R. Neal tells us the Governor’s construction budget has earmarked $2M for the project, even though the project is supposedly done for. If I were a betting man, I’d wager there will be a push for it again.

The Blount County Commission delayed the vote.

Good: The Blount County Commission on Thursday night voted not to fund its $11.9 million portion of a proposed $55 million Civic Arts Center at Maryville College. Because the measure needed 11 votes to pass, and 10 commissioners voted for the measure and 10 voted against it, the four hour commission meeting ended with Civic […]

I’ve covered this plenty of times but here’s the latest at The Daily Times: Citizens for and against a proposed civic arts center have one thing in common: they’re busy lobbying their county commissioners this week. The Blount County Commission will decide Thursday whether to fund its $11.9 million portion of the $55 million facility. […]

In my hometown, there is a moratorium on new residential land development. The reason for this is that the city doesn’t have enough schools and approving more subdivisions would strain those schools even more. So, why is the city (my the city) paying for the Civic Arts Center to the tune of over $9M? Seems […]

There’s a push for a local Civic Arts Center in Blount County. Supposedly, it exists to bring culture to our fair county. They way the scam works is that our local college will put up some money, as will the County and a few cities. They’ll build it and the college will assume responsibility for […]

It’s odd. But I tend to follow the local goings on in The City (My The City). But I had no idea there was a proposed 1/2% sales tax increase on the ballot. It is, of course, for the childrentm. I got spam in the mail from Blount Countians for Educational Excellence telling me I […]

Looks like the civic arts center is moving forward without the county.

Again, the Blount County Commission voted No on the civic arts center. Excellent. Update: More at Knoxviews. Update 2: Testing Knoxviews trackbacks.

Or I have a pipe dream. Blount Today is reporting that the latest in the epic battle for the Civic Arts center is an idea to have it paid for by hotel/motel taxes: In a phone conversation on Friday, Keeble explained how the facility could be funded. Keeble and McCall had not yet spoken with […]

The Civic Arts Center is rearing its head again: A civic arts center, presumed dead after a 10-10 vote last month, will get new life at the Blount County Commission meeting next week. Commissioners John Keeble and Jeff McCall have resurrected the center with a resolution that would designate the county’s share of the hotel/motel […]

In Blount County, the powers that be want to build this fantastic boondoggle known as the Civic Arts Center. The scam was supported last week by the city (my the city) of Maryville who agreed to waste $9M of tax payer money on this fiasco. Now, the city (not my the city) of Alcoa has […]

A couple of times, I’ve mentioned this proposal for a civic arts center in my hometown. I’ve said it’s a waste, won’t be successful and that it basically is a way for taxpayers to foot the bill for Maryville College. Well, it looks like this soon-to-be-known-as-a-colossal-failure is moving forward: The city of Maryville on Tuesday […]

There are many reasons the City of Knoxville should go back to the drawing board with the proposed sale of the Candy Factory. There have been many problems with both process and participation. The problems with process are many. First it is unknown how much money the City of Knoxville has spent maintaining and repairing […]

Several months ago I wrote about the Candy Factory. I asked the question how the Candy Factory was different from a City Park. The City of Knoxville spends over 10 million dollars per year on parks and recreation. The third rail of politics in Knoxville is that a City Park would never be sold to […]

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