A Memorial Walk, a Candlelight Gathering and Labor Unions

Knoxville, January 2012

A march was held Tuesday night beginning at Church Street United Methodist Church. Two groups walked throughout downtown holding banners and signs remembering John Womac who died while working on the Henley Street Bridge one year ago and Solin Estrada-Jimenez who died in May of last year on the same site. Worker safety and the value of human life held in contrast to profits was the primary focus of the signs and speeches which were given as the group reached Volunteer landing where a candlelight vigil was held in honor of the two men.

Upon the death of John Womac, TOSHA investigated and reported serious flaws in safety training, including errors which led to his death. Britton Bridge, LLC was fined just under $17,000, $5400 of which was for the negligence which led to the death. Four months later TOSHA found additional violations, two of which directly related to the death of Solin Estrada-Jimenez. TOSHA proposed penalties totaling $7150. Construction briefly halted, but was later reported to be on schedule. The company is free to bid on other state projects and stands to collect a $1,000,000 bonus if the construction is completed by the end of this year.

Memorial Walk crosses Market Square

The march and vigil, attended by just under one hundred people and sponsored by a number of local organizations including churches and unions was intended as a memorial and also as an opportunity to raise important questions. For example, if a company will make a million dollars by rushing so fast to a deadline that a couple of people die in the process, will they do it? What if they know they will lose less than $25,000 in order to make $1,000,000?

I realize this is not generally a union-friendly state and our end of the state is particularly inhospitable toward unions. If you think I'm wrong, take a look at some of the comments made on the story of this march on the Knoxville News Sentinel's website.

I have some personal experience with unions. As a teenager I worked summers at Scott Paper Company in Mobile, Alabama. College students such as myself were the lowest of maintenance workers and we often got difficult or unappealing jobs. One such job was shoveling lime out of massive kilns. Temperatures were often over 120 degrees and we had to be thoroughly covered with long sleeves, gloves, masks and scarves to keep our lungs and skin from being severely burned by the lime dust. This was with the presence of a strong union.

On one occasion the students were ordered to shovel out a lime pit while coals were carried over our heads on a conveyor belt. The spot where we had to stand was so hot our boot bottoms would melt, so we stood on a piece of plywood. I don't know how hot it was in the pit, but we could only shovel for minutes at a time before switching out. After some time we decided it just wasn't worth it. As we stood at the top of our ladder considering what to do about it, the conveyor showered hot coals onto our board which immediately burst into flames. We reported it to the union. In their absence we would have had no where else to turn.

The two groups joined to walk down Locust to Volunteer Landing

The history of industry in our country is replete with abuses of workers in order to make larger profit margins for companies and investors. I recently read a book entitled Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon in which he details the use of re-enslaved black workers throughout the south, a practice which continued until World War II, and which helped build such industrial giants as US Steel. Of course, child labor was common one hundred years ago and the abuses of immigrant workers are well documented.

How did the worst of these abuses stop? Labor unions were formed to give the workers a voice. Without a a unified voice workers are simply not heard. It's not about strikes or wage demands. It's about the value of human life. It's about respect for people who are not powerful and wealthy, but who built this country and make it work. In the south we tend to elevate industry and the wealthy to sainthood, as if their very wealth and power makes them better than you or me. Workers who struggle for a living wage and safe conditions are, as often as not, seen as somehow unpatriotic and unappreciative of what the companies will do for them.

This is one example of the kind of thinking which allows the richest among us to grow much more wealthy while large numbers of workers struggle to feed their families. We've become convinced that the wealthy deserve their riches while the rest of us must deserve dirty water, open pit mines, underfunded schools and the worst health, by many measures, in the country. The wealthy pay their fifteen percent tax rates on capital gains while the rest of us pay twenty or twenty-five percent and Republican presidential candidates talk about how unfair capital gains taxes are on the rich because they are "job makers."

I've been a member of the Tennessee Education Association for nearly thirty years. It is often characterized as a union and as the primary impediment to providing a quality education. Last legislative session the party in power virtually eliminated tenure and protections to retirement were reduced. This session Governor Haslam has introduced changes which will lead to lower teacher pay and larger classes. Hardly a formula for improving education. At the same time, your tax dollars are going to private companies starting charter schools and providing distance education. They do not have to demonstrate their effectiveness via standardized testing as the public schools are required to do.

