presstalk 671-TALK

• The Post Office in Farragut is in poor condition. You look across the street and you see this nice Town of Farragut building and you see the federal building [Post Office]. The building needs to be repainted. There are cobwebs on the glass. The sidewalk needs to be power-washed. The whole outside of it is embarrassing.

Typically, you’re writing positive stories, but are you always going to write positive stories? If Congressman [John J. “Jimmy”] Duncan came down here, he’d be embarrassed. The Post Office in Farragut does not represent what the Town of Farragut represents. If we’re going to enforce how things look in Farragut, we should start with the Post Office. They cut the grass and leave the grass in the street. There’s lot of things with the Post Office I don’t understand. The parking lot needs to be re-striped. The bushes and trees need to be trimmed properly. There are weeds where you drop off mail near the street. You’ve got cobwebs all over the glass. It looks like an abandoned building. I don’t know it it’s stucco or what on the outside, but it needs to be painted or power-washed. There’s dead brush that they haven’t moved just sitting there. There’s a shed in the back. Why do we need a shed behind a federal building? Do they have approval for that building? As a Farragut resident and taxpayer, I’m appalled. Maybe it’s time for Jimmy Duncan to make a visit to the Post Office and see what he thinks about it. Maybe he could light a fire under somebody. Residents, next time you’re at the Post Office, maybe you should call Jimmy Duncan’s local office. They’re developing some property right next door to the Post Office. They’re going to have to keep this nicer than they’re keeping it right now. The street lights on this property need to be working and on. People come in the middle of the night to get their mail. Some of the signs on the Post Office property have faded and you can hardly read them. I want to compliment the Town of Farragut on how well they keep up the property across the street. It’s like night and day.

• [Concerning] the gas station across Kingston Pike [and Campbell Station Road] – how are we going to attract businesses to the Town of Farragut if the Town of Farragut allows property to be unattended, not mowed, not edged, the bushes not trimmed? It’s not the Town of Farragut’s responsibility to do that. There’s a sign out saying that something’s going to be built there, but until then it needs to be maintained. We want to attract businesses. Anybody who’s a business owner understands this. Especially Kingston Pike and Campbell Station, it’s such a high-traveled area. It’s a reflection on the Town of Farragut to me. They cut the grass about once every six weeks. The bushes aren’t trimmed. There should be some kind of code. To me, it’s time the Town of Farragut called them.

• Again, farragutpress covers the monthly meeting of the hate group Act For America, with zero criticism or context given about their nature as identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center. And again, a local politician [Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett] is the guest of honor [Thursday, July 27]. Why is farragutpress so committed to covering monthly meetings of a hate group without being clear about what their actual mission is?