Monday, October 29, 2007

John Evans, long-time Knox County Solid Waste Director, friend to KKB and personal friend to many in our community was found dead at his home this morning by co-workers when he failed to show up for work.  He was 54 years old.  John had been a reporter for WATE News before becoming the public information director for County Executive Dwight Kessel.  He became Solid Waste Director in 1990. John was close to his family and would do anything for his friends. He was an expert on solid waste management issues and a frequent speaker at conferences on solid waste disposal and recycling.  He was an active board member with the Race Relations Center of East Tennessee. I met him in 1997 when I became director of Keep Knoxville Beautiful and I had the good fortune to spend a significant amount of time with him.  We shared many laughs.  He recently bought a house on Ridgeview Road in NW Knox County with a spectacular view of House Mountain, the Ritta Community and the Smokies. You could literally see 100 miles from his living room window.  After he moved there he told me his favorite song was "Johnny's Garden" by Stephen Stills (from the Manassas album) and that he would be able to have a great garden and enjoy the views from that house for many years. I will miss him.  Here are some KKB file pics of John:







KKB website references to John Evans.  This link is to a Google search of KKB's blog and board minutes pages.  Please read through each page for references to John.

- posted by Tom Salter at 3:40 PM

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Today is National Make A Difference Day.  About 30 members of three local AmeriCorps teams fanned out through Fort Sanders and gave recycle and trash bags to UT Tailgaters.  They covered parking lots from the area near the UT Credit Union all the way to the lots next to the Knoxville Museum of Art and Church Street United Methodist Church.  Reaction from the public was very positive and we collected a cargo van load of aluminum cans, plastic bottles and cups.  UT's Make Orange Green on-campus recycling averages about 1,100 pounds for a home game.  We were hoping to double that amount.  Compared to what we were doing at Sundown last spring I think we did about 400-500 pounds. We'll have a weight Monday or Tuesday.

AmeriCorps Teams from Emerald Youth Foundation, Knoxville's Habitat for Humanity and the Water Quality Team.


KKB's AmeriCorps member Emily Nybo explains the project to WBIR reporter.  Tailgaters showed off their bags of recyclables.




POST AMENDMENT: Weight of tailgate plastic and aluminum was 2,220 pounds.   An estimated 400 pounds was collected from the Fort Sanders parking lots.

- posted by KKB Staff at 9:30 PM

Thursday, October 25, 2007

A bunch of Keep Knoxville Beautiful board members are involved with James White's Fort in different ways.  Tonight was one of The Fort's best events - HearthScares!  The Fort's Robert McGinnis, local expert on historic cemeteries in the area, led a tour of downtown Knoxville's "scary" history.  Here are some pics from tonight's tour:

- posted by KKB Staff at 10:30 PM

Monday, October 22, 2007

National Make A Difference Day comes to Big Orange Country on Saturday, October 27th, more than 30 volunteers (a very fitting description considering the project) will be handing out recycling and trash bags at dozens of popular pre-game tailgating locations in the Fort Sanders neighborhood. Click here for more information.  Tailgaters will be asked to place plastic bottle and aluminum cans in clear bags and the rest of their trash in black bags.  The clear bags should be placed in plain sight when the tailgaters leave for the game.  The clear bags will be collected by volunteers after kickoff.  Fort Sanders was the site of a pivotal Civil War battle and has been the temporary home of tens of thousands of UT students. What is often overlooked is that Fort Sanders also is the permanent home of thousands of residents and the amount of trash produced by fans during a typical UT home game is astonishing and depressing.  It often takes days for private property owners and the City to pick up the trash in Fort Sanders.  These pictures were taken in the parking lot behind Sunspot on Cumberland (it is not the Sunspot's parking lot) on Wednesday, October 10th, 4 days after the October 4th Georgia home game:

- posted by KKB Staff at 10:15 AM

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Yesterday, an anonymous blogger using the screen name "tao4now" blasted KKB for it's presentation of its Onion awards.  I responded to the posting and "tao4now" promptly picked apart the response with additional harsh criticism. Apparently, Tao4now attended the Orchids & Onions Awards banquet last Thursday. Because he (or she) knew things about the event that were not published on this blog or were included in any news release issued by us. Since I knew most of the people in the room I think I know who it is and am surprised that anyone (and this person in particular) attending did not understand the meaning of the Onion awards. We give these awards to encourage individual property owners to clean up or fix up blighted properties - we don't give them to an "area" of the community. 

