City of Knoxville - Fifth Broadway Committee Meeting Notes

FIFTH-BROADWAY COMMITTEE

Fifth-Broadway Committee

June 22, 2006 - Committee to focus on Broadway/Fifth Avenue area

September 28, 2006 Meeting

September 7, 2006 Meeting

August 17, 2006 Meeting

August 3, 2006 Meeting

July 21, 2006 Meeting

July 6, 2006 Meeting

June 20, 2006 Meeting

June 8, 2006 Meeting

Next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 12th at 12 noon at St. John's Lutheran Church.

Broadway-Fifth Task Force Meeting Notes

June 20, 2006
St. John Lutheran Church

Councilman Chris Woodhull convened the meeting at 12:10 p.m. at Knoxville's Community Development Corporation (KCDC).

The following individuals were present:
Renee Davis, Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC)
Bill Lyons, City of Knoxville (Policy Development and Community Development)
Chris Woodhull, City Councilman
Cathy Chesney, City of Knoxville
Grant Rosenberg, Knox County
David Gryder, Dixie Kitchen
Patrick McInturff, 4th and Gill Neighborhood
David Nix, Parkridge Neighborhood
Judy Holder, City People
Roger Nooe, Ten-Year Plan
Alvin Nance, Knoxville's Community Development Corporation
Jerry L. Armstrong, Knoxville Police Department
Steve Misenheimer, St. John Lutheran Church
Ginny Weatherstone, Volunteer Ministry Center (VMC)
Ola Blackmon-McBride, The Salvation Army
Bert Rosen, Knox Area Rescue Mission (KARM)
Russ Jensen, 311
Mark D. Hipshire, HFSNA
Daniel Schuh, Old North Knoxville

Councilman Chris Woodhull and Bill Lyons asked the group how they felt about using names in the meeting notes, since they would be posted on the Internet, and how broadly the notes should be distributed – they wanted everyone to be able to have access to them. Currently they are
posted to the yahoo group, and will be included on the City's website and K2K. Everyone felt comfortable with names being used, and it was suggested to give members of the group a chance to review the notes first to make sure that their comments were interpreted correctly. A draft will be posted to the Broadway yahoo group and left up for at least 24 hours for comments or clarification if needed.

Councilman Woodhull asked what people thought of the last meeting and what we accomplished, and what reflections/insights anyone had after the meeting.

Comments included:

Taking inventory of the situation and everyone's experiences was useful.

The need for a beautification project became apparent, for example, what will the I-40 underpass look like after work is completed? What was the existing area supposed to look like- was it supposed to have the chain length fence or something more attractive?

It was good to start looking at the scope and boundaries of the problem

The common experiences

Are we enabling behaviors? Will the development at Broadway and Fifth help people get into success programs or keep people in close proximity to opportunities for bad behavior?

Councilman Woodhull discussed a thinking process that could be used, based on the Harvard Negotiation Process. Groups gather data, ask questions (diagnosis) discuss which direction to take then discuss what to next. [Data >Diagnosis > Direction > Do Next diagrammed in a box] He noted that people tend the skip from gather data to do next, omitting the very important diagnosis and direction stages.

Ground rules for the discussion were established:
1) Focus on situations and not people to stay focused (soft on people, hard on issues)
2) Listen, no interrupting
3) One person at a time

The group was encouraged to re-cast with the above noted process and ground rules in mind. More specifically look at:
1) Gathering Information
2) Tasks Identified
3) Long-Term Vision (Shared Interest)- What are we striving for and what do we want this area to look like?

General comments around these areas were:

Businesses, neighborhoods, and homeless providers have shared interests.

Close to downtown – close to good neighborhoods.

What are the goals? How do we make the area more livable?

How do we get it right – follow the process.

Gathering Information:

Dramatic increase in drug activities. There are more dealers on the streets with our vulnerable population.

43% of the homeless population is working. However, working consists of day labor, etc.

The impact of Katrina evacuees is not known. Shelters did not serve very many evacuees.

A ministry that provides street ministries to the homeless can be helpful and non-helpful as it relates to enabling homelessness. It is important to coordinate services with shelter providers.

Interfaith Hospitality Network and Compassion Coalition are good examples of how we are coordinating our services and reducing duplication of services.

Mental health issues have an impact on the number of emergency rooms
visits, which becomes very costly.

25% of the substance abuse arrests are homeless individuals. Dr. Nooe shared a spreadsheet of the process that occurs when homeless individuals are arrested for substance abuse.

The City of Memphis has a homeless program that has a very good case management component.

There are several cities where the City Government takes the lead in the coordination of services for the homeless such as Denver, Colorado and Syracuse, N.Y.

Our mayors (Knoxville City and County Mayors) are very committed to the homeless problem in our City.

Resources are needed to make a midsize city comparable in services to cities such as Denver and Syracuse.

Councilman Woodhull commented that we had spent a lot of time at the past two meeting gathering data but at the next meeting there will be a planned exercise that the group will participate in.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 6, 2006 at Knoxville Area Rescue Mission at 12 noon. Parking is available in The Salvation Army parking lot.