Came for a visit after 2 years of being away... (for sale, work)

[ThatTNGuy]

Sounds like newcomers to the Knoxville area are not exactly liked/welcomed by some people.

My apologies.

[JMT]

I disagree with the OP's assessment, too.

For starters, to claim that Knoxville has grown so fast in only two years is ridiculous. 20 years, yes. 2 years, absolutely not. Knoxville is not Raleigh or Atlanta, and thank goodness for that. Not a single suburb of Knoxville is among the fastest growing in Tennessee. That honor goes to suburbs of Nashville and Memphis. And the cost of housing in Knoxville has not risen that dramatically in the last two years, either.

To claim that Knoxville's traffic has gotten so much worse in only 2 years is also irresponsible. If anything, heading out to West Knox is easier now than it was 2 years ago because I-40 is now wider than it was 2 years ago.

Knoxville is still a remarkably affordable big city, all things considered. On my honest teacher's salary I'm able to afford a comfortable home in a decent part of town. I couldn't do that in Nashville, Raleigh, Salt Lake City, Columbus, Austin, Orlando, and the list goes on.

[weisgarber1]

Originally Posted by JMT

I disagree with the OP's assessment, too.

For starters, to claim that Knoxville has grown so fast in only two years is ridiculous. 20 years, yes. 2 years, absolutely not. Knoxville is not Raleigh or Atlanta, and thank goodness for that. Not a single suburb of Knoxville is among the fastest growing in Tennessee. That honor goes to suburbs of Nashville and Memphis. And the cost of housing in Knoxville has not risen that dramatically in the last two years, either.

Actually, the growth in Knox County during the last census was the largest numerical and percentage growth of the four largest counties. This will probably be the case in 2010 as well. But housing is very affordable, all things considered, and a two year comparison seems to be misguided.

[sliverbox]

Well, bottom line is that to me, as a native, things looked, felt, and were very different from the last time I was there. For the most part, the change was good.Knoxville the city looked fantastic.But I've lived in a number of congested and overcrowded cities that made some bad decisions early on that led to making the quality of life there not so great. I guess what I am concerned about is that the Knoxville area seems to have absolutely no control to where people build stuff. Mcmansion developments in the middle next to the freeway. Massive clumps of fast food and chain restaurants. I saw that most of the smaller Wal-Mart shopping centers were simply abandoned along with all the stores that had been there. Most Wal-Marts had been turned into "Super Wal-Marts" instead. I suppose it was cheaper to simply abandon the old versus rebuilding. I would like to see some more advanced community planning versus letting builders swoop in wherever and build homes for absolute maximum profit-meaning nothing but Mcmansions.

What I'm getting at is that when I was a kid, Knoxville had a sort of old world charm.It was very Southern. There were plenty of weird little mom-n-pop delis, eateries, and barber shops. The area had a character. What I saw this last time was a further transition into a metropolises complete with Mcdonalds and Wal-Mart leading the parade.It looked like ole' Mom-N-Pop places were just about gone.

When we were up in the Big South Fork area- an area I used to go camping a lot in, it seemed like every little chunk of land up there was for sale. Billboards were all over the place for some new retirement community. Likely for more retirees from MI, or whatever. Sort of sad.

In the end, there's nothing I or anyone can do about it. Change is inevitable. Our little corner of the world was perhaps one of the last in the country to retain its original character and its old ways. The way the world works now is more about the blending of culture and people. I suppose Knoxville fits that new paradigm.

[weisgarber1]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

In the end, there's nothing I or anyone can do about it. Change is inevitable. Our little corner of the world was perhaps one of the last in the country to retain its original character and its old ways. The way the world works now is more about the blending of culture and people. I suppose Knoxville fits that new paradigm.

Very true, and this is the situation all over the country in a mobile society. In some ways, Knoxville had managed to avoid the immersion (and really the loss of its uniqueness) into what many would say has become an increasingly nondescript Americanized society. Still, Knoxville/Knox County retains some distinctness.

