Dear Knoxville Neighbors: I have traveled a lot throughout the world. I’ve been in 70 plus countries, all the states and provinces, and all the National Parks. But, I still love Knoxville as a place to live. We have a progressive city surrounded by natural wonders with great people and great cultural and recreational resources. This November, we have an opportunity to make Knoxville even better. A very small tax increase will be on the ballot on November 4. The increase is only 0.005 % per dollar which means only ½ cent on a bill of $1.00. The projects supported by the increased tax revenues will be spread equally throughout the six council districts. This revenue will be used for multiple purposes and will help make up for some of the loss of Federal grants over at least the next few years. Two uses that are near to my heart are connecting our greenways and addressing the homeless problem. We have an enviable greenways system, one of the best anywhere, but our greenways are scattered throughout the city. If connected, they would be even better, giving all neighborhoods access to greenways that will be used for both transportation and recreation, as corridors that will help unify the City. There will be 8 new greenway connections with this Neighborhood Investment Plan to do that very thing. Like most cities, we have a homelessness problem. Significant portions of the sales tax increase would be used to provide services to the homeless and triple the investment in low-income housing. A lot of us bought housing in a better economic environment, but many of our neighbors can’t afford decent housing or any housing at all, even when they have paying jobs. I encourage you to vote for the sales tax increase to make Knoxville an even finer city to live in. Sincerely, Will Skelton |