So, what is the point? The point is that unions provide some measure of equalization of power between the wealthy and powerful and the ordinary workers on whose backs they became wealthy. Workers should be valued, safe and compensated justly. And they deserve our respect and support. They should not pay more in taxes than the wealthy. American workers made this country great. It was not the rich and powerful.

I don't usually use this space for posts like this one, but this march and vigil touches on some of my most strongly held values and I'd be less than honest if I didn't say it like I see it. I'm sure some of you disagree and I'm happy for you to comment and explain your alternative view of these issues. The only thing I ask is that you maintain as respectful a tone with me as I do with you.

Henley Street Bridge Update



Boat Under the naked arches of the Henley Street Bridge, September 2011

It has been a while since I walked down by the river, mostly because it has been hotter than a frying pan in our favorite little city. Now that the temperatures have eased I'm walking a little farther afield. Urban Woman and I walked down by the river this weekend and I was able to check on the progress of our very large construction project.

Henley Street Bridge, Knoxville, September 2011

I was shocked, though I'm not sure what I expected. I knew the side railings were being knocked off and I guess if I'd thought about it I would have assumed that the actual road atop the bridge would probably come off, but I didn't expect the columns holding up the road to also be removed.

Henley Street Bridge on north bank, Knoxville, September 2011 

The sight of it made led me to several questions: How far will they go? Will the arches be removed? What about the columns holding up the arches? If not, what makes them safe if the other columns were so unsafe they could not even be repaired? Also, how much of a bridge can you remove and still say it is the same bridge? Will the new bridge even look like the old bridge? Finally, are we sure that saving a tiny bit of the bridge made was actually less expensive than blowing it up and starting from scratch?

Henley Street Bridge from the east, Knoxville, September 2011

Perhaps the engineers who read the blog can enlighten us. I'll try to check to check on it periodically and let you know just how much of the old bridge will remain. In the meantime, am I the only one who is shocked?

Bridges, Boulevards and Beautiful Visions

Tugboat moves barge into position to catch the falling bridge, Tennessee River, Knoxville

While there have been more developments on the business front even since my last two posts, I'm going to leave the business arena, for now, and talk about the Henley Street Bridge. Work continues at a fast pace. I took these photographs recently from the Riverwalk on the north (Downtown) side.

View of the portions being removed, Henley Street Bridge, Knoxville, 2011

Machine destroying sides of the bridge and dropping them.

The work must be very dangerous. The side railing is being removed first and each piece is knocked off onto a barge below. There are people working the machinery, people guiding the machine operators from the bridge and people on the barge below where the pieces fall. The large pieces must weigh hundreds of pounds. Of course, one person has died already and it is easy to see how a moment of inattentiveness on any one's part could result in a disaster.

Sections of the bridge on the barge below after falling from above.

All this leads to a revisit of the idea of a boulevard put forth by George Scott. When last we tuned in - which I think was about three months ago - George's idea had met with little interest as far as I could see. Since then, there appears to be some momentum to at least discuss the idea at a high level.

For those of you who don't remember or are more recent readers, the basic idea is that Henley Street as it has become a problem in several ways. With its width, speed of traffic, volume of traffic and the fact that much of the traffic is passing through, it has become very difficult to cross, thereby making a very serious barrier between UT, Fort Sanders, the Convention Center and the World's Fair Park on one side and downtown Knoxville on the other. Further, as the map below illustrates, downtown is bounded by the River, James White Parkway and the Interstate on three sides and these will not be moved. Henley Street forms the other border and, with the closure of the bridge and the diversion of traffic we have a once in a lifetime chance to make it right. George wanted me to make clear that "time is not on our side."

Downtown barriers, River, Henley, Interstate, James White

The potential synergy between the components is seriously compromised. Meanwhile Henley Street is devoid of pedestrian traffic because it is dangerous and no businesses (except for the UT bookstore) face it. Visitors at the Convention Center have to take their life into their hands (unless they go out of their way to use the single pedestrian bridge) and trust that across that wasteland lies something worth walking to. It takes a leap of faith and perhaps more than a couple of leaps to avoid oncoming traffic.

Recently, George has addressed a number neighborhood groups in South Knoxville, the downtown Rotary Club and CBID making his point that "unrepeatable opportunity to make improvements that will bear fruit in the decades ahead, for Downtown and for South Knoxville." CBIB has requested a City Council Workshop. An engineering class at UT has adopted the project.

Please press your city councilmen to take up this issue. If you speak to the mayoral candidates during the election, press them on the issue. This may be the biggest possible accomplishment to help downtown we'll ever see in our lifetime.

