presstalk 865-671-TALK (8255) or editor@farragutpress.com
• It’s late afternoon on Tuesday, Oct. 11. No mail, but sometimes that happens. As a retired postal employee, I get it. At 9:15 p.m., I hear the postal vehicle across the street and a short time later, it stops and delivers at our house. How is this OK?
Well, here is what probably happened: this carrier is most likely on his third route of the day because of sick calls or emergent situations that have left the office short staffed. This carrier missed dinner with the family, good-night kisses with the kids, the evening news or whatever the standard routine is at the end of a work day.
If you are unhappy with the late delivery, imagine how the carrier feels, reading addresses with a flashlight and fumbling along an unfamiliar route because the mail must always be delivered.
I, for one, appreciate the dedication of the postal workers. It takes more energy to be angry than it does to be gracious, and this is small stuff compared to the really bad stuff going on in our world right now. Just breathe.
• Thank you for publishing these comments: I think that the Town of Farragut has done a wonderful job in resurfacing the roads around Town here.
However, there is one place that is unbelievably ridiculous and dangerous: on Concord Road just north of the Turkey Creek (Road) intersection, they have put a bike lane between automobile lanes. I have never seen a bike on it; I don’t anticipate seeing one; it’s a very dangerous situation. It should be fixed.
• Farragut needs Hy-Vee. Even with the fund surplus the Town has, it is still $8.75 million short for the flyover bridge at I-40 and Campbell Station Road. Offices and apartments do not bring tax money to Farragut. Only retail does. The new Aldi grocery store is not generating much tax revenue. The parking lot is rarely full.
Hy-Vee will bring customers from Loudon, Blount, Anderson and Roane counties. Farragut spends thousands of dollars each year on tourism. Grocery tourism is tourism. Hy-Vee will bring additional sales tax revenue Farragut needs.
The Biddle Farm project requires new traffic lights at both ends of Jamestowne Boulevard. Traffic from Hy-Vee will not be an issue with these new traffic lights. The Hy-Vee plan has residential single-family housing that is consistent with surrounding neighborhoods. The people against this project simply don’t want anything built there. The Town of Farragut cannot financially afford this “not in my back yard” mentality.
Something will be built on this land. This is a plan that has no apartments. It is good for Farragut. It is the best plan that has come forward for this land. It deserves consideration.
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