[KnoxBrian]

I understand exactly where you are coming from. I remember when all there was in Farragut was an old, run-down wal-mart where the stein-mart is now. I am 30yo and moved away from K-town in fall of 02 for job reasons. While I really miss my hometown, when I go home I can feel the change in the area. Its not the Knoxville of old, and in some ways thats good, but the influx of people and "Northern Money" in my opinion, has really changed the whole area. I read all kinds of posts on here about people complaining about moving here and only finding jobs that pay $8/hour and the general lack of good jobs here. Well, what did you expect , this is the south, jobs here in general pay less. When individuals from higher income areas move here for the "cheap living", in my opinion it only makes it harder for the natives to get ahead.

[sliverbox]

When individuals from higher income areas move here for the "cheap living", in my opinion it only makes it harder for the natives to get ahead.

Precisely. I used to come on here a lot and kind of had to stop because seeing the same posts every day about yet another person from Florida,Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, and so on with the exact same story:

" It's too expensive where I live, and me and my wife and 7 kids want to move to TN so that we can live the 1950's lifestyle( dad goes to work mom stays and rears children) oh- and by the way, can we buy 20 acres of land for 50k?"

Makes it sound like doomsday is now here and the fix for everyone's woes is to move to somewhere else... until they price that place out the wazoo too, at which point I guess people from Knoxville will then want out of there and move to North Dakota or Kansas. Do I blame them? no, not really. I'm dealing with the same thing. I too want a more reasonable place to live someday. But I guess seeing my hometown start to head down the exact same path that has effectively ruined other areas is disheartening.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

Precisely. I used to come on here a lot and kind of had to stop because seeing the same posts every day about yet another person from Florida,Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, and so on with the exact same story:

" It's too expensive where I live, and me and my wife and 7 kids want to move to TN so that we can live the 1950's lifestyle( dad goes to work mom stays and rears children) oh- and by the way, can we buy 20 acres of land for 50k?"

Makes it sound like doomsday is now here and the fix for everyone's woes is to move to somewhere else... until they price that place out the wazoo too, at which point I guess people from Knoxville will then want out of there and move to North Dakota or Kansas. Do I blame them? no, not really. I'm dealing with the same thing. I too want a more reasonable place to live someday. But I guess seeing my hometown start to head down the exact same path that has effectively ruined other areas is disheartening.

Yeah, well, welcome to The United States of America. Like the rest of the world, we have a population problem.

I was priced out of my hometown when I was about 20, which was 26 years ago. Mayberry was taken over by Bostonians. Never could afford a house.

I've been trying to stay ahead of the herd ever since.

Interesting that I moved here in October 2005 and you finally validated all the points I have been making by actually visiting Knoxville, which is your hometown. Funny, you've said that several places were your hometown, so I'm not exactly sure. However, it doesn't really matter.

Yes, this is still a big country, and there are still places out there to move to, which you pointed out to me, and I have checked. Some of them are actually superior to Knoxville. Imagine that. But they are COLDER. Horror of horrors. When you are trying to put a roof over and feed your kids, cold is the least of your worries.

Knoxville has somewhat of a reprieve, because yes, it does seem like doomsday, with this disastrous economy, the likes I have never seen in my lifetime, but eventually they will come because we can't seem to stop procreating or retiring.

Imagine that.

[lauragizzi]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

Precisely. I used to come on here a lot and kind of had to stop because seeing the same posts every day about yet another person from Florida,Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, and so on with the exact same story:

" It's too expensive where I live, and me and my wife and 7 kids want to move to TN so that we can live the 1950's lifestyle( dad goes to work mom stays and rears children) oh- and by the way, can we buy 20 acres of land for 50k?"

Makes it sound like doomsday is now here and the fix for everyone's woes is to move to somewhere else... until they price that place out the wazoo too, at which point I guess people from Knoxville will then want out of there and move to North Dakota or Kansas. Do I blame them? no, not really. I'm dealing with the same thing. I too want a more reasonable place to live someday. But I guess seeing my hometown start to head down the exact same path that has effectively ruined other areas is disheartening.

just people trying to find something better for themselves. cant blame a person for wanting out of a ratrace. the population is growing everywhere, and some people just want to be somewhere where its less crowded and more layed back. you make that sound like such a bad thing. and these kind of people would embrace just such a place im sure, if they left because of all the negative things in a "big city"

sorry you feel that way

[Barking Spider]

Just a couple observations....
1) The grass is always greener......
2) I think that if a person lives in one place long enough, they will start to resent the changes that are happening around them, and seek out a place just like their's was, oh so many years ago. And......see #1