I'll shut up and let the experts do the talking. You can read a great article on the topic by Jack Neely here, simply entitled "Fix Henley Street." I've posted two videos below. The first is George's and it's serious, but interesting. It explains the whole problem and possibility. And for a fun look at the vision that could be I'm posting a video of a song written about the most famous boulevard in the world with some shots of that boulevard and the surrounding sights. Maybe we should host a songwriting contest to make a song for our vision of a Knoxville Boulevard.

Enjoy and contact those councilmen and mayoral candidates.

Death in the City

One of the themes often sounded when people talk about cities is the high previlence of crime and danger to one's person. Particularly discussed is muggings and murders. Even locally, whenever a crime is reported to have happened downtown, a virtual chorus of "I told you downtown is a bad place" erupts on KnoxNews in the comment section.

So, is downtown a dangerous place? Do people get killed here?

Summit Towers, Just off Summit Hill Drive, Knoxville

It happens that recently there have been three deaths by unnatural causes in downtown Knoxville. The recent bout started with a January 4 suicide when a man jumped from Summit Towers. It was later reported that the man, in his fifties, struggled with mental illness. The next death, just nine days later, happened in the same place, Summit Towers, which is a home for people with various struggles, particularly handicaps of one sort or another. In this case, a woman stabbed her husband to death, which apparently followed a bout of extreme drinking and involved a handy butcher knife. Finally, a week and a half after that, Jon Womac, a worker on the Henley Street Bridge was killed.

Police prevent a suicide attempt on the Gay Street Bridge. November 2011

Prior to this, I believe there had been two deaths by jumping from the Gay Street Bridge. I know there have been two talked out of jumping from that bridge, and I think there have been others. The local police and other groups charged with this difficult task do a good job. The above picture was taken last November when I happened upon one of these situations which had a happy outcome.

So, there is one murder, one accident and a couple of suicides. What does this tell us?

The murder was not the result of an innocent person walking down the street and getting attacked. A street attack fits the idea that some people have about cities and it hasn't happened once in the time I've lived downtown. Domestic disputes ending in death, sadly, happen often and happen in every part of the city and country.

The suicides, I think have to do with the nature of the housing provided at Summit Towers and with the availability of high places from which to jump. Most of the people who attempt suicide from one of the bridges are not people who live downtown. In one of the cases, the sucide victim actually was from another state. Tall buildings and bridges will attract people who choose this way to end their life.

The worker who was killed, interestingly, is the one person who I feel does reflect the particular reality of a city. Construction is a dangerous job and, in some ways, the larger the job, the more dangerous. I'm sure this person was not the first person to die for us to have the buildings and bridges we have downtown. There has even been murder associated with downtown building: The general contractor for the construction of Church Street United Methodist was gunned down and killed on the construction site in 1930.

So, is downtown a dangerous place? I don't think it is anymore dangerous than many places and much less so than some. I feel safe on the streets, though anyone should always assess risks and take precautions. It is, as the story of the worker illustrates, a dangerous place for the people who build it for us and to them we should be respecfully grateful. It is an irony that his death came in doing a task designed to keep others safe.

A Camel, Easy Riders a Nasty Creek and a Broken Bridge

These are a few of the sights around the city recently. It's funny how I can walk past something dozens of times and see it, but not really see it for what it is. The camel falls into that category. Now, you might think that seeing a camel in the city would be enough reason to stop, wonder and investigate - especially for someone who writes blog posts about odd people, places and things in the city. I had to have someone else make me take a second look.

Camel made of Cigarette Filters, Emporium, Gay Street, Knoxville

It turns out this camel in the window of the Emporium is completely made of the inside of cigarettes. It's shaped like a camel - get it? I'm not sure what I think about the whole idea. If one defines creativity by thinking outside the norm, then this qualifies. If you hate seeing those cigarette butts all over the street as much as I do, it's nice to see them "re-purposed" to use the trendy phrase. Still, wouldn't it stink? (Sorry, my dear smoking readers. Here is my prejudice: Cigarettes stink. I hope you won't hate and forsake me.) Also, what would be the home for this art? Would you put it in your living room?

No matter your opinion regarding camel/cigarette art, you should stop by the Emporium. Many artists and arts organizations work out of the building and it's always great to hang out with creative people. Tow exhibits of interest are currently running: "Threads and Fibers: Recent Works buy Marie Gibson" which is an exhibition of her fiber art. Also exhibited this month is "Another Way of Life: Photographs by Dean Rice," which consists of photographs of villages in China.

