People who get all of their local news from Oak Ridge’s daily newspaper still are unaware of the effort by some city and county officials to terminate the Local Oversight Committee at a meeting this afternoon (September 9, 2011), but yesterday’s issue of the Oak Ridge Observer has fairly in-depth coverage and Frank Munger has [...]
Posts under ‘Oak Ridge Issues’
Local Oversight Committee
At a meeting on Friday afternoon, Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and several county mayors from around the region are expected to vote to dissolve the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee (LOC), asking the state to instead direct the LOC’s funding to a “board of mayors and county executives” who will decide how to [...]
Some thoughts about school standardized testing
With school starting up for the year, everywhere I turn somebody is talking about standardized testing in schools. Oak Ridge schools are making TCAP test scores count for a fraction of kids’ grades (not the school board’s idea — it’s a state mandate!), Tennessee is requesting a waiver from the No Child Left Behind requirements, [...]
Choices on how city government manages debt
On Monday evening, August 8, City Council is being asked to approve issuing $10 million in bonds for wastewater and water projects (see agenda). We absolutely need to borrow this money, but I have doubts about the staff’s plan for structuring the debt — that is, how we pay it back.
This is part of about [...]
Celebrating a community playground build
Phew! The last 5 days were a whirlwind of activity that concluded with the completion (well, almost) of the new Cedar Hill Park playground. Some finishing touches remain: hooking up a few more swings, installing the waves around the new pirate ship (you’ll have to see it to understand), hanging some plaques in the castle [...]
Oak Ridge Census data — not as old as we thought, but too much vacant housing
More 2010 Census statistics are available. The Census reveals that as Oak Ridge’s population grew 7.1% between 2000 and 2010, the increase in the city’s average age pretty much leveled off. Our median age in 2010 was 43.5 — well above the state average of 38.0, but (after years of continually increasing) just 0.1 year [...]
Cedar Hill playground goodbye — and hello
It wasn’t exactly crowded, but on Sunday afternoon Cedar Hill Park playground entertained several families visiting for the last time before it closed on Monday to be torn down and replaced.
It’s been a wonderful play space since 1988. My family is one of many that have fond memories of good times there.
However, it’s showing its [...]
2010 Census shows that Oak Ridge has grown
The first 2010 Census data for Tennessee have been released — and they confirm that Oak Ridge is no longer “about 27,000 people.” The total population as of 2010 was 29,330 — an increase of nearly 2,000 people since the 2000 census count of 27,387. After decades of stability (the official population was 28,319 in [...]