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.