No WhiteWash!

Kingsport, Tennessee could be in the same situation as Elkhart, IN if something happens to Eastman Chemical.  What does it take to wake up our politicians and get them to be more diversified in the industry here?

In hard-hit Elkhart, leaders and citizens are exploring all economic options

In a sense, the entire community is hitting the reset button. With the virtual collapse of the RV industry, long the mainstay of the economy, nearly 20 percent of workers in the area are unemployed, about triple the number a year ago. Meantime, the jobless benefits system, food banks and emergency assistance programs are struggling to meet demand, and home foreclosures are climbing. Elkhart — dubbed the “RV Capital of the World” — is scrambling to attract new industries and to retrain its workforce for new occupations. The task is more daunting amid a national economic crisis.

“We’ve not had to do it, and I guess you don’t do things when you don’t have to,” said Elkhart Mayor Dick Moore. “I think we’ve learned a lesson, and we’ve learned that we’ve got to be more diversified in the industry here.”

Read more via A city struggles: ‘We are back at square one’ – The Elkhart Project- msnbc.com.

It appears that moving the “Family Race Night” from Kingsport to the Bristol, TN race track was a success.

BRISTOL, Tenn. – By most accounts, Bristol Motor Speedway succeeded Friday in giving race fans a better chance to commune with their NASCAR heroes through a relocated and revamped Food City Race Night.

“This is unprecedented,” said Joe LaPointe, a resident of Detroit making his 10th visit to BMS. “To be this close to the drivers – this has never happened, and it certainly doesn’t work this way at other NASCAR tracks.”

Read more via NASCAR Followers Get Close to Drivers at Family Race Night | TriCities.

The City of Kingsport for the last few years have been telling the citizens how great things are going in Kingsport.

The City of Kingsport is fortunate to have Eastman, the largest employer in Tennessee, located in Kingsport.  Having a large employer is great for the revenue that it brings the city, but it also allows the city to become complacent.

In the table below you can compare Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol retail sales growth from years 2000-2008.  Johnson City has led the Tri-City area with the best growth with Bristol’s growth coming in second.

It should be pointed out that Kingsport in the last 7 quarters has only had two quarters that have been positive growth when you compare the same quarter against the same quarter the previous year.  The two positive retail sales growth quarters can be attributed to new store openings.  While it may look like it good growth, one needs to keep in mind that this is incremental growth.  The real challenge will be whether Kingsport can keep up this growth given the unemployment situation in Kingsport and  another real question is how much money can you get the citizens to give up in a bad economy?

Bristol’s growth mostly started in year 2004 and then took a nose dive in 2008.  Most of that growth could be attributed to Exit 7 stores, but the Exit 7 stores have taken a beating and many have closed.

Kingsport was fat and happy with Eastman and Sam’s Club.  But when Sam’s Club decided they would close and move to Johnson City and Bristol, then Kingsport had negative growth in the year 2007.

One can say that Kingsport has had growth, so what’s the big deal.  Read more on this below.

The retail sales data is from the following link.  Tri-Cities Retail Sales Report

Using the Kingsport retail sales dollars and applying the yearly inflation percent tells a different story.  Note the “% Growth after Inflation” column below in orange tells a different story.  The year 2003 had a positive growth of 2.53% after inflation was applied.

One can say that the retail sales for Kingsport in 2001 actually meant more for the city in buying power than the current retail sales numbers.

The graph below needs no explaining and one can see that Kingsport is not as progressive as we are led to believe.

In the City of Kingsport city population table below it shows that the % growth from 2000 to 2007 resulted in a negative growth (-1.6%), while Johnson City had the best growth of 8.2%.  Morristown growth was 4.2%.  Bristol and Greeneville both had 0.3% growth.

Sullivan County growth is static and Kingsport is even more dismal.  Even with Kingsport going the route of captured growth through forced annexations, they cannot even keep up with the death rate.

City Population Table

Kingsport has led the Tri-Cites area with the highest unemployment rate of 10.5 percent for January, 2009.  For well over a year, Kingsport has been running a higher unemployment rate which cannot be blamed solely on Eastman.

Kingsport’s unemployment rate is likely to rise even more as the full impact of the Eastman layoffs kick in.

