I'm Ellen Smith, member of the Oak Ridge City Council. 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; content here does not represent the official policies or views of the City of Oak Ridge. 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.
Folks around Oak Ridge are enthusiastic about the prospects for small modular reactors (SMRs) at the southwestern Oak Ridge location known as the “breeder site”, but we need to be aware that there are other project sponsors and communities aiming for financial assistance and quick regulatory review as the first SMRs. A New York Times [...]
A press release from the City of Oak Ridge Public Works Department announces that Quincy Avenue between South Purdue Avenue and South
Illinois Avenue (State Route 62) will be closing on Friday, April 27, 2012, to allow construction of the Woodland Town Center commercial development, whose first tenants will be Panera Bread (relocated from its current [...]
The third ordinance on parking – the one that Council passed on first reading last Monday – is an amendment to the city ordinances related to on-street parking. It will clarify some of the existing requirements to make it easier for police to enforce them and it will add some new provisions to discourage on-street [...]
Parking has been a big topic for Oak Ridge City Council in recent weeks, and on Monday evening we made our first final decisions on the subject when we passed two ordinances on second reading (that means they will go into effect soon). A third ordinance passed on first reading (that means it needs to [...]
From conversations, plus an article in today’s newspaper, I’ve gathered that some citizens think that City Council was delaying action on the package of parking-related ordinances proposed by city staff when we talked about possibly amending it on “second reading.” Apparently, some observers got the impression that when we talked about “second reading” during our [...]
I’ve been trying to let the Local Oversight Committee (LOC) rest in peace and not to dwell on the matter, but I continually find myself dealing with fallout from the demise of the LOC. It was terminated once and for all last Monday afternoon (January 9). This was the fourth in a series of “special [...]
Here’s the guest column that I supplied to the Oak Ridge Observer this week. It’s in the print edition, of course (along with a few items that the dailies didn’t carry) and on the Observer website, but you can read it here, too:
As we move into another new year, I propose a resolution for everyone [...]
At this time of year, I’m often concerned about storm drain grates getting clogged with leaves, since that can add to problems from snow and ice storms. Now a City press release reports a rash of thefts of storm drain grates! Here’s the text of the release:
Recently, the City of Oak Ridge has had numerous [...]
Stan Mitchell of The Oak Ridge Observer asked the city manager and members of City Council for our thoughts on the year past (2011) and the upcoming year (2012). The responses he received (from the manager and 6 Council members) were published in Thursday’s paper. Here’s are his questions and my answers (to see the [...]
People are talking — and asking me lots of good questions — about the proposed Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) plan for the development of Woodland Town Center on South Illinois Avenue. I have some questions, too, but I can share some information and thoughts.
Decisions are coming up fast: The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board holds [...]