Most Progressive Cities, Towns and/or Orgs in the TRI? (Johnson City: 2009, chapel)

[SarahSal]

Aside from the best medical and higer education facilities - and those with the most corporate stores and restaurants, which communities and/or organizations do you think seem to be working hardest to develop their towns in a progressive, forward thinking way?
And specifically, how (if you choose to go into more depth)?

I have my favorites but I'll be interested to know what other's Tr-citiites' perceptions are...

[mbmouse]

Downtown Kingsport all the way. Just look at what they have done in the past 24 months. They have Broad and Main St. which almost every building is not only full, but buildings re modeled, re faced, side walks re-done with bricks and trees, art sculptures (ok, some of them are just plane weird, but hey, "art" is subjective ahhaahha), traffic circles at the intersections with beautiful landscaping, and that is just aesthetics. They have been successful with getting music in the streets(and yes, you can have a beer, have been able to for years, MUCH less up tight about that kind of thing than other local areas.) every weekend for FREE, which helps the business because it brings customers right to their door. The city has several groups that are VERY pro active in not only promoting the city, but they do it by helping the business owners succeed. There is one group that has set up a free web site and promote it and any business in the downtown can be on the web site for free.
The board of mayor and alderman keep helping business grow customer base in the for front. They have pushed to get a higher education center in downtown, done. They pushed to get some medical in downtown, being done now with the old Press building. Parking is everywhere and free plus they are now building a downtown parking garage as well. All of these projects were to get more people in the downtown on a daily basis which means more customers for downtown bussiness owners.
Yep, Kingsport gets my vote for this question.

[johnnybc]

Wow, that does sound great!, what's this about the Eastman Plant giving off a smell that envelopes Kingsport? Are they progressing at all to get rid of that?? And are there any nice upper crust restaurants with a nice jazz band playing!???

[mbmouse]

Originally Posted by johnnybc

Wow, that does sound great!, what's this about the Eastman Plant giving off a smell that envelopes Kingsport? Are they progressing at all to get rid of that?? And are there any nice upper crust restaurants with a nice jazz band playing!???

Yes. From my understanding, the smell and pollution rate used (many, many years ago) to be bellow EPA standards, now it exceeds the standards. What people smell for the most part is the paper plant that is in the downtown. Yea, Domtar is a paper plant. Ever driven by a town that has a paper plant? You know miles and miles away that you are coming up on a paper plant, not so with Kingsport. Yes, there are days when they are cleaning or burning out some thingy or something that you can smell it. People have described the smell as anything from baby spit up to something rotting. Others that have lived here all their lives will say they can not smell it at all.
Now allergy sufferers can and do have major problems with the area. Is that from either Eastman,Domtar or local trees/plants? I don't know.
Yes, there are new, upper crust restaurants in the downtown core such as Stir Fry, Kafe' Blue, Kingsport Grocery that have music and sometimes it is jazz. The Bus Pit just opened, not sure if it is considered "upper crust" in any other way than the wallet contents of the patrons but it is slated to have some jazz bands.

[jabogitlu]

To me, an upper crust restaurant is some great barbecue with a hard-driving bluegrass band playing.

But that's just me.

[rccrain]

I hate the word "progressive" - it's too politicized to convey it's true meaning. So I will give the communities intelligence ratings.

Kingsport - B - yes downtown is good and getting better, but traffic is awful. YMCA is a plus. New restaurants are a plus. Retail is improving. Traffic cameras are a major negative. Warriors Path and Bays Mountain are major pluses although they are state parks - not sure what Kpt puts into them.

Johnson City - B+ - Downtown is the most glaring need - unbelievable that it has much more potential than the others but still lags behind. Also, JC needs to add a YMCA in the north/central area of town and make improvements to its parks. Other than that, JC is an easy 'A'. It handles its traffic load incredibly. Interstate makes travel from one side to the other seamless. The loop that connects SoF to N Roan offers exceptional retail, medical, university, and downtown experiences that are convenient to all city residents. Recent major pluses: Pharma School, Business Incubator Program, signs of life in downtown, museums/historical sites.

Bristol - B- - Cute Downtown, Amazing Amazing city owned parks, and BMS are all big pluses. But Bristol outside of its downtown is just not as vibrant as it should be. The VA and TN side seem to work against each other more than with each other. Exit 7 is a traffic nightmare - but the newest theater in the Tricities would occasionally make it worth it. The Bristol Mall Area has been forgotten and it just seems poorly planned on both the TN and VA side.

Now the smaller towns (rated on the intelligence of what they've done with what they have, not necessarily the desirability of the community):

Jonesborough: A-
Erwin: C
Bluff City: F
Rogersville: B
Church Hill: C
Gray: C+
Blountville: D

[johnnybc]

thanks folks for all that great info, it's sounding like a great area to move to, hope you don't mind if a liberal yankee muscian attempts to break into the music scene there, I've seen great ol brick houses in Elizabethton and Watauga, maybe not as progressive but close enought to commute easily??

[rccrain]

I like Watauga - it may be one of the best values in the vicinity of JC. It has 2 big problems though. Its geography puts most (but not all) of its developable land in close proximity to active RR tracks. Secondly, the road from Watauga to JC leads one through one of the less desirable areas of JC. This wouldn't affect my decision, but it might for someone else.

My only advice about Elizabethton is that if you have school age kids, get in the EHS school district.

Both are easy commutes to JC(10min), OK to Bristol (30min), and really nasty to Kpt(50min +high traffic). Church Hill, Colonial Heights, or Rogersville are better for Kpt.

[mbmouse]

Ok, y'all know I have been supper impressed with Kingsport over the past 2 years, here is one more example of why, Kingsport has just been named one of the top 16 finalist for a predominant award given away by Harvard.
The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University today announced the finalists for the 2009 Innovations in American Government Awards. These 16 programs represent innovations at the city, county, state, and federal levels of government and were selected from a pool of over 600 initial applicants after rigorous rounds of evaluation. Winners of the 2009 Innovations in American Government Awards will be announced in the fall.

Link to full press release: Harvard Kennedy School - Harvard Kennedy School Announces Innovations in American Government Finalists

Within the last 12 months, Kingsport has been:

Awarded as one of three U.S. Chamber of Commerce / Siemens Sustainable Communities (along with Chapel Hill and Albuquerque)

Cited in a Johns Hopkins report for its innovative higher education initiatives
Named a Top 100 community by Relocate-America

Recognized by Walk America magazine as a top walking community

Achieved the 3rd highest house price appreciation in the nation

Won the Ozzie Environmental Award for building the first publicly-funded LEED-certified green building in Tennessee

[jabogitlu]

Woohoo!!! Go Kingsport!

I think there is no doubt anymore that Kingsport city is the most progressive government in NETN.