So Many Moving to Tennessee WHATS THE EFFECT? (Knoxville, Crossville: wedding, school)

[KnoxBrian]

greetings to locals and transplants all. Just my 2 cents-I am a native Knoxvillian and my family is old time East TN (Cocke and Sevier Counties). I have lived in Martinsburg, WV-a suburb of Wash D.C.-for the last 5 years and cant wait to get home. In the short time I have been away from Knoxville, I have noticed a huge negative effect on the East Tn area in particular due to the mass influx of people to the area. The typical problems of congestion, property prices exceeding the reach of most natives, and inability of infrastructure to support population growth are all present, but more importantly I feel my home has lost its sense of Identity. It is slowly becoming just another cookie-cutter area that people come to and try to shape into THEIR idea of a utopia. Welcome to Tennessee-leave all baggage at the door!

[gemkeeper]

Unfortunately, this is coming from someone who would like to be another addition to the Knoxville area. But, I do understand your dismay with the changes that have taken place over the past several years.

I have lived in many different states in different parts of the country over the past 36 years. That is how long my husband and I have been going thru the company transfer merry-go-round. Now, it is time to stop all of the whizzing from one place to another.

I return a couple of times a year to the town where I grew up in Northern Pennsylvania tucked neatly between all the mountains (much like the Asheville area) and what do I see? Not the thriving town of 60,000 that I knew with Bethlehem Steel employing a couple thousand people, Avco Airplane Plant having hundreds working for them, many beautiful farms, and wonderful friendly neighborhoods with extended families intact. Instead, it is a skeleton of what I knew. No factories, few family farms (couldn't compete with the big conglomerates), no family chains - just around 30,000 people still there in a deteriorating downtown with little going on and no prospects. Knoxville in reverse.

My point is, it isn't that people are necessarily looking for an utopia, or retirees who want to live off the fat of the land, or escapees from FL, or selfish people who want to change Knoxville into something they are more familiar with. It most likely people like my husband and I who no longer have a real home to return to. Nothing is there anymore. We just want to find someplace where we can live a good life with people who still have good principles and high moral values. People who smile and say "Hi" even though they never saw you before, and have a strong spiritual center in their lives, and raise polite, kind children.

Knoxville is getting bigger, but it doesn't mean it has to become culturally different or undesirable to all the natives who love it so. Many, many of us from other states and backgrounds appreciate everything about "your" E. Tennessee and will do everything we can to help preserve it. And, I don't think I am speaking just for my husband and myself. I think I speak for many transplants - not all, I'm sure - but enough that we can help you keep its charm, its good values and a reasonable economy. Let us help where we can.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by gemthornton

I return a couple of times a year to the town where I grew up in Northern Pennsylvania tucked neatly between all the mountains (much like the Asheville area) and what do I see? Not the thriving town of 60,000 that I knew with Bethlehem Steel employing a couple thousand people, Avco Airplane Plant having hundreds working for them, many beautiful farms, and wonderful friendly neighborhoods with extended families intact. Instead, it is a skeleton of what I knew. No factories, few family farms (couldn't compete with the big conglomerates), no family chains - just around 30,000 people still there in a deteriorating downtown with little going on and no prospects. Knoxville in reverse.

You have not described Knoxville in reverse. You have described Knoxville.

[gemkeeper]

I was actually addressing KnoxBrian's lament about all of the people moving in en mass, adding to the congestion and the infrastructure not being able to keep up with all of the growth. I apologize for not being more clear on the analogy.

But, mostly I want to add a positive slant to this problem in that not all who are moving in are going to have a negative impact. Hopefully, E. TN will get a few treasures along with some of the sand and grit.

It does take a city time to catch up with sudden growth, but it is easier to deal with on a personal level, IMHO, than watching your city die because of no growth and the exodus of every business that kept the city viable in the first place.

Hopefully, we will be a asset to our community, and not just one more burden. And on the bright side, I have no baggage to bring!

[midevil train]

music to my ears BIRDIEMOM, those are the exact reasons I purchased land in east TN...

[TnHilltopper]

Tennessee like all other beautiful and in the past looked over areas will go the way of Branson, Missouri, Florida and many other areas, it will be loved to death.

It is a bit of a double edged sword, that most people come to Tennessee for its rather quiet and even quaint nature (outside of metro areas) and yet because so many come for the same reason, that in time it is much like the place they left... congested and full of other people that surrounded them looking for the same thing.

Not sure there is any way around it, can't stop progress. The rate that people are moving into this area, it won't be but 20 years and every hillside will be full of rooftops and brochures on coffee tables about developments in the Nevada desert. Enjoy it while it last.

