I missed the notice in the newspaper (and can’t find it anywhere on the Oak Ridger website), but it’s household trash pickup time in Oak Ridge — a once-a-year event.
According to the city website, pickup started yesterday on the west side of town. My street is on the schedule for tomorrow, which explains the junk that’s been appearing at curbside.
The trash pickup is scheduled to continue until about April 18. Brush pickup will follow, beginning April 28, 2008.
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Closely related to the subject of trash is recycling. There’s good news on the Oak Ridge recycling front — all types of recyclable plastic (numbers 1 through 7) are now being collected for recycling at the Waste Connections convenience center on the east side of town. Curbside recycling plastic collection is still limited to #1 and #2, though. Prepare for Earth Day (April 12th at the Civic Center) by expanding your household’s recycling effort!
Recently I’ve gotten involved in planning for an Earth Day event in Oak Ridge. On Saturday afternoon, April 12th, at the Oak Ridge Civic Center, there will be exhibits, speakers, a “kids’ village,” and live music from some of the region’s best-known bands. The theme of the event is Planting the Seeds of Change, and the event goals are “to educate, encourage, and empower the citizens of Oak Ridge and surrounding communities to create a sustainable community.” The people behind this event have a lot of energy and a lot of good ideas, so I’m looking forward to a fun (and free) community-based festival that will help make Oak Ridge a greener community. See OakRidgeEarthDay.com for details and updates. (Note: It’s not too late to volunteer to be an exhibitor or to help out on the day of the event, and the organizers are still looking for financial sponsors.)
The week before the Earth Day event, on Friday evening, April 4th, folk musician John McCutcheon will be performing in town, thanks to the efforts of up-and-coming local impresario Allen McBride. In years past I’ve enjoyed hearing McCutcheon perform at the Laurel Theater in Knoxville and at the Children’s Museum in Oak Ridge, but this will be our first chance to hear him in the new performance space in the former Grove Theater. All profits will benefit wheelchair accessibility at the
Children’s Museum. Check out Allen McBride’s website for details.
On the subject of festivals, Oak Ridge’s annual Secret City Festival is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, June 20 and 21, 2008. I’m told that this event brings a lot of people to town who wouldn’t come here otherwise, and that many of them go away with a favorable impression of our city. (Based on conversations I had last weekend at the Children’s Museum’s International Festival, it has the same type of effect, but on a smaller scale.) The “big name” musical entertainment on Friday will be the ’60s-’70s rock throwback The Turtles and Saturday night’s entertainment will be by Mary Wilson of the Supremes, of Motown fame.
Tuesday, February 19, is the day when local residents can tell DOE that we want the K-25 North Tower (a big structure, but a small part of the massive K-25 building) preserved to help tell the story of the Manhattan Project to future generations. 
A meeting to get public input on the future of K-25 is being held Tuesday from 5-8 pm at the New Hope Center at Y-12 (that’s the fancy new building on Scarboro Road). The meeting, cosponsored by the Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board and the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, is being conducted for the express purpose of telling DOE what the public thinks. If you can’t make it to the meeting, you can express an opinion online at K-25 Historic Building Questionnaire — fill in the questionnaire and hit “Submit”; an email message containing your responses will be generated, ready to send to DOE.
The next City Council “Night Out” will be held this coming Tuesday evening, February 12, 6 to 8 pm, at the Oak Ridge Civic Center, in the A/B and Club Rooms.
These “nights out” are intended to be an opportunity for citizens to meet informally (and one-on-one) with City Council members and City staff.
I’m pleased that the staff will bring copies of TDOT’s plans for the upcoming widening of West Oak Ridge Turnpike (formally called “State Route 95/58 Road Project”) so residents can learn more about what’s planned and discuss concerns about the project.
If I remember the details correctly, this project is supposed to add a 5th lane between Illinois and Jefferson Avenues, a grassed median (with cuts for turning access) from Jefferson west to the gatehouse at the west end of the Turnpike, sidewalks for the whole distance from Illinois Ave to the gatehouse, and curbs and gutters (to replace the existing roadside ditches) for the entire project length.
Although this is talked about as a highway project, a major focus of community interest has been on sidewalks and bicycle facilities. Also, there’s been concern about how it will affect properties along the route, especially the maple trees in front of the Rolling Hills apartment complex (a.k.a. Garden Apartments). The last I heard, the maple trees were going to survive, but there has been conflicting information around town about matters such as the fate of the trees and whether or not there will a dedicated bike lane on the shoulder (the answer seems to be that there will be a fairly wide paved shoulder, but not a marked bike lane). I asked staff to use this “night out” as an opportunity for the public to discuss this project, and I hope that people interested in trees, greenways, pedestrian safety, bicycle commuting, drainage ditches, etc., will be there.
