No WhiteWash!

The city of Kingsport, TN has decided to build the aquatic center in the MeadowView area.

In the table below, you can see what groups of people will get the most use from the aquatic center.  It appears that the lower income and seniors will be impacted more when the current Legions pool is shut down in the future.

Deputy City Manager Jeff Fleming crafted — at the committee’s request — a demographics report on all three sites and found the Meadowview site would be the closest to a majority of people living in the greater Kingsport area.

Click here to see the Demographic Analysis for Aquatic Center.  Study the data and the criteria used and you might see that the data might have been presented in such a way as to favor the MeadowView area.

Update: This blog has sent the post below to 83 people via email or U.S.Mail that are in the list below.

Kingsport Board of Mayor and Alderman
Mayor of Sullivan County
Sullivan County Commissioners
Bristol City Council
Bluff City Mayor and Alderman
Kingsport Chamber of Commerce
Tennessee Legislators for North East TN
U.S. Congress Legislators for North East TN
Commissioner Matt Kisber- TN Economic & Community Development
Governor Phil Bredesen
Tennessee Candidates for Governor
NETWORKS Sullivan Partnership Board of Directors and Members

I am sure that the past and current elected leaders will want this graph and the facts below to disappear because it reflects on their lack of response to address the problem with Sullivan County and its cities in its declining population and other problems in the Sullivan County area.  This blog will continue to expose the facts and there will be ”No Spin” and “No WhiteWash! of the data presented on this blog.

Top Eleven Largest Counties Population – 1980 to 2030

Data for the graph and the table below is from the following links State and County Population and Population Projections for the State of Tennessee

Other Facts

• In 1980, Sullivan County was the fifth largest county and it is estimated that in 2030, Sullivan County will be the eleventh largest county.
• The population of Sullivan County is an older population and the median age for Sullivan County is 42.9 years, Tennessee is 37.2 years and Florida is 39.8 years.  The Percent 65 Years and Over for Kingsport is 20.1%, Bristol is 19.5%, Sullivan County is 17.8% and Florida is 17.4%.
• Sullivan County and its cities, (Kingsport and Bristol) have a large number of young adults leaving the area.
• The death rate for Sullivan County is more than the birth rate.
• Sullivan County birth rate is low as compared to the state.
• Sullivan County only gained 852 people between years 2000 to 2008 which gave a net gain of 0.56 percent growth.
• Average Household median income is low for the area.  Kingsport is $34,391, Bristol is $36,454, and Sullivan County is $37,559. Two people in the same household making the new Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would make $30,160 per year.
• The percent of poverty for those 65 and older in Sullivan County, TN is 12.2%, Kingsport is 11.6%, and Bristol is 16.2%. These percentages are 2007 numbers and could be higher due to the recession.  The household median income for 65 and older in Sullivan County is $28,070.
• The poverty level for Kingsport is 18%, Bristol is 14.6%, and Sullivan County is 15.8%.  These percentages are 2007 numbers and could be higher due to the recession.  Poverty level for 2009 is defined for a person’s income to be $10,830 per year.
• Kiplinger’s Personal Finance survey rates the Kingsport MSA as having the highest cost of living, low median income and the worst job growth out of 10 major cities/metro areas in Tennessee.
• The area unemployment is high with Kingsport having the highest unemployment – See link for more details Jobs/Unemployment
• The Republican Party has continuously controlled Tennessee’s 1st Congressional District since 1881.  It appears for the most part that most of the new jobs are going to the more Democrat Party area.
• Kingsport has publicly stated that they would like to make Kingsport a destination city for visitors to the area while not addressing the real problems the area faces.  Spending the tax payers’ money to obtain a short-cut to generate revenue, in my view, does not help the average citizen. Spending money for a conference center expansion and aquatic center will not solve the area’s problems.  The aquatic center will not make any difference when one needs a job and there is not one available locally.  By the same token, if a job exists in the area and you need it badly, then the aquatic center does not enter the picture.
• The area has one of the largest employers (Eastman Chemical) in the state and a major tourist attraction (Bristol Nascar Race).  It appears that the elected leaders have become complacent about finding new good paying jobs because these two businesses have not increased the population and/or stopped the exit of young adults leaving the area.
• Kingsport is the largest city in Sullivan County and is proud of its reputation for having good schools.  Dobyns-Bennett High School has been named by Newsweek magazine as one of the top high schools in the country.  Having great schools apparently is not enough to keep the young adults from leaving the area in search of good paying jobs.
• Kingsport has built a Higher Education Center, but I have a concern that there will not be the needed jobs in the area for those who finish their education.  I am for education, but with the large number of students, and with nothing major coming in as far as jobs, many will leave to look elsewhere for jobs.  Increasing the percentage of college graduates in the area is good, but the percentage of college graduates might be skewed because of the number of college educated young people leaving the area and the fact that the large percentage of older folks that do not have higher education.
• It appears that local cities are striving to get new retail business into the area as an easy way to increase revenue.  Having retail is a quick way to get revenue, but as retail increases in a given city, then the share that retailers gets decreases because they have to share retail sales among many retailers.  I think a better approach would be to increase the flow of money into the area via good paying jobs, which would  provide for longer term stability for these retailers and this will also increase the standard of living for city/county citizens.
• Because of declining revenues or increased spending, cities in Sullivan County have chosen to annex new areas for the tax revenue, increase their population, and to enable the city to borrow more because of the increased asset value.  This helps the cities, but decreases the already low standard of living for the citizens.