The sad news is that as these unemployed folks look for employment to support their families, they may be forced to move out of Kingsport to take jobs elsewhere.

To view Tennessee unemployment for January, 2009, go to Labor Force Estimates

Above is the data with no spin on the data.  It is up to you to decide if Kingsport is going in the right direction.  One needs to look at who is in charge of the Kingsport government for the periods above.  Will investing in more retail or hospitality type businesses bring good paying jobs for the citizen?  What is the city doing to help the citizens?  To me it seems that the city is only looking out for itself.  I also feel that if you can get the citizens to succeed, then the city will prosper.

I am sure the Kingsport will say that they are addressing the problem with the higher education center.  But what effort is underway to get employers to locate here with jobs to handle the thousands of students that complete their training.  My guess would be that these students will have to leave the area to find good jobs.

Based on the above data, do you feel that Kingsport is as progressive as they claim to be?  Feel free to comment.

Tri-City Christian School is the owner of the old Lynn View Middle School that they acquired from Sullivan County, TN and has now closed the school and wants to sell the property.

When the county sold the school to Tri-Cities Christian Schools (TCCS), both sides signed a contract that gives Sullivan County “first right of refusal” if the private school system decides to sell the property.

The sale of the Tri-City Christian School has gotten messy with different players getting involved.  Read the links below for more background.

Sullivan County Commission divided on Lynn View

BLOUNTVILLE — Sullivan County could have less than a month to invoke a buy-back option on the former Lynn View Middle School before that option expires.

The price could be $0.

And Kingsport officials are interested in leasing or buying the property from the county for use as a community park and recreation center.

So far, however, none of that has lit much of a fire under county commissioners.

A proposal to take the first step — to say the county wants to exercise the buy-back option — failed last week to gain support from any of the Sullivan County Commission’s three primary committees.

One wonders what is really going on with this property.  Read the comment by Pastor Boyd Holder. Jr. and the concerns that he has with Commissioner Wayne McConnell.

But, it appears that the City of Kingsport is the main problem that the church has in purchasing this property.

Kingsport, Sullivan County close to pact on acquiring old Lynn View Middle School

Kingsport Mayor Dennis Phillips and City Manager John Campbell met last month with McConnell and others to discuss the future of the facility.

On Monday, McConnell came before the entire Kingsport Board of Mayor and Aldermen to further discuss acquiring the property.

The property in question consists of two pieces — the school building on the north side (6 acres) and the ball fields on the south side (10 acres). A day-care center is located in the facility, and the Optimist Club operates its youth sports programs for about 900 children each year on the fields. The BMA would like to see both of these operations continue if Kingsport acquires the property.

Since the City of Kingsport appears to want the property, I would like to suggest that Pastor Boyd Holder take his entire congregation to the next BMA meeting.  Then on TV explain to the BMA why you want the property.  The congregation should feel comfortable in the courtroom where the BMA meeting is held because the seats look just like church pews.

Who do you think should purchase the school?

Interviews with parents of school age children in the Rock Springs area indicate that they are very concerned about the City of Kingsport,TN  busing policy

The Kingsport, TN City School Policy Manual states:

“Students whose place of residence is one and one-half (1 ½) miles or more from their assigned school shall be eligible for transportation services”

The less than 1 ½ miles will have a major impact on parents whose children will be attending the new John Adams School in the Rock Springs Road area.

Currently, Sullivan County provides school bus transportation for students, but after being annexed into the city means that children will either have to walk to the John Adams school or parents will need to drive them there if they are less than 1 ½ miles from the school.

I see a problem with the children walking to school.  First, there are no sidewalks and no parent in their right mind would ever let their child walk to school via Rock Springs Rd.

Also, the Rock Springs Road in it’s present state will not be able to handle the influx of parents driving their children to the school.

The city is asking for homeowners to voluntarily request to be annexed into the City of Kingsport, TN.

Without a change in bus policy it is clear that the Sullivan County homeowners will have to give up something that the city does not offer.

The City of Kingsport needs to understand that this new school is not your typical city school.  This new school is located in a rural area where there are cow pastures and hay fields.  In fact, the school that is being built will be on a former cow pasture.

