If elected, what are your top three goals for the City of Knoxville, and how will your administration work towards effectively accomplishing those goals?

As Mayor, I’m actually going to focus on four key areas that will improve our city’s economy and quality of life.

We need to support the businesses that already call Knoxville home, aggressively recruit companies to Knoxville, encourage public-private partnerships to support emerging industries, and make Knoxville a great place to start or grow a business.

We also need to continue the progress of downtown. Downtown Knoxville is everyone’s neighborhood, and we need to continue to invest in infrastructure – bricks & mortar and technology – and expand services like grocery stores, parking, and retail anchors. Knoxville currently has over $300 million in planned redevelopment projects – from the South Waterfront to the Magnolia Corridor – what’s missing is private investment. As Mayor, I’ll focus on leveraging those dollars to make the most viable projects a reality.

We need to make our neighborhoods stronger, safer and more connected. There’s no reason for Knoxville to not be the most walkable, bikeable city in the Southeast. I also want to focus on the causes – rather than the symptoms – of our community’s challenges like crime and homelessness. And I’m going to support our code officers to make sure that blighted and vacant properties aren’t hurting the safety and quality of our neighborhoods.

To read the full article, please go to the Seymour Times.