennessee Community Design Center, Izaak
Walton League, MPC and others. Stay tuned for more
developments. And once again, looks like meetings, meetings and
more meetings for January.
- posted by KKB staff at 6:30 PM
Saturday, January 8, 2005
The annual Christmas Tree-Cycling event was held today at
three locations in Knox County. 673 trees were collected at
the Halls Convenience Center, 671 at the Solway Greenwaste
Facility and about 28 at the Forks of the River Convenience
Center. Edwards Tree Service donated the chipper and
crew for the Halls location. We had lots of fun in Halls.
Volunteers present included: Donnie Ellis (who did a quick litter
cleanup, too), Kim Isenberg, Larissa Jurand-Salter, Ryan
Justice, Eddie Howard (former KKB board president) and Grant
Rosenberg from the Knox County Neighborhoods office. KKB
staff and board members present included: Mary Lou Horner, Edythe
McNabb (who brought a great apple cake), Sam Maynard, Tisha
Calabrese-Benton, Cortney Piper, David Collins and Tom
Salter. Knox County Solid Waste Director John Evans
worked Forks of the River with KKB board member Sarah Surak and
her roommate. Knox County's Rodney Rockett worked Solway.
Prizes were donated by MTD Yard Man and Natural Resources
Recovery of Tennessee. Grant Rosenberg made a suggestion that
we bring a shop vac next year and offer to vacuum the needles out of
people's SUV's for a modest donation. We might just do that!
Here are some pictures from the Halls location:
- posted by KKB staff at 8:15 PM
Thursday, January 6, 2005
KKB staff attended a Community Development Block Grant meeting
with Knox County officials to determine if some targeted litter
prevention and cleanup efforts could be delivered to low to moderate
income neighborhoods in Knox County. Later, Tom attended the Earthfest
2005 planning meeting at the Candy Factory. Below is a
shot of the Earthfest meeting. Looks like January is going to be a
"meeting" month.
- posted by KKB staff at 4:30 PM
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
KKB's
executive committee and retreat planning committee met jointly today
to discuss the topics for the annual board retreat. Attending
were Mary Lou Horner, Cassandra McGee, Harold Byrd, Susan Rudell,
Page Pratt-Greene and Tom Salter. The committee asked
for discussions and presentations on litter law enforcement and
graffiti. The consensus was to NOT use a facilitator, begin with
lunch and try to end by 4:00. Top law enforcement officials will
be invited for the lunch and the "litter and the law"
discussion will take place while they are there.
- posted by KKB staff at 8:15 PM
Monday, January 3, 2005
Happy New Year to everyone! At first glance, January sort
of looks like meeting month for Keep Knoxville Beautiful and a
lot of the organizations it works with. But, some of the meetings
are actually necessary for big successful projects and
partnerships. Our first day back at work started with a meeting at
the Center for Neighborhood Development to discuss trash removal
in the County section of Vestal. The trash problem there is
complex and additional planning will be needed to come up with a
comprehensive solution that residents will embrace. Pictured below
are Linda Rust of the Knox County Development Office, Grant
Rosenberg of the Knox County Office of Neighborhoods and Edward
Eckenrod, new CND executive director. A meeting in Vestal was
set for Thursday, January 20, 7:00 p.m. at the Candora Marble Company.
P.S. - Cortney Piper informed KKB that she has accepted a full
time job with American Accessories International and will work about two
more weeks.
- posted by KKB staff @ 11:30 AM
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