[dodier56]

Would Like To Know About Medical Coverage In Tennessee For The Poor Who Cannot Afford It. Also What About Jobs In Construction? We Will Be Moving From Ky, A Horrible Place To Be. This Commonwealth Is For The Wealthy Who Look Down On The Common.

[ALML]

Originally Posted by TnHilltopper

Not sure there is any way around it, can't stop progress. The rate that people are moving into this area, it won't be but 20 years and every hillside will be full of rooftops and brochures on coffee tables about developments in the Nevada desert. Enjoy it while it last.

As we presently live in Nevada, I think many have already made their way here. I remember when we were a small quaint community.....those days are gone. Yesterday, while driving to Vegas, I heard on the radio some corp. has purchased a large number of acres from the BLM in the Mt. Charleston area and plan something like 16,000 homes (I think that was the #) Anyway, I had to laugh because the night before on the local news the LV Water District reported (unless sources are found...like taking from the northern ranchers) we will be out of water by 2012....and Las Vegas is third in the nation in terms of home foreclosures. What's wrong with this picture???? Housing projects have continued to go up all around us even in the midst of all this real estate/morgage loan mess. Some one is making something off it some where. As I have expressed in past threads I hope and pray the present people in Tn. will hold the feet of their city planners to the fire about mass projects and learn from the mistakes of so many other states. Yes, many want to move to TN. for good reason but I hope we all have some breathing room and cookie cutter houses can be an exception rather than the rule....
I'll take my rose colored glasses off now and go eat worms

[Johnny B.]

Tthe major effects have been traffic congestion and rising property values. I lhave lived on a Farm for 6 Years. I paid $1300/Acre when I bought. Current value is around $5000/Acre and this is not one of the more desirable areas-by a long shot.

[sugarsmax]

Originally Posted by LauraC

These things make places bearable for people but I'm waiting to read more posts of people who are moving to Tennessee FOR the culture, not people who are moving to Tennessee hoping people will tolerate them and their ideas.


So tell me, who is coming to East Tennessee because -

You want to hunt and/or fish more often?

You want to be a part of a church community lifestyle? (meaning your religious institution is more than a building where you attend services once in awhile - it is also an avenue to socialize and do good deeds in the community)?

You want to celebrate traditional religious holidays like Christmas, for example, or patriotic holidays like Memorial Day or 4th of July beyond having a day off from work or going to sales at the stores? (parades, events)?

You want to hear more country, bluegrass, gospel or blues music than you hear now? You want to learn some southern dances?

The idea of eating traditional southern dishes or something you've caught or shot appeals to you?

You want to spend more time with your ATV, racing or truck? Or, you are looking to buy one/participate in related activies/events?

You want to belong to some group after you get to Tennessee that has to do with nature and/or nature related sports (hiking, rafting, birding, etc.)?

You think a person's property is his to do with as he pleases?

You like to swim in lakes and/or swimming holes?

You like the school rules, the school curriculum, the school activities more than the place you left?

You want to marry a southern man or a southern woman raised in Tennessee or have friends who are Tennessee natives?

You want the town you are looking at, to stay exactly like it is now and not looking at the town for what it could be once more transplants arrive?

Hello from Florida, the land of yankees, that like to take over, complain about the pay, the weather, the price of milk why on earth yankees come to Florida I'll never know, all they do is complain about it. Anyway, I am a real Floridian, born and raised from generations back. I have always been proud to be a real Floridian, people actually think it's strange because I was born and raised here. My little town in SW FL used to be great, we would go out on 4 wheelers and rail buggies, pretty much anything that would go through mud, every weekend. Now they throw us out and slap up golf courses. No one cared if you had a junkie car in the yard and an old dog on the front porch covered in fleas. The schools were small and personal. We had a CHRISTMAS parade, not that "happy holiday" BS. I can understand Tennessians getting upset about transplants trying to take over, I put up with that in Florida. I go to a Baptist church every Sunday, I bet I have ate more beans, collards and cornbread than most people here, I get looked down on because I am surrounded by Yankees and I talk with a southern accent, they treat me like I'm an idiot because I have an accent.
I have known quite a few people who have moved back from Tennessee, because they can't stand the the ways there. I'm glad they got out of Tennessee, because in about 3 to 6 months I will be there raising my kids, riding my 4 wheeler, maybe my daughter can go to school and wear a cross on her necklace.
Everything you listed is exacly why my family is moving there.
Florida is for old people.