I went back and looked at the 11 year history of the Onion Award (since I've been director) and the geographic distribution of these "awards" has been pretty even over the years (see pie chart). I posted this information on the blog and tao4now continued to insist KKB was slamming his "region" of the county. In the last 11 years, KKB has given 55 Onion Awards.  "South" has received 9 and North has received 16.  We certainly have NOT given a disproportionate number to south Knoxville properties - tao4now is wrong.  The second point that tao4now missed was Mary Lou Horner's portrayal of "Auntie Litter" in handing out the Orchid Awards. The presentation is sometimes outrageous, but always tongue-in-cheek. The humor is not subtle - it is obvious.  Onion Winners historically are NOT invited to the banquet on purpose so they aren't caught by surprise and humiliated. To humiliate the property owner is not and never has been the point of the award.  Mary Lou hands out 5 real onions to community leaders, who have some power or influence to encourage the property owner to fix up the property. She gave one to Bob Santore, one of our favorite people, for a property in South Knoxville. In our view, Bob has the power and influence to get property owners to make positive changes in South Knoxville. Tao4now asserts we set out to humiliate Bob by giving him the award and that is utterly ridiculous. We gave Bob our Hall of Fame Award last year and if anything we would defend Bob's work more than any group. If anyone wants to comment on the Onion Award process or any specific Onion Award, click here and send us the comment. I'll make sure our board sees it.

- posted by Tom Salter at 9:15 PM

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Today, KKB helped the organizers of the Brewer's Jam to handle recycling of beer bottles and boxes.  The Brewer's Jam is a big fundraiser for Community Shares.  The crowd makes a donation of $30 and is able to sample beers from a wide range of independent brewers from across the nation.  It's the best day of the year for beer lovers and the Community Shares staff wanted to make it a good day for waste reduction as well.  KKB borrowed a recycle trailer from the City of Knoxville and made arrangements for Advanced Polymer Recycling to take the trailer on Monday.  We did NOT try to do a lot of recycling from the event goers - we concentrated on the back of each brewer's tent.  We got mostly cardboard (from cartons), brown glass (with a small amount of green) and some mixed paper.  In the end we captured 3,350 pounds of material.  The trailer was crammed full.  Some of our volunteers jumped up and down on the cardboard and paper bins to get more in.  Many thanks to our AmeriCorps team Ali Vertanin and Emily Nybo.  Jillian Gilbert, also of AmeriCorps and former staffer at KKB also helped.  Josh Roth, KKB's intern , his friend Will and a bunch of other people helped part of the day.  Here are some pics from the event:









POST AMENDMENT: Weight of cardboard and glass was 3,350 pounds.

- posted by KKB Staff at 9:15 PM

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Keep Knoxville Beautiful and several sponsors announced winners at its annual Orchids & Onions Awards banquet tonight.  This was the 27th annual awards banquet.

The Keep Knoxville Beautiful Hall of Fame Award went to Bob Whetsel, Public Service Director for the City of Knoxville.  Bob has helped KKB with neighborhood cleanups and recycling efforts whenever asked and has helped the organization deliver its mission.

The Keep Knoxville Beautiful Community Service Award went to Will Skelton, long time advocate for the City's Parks and Greenway System.  Will has authored two books on hiking in the Cherokee National Forest.

The News Sentinel presented its Environmental Achievement Awards in 3 categories.  The individual winner was Mt. Olive School teacher aide Sharon Gant.  Sharon has worked at the school for years and single-handedly managed their recycling program. That effort won Mt. Olive a first place national award from Keep America Beautiful in 2006 in the "Return the Warmth" competition.  All the kids at Mt. Olive won fleece jackets made from recycled plastic bottles and the school and KKB each won $1,000 Sam's gift cards.  Other nominees for the award were Mark Campen, Nelson Ross and Sam Rogers.

