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• I thought the letter to the editor that the Candidate for Farragut Alderman (Ward 2) wrote this past week was correct. We do not need the entrenched leadership of the former vice mayor in the position of power anymore. She has personally approved the Biddle Apartments that nobody wanted and denied the development rights on the Ford property — on their 65 acres of property west of the town hall. She's twice denied the development of the Ford property. They had the great company out of Des Moines, Iowa, Hy-Vee, coming into town and they denied that. She denied an earlier development plan on the Ford property. So, she's not qualified to be mayor; she's an entrenched power that does not need to continue. The current mayor and the former vice mayor would rotate back and forth between the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the Planning Commission. The two of them on the Planning Commission controls the town. There should not be a mayor and vice mayor on the Planning Commission. That controls the town. If you get two votes on the Planning Commission against something and they're on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, that controls the issue. So the former vice mayor is not qualified to be mayor. She's denied property rights to numerous property owners on her whim, and that is unconstitutional. We need new leadership. What's wrong with change? What's wrong with new leadership? This is a democracy we have in America and in Farragut. We need new leadership. Let's try new leadership and see what happens. We don't need the former vice mayor and current mayor in power anymore.
• I think it's good to set the record straight — the Knox County property taxes that are paid by Knox County residents that live in Farragut go into the Knox County budget. That covers all the budget items of Knox County, including all the Knox County schools. The Town of Farragut only contributes a total of $154,000 to the Farragut Primary, Intermediate, Middle and High School. They only contribute $154,000 total per year to the four schools in Farragut. The Knox County property taxes go into the Knox County budget. The Knox County property taxes from Farragut go into the Knox County budget. That covers all the Knox County expenditures, including all the schools. Again, the Town of Farragut only contributes $154,000 to the four Farragut schools, which is ridiculously low. It's a very paltry sum. The new election for mayor, maybe the new mayor will contribute more to the four Farragut schools. Now, they only contribute $154,000. Again, the Knox County property taxes that go to Knox County pay for Knox County expenditures, including all schools, all Knox County schools. And again, the Town of Farragut only contributes $154,000 total per year to the four schools in Farragut: Primary, Intermediate, Middle and High School. That's a very small sum. The new mayor hopefully will change that and contribute more. Rather than spending $5 million on buying land on McFee Road, rather than spending $9 million on McFee Park, surely they can spend more on Farragut schools. Rather than $5 million on Farragut land, on land at the end of McFee Road, and $9 million on the McFee Park. Let's get our priorities straight.
• A recent letter to the editor asked, “how many people think it is suitable to cross congested roads like Kingston Pike, Campbell Station Road or Parkside Drive while carrying groceries or retail goods?” Walking five minutes from my subdivision to Ingles, crossing from an event at Campbell Station Inn to Starbucks, or walking from Tupelo Honey to a baseball game at the high school are obviously suitable. Bemoaning the idea that people might travel on foot or bicycle (whether to "reduce the use of cars for transportation" or just to enjoy the fresh air and a little exercise) isn’t about maintaining a “small town atmosphere.” And it’s shocking to suggest that maintaining a “small town atmosphere” means we should be made to fear walking in Farragut. The question is what our candidates for Mayor and Aldermen plan to do to make walking in Farragut safer?
• I watched the Alderman's Candidates Forum on YouTube from this past Thursday night, and I have a question. I would like to know why somebody who does not even live in Farragut thinks he can come in and say we need to have a property tax for our own sheriff's department because we have million-dollar homes that people want to buy and it's not gonna matter to them if the tax goes up. Well, guess what? Farragut is a beautiful community, and yes, we do have some million-dollar and over homes, but for the most part, we are a middle-class and upper-middle-class working and retired family community. I don't know about you, but I don't want to see my taxes be something like they are in the City of Knoxville where you pay X amount of dollars for your Knox County property tax and then you pay even more for a city property tax. For that extra tax, you do get the KPD (Knoxville City Police Department) and garbage pickup. I think it's well worth it just for us to have Rural Metro and have a new sheriff in town, literally, who will take care of us.
