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Fore Note: Blount
County may be too late to save many of their communities but
at least the citizens are still trying. Fortunately, Loudon
County residents have a better jump on it.
Your voice: Uncontrolled growth a hazard for Blount County
thedailytimes.com
Dear Editor:
One self-evident dynamic is the newfound fragility that uncontrolled growth has put on the infrastructure of Blount Countians. Coupled with additional factors such as a Federal Reserve trapped into a situation where substantially raising interest rates is now a certainty and the now record inflation at a four decades high, unfortunately for us the governing bodies' services are at a breaking point. Press release organizations like Blount Partnership have championed the new businesses they “bring” to Blount County. But even in the “zero interest free money” of the past decade, Blount Partnership has shot some historical blanks, like SCCY Industries (firearms) and their “anchor” in Pellissippi Place, ProNova. Pellissippi Place now heads to year 15 as a failed economic development, a living breathing business go to die cemetery.
So
now, with the above-mentioned higher
inflation, slower growth, we as citizens
face increased taxes to meet the demands of
the new geopolitical risks and government
spending based on free money, unchecked
spending, not to mention the overcrowding
that requires additional services, school,
and safety to name two, that we are in the
crosshairs of in Blount County.
What Blount Countians, many who live on the Mendoza line regarding personal finances, don’t need is a colossal mistake and another misuse of taxpayer funds. Blount Partnership, an unelected body, is supporting the Pellissippi Parkway completion to be done on the backs of Blount Countians who now face the probability of a recession. Four miles, half a billion dollars. Petroleum is the key cost factor in road construction. When you go to the pump, ask yourself if petroleum brings you pleasure. You know it doesn’t and the poorer you are, the more pain it inflicts. Petroleum is so expensive that we can’t maintain the current landscape of pavements, with more potholes than the Mexican drug cartel has at the border, another under riding cost that requires additional funding for our law enforcement. We face many challenges in 2022, however the consequences of uncontrolled growth now will, not maybe, create a litany of even unforeseen and unintended consequences to the detriment of Blount Countians. Legendary investor Warren Buffett in his letter to investors, said this free money party is “not gonna last.” That means our main focus as citizens is to go AC/DC and get our government finances “Back In Black.”
The question is, do we as Blount
Countians have the relative willpower,
knowledge to oppose wasteful projects
like the Pellissippi Parkway, or be
paved over by some high density homes
on a location like Pate Farms? Take a
lesson from the citizens of Ukraine. Our
land, our county is indispensable. God
gave us this incredible location. Time
to fight for it.
Tom Robinson |
BACK
3/16/22