letters to the editor
My name is Mike Potesta. I am serving in my third term as president of the Board for the Jefferson Park Homeowners Association.
We have 260-plus homes and each and every day, the good working order of Jefferson Park is adversely impacted by our inability to safely enter and exit Jefferson Park. Our neighborhood has one entrance and exit and it is on Northshore Drive, in a stretch that endures up to 20,000 car passes each and every day.
I am writing to personally endorse Angela Russell for the District 5 Knox County Commission seat.
She is the most experienced candidate for this role and has proven to delivery results for our area as a HOA representative in Choto working for reasonable development. She is known in West Knox County for her unapologetic approach to defending the safety and character of our area neighborhoods.
A brief list of her accomplishments as a resident representing Choto:
• Angela Russell has served numerous terms on subdivision HOA and is a founding member of the Northshore-Choto HOAs group.
• Organized our neighborhoods to stopped a Pill Mill in Choto in 2016 https://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/rezoning-for-west-knox-medical-office-stalls-in-county-commission-3383b9cc-6a4a-3048-e053-0100007fc6-380589791.html/?page=1
• The outcome of the "pill mill,” which ultimately operated at different location(s), proved to have saved West Knox County from an illegal drug trafficking and money laundering operation- something the local news doesn't seem to talk about. See below article from Justice.gov:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edky/pr/four-east-tennessee-doctors-convicted-drug-trafficking-and-fraud-scheme
• The people of West Knox County need to know that Angela Russell is the only candidate with a proven record of fighting for our area, and standing up to say "No” when development proposals jeopardize the safety and well-being of folks residing in District 5.
• History of advocating for responsible development. Proven leadership and effective results in opposing Choto Landing, a proposed high density government subsidized development, which was otherwise slated to be erected on (and connecting to) very dangerous stretches of local roads on which multiple people have been killed in both 2022 and 2023.
One part of Northshore in this area, per TDOT data, recorded a staggering 39 percent increase in traffic accidents in 2022; the vast majority of which occurred during daylight hours and in dry conditions. Any Commissioner or Planning Commission member who has failed to come out during morning rush hour and observe ingress and egress from these area neighborhoods ought to do so, before robotically approving incremental development.
• Angela Russell — a proven leader in this arena — will continue to defend area residents and fellow neighbors against unsensible development, and will not stop this fight in the name of convenience. She is committed to improving infrastructure capacity so that the people of West Knox County can commute each and every day in a safer way, and optimize their chances of returning home to their loved ones.
• Angela Russell routinely calls area HOAs together, as most recently demonstrated just a few weeks ago to defend Choto from more high density development — the outcome from this meeting resulted in successfully lowering density from as much as 5 units per acre to just three units per acres in the Knoxville/ Knox County Planning Commission hearing.
Please do your part in getting the word out on Angela Russell. She is a wonderful person, and her fight for West Knox County began many years ago. She will hit the ground running as Knox County Commissioner for District 5.
Mike Potesta, Concord/Choto
