Kingsport’s Controversial Aquatic Pool Delayed by Election
It is election time in Kingsport and the controversial Aquatic Center has been delayed until the election is over.
It has been voted on that the pool will be in the MeadowView area. However, the mayor has run into some difficulty after finding out that the citizens objected to the location and the spending of taxpayers money for the Aquatic Center.
Since the city has run into difficulty getting citizens buy in on the MeadowView location, they will be undertaking a massive public relations effort to change citizens minds about the Aquatic Center and the MeadowView location. See the Times-News article below.
Also, note that there is to be information on the city website concerning the Aquatic Center. Why is the web site not available for pubic input? I do believe John Campbell stated that construction could begin in August on the Aquatic Center.
Alderwoman Valerie Joh who is running for re-election has stated that this is her “pet project” and the MeadowView location is is the center of the population for all kids in Kingsport. Simply put, Valerie Joh wants the Aquatic Center located at Meadowview!!
One also needs to understand that Valerie Joh owns Blue Ridge Properties, a real estate firm with many office locations in the Kingsport area. The MeadowView location would make it more accessible for tourists and the City of Kingsport has made it known that they want to go after the tourist business.
Colette George, who is Valerie Joh’s daughter is chairman of the Executive Committee for Kingsport Convention and Visitors Bureau and also is connected with Blue Ridge properties. Colette George is also on the Kingsport Planning Commission. Colette George husband, Ron George is also a member on the Kingsport Board of Education. Also, Alderman Larry Munsey is the BMA Liaison to the Kingsport Convention and Visitors Bureau.
My point to the above Valerie Joh connections is a lot of the decisions and planning are hard-wired before it even gets to the public.
Kingsport does plan to keep Legion Pool open for a year or two after the aquatic center opens to gauge usage at the old facility.
Chris McCartt, assistant to the city manager, gave a project update to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Monday. The BMA is slated to vote Tuesday night to employ the engineering and planning firms and allocate $360,000 for phase one of the project.
Phase one of the project will take about five months to complete and consist of programming (the types of features found at the facility), schematic design and design development, McCartt said.
“We know we want an indoor lap pool, some kind of indoor recreation component, and some form of therapeutic/warm water pool. Outside we want to have water park features,” McCartt said. “What that consists of, the design team, aquatics specialists and the public will come in and offer their suggestions.
“The elements are somewhat set in stone. What’s comprised of those elements are what we’re going to be working on over the next five months.”
McCartt said the city is not replicating Legion Pool at the new site. The new facility will have multiple pools for multiple uses, along with numerous features for families and children.
Kingsport plans to solicit input from the public through the city’s Web site, Channel 16 and public meetings. The Web site will also be updated periodically with updates and notices of meetings.
“Folks will be able to come to the public meetings and look at the possibilities and what the indoor and outdoor components are going to be,” McCartt said. “We take all that stuff, cook it down and find what will work for Kingsport.”
Mayor insults citizens
February 15th, 2009
It is an election year in Kingsport, Tennessee for members of the Board of Mayor and Alderman. Mayor Dennis Phillips is running for re-election and has managed to insult the voters in his bull-headed attempt to put the aquatic center in an area where he wants it, but the citizens do not.
The mayor recently made the statement below as reported by the Kingsport Times-News.
“We have got to do a better job of getting this whole thing down to the eighth-grade level to where we can all understand it. I think that we need to get the word out of who we’re building the pool for,” Phillips said.
The above statement by the mayor should tell the citizens what the mayor thinks about their intelligence. Clearly, this is an insult..
Mayor Phillips is attempting to resell the concept of putting the aquatic center in the Meadowview area. He has managed to get very strong vocal opposition to it being placed in the Meadowview area and opposition to it being built in this economy.
This issue has been hard wired from the very beginning. First, it was the committee appointed by the mayor to make recommendations where to place the pool. It came out in the February 3, 2009 BMA meeting that the findings of the committee were flawed because of the very narrow marching orders given to the committee. Also, who do you think made presentations to the committee? Apparently, the committee believed the data presented by the city and we have seen in the past that the city is capable of not telling the full story sometimes.
The demographic analysis stated that the Meadowview area was the “closest proximity to home owners” is also flawed. I guess the city thought the citizens would believe that statement when in fact there is no way it can be true. I have reported many times concerning the city twisting the truth to get the effect they wanted.
The mayor states. “At the same time, we will maintain some type of city water feature at Legion Pool for the foreseeable future. We’re not going to abandon those children.” The city talks about keeping the Legion Pool open for one to two years after the aquatic center opens. Well, Mr. Mayor, when you close the Legion Pool after one or two years, then you are in fact abandoning the children.
Phillips said the city would somehow make the aquatic center available to people who can’t afford the fees and find a way to help some people get to the new facility. Nothing has been said about the fees that would be charged. Mayor Phillips statement makes be believe that the fees will be higher than the Legion Pool.
“This aquatic center is an investment in our city, and you have to invest in your city to get people to come,” Phillips said. Apparently the mayor is willing to invest money to get tourists to come to Kingsport, but not willing to invest to help lower the high unemployment rate in Kingsport.
Clearly, the mayor and city manager are on a public relations blitz to keep this project going.
I encourage you to read the entire Kingsport Times-News article (including comments) and also see post, Kingsport’s aquatic center in deep water
Comments are welcome.
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