As always, though, citizens are encouraged to discuss any topic.
PS - Unfortunately, it seems that this event conflicts with meetings of the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Highland View Advisory Committee. I wish that weren’t the case, as both of those bodies will be dealing with important matters on Tuesday.
For folks who are interested in following the city’s budget process for fiscal year 2009, here’s the schedule of upcoming meetings of the Oak Ridge City Council’s FY 2009 Budget And Finance Special Committee:
- January 15, 2008 – Policy/Budget Review
- January 29, 2008 – Police and Fire
- February 5, 2008 – Parks & Recreation, Library
- February 19, 2008 – Electric & Public Works
- March 4, 2008 – Community Development/General Government
- March 18, 2008 – Administrative Services
- April 1, 2008 – Oak Ridge Schools
- April 15, 2008 – Review of City Debt
All of these meetings are on Tuesdays; all are planned to begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building Training Room. Added January 12, 2008: Like all City Council committee meetings, these are open meetings; the public is welcome to attend.
The votes are in (full returns are on the Election Commission website) and I’m elected to City Council. The news media have, of course, reported the story (see The Oak Ridger and the News Sentinel) and I’m tickled to see that some fellow bloggers have offered their enthusiastic congratulations (see The Crone Speaks), positive thoughts on my election and their hopes for the future (see Atomictumor), or at least best wishes on the difficult job ahead (see Manland). Citizens Oak Ridge, Democracy for East Tennessee, and even the statewide Democracy for Tennessee also have reported enthusiastically on the election results. Unfortunately, my digestive tract started acting up the morning after the election and was “not right” for much of the time since, so I spent some time and energy on feeling sick that I otherwise might have spent posting here.
The three new City Council members (Tom Hayes, Charlie Hensley, and myself) will be sworn in Tuesday afternoon at 4 pm, so until then I guess we’re still civilians.
There’s still time, then, for some reflections on the election before buckling down to the challenges of the new job…
There’s no denying that it’s exciting to have won the election, and also to have prevailed in the referendum on Crestpointe, but easily the best part of this election campaign was the people. It’s humbling to reflect on the idea that 3,177 people voted for me (I must not forget that this was just 49.5% — less than half — of the 6,414 Oak Ridgers who voted in this election), but even more humbling to remember that many of those people helped with the campaign — by donating money, hosting “meet the candidate(s)” events, telling their friends about me, mailing postcards, walking door to door, processing voter data, phoning voters to help “get out the vote,” displaying yard signs (or vehicle signs or bumperstickers), talking with voters at precincts on election day, or helping with the campaign open house or election night party. “Grassroots” politics is about meeting individual people and connecting with them one-on-one. I’ve met some fascinating people here in Oak Ridge and made some new friends whom I hope to keep as friends for a lifetime (meaning I had better work hard to do the right thing as a Council member!). It was very special to be able to celebrate “victory” on election night with so many of the people whose hard work helped elect me and helped the “no” side prevail in the referendum. It feels good to know that we all played a part in lifting city election turnout to well above 30%. Now we will need to work together as a community (including City Council, other public officials, and concerned citizens of every viewpoint) to find and implement solutions to city problems that will get broad public support. (It’s not going to be easy.)
Some of the most important people associated with this election were the other candidates. (We spent a lot of time together over the 6 weeks leading up to election day….) I’m looking forward to becoming better acquainted with Tom Hayes (whose #1 tally of 3,644 votes — 56.8% of the voters — provides testimony to the respect he has earned in 41 years as a teacher, coach, and principal) and Charlie Hensley (with whom I know I share many values and priorities, although we disagreed on some key issues in this election campaign).