Below are the improvements that the city states that will be done.  The road work stops at Rock Spring Drive.  What are the plans to improve the entire Rock Springs Road to the school and beyond?

“Rock Springs Road Improvements – This project involves upgrading Rock Springs Road from the southwesterly City Limits to Rock Springs Drive (SR 347) to an improved two-lane section. It will provide wider travel lanes, shoulder and some realignments at key locations to improve safety.”

To this writer, it appears that the City of Kingsport is more concerned about MeadowView Convention Center Expansion, Aquatic Center, V.O.Dobbins Center, etc than the safely of school children.  See post Rock Springs Rd – Still dangerous to travel

The City of Kingsport has been talking for years about doing improvements.  Mayor Phillips who is running for re-election must address this safety now because the new school will be open in the fall of 2009.

The administration of Mayor Dennis Phillips recently sent the letter below to residents in the Rock Springs Road area.

The letter is an attempt to get homeowners to voluntarily request to be annexed into the City of Kingsport, TN.

The letter also attempts to paint a rosy picture on how much better homeowners would be if they were within the city.

The mailing from Kingsport does it show the real cost of water or sewer tap fees or other costs, but the letter is borderline misleading.  The statement, “Residents with school age children who desire to attend city schools will realize even greater savings” is simply not true.  To my knowledge, the county does not charge tuition and neither does the city to attend the schools. 

The letter states that the costs are minimal.  The city needs to get real, because most homeowners know that their property taxes will almost double.  The letter states that trash collection is free.  How does the city get by saying it is free when you pay them the property tax that pays for the trash collection?  If the insurance company insured the house for free, it will still cost the homeowner more to be in the city.

The bottom line is that the city wants to continue the “forced annexations” and it does not matter what the homeowners think about it.  They are going to annex you because they in simple terms want the revenue from you because the population in Kingsport is declining and Kingsport is losing its tax base.  The additional revenue from annexations is needed for the spending binge that the city has been on.

A homeowner told me, “Why should I agree to be annexed now and start paying taxes and it could take up to five years to get the sewer installed?”  The homeowner also stated that they were more concerned about staying employed in this economic crisis than getting annexed.

The recent “forced annexations” over the last few years have resulted in hard feelings on the part of the homeowners.  This election, they get to vote and I am sure that they will return the favor by voting for someone other than Mayor Dennis Phillips.  I know Mayor Phillips is running unopposed, but they could also vote for a write-in candidate.

I want to thank the homeowner for me sending the letter below and other materials from the City of Kingsport.

29 January 2009

Dear Property Owner:

The annexation of your area will be considered by the Kingsport Regional Planning Commission in 2009. Future mailings from the Kingsport Planning Department will outline specific dates and meeting times for all annexation pertaining to your property. As some of you may be aware, previous Rock Springs annexations have been delayed by lawsuits filed by a handful of property owners.

An unfortunate side effect of annexation litigation is that court action prevents the city from annexing others who desire to become city residents, even if they are not party to a lawsuit

To avoid such a dilemma, the City of Kingsport is providing you with an opportunity to petition for annexation now, thus avoiding potential delays with the annexation of your property in the future.

There are many services available to city residents which are not provided by county government. A full description of these benefits is enclosed with this letter, along with an annexation cost-benefit worksheet.

For many potential city residents, the costs are minimal after taking into account lower home owners insurance due to better police and fire protection, dramatically lower water/sewer rates and free residential garbage disposal.

Residents with school age children who desire to attend city schools will realize even greater savings. However, county schools remain available to your children even if you reside inside Kingsport city limits.

In order to bring your property into the city, the Planning Department will need to receive the signed petition (attached) from you no later than 3 March 2009.

For assistance with the worksheet or other questions, please call the Kingsport Planning Department at (423) 229-9485.

Sincerely,

Ken Weems
Planner

City Hall       225 West Center Street       Kingsport, TN       37660-4237       (423) 229-9400
The Model City – Built by design and planning for the future.

East TN Conservative blog tells how to do the write-in for Mayor of Kingsport

It is disappointing that Mayor Dennis Phillips in the Kingsport, Tennessee election for mayor will not have an opponent in the race.  Having no opposition or successful write in campaign means that Dennis Phillips will win a third term.  It is a sad day for the citizens of Kingsport.