Bikes outside the Easy Rider Bike Show, Knoxville Convention Center

Also happening this weekend is the Easy Rider Bike Show at the convention center, in case you want to catch that. I had no idea until I saw the interesting view of motorcycles while walking across the cross-walk over Henley. We also saw attendees in Outlaw Motorcycle Club jackets and a young boy wearing the same cross that the Nazi's used. I wasn't tempted to pay for a ticket. I tried not to make eye-contact. I do very much recommend the movie, though - Easy Rider, that is.

Second Creek as seen from the path of the Greenway, Knoxville, February 2011

Close-up of trash in Second Creek, Knoxville, February 2011

I also caught a view of the nasty debris in Second Creek as I walked through the greenway to the river. In the first picture you have to look closely to see what doesn't belong. The second picture gets a close up of one trashy spot. I guess there just isn't the money to either keep the trash from washing into the creek or to clean it up as it does, but it's a shame. I'd hate for a visitor to see it. I don't like to see it, myself.

South End of the Henley Street Bridge

Finally, I got a bit of a look at the severed ends of the Henley Street Bridge. It's a pretty amazing sight. I'll try to get better pictures, soon. In the first picture, you can see the missing end. Likewise, in the next two (the north end), the view is from underneath and there should be a bridge where the sun is shining through. The machine in the picture was pounding away at the concrete. I suspect this is the noise that has been complained about. What an enormous job.

Missing North End of the Henley Street Bridge, Knoxville, February 2011

Machine Pounding Concrete at the missing the North End of the Henley Street Bridge

Surviving the Snow, Part Two

First Presbyterian Church Cemetery, State Street, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Downtown Knoxville did not return to normal today, but it managed a closer approximation. The roads were much more navigable as the ice and snow succumbed to the ice, wind and warmth of the tires passing over the surface. More people stirred as temperatures rose into the thirties, though walking in the street ironically seemed safer than walking on most of the sidewalks.

A Row in the Snow, Church Street, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

As promised, I'm posting additional pictures from Monday. I followed the edges of downtown, hopefully spotting some scenes I've not photographed as much in the past along with some I just can't help but photograph over and over.

Whittle Building, Cumberland Avenue, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Whittle Courtyard, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Saint John's Episcopal, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

I walked up State Street as I left the Old City, crossed Gay and walked to Cumberland. The Whittle Building, which may be the best thing that Chris Whittle ever accomplished in my opinion, was beautiful in the snow as it is in every weather. Ironically, though it was locked tight and a guard was posted, the brick had been cleaned as if anyone would be allowed to walk there. He wasn't happy that I took this picture through the gate. I've always thought it seemed wrong that this is locked up when the building isn't open. It seems it should be a truly public place, but it's not. Security, I suppose. I don't think I looked that threatening.

Empty Henley Street Bridge, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Church Street United Methodist Church, Henley Street, January 10, 2011

Entrance to Maplehurst, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Maplehurst Inn, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

 I crossed Henley Street (with my eyes closed - it's that easy!) and entered Maplehurst.

Headless, Frozen Man on porch in Maplehurst, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Home in Maplehurst, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Home in Maplehurst, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Home in Maplehurst, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Apartments in Maplehurst, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

This is a hidden neighborhood behind Church Street United Methodist and on the bluff over the river. Nestled against a green way to the west, it is easy to overlook. Some of the homes are both unique and beautiful. It's worth a stroll if you are ever in the area.

Looking north down the tracks into the World's Fair Park, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Frozen pool, Ampitheater and Sunsphere, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

North end of the World's Fair Park, Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Finally, I ended my walk with a trip through the World's Fair Park, before walking back into downtown. We have so many beautiful buildings and views. And snow, well, snow just makes everything a little prettier, don't you think?

The way home, Clinch into downtown Knoxville, January 10, 2011

Unbuilding Bridges, Re-routing Traffic and General Mayhem - or not!?!

"I've seen the bridge and the bridge is long
And they built it high and they built it strong
Strong enough to hold the weight of time
Long enough to leave some of us behind."

"The Bridge" Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Henley Street Bridge - Before D-Day

Henley Street Bridge on Christmas Day 2010

 About a year behind schedule, the Henley Street Bridge was closed yesterday for unbuilding and re-building. I took a few photographs last week just to remember how it looked which, I assume, will be the way it looks when it is finished since they are leaving the supports. I do think it is a pretty bridge, though I have no idea what the architects among us would say. I love the oval reflections in the water when the light is just right.

