Stacey Campfield wants to starve TN kids into making better grades

Sometimes I forget that Campfield has no logic centers in his brain. Added to that, he has no compassion. He has no knowledge of basic science, either, it appears. At least, these are the conclusions I have come to after reading about Campfield's latest proposal, which would end food for kids who are on government assistance if their grades fall below a certain threshold.

OK, I can see that he's trying to ensure... uh, something? But starving children is not how you motivate people.

Maybe next he'll propose we start selling kids who flunk out of school to white slavers. I mean, that's what Jesus would have done, right?

Mr. Barry

I haven't ventured to the grocery store today (ice storm, booga booga! Also I went the other day), but Fountain City resident Jenny Cook tweets that something is up with Mr. Barry, a longtime employee at the Kroger just down the street from me.

His story is at every checkout, as are cards and pens to sign for him. It's nice to see Kroger and the community being so nice.

Or, we could just ignore economic realities!

There's a huge piece of prime real estate which needs a few million to get renovated, and apparently the developer, Tim Hill, is asking for a CBID (Central Business Improvement District) grant. Granted, he's just wanting $400,000 over three years, and the cost to renovate this space is estimated (by Hatcher-Hill, it seems) to be $8.6 million dollars.

And what awesome stuff is planned for this prime real estate? Why, Knoxville's answer to everything: More of the same.

More retail. Granted, if it is a small mall, like the Smoky Mountain Mall in Gatlinburg, that would be kind of cool.

Oh, and apparently he wants to put a basement bowling alley there. Also, that sounds kinda neat.

It just seems like we could do something... different. Instead of more of the same. But why, you ask?

Well, maybe because if we build too many retail joints downtown, we pin our hopes on the strength of the future consumer-powered economy. I'm not sure if people are seeing what's happening in Europe, or just imagining there's not a major reckoning coming in a few years.

Anyway, I get why we do this. It's a safe bet (until the next recession!). I just wish Knoxville had the ambition to do something really amazing, not just more of the same with a vanilla twist.

Dealing with Republic Parking and our airport

For the second time after coming home from a long trip I get the added stress of a receipt not printing at Tyson-McGhee airport. The parking is managed by Republic, so when I called today to try to get my receipt...

1. First number, given to me by the PR person at the airport, went to someone's voicemail.
2. Second number, listed by Google, got a guy who (after some deliberation) gave me the number of the manager at the airport.
3. Third time's a charm... and after taking my info the guy basically said they might find it, they might not. If they do, they'll mail it. Oh, that was after asking if I had A FAX MACHINE.

So this receipt is for $80 in parking. I'm not going to eat that fee. The company I work for will reimburse me, but ONLY if I have the receipt.

Last year when this happened I don't know who handled it, but it was handled quickly, and I got my receipt in the mail promptly, with no worries. This year I feel like I'll be facing them in small claims court.

Contrast that with Bear Archery, a company not located in Knoxville, who I called about a defective bow, and within 10 minutes we were done with our conversation and a new replacement bow was on its way to me.

Knoxville, you need to step up your game in every way imaginable.