It’s probably unfortunate for the city that only 3 could be elected, because there was a lot more talent in the candidate pool. The 4th-place finisher, the gentlemanly Ray Evans, always impresses me with his intelligence and insight, which he displayed throughout this election season. I know we’ll continue to see those qualities expressed in his participation in local civic affairs and real estate development projects. It’s remarkable that Fred Childress (who had lived in Oak Ridge less than a year) ended up just 93 votes behind Ray (a long-time resident and former City Council member) in the vote tally. Like me, Fred picked up some votes from people who were mainly interested in expressing their opposition to public funding for Crestpointe. However, it’s clear from the results that this was not solely a single-issue election, and I believe that Fred’s showing demonstrates that he had made a powerful positive impression on many of us with his knowledge of economic and policy issues and his forthright commitment to “transparency” and “reason.” I hope that both the City and I will continue our new acquaintance with Fred, to everyone’s benefit. I believe that Jerry Marrow, who did not campaign vigorously (he did not even have yard signs), contributed importantly to the outcome of the election by being on the ballot and helping to give “no Crestpointe” single-issue voters an opportunity to support a full slate of three candidates for Council (he won support from more than one out of six voters). In public forums I enjoyed hearing Jerry make effective use of metaphors and imagery to illustrate his points, particularly about the need for action to bring in more basic industrial jobs. I expect we will see more of him as a public speaker and civic volunteer — and if he decides to run again, I predict that he will use yard signs. I was surprised by the low vote total for Ella Hawkins DuBose. I guess that because she remained neutral on Crestpointe until the final days of the election process, she failed to get votes from single-issue voters on either side of the issue. However, her care for both people and community, together with her awareness of public issues and solutions nationally and around the country, showed through in public forums and conversations. I know she has a powerful combination of talents to share with us all, now and in the future.
It’s almost over… The polls open in less than 2 hours. (Voting hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.) About 3000 people have already voted early.
This election is getting more attention than usual for an Oak Ridge City election. The Crestpointe referendum was the top story on the front page of yesterday’s News Sentinel: “Bond issue verdict looms — Oak Ridge voters to decide if the city should help fund controversial development“.
Predictably, both local papers have endorsed Evans, Hayes, and Hensley, saying that they are pro-business (and pro-Crestpointe) and that Oak Ridge needs a pro-business City Council. Unfortunately, in this context “pro-business” typically seems to mean unquestioning support for tax breaks, subsidies, zoning changes, etc., that are purported to be for the purpose of economic development. On the contrary, I am not opposed to business or economic development, but I believe that over the long term business benefits from a level playing field, stable rules (including stable zoning), and being in a community that pays attention to the needs of its residents and existing businesses.
After the polls close (about 7:30 pm), my supporters and Citizens Oak Ridge will gather for an election night party at 135 Greystone Drive. Everyone is welcome — I hope we will have much to celebrate!
For the benefit of voters trying to research the other candidates, I’ve added links to the other-candidate websites I am aware of (look under Other City Election Websites on the right).
See http://citizensoakridge.com/ for some analysis of the Crestpointe bond referendum issue.
On the eve of early voting comes a League of Women Voters forum about the referendum for the Crestpointe bond issue:
Tuesday, May 15, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Pollard Auditorium (on the ORAU campus, above the hill from the Oak Ridge Civic Center)
LWV’s announcement says “Representatives of Citizens Oak Ridge (COR) and Future of Oak Ridge (FOR) will discuss topics related to the referendum and take questions from the audience.”
ADDED May 16: I participated in last evening’s forum as one of the speakers representing the “Vote No” (COR) position.
This forum was videotaped. Reportedly it will be broadcast by BBB Communications on Channel 12 at the following times:
Friday, May 18th at 8:30pm
Saturday, May 19th at 8:30pm
Saturday, May 26th at 8:30pm
Friday, June 1st at 8:30pm
Saturday, June 2nd at 8:30pm
As they have done in a couple of recent elections, the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce sponsored a series of videotaped candidate interviews that are now airing on Channel 12 on the Oak Ridge cable system. All City Council and Board of Education candidates are included.
I haven’t seen the video yet (it has already aired twice), but I need to watch it (or tape it) at one of the following broadcast times (you might want to do the same):
Monday, May 14, 8:30 pm
Friday, May 18, 7:30 pm
Saturday, May 19, 7 pm
Tuesday, May 22, 8 pm
Saturday, May 26, 7 pm
Friday, June 1, 7 pm
Saturday, June 2, 7 pm
Monday, June 4, 8:30 pm
ADDED (omitted earlier because it was kind of late at night when I typed the above details): The Chamber of Commerce and BBB-TV deserve our thanks for making this possible, and I thank the Chamber staff for sharing the time schedule.
ADDED May 16: Today’s Oak Ridger has a slightly different version of the schedule for the remaining showings (I suspect this is an updated version):
Friday, May 18, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 19, at 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday, May 22, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, May 26, at 7 p.m.; Monday, May 28, at 9 p.m.; Friday, June 1, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 2, at 7:30 p.m.; and Monday, June 4, at 8:30 p.m.
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