Henley Street Bridge, Christmas Day 2010

Henley Street Bridge, Christmas Day 2010

My parents tell me we crossed that bridge in 1964, though the memory escapes me. We lived in Mobile, Alabama and had visited the mountains on vacation. In 1983 my wife and I bought our first home in south Knoxville, so the bridge became part of our lives. It's hard to imagine this part of the river without it. But even bridges get old, decrepit and in need of loving attention. Its time had apparently come.



Motorists experience a three minute wait to get to the Gay Street Bridge, January 3, 2011

Gay Street Bridge handles all three cars very well: Rush Hour January 3, 2011

So, what will happen next? Did grid lock result on Gay Street? Are cars still stranded on the South Knoxville bridge? The News Sentinel reported there were few, if any, problems this morning. I can say a little about what it was like around 5:30 this afternoon. After carrying my recycling to State street I walked up Gay to the bridge and you can see from the pictures: Not much happened. The traffic crossing the bridge driving south quickly disappeared on the other side. The cars waiting on Gay Street to get to the bridge backed up a little, but I'm not sure how much worse it was than usual at that time of day. It wasn't that bad.

View South on Henley Street Bridge, January 3, 2010

I decided to see how much progress was made on day one of the two year project and I was impressed. The pavement is largely gone from the surface of the bridge. There were two cranes and about a half dozen people still working. A couple of them rode in the cool cage over the edge of the bridge. When I was a but a wee lad, what I wouldn't have given for a job like that! I turned the other direction to look at traffic coming out Henley Street and, as you can see from the picture, there was very little. Hill street is open crossing Henley at the beginning of the bridge, so a few cars came and went from there. I was standing in the middle of the road when I took the picture, so that says something.

Men riding in cool cage suspended by crane - My turn, my turn!

So, if no one crossed the bridge and no problems were reported in the morning or afternoon traffic what does that mean? Things certainly might get a bit worse. Some people may not have worked today because of New Years and Knox County Schools were out. One thing it might mean is that the alternatives serve most people about as well as the Henley Street Bridge. That sets me to wondering what positive benefits might be derived from this two year period without our main bridge.

Henley Street at rush hour: 5:30, January 3, 2010

Some businesses on the alternate routes hope to benefit from increased traffic past their workplace. I also wonder if some people might discover that other routes have been better for them all along but they used the Henley Street Bridge out of habit. One person posting to the above story said he got to work more quickly using an alternate route. Some are hoping that alternative forms of transportation might get a boost. If anyone has considered carpooling, this would be a good time to try it.

What about the impact on downtown? I wondered if Gay Street would be impossible, but jaywalking appeared to be about as easy as usual when I crossed it around afternoon rush hour. I also wonder if some businesses along Gay Street might be helped from the exposure. Maybe someone will consider pizza at Dazzo's or be reminded that the Bistro is still in business after all these years.

One thing that is clear: the horrific barrier between downtown proper and UT/Fort Sanders/World's Fair Park will be greatly diminished for the next two years. Mr. Scott (I'll introduce him below) likened crossing Henley to a game of Frogger. For people who are too young to remember life before Wii, it was a primitive computer game in which the object was to have your frog cross the street without being splashed across the simulated pavement. UT students who attempt to walk downtown, downtown residents who would like to walk to UT and people who are in town for a convention and would like to walk between the convention center and downtown do so at their own peril.

Yes, there is a pedestrian bridge. Sometimes I use it, but it feels like going around the world to get to the other side of the street. Depending on your starting point and destination, it is often very far out of the way. Basically, over the years we've created a canyon of high-speed traffic.

So, what can you do? Well, there is a voice crying in the wilderness who says he knows exactly what we can do. His name is George Scott and he's been talking to anyone who would listen for quite some time now. His basic premise is that we'll never have an opportunity like this again in our lifetime to do something significant with this barrier and integrate these portions of downtown. Basically he advocates re-routing through traffic, making a walkable boulevard of Henley Street which would carry only local traffic. He insists the costs would be low and as money is available, Henley Street could be developed to host businesses and the connection not only between the areas mentioned above, but also the south Knoxville waterfront could be further developed and exploited.

I'll let him explain below. (If the video doesn't display properly, you can see it here.)He gives contact information in the presentation if you are interested in discussing the idea further. At the least, his point that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to do *something* resonates with me. If it is a bad idea, I need someone to help me see how that is so. Leave a comment or vote in the poll and let me know what you think.