Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacob’s Weekly Update

Описание: Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacob’s Weekly Update.

TRANSCRIPT:

“It’s Friday. Time for another weekly update. This week, I was honored to speak at the Men of Valor breakfast. Men of Valor, a prison reentry ministry, opened its Knoxville campus about two years ago and has enjoyed great success here just as they have at their main campus in Nashville. One of the things we have to remember about the corrections system is 97 percent of the people in jail will be released one day.

Unfortunately, within 3 years, half of them will reoffend and go back to jail. The reason I’m so impressed with Men of Valor is that less than 15% of those who complete the entire one-year program reoffend. That means less crime, fewer victims, safer communities, and a lot of taxpayer dollars saved.

I also toured Component Manufacturing, which fabricates and installs top-quality exercise equipment. I’m really excited for the upcoming car and pedestrian safety improvements on S. Northshore. Be on the lookout for lane closures starting late this summer. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience and will do our best to minimize delays.

You may have seen in the news the discussion at Monday’s Commission Workshop concerning changes to our proposed comprehensive plan, which is a piece of the Advance Knox initiative. While some of the changes are welcome and constructive, I feel that others run counter to one of the main goals of Advance Knox: addressing skyrocketing housing prices. I’d like everyone to keep in mind that this has been a two-year process to create a plan that, while imperfect, is something we can all live with.

Throughout this process, there has been engagement with stakeholders, the public at large, as well as county commissioners. And the draft comprehensive plan has been on the Advance Knox website since October of last year. Obviously, I respect County Commission’s role in this process, and they are free to do whatever they choose.

At the same time, it’s pretty late in the game to make wholesale changes, especially when all of us have worked together to produce what we have now. I’d also like to remind everyone that I have to be comfortable with the plan and, ultimately, I, too, can approve it or reject it. I certainly hope that after all this time and effort, we can finalize this project and move forward.

This month’s Eat and Greet will be at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday April 23rd at the G.I. Taco Truck which will be at Harley-Davidson of Knoxville on Clinton Highway. Until next Friday, I hope everyone has a great week.”