Harriman Creeping to Absorb Everything Like Giant Amoeba?
Submitted by WhitesCreek on June 15, 2012 - 7:47am.
I've always thought there was a tragic flaw in the legal annexation process which allows municipalities to absorb folks who don't want to be inside them. Midtown being the prime example in Roane County. The current process has given rise to the oddest quote of the week from the RCN. I don't have a clue what it means:
“We think we’ve got four yeses and a whole bunch of people who don’t live in their houses,” said Harriman City Council member J.D. Sampson.
Midtown has a lot of residence who rent the houses they live in. My guess, and it is just a guess, they have four people who actually live in their own houses in Midtown. the whole bunch of people who don't live in their houses probably live in Harriman now but have rental property in Midtown. Anyway, it's the only way I can interpret it.
Sounds like a similar mentality that we dealt with Lenoir City a few years ago. LC had agreed not to annex any area without a majority vote of the "residents". Loudon County agreed. So LC sent out letters, but only to property owners that were residentially zoned. The area had more agriculturally zoned area, but those residents did not get letters (including me). Then to add insult to injury, LC decided that the majority should be of the letters that were sent back, not the ones sent out. So they had a slim majority of the minority they polled, and only of the few that responded. LC ended up scaling back to a finger annexation, and I did not get annexed after quite an uproar.
According the the RCN, Lonnie Wright said he doesn't want the residential people - just the businesses. It looks like Harriman is going after the easy revenue.
Harriman is just establishing a perimeter. Before I die, I am sure between them and Kingston everything from Roane State Highway to the waterfronts of WestShores down to the bridge at Bowman Bend Rd and Caney Creek road will have been sucked up by one or the other.
They are greedy mismanaged entities that just increase their base to legally take over neighborhoods and subdivisions that never wanted to be in the city.
The people who had the Town of Midtown did not fight, they made a deal and didn't get kissed, and that is their fault. Sad times for Midtown.
Midtown has a lot of residence who rent the houses they live in. My guess, and it is just a guess, they have four people who actually live in their own houses in Midtown. the whole bunch of people who don't live in their houses probably live in Harriman now but have rental property in Midtown. Anyway, it's the only way I can interpret it.
Sounds like a similar mentality that we dealt with Lenoir City a few years ago. LC had agreed not to annex any area without a majority vote of the "residents". Loudon County agreed. So LC sent out letters, but only to property owners that were residentially zoned. The area had more agriculturally zoned area, but those residents did not get letters (including me). Then to add insult to injury, LC decided that the majority should be of the letters that were sent back, not the ones sent out. So they had a slim majority of the minority they polled, and only of the few that responded. LC ended up scaling back to a finger annexation, and I did not get annexed after quite an uproar.
According the the RCN, Lonnie Wright said he doesn't want the residential people - just the businesses. It looks like Harriman is going after the easy revenue.
Easy revenue without the obligations of serving the residents?
Harriman is just establishing a perimeter. Before I die, I am sure between them and Kingston everything from Roane State Highway to the waterfronts of WestShores down to the bridge at Bowman Bend Rd and Caney Creek road will have been sucked up by one or the other.
They are greedy mismanaged entities that just increase their base to legally take over neighborhoods and subdivisions that never wanted to be in the city.
The people who had the Town of Midtown did not fight, they made a deal and didn't get kissed, and that is their fault. Sad times for Midtown.