Conclusion

The facts presented above may concern some that bringing out these issues will cause folks or businesses to avoid the North East Tennessee area.  The facts presented above are available to anyone who desires to do research.  I am sure that any large company would do their research before deciding to invest in Sullivan County.  I also feel that “enough is enough” and the issues need to be up-front and center stage to be addressed.  No more hiding the issues….deal with them head on so the region will begin to respond economically. Good paying jobs in my view is what is needed to restore what has been lost.

There must be lots of jobs and a few hundred will not do.  It should be a broad mix of jobs that would be attractive to different types of workers who have different skills or educational training.

We need elected officials that will not cater to special interests groups or use get rich quick schemes to get revenue into the local government.  Get the money flowing into the area via good paying jobs and then the region might become attractive to those job seekers. The current and past economic development efforts are not working and efforts need to be stepped up and action is needed now.  If the economic development people are not capable of delivering results, then they need to be replaced.  If local politics are hindering the economic development efforts, then that needs to be exposed and addressed.

If you are an elected official or economic development person and your views or lack of vision is holding up the region from rebounding, then you need to step aside.

What you can do?

• Go to BMA and Sullivan County Commissioners meetings and make your views known.
• Talk to your BMA or Sullivan County Commissioners individually.
• Talk to your neighbors and friends and get them involved.
• Send this post via email to your friends and neighbors.
• Talk to your U.S  Congress Legislators. and Tennessee Legislators
• Vote in the next election for those that can address the area’s problems
• Keep the pressure on the elected officials.
• Write letters to the editors at the local newspapers (Kingsport and Bristol).  Let this blog know if your letter to the editor is refused and provide a copy via the “You Report It! menu item at the top of the this page.
• Participate in local talk radio shows to express your views.
• Start your own blog.
• Now is the time to voice your concerns before taxes are raised in the future

Comments are Welcome

Please feel free to add comments via this blog

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 Times-News

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.

Kingsport aquatic center aims to make a big splash » Comments

Joh seeks re-election to Kingsport BMA » Comments

BMA approves contract for aquatic center » Comments

Kingsport set to pick planner, engineer for aquatic center » Comments

Listen to the April 21 WJCW radio interview with Valerie Joh who is seeking re-election as Alderman on the Kingsport Board of Mayor and Alderman

Click here for interview

In this interview, Valerie Joh discussed the Aquatic Center.  She stated that Meadowview is the center of the population for all kids in Kingsport.  Simply put, Valerie Joh wants the Aquatic Center located at Meadowview!!

A recent Kingsport Times-News article below gives additional information on Valerie Joh.

Joh, a six-year incumbent on the BMA, is the owner of Blue Ridge Properties of Kingsport. Joh said she knows her way around a budget and has a vested interest in Kingsport — three children and six grandchildren.

“I think our biggest challenge is to try and keep a positive outlook. We have got Kingsport on a roll, we’re looking positively at things that are going on, and I think we need to find a way to keep that atmosphere here,” Joh said. “In over 38 years of selling real estate, I have never once ran into a family who said I’m going to live here because your taxes are lower than Johnson City’s or Bristol’s. That’s not the biggest issue we deal with.

“I want to keep your property values high because that’s your biggest investment you make. To do that we have to keep Kingsport positive.”

When Joh ran for re-election four years ago, she said her main issue was downtown revitalization. This time around, she said Kingsport should work to develop more places to live and shop downtown and to do more to improve the Kingsport Public Library.

“It is behind the times when compared to the libraries of our sister cities,” Joh said.

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.

The Kingsport, Tennessee Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting held on February 3, 2009, was indeed a very lively one with much discussion concerning the aquatic center.

The issue was for approving money so the city could begin to come up with detailed drawings.  However, the issue with the location came up with Mallicote again restating his opposition to the aquatic center located at Meadowview.  Alderman Marsh and Shull also voiced their concerns with the Meadowview location.

