June 25 through June 30, 2005
Vacation. Pictures from The Blue Ridge Parkway,
Hendersonville, NC and Jonesborough, TN.
- posted by KKB staff in July 2005
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Tom met with the Knox County Solid Waste Advisory Board to
participate in a discussion of the future of pay-as-you-throw waste
disposal in Knox County. While there are no plans to change
the Knox County waste disposal system in the foreseeable future,
pay-as-you-throw has been implemented successfully in many communities.
While local programs differ slightly from one another, the basic
elements include:
- It changes the
attitudes in a community that garbage disposal is "free". In
many towns, the cost of waste disposal for homeowners is buried
in property taxes and appears to be free. In the City
of Knoxville, the garbage collectors come around once a week
and bulky item comes every two weeks. You don't pay for
this directly and it appears to be free. You do pay for it
in your property taxes. If Knox County residents
use any of the several convenience centers for waste disposal,
that could also appear to be free, but the cost is included in
property taxes. Those homeowners in the County who
subscribe to home pickup are paying twice for disposal - once to
operate convenience centers and again to have their trash picked
up at home.
- Citizens are charged more for trash
that goes to landfills and less for other trash. In some
cases, recyclable trash is free. This provides a great
incentive for recycling and makes people aware that different
types of trash SHOULD be handled differently. The system
can be based on different costs for different size containers,
purchasing stickers to put on uniform size trash bags, or
selling bags at different locations that include the amount of
disposal.
- There is typically some type of
property tax roll back to compensate for the change to paying
for the amount of trash you actually throw away.
- posted by KKB staff at
1:45 PM
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Today, Tom and Emily got invited to speak to the
annual meeting of the Chapman Highway Garden Club. The meeting was
at the University Club. We were invited by Ruth Defriese.
Here husband Frank was there with about 20 members of the club.
Knoxville's first lady, Crissy Haslam and Bob Santore of South Knox
Beautification Committee also spoke. Here are some pictures from
the event:
- posted by KKB staff at
1:45 PM
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
The Orchids & Onions Committee met today. Committee members
included: Keith Austin, Cassandra McGee, Page Pratt, Mary Lou Horner,
Edythe McNabb and Gary Loe. The committee confirmed
that the event will be Tuesday, October 11, 2005 at the Foundry
from 6:30 to 9:00. Individual tickets will be $35, but the biggest
change is that $1,000 sponsors will be actually presenting the awards on
stage during the program. That means your company can sponsor one
of the awards such as architecture, historic preservation or notable
neighborhoods.
There are only 11 sponsorships available so don't wait too long!
- posted by KKB staff at
2:15 PM
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Abby Blackburn, former KKB program coordinator, and her husband
Lea, are moving to Nashville. Abby works for Rock-Tenn
now and there was a nice going away reception for her upstairs at
Barley's. Here are some shots from the party:
[Images to be inserted here]
- posted by KKB staff at
8:15 PM
Today, a board committee met to discuss the youth
incentive plan proposed to KKB by County Commissioner Paul
Pinkston. Committee members include Page Pratt, Sam
Maynard, Tim Wheeler, Cassandra McGee, Tom Salter and Emily Ditty.
Our insurance agent Dave Truesdel was our guest. We
reviewed various models of litter cleanup programs involving cash
incentives for youth groups from several other KAB communities.
- posted by KKB staff at
1:45 PM
Saturday, June 11, 2005
The 2005 Flag Retirement ceremony was held today at the Elks Lodge at 6000 Lonas Drive. It was in honor of firefighters and both
Rural Metro
and Knoxville Fire Department were well represented. Mayor
Ragsdale gave a nice speech that was followed by the ceremony performed by
Company D, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion,
United States Marine Corps Reserve. Final count of flags collected
this year was 365.
- posted by KKB staff at
3:30 PM
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
TDOT held a regional meeting to discuss changes in the Litter
Grant Program for the 2006 fiscal year. Everybody was there: Shawn
Bible and Teresa Culbreath of TDOT, KAB Coordinators
Allison Teeters and Kristi Falco and John Evans and Diane
Roach from Knox County - along with a bunch of people from
other counties in the region. There were no negatives, just a fair
warning that monthly reports need to be submitted on time if we expect
to get reimbursed. (FYI: the Litter Grant, like many grants, is a
reimbursement program and ONLY pays out money if services have been
provided and documented). Here are some pictures from the session:
- posted by KKB staff at 4:30 PM
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Today we had the final meeting before the 2005 Flag Retirement
Program. It is set for Saturday at the Elks Lodge at 6000
Lonas Drive.
- posted by KKB staff at
11:30 AM
Thursday, June 2, 2005
Today we had the regular June board meeting for Keep Knoxville
Beautiful. County Commissioner Paul Pinkston attended and
briefed the board on the plan to provide a financial incentive to youth
organizations to pick up litter.
- posted by KKB staff at
1:45 PM