The big money interests have prevailed and in my opinion we can expect more of the same out of Dennis Phillips which is Tax, Borrow, and Spend.

I had never gotten involved very much in political matters until I began to see first hand what was happening in the City of Kingsport.

I have seen first hand, city leaders make a promise to citizens and then turn around and break that promise.  I have seen the cocky and arrogate attitude displayed by Mayor Phillips toward the citizens of Kingsport and that disturbed me very much.

I have dug down deep enough into the inner workings in Kingsport to give me a pretty good view that Mayor Phillips is going to do what he wants to do and that’s it period.  Unless you are a pal of Mayor Phillips, you can just about forget it.

I have reported in this blog many times about the attempts by Mayor Phillips administration to misrepresent data that would make the city look better.

The bottom line is if Mayor Phillips wants to do something, he has the votes from other BMA members (Joh Mallicote, Shupe and Munsey) to back him up.  It does not matter if the citizens object because he has the votes to do it.

Do not be discouraged and not vote in this election.  It is even more important that you do vote because there are three Alderman seats that are up for grabs.  There are some candidates for the Alderman positions that believe exactly what the mayor preaches.  It this happens, then we have no checks and balances in the BMA.  We would have a another rubber stamp for the mayor’s position.

While Mayor Phillips has been mayor, we have seen record spending on pet projects.  Unemployment in Kingsport is the highest in the Tri-City region.  This unemployment was high even before the so called recession hit the nation.  We see the emphasis being put to make Kingsport a destination city for tourists.  We have seen the emphasis to increase retail, but no emphasis to attract companies that can come to the area with good paying jobs to support the retail firms that are here.

This blog has done hundreds of posts concerning Kingsport’s government.  As a suggestion, enter the name “Phillips” in the search box in the upper right-hand corner.  All posts will be displayed and the word “Phillips” will be highlighted.

I will continue to report via this blog, issues that pertain to the Kingsport, TN Government.

Out there in cow pasture country is a housing development that seems to get it’s way with the Kingsport, Tennessee City government.

On the recently annexed Rock Springs Road is a new housing development called Edinburgh.  This housing development states that up to 330 new homes will be built and will be the location of a new John Adams city school that is now under construction.  The developer of the Edinburgh development gave the city the land to build the school on and the city will need to bus in 125 students from other areas to help fill up the school.

The Edinburgh developer went to a BMA meeting and there were discussions about doing road work at the Edinburgh location.  They even had a local resident come to the meeting and state how bad the road was.  They even mentioned that in the 1950’s a lady got killed on the road and some teenagers flipped their car also. 

The developer got the roadwork approved and the developer paid for the grading, but guess what, the city paid for the paving, curbs and sidewalk on a country road.  This is a sidewalk that leads to nowhere and is about 400 feet long.

One has to drive almost two miles from I-26 on Rock Springs Road going past cow pastures and hay fields to get to this sidewalk.

Safety was mentioned as a reason to do the roadwork, but local folks know that the real reason was to make the Edinburgh development more attractive.  To cite someone getting killed on that road near the Edinburgh in the 1950’s when it was likely a dirt road is really stretching it a bit and the section that had the road work done was no more dangerous than other areas of Rock Springs Road.

My whole point in the above is Kingsport city government is willing to help new developments with sidewalks and curbs, but has failed to provide the same in older established neighborhoods.

If you feel that this is unfair, then ask Mayor Phillips to install a sidewalk in front of your property.  Better yet, get the entire neighborhood organized where you live and request your sidewalks.  I am sure that Mayor Phillips will be more than willing to help you with your sidewalks in an election year.

The response of citizens on Kingsport Times-News articles below show that folks are voicing their concerns in a big way by leaving comments at the end of the Times-News articles below.

If you are interested in the direction this city is headed then take the time to review the articles and the comments.

You can click on the word “Comments” to take you directly to the comments for the article.  Express your concerns via a comment if you desire.

The real question is the City of Kingsport listing to the commenter’s?

It’s your city…..get involved!

Kingsport aquatic center aims to make a big splash » Comments

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