Alderwoman Valarie Joh was not a happy camper in this discussion.  She stated that the BMA had already voted on the Meadowview location.  That statement is true, but Mallicote, Shull and Marsh did vote against the Meadowview location last summer.

Alderwoman Joh has stated that in past meetings that Marsh and Shull were sore losers because they lost the vote.   Well Mrs. Joh, it appears also that the citizens of Kingsport are also sore losers because of the large numbers that are expressing their concerns over the location of the aquatic center.

On August 30, 2008, I wrote the following.

Kingsport, Tennessee has decided to build a new aquatic center at Meadowview and to co-locate with the YMCA.

The very vocal concerns expressed by local citizens over the location of the aquatic have fallen upon deaf ears by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.  The citizens are calling for a petition to stop the aquatic center and voting the current BMA out of office.  Never before have I seen Kingsport citizens more angry.

I have not written a post of this issue before, but privately I felt that the BMA would vote to place the aquatic center in the Meadowview area.  It appears that certain members of the BMA have decided to railroad this issue to a vote.  The very short two-day notice of a public meeting was a good indication to me that the BMA wanted to push the aquatic center.  Giving the public two-day notice of a public meeting to me is not ample notice for an aquatic center that has been in the works a long time.

I would like to add that Alderman Shull, Alderman Marsh, and Vice Mayor Mallicote voted against putting the aquatic center in the Meadowview area.

Also, it appears that the City of Kingsport does not care about other small businesses by competing with them.  Giving the YMCA the aquatic center to operate and who is not paying for the center, gives the YMCA an advantage over other firms who provide a similar service.

What are your views on this subject?  Leave a comment.

During the vote last summer Larry Munsey started the idea about keeping the Legion Pool open for a a year.  In the meeting this week, it was discussed about keeping it open for two years.  Keeping the legion pool open for a period of time will not satisfy the citizens concerns because the city plans to shut it down later.

Do we really want the expense of operating two pools?   See how these ideas “evolve”.  I guess you can do anything if you spend enough money.  This points to the greater problem – the BMA refuses to distinguish between NEEDS vs. WANTS and will not prioritize spending.

The City Manager envisions turning the Legion area into something like the Splash Pad at Riverview.  In short, we need to see some cost and usage data to really make up my mind.

Kingsport’s history is to get hit later than the rest of the country during a recession, but to also Recover Later.

What are your thoughts on the aquatic center?

I think that your readers may be interested in a quick history on the Aquatic Center.

Before I joined the BMA the board established a fund to repair the Legion Pool. Previous Boards “raided” that fund. The City tried patching the pool several times, but the pool continued to leak.

The BMA then considered starting over again with a new pool in current location. Then the board began entertaining the idea of also having an indoor pool, quickly emerged into the Aquatic Center concept.

Let’s pause – the entire BMA agreed that the current situation – leaking old pool was unacceptable. But then the differences in opinions began to emerge as the City staff provided different versions of an Aquatic Center. While ALL members requested that the City manager discuss the situation with the YMCA, it was never immediately agreed upon (as was inferred last night at the BMA business meeting) that the city would enter the type of agreement with the YMCA that we seem to be headed toward.

Last summer we had a special called session to decide 2 issues: 1) Location of the pool, and 2) Should it be co-located with the YMCA. I voted against BOTH for the following reasons.

- The Meadowview is not the ideal location for the pool. I won’t elaborate here, but I would be glad to discuss further with any citizen. I favored the Legion Pool area

- Co-locating with the YMCA gives them a tremendous competitive advantage over the other fitness center operators. In effect, the city would be subsidizing an already NON-PROFIT organization to the detriment of tax-paying enterprises in the city (Great Body Company and others).

I asked the question of Mr. Gray, the YMCA Board President, that night – what would the Y do if the city built a world-class outdoor pool at the legion area? He replied that they would go forth with their plans (an outdoor & indoor pool plus fitness center) at their site behind K-Mart. He ALSO assured us that they had the funding to do this.

I immediately proposed to my fellow members that we build the city facility at Legion (a great new outdoor pool) and let the YMCA build theirs. Please note that the citizens of Kingsport would then have two options for indoor swimming – the Dobyns-Bennett pool and the YMCA.

Not only do I believe this to be the best option, I’m even more strongly for it considering the Recession that we are now in. What’s wrong with saving tax-payer dollars.

As a side note about the DB pool. It belongs to the citizens – we simply need to get that point across to the BOE.

One other point – under the current concept the Y will only build a fitness center (no pools) right next door to the City Aquatic Center. This will save them a lot of money. I have nothing against the Y. But I’m interested in saving the City money.

Thank you.

Pat Shull, Alderman