The Environmental Achievement Award for an organization went to The Knoxville Zoo.  In addition to litter cleanups and recycling effort, the Zoo staff have asked their vendors to reduce packaging and implemented a lot of environmental education opportunities for Zoo visitors.  Other nominees for the award were the Knox County DUI Litter Cleanup Program, Girl Scout Troop 130, Girl Scout Troop 33 and the Market Square Famer's Market.

The Environmental Achievement Award for an business went to the Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant on Cumberland.  After 4 years of planning, Mellow Mushroom installed 32 photovoltaic solar panels effectively taking the restaurant "off the grid".  [Can everyone say "photovoltaic"?  The solar power geeks refer to them as "pv" panels.]  They were the only business in Tennessee to take advantage of a state incentive program to help business with new construction designed to save energy.  The cost savings will pay for the panels in 10 years.  Other nominees for the award were the Rohm & Haas Community Partnership Program, Clean-Site LLC and Pull-A-Part.

Onion Awards were presented by Mary Lou Horner for five blighted properties.  They were an abandoned factory at 638 Maryville Pike (below left) and an old boarded up restaurant on Chapman Highway (below right).



An Onion Award went to the parking lot beside the Big Lots (below) on Moody Avenue.  This area is undergoing a lot of positive change and the judges felt this was a drag on what the community is trying to achieve.



An Onion went to the pet owners at the Sterchi Loft condos on Gay Street who "walk" their pets right outside the front entrance to the building even though there is a park about 100 feet away with pet waste disposal supplies.  A final Onion went to Po Boys Use Tires on Chapman Highway.  This property is right inside the county line and one of the first properties visitors see when they enter Knox County from The Smokies.



The Orchid Awards had a new twist this year.  In the past, we've had our volunteer judges pick 9 of the winners and our board picked the 10th or People's Choice Orchid.  There were 4 finalists for the People's Choice Award.  The properties were (clockwise from below left) the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum, the Regal Riviera Cinema 8, the Seymour Volunteer Fire Department and Cascade Falls Development.  (Click on the Cascade Falls image to see a video clip of the falls made from an old rock quarry.)  Runners up in this vote are automatically submitted to the Orchid Judge panel next year.  The winner was the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum with 37% of the vote from the audience of 250.





Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam presented the 1st Orchid Award, the Mayor's Award to West High School for construction of their new fence.  Over $90,000 was raised by parents and friends of West High to build the fence.  The 2nd Orchid, presented by City Councilwoman Barbara Pelot went to the James Park House on Cumberland Avenue downtown.



The 3rd Orchid was presented to South College.  The 4th Orchid was presented to St. Marys Medical Center, North by award sponsor Steve Ridenour of J.S. Ridenour Construction.  Steve's wife Jill said a few words about the memorial tree planted earlier this week for their son Will (see October 9th entry on this page).



The 5th Orchid was presented to Victor Ashe Park in Northwest Knoxville.  Ernie Gammon of Lamar Outdoor Advertising presented the 6th Orchid to Meade's Quarry in South Knoxville.  Ernie grew up near Meade's Quarry and it had a terrible (well deserved) reputation as a dangerous dumping ground.  He said it is now a jewel in South Knoxville.



The 7th Orchid as presented to Fountain View Plaza in Fountain City.  Katherine Seaton of the Knoxville News Sentinel presented the 8th Orchid to Stephen's Square in Mechanicsville.



The 9th Orchid was presented to Engert Plumbing and Heating for their offices off Riverside Drive.  This well preserved property includes the site of James White's second home.  The People's Choice Award, presented by Orchids & Onions co-chairs Terry Faulkner and Sam Maynard, went to the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum.  Terry is also KKB's current board president and Sam Maynard is Treasurer. 



Finally, many thanks to Robin Wilhoit of WBIR TV who served as our emcee, Fr. Ragan Schriver of All Saints Catholic Church who led the invocation and the Karns Junior NROTC Color Guard who participated during the pledge to the flag. 

- posted by KKB Staff at 11:15 PM

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Keep Knoxville Beautiful provided the tree and marker for a Living Tributes planting at Sequoyah Park for Will Ridenour.  Will was the son of Steve and Jill Ridenour and brother of Tanner.  Several hundred turned out for the planting, many of them Will's friends.





- posted by KKB Staff at 8:30 PM