Area Suggestions (Knoxville, Johnson City, Maryville: houses, school, organic)

[heathersmom]

Thank you both for your thoughts. I'm sure that the trees in the Smoky Mnts. hold in alot of the carbon dioxide from all of the cars...so that may skew the results...and I really wanted to try out the town of Townsend!!! Maryville and Alocoa- something is odd there (for this Northerner)b/c I "heard" that like one side of the street goes to maryville schools and the otherside goes to Alocoa and there is this big rivalry etween the 2 schools???I dunno--just what I took to understand...
ANYWAYS- TN is beautiful with trees and such-it may be the humidity that holds "bad" air in, Eastman (Kodak) has been in Rochester for years--and they are always being tested and fined for emissions...so its not only TN- but see TN and NC have a lot of jobs...NY doesn't have that many anymore...so all of the factories have moved South along with thousands of people driving cars...who knows what the causes are--I just wondered what the locals had to say about this--Thank you for your responses! This board has been amazing for someone trying to relocate!

[Magster]

We're planning on buying in Cambell County, northwest of Knoxville, either Caryville, Jacksboro or LaFollette. I checked out the air quality there because I know some areas of Eastern Tennessee are more polluted than others. EPA says air quality there is an 8 with a 10 being the best. Works for us.
Also, the lakes rivers and streams on the east side of I-75 around what is called Norris Lake are virtually pristine: only 25 percent of the land around the waters is available for develpment; the rest is state, national and country parks, wildlife preserves, et al.
Cheers,

[heathersmom]

You don't think that an 8 out of 10 is bad? I'd like a 2 out of 10...

[Magster]

Originally Posted by heathersmom

You don't think that an 8 out of 10 is bad? I'd like a 2 out of 10...

Yikes, sorry. I misstated. What I meant to say that 10 is the best! That means that an 8 sounds pretty good for us.
Sorry.

[Magster]

Just reread my original post. I said, 10 was the best, darnit. That makes an 8 pretty good in my book.
Cheers,

[Breucklyn]

mbmouse, since I am a smoker, glad to hear that smoking is still allowed in the area. :>) We are a retired Navy family and my husband spent 20 years in the Nuclear Power Navy. We lived near many nuclear power facilities and never had any problems. Linda

[Kklynnt]

I've been following this post and think I can help. First I live in bledsoe county and I worked 8 years at the Watts Bar Nuclear plant.

I can't imagine why bledsoe county would be on the EPA list unless it is due to a gasoline spill that occurred years ago. We also had some industrial processes that "passed through" our wastewater treatment plant. EPA could be reporting these issues.

Nuclear wise--there are no harmful emissions from the cooling towers at Watts bar. This system is actually isolated from the reactor cooling water.

Oak Ridge has the Oak ridge national labs-To my knowledge there are no airborne emissions from this area. There are comtaminated areas that are on the superfund clean-up list. This may explain the EPA listing.

TVA has a number of fossil (coal fired) power plants in this area. They are currently installing air scrubbing technology to clean their emissions.

Now to the good part...Area wise you can stay upwind of all of that and find you an area in or around the sequatchie valley. Pikeville,Dunlap,Crossville. I mention these for two reasons first for their beauty, and secondly because they are along US hwy 127--Every year the "worlds longest yardsale" is held along a 450 mile stretch of this hwy.

I'd recommend you look into these towns and if nothing else at least plan on driving through next year for the yard sale.

Any questions--feel free to email me at kklynnt@bledsoe.net

[heathersmom]

We originally looked into these areas- we currently receive the newspapers Bledsonnian and Dunlap tribune) so we have been reading about all of the elections...there is one last name that keeps appearing too--I won't say it here but it starts with SW and ends with a D. I do not know these people, I do not know anyone in Tennessee! But, every where I read their names are present. Anyways- what down do you like better? I think Pikeville sounds less crowded than Dunlap but I'm only guessing...They are not in Blount county though- they are in Bledsoe county --correct? I think that there may be something to the whole traffic/exhaust isue where the trees and humidity in the area hold the emissions in...the biggest problem in our town is cow manure...we have more cows then people and there have been several arguments over where to spread it and what to do with it...but no nuclear plants ( Buffalo/Niagara Falls -50 miles away)...Thanks for your input! 3 kids and an anxious--impatient husband thank you too!

[CTTNSCTN]

I have lived in all the states indicated in my log in name. I have also lived in Middle, East, West and in between Tennesee. I have lived in big cities and smaller towns. There are differences in education and atmosphere. I have been pleased living everywhere except Memphis. Stay AWAY from Memphis. Tipton county, just north of Memphis is pleasant and safe, but the schools are not going to prepare your children for a university. On the other hand, across the state in the southeast corner just north of Chattanooga, Cleveland City Schools are excellent and the county schools are getting much better. Bradley County (Cleveland) schools are still way better than Tipton County. Putnam county benefits from a University strong in engineering and prepares their children well. Counties surrounding Nashville are really stepping up to having the kids well prepared for college. I've not lived in the northeast corner of the state but have contacts there. The Maryville schools just outside of Knoxville are exceptional. Most schools in the Knoxville area and surrounding counties seem to benefit from having The University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Feel free to drop me a line for more specific information.

[CTTNSCTN]

In response to heathersmom "bad air". It's the coal fired plants that cause most of the air pollution. It's a real shame.