I'm Ellen Smith, member of the Oak Ridge City Council from June 2007 to November 2012. Thank you for visiting my blog and reading my views on public and private life in and around Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This website is my own (and has been used for my campaigns). To add your own comments, click on the topic title to open a comment box. To read posts about a particular topic, scroll down to "Categories" (in the sidebar) or use the "Search" box in the sidebar. Look under "Archives" to see collections of past posts organized by date.
Surprise! Today’s Knoxville News Sentinel business section features a full-page spread about my husband, Rich Norby, and the ORNL research experiment he heads up. There’s an article and a large diagram of the FACE (free-air CO2 enrichment) facility where a stand of sweetgum trees is exposed to elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide in studies [...]
Previously I posted my views on the Crestpointe proposal. The obvious follow-up question is “What would you do instead?” My answer is “Let’s commit to redevelopment of the City Center.” A little history may be necessary to explain what I’m talking about… Back in 2000 the City (with the help of consultants) developed — and [...]
Well, if you have been paying attention, you know that on Monday evening the City Council passed a resolution authorizing the issuance of up to $6 million in general obligation bonds for the Crestpointe project. Actually, the bond resolution doesn’t name Crestpointe; instead, it says the bonds would pay for various types of generic civic [...]
Oak Ridge may have its share of contentious local issues, but we can take pride in being a progressive community where government employees are professionals — unlike certain neighboring communities where nepotism seems to be standard operating procedure, as Average Woman discusses today.
Well, it’s no secret that I’m a candidate for City Council in the June 5, 2007, election (with the filing deadline still several weeks away, all of the local papers have reported that I have filed as a candidate). It’s also no secret that the hottest local issue of the season is the proposal for [...]
Earlier this week the Knoxville News Sentinel reported on the phenomenon (discussed here earlier) of local governments employing Washington, DC lobbyists to give “extra muscle” in seeking targeted pork-barrel funding for local projects. The report indicates a new dubious distinction for Oak Ridge — we spend more on federal lobbying than any other local government [...]
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