r/Knoxville

I know a lot of people these days love JellyCat’s. There’s a new stand at the West Town Mall that is selling fakes. Make sure you use the JellyCat Finder on their website to find stores with authentic Jelly’s!!!

Fifty-eight percent of Knox County residents surveyed by a local Republican polling firm say they reject police use of Flock Safety surveillance cameras.

In a survey this week of 350 likely voters, Spry Strategies found that not only did a majority of respondents reject the AI-enabled license plate readers and surveillance cameras, but almost everyone polled was aware of the controversy surrounding the cameras nationally and at home.

"When I saw that data, I knew it was going to be a good poll because the information was out there," Spry Strategies President Ryan Burrell told Knox News. "Even for me, it's relatively new. I think social media has quickly spread the information."

Just thought I would share this in case it could help keep someone safe. So on the story book trail by the library there's a short off-shoot that leads closer to the creek, there is a fallen tree at the end of it and it was covered in huge honeybees. At least I think they were honeybees, I moved my dog away quickly. I probably saw at least 100 bees, there's probably many more. I'm lucky I noticed them before my dog got too close. I didn't think to snap a picture but I posted a map of the trail with a red mark where the bees are. So if you're planning to go out there just be mindful of that area, especially if you have dogs or small children.

Knoxville's North Waterfront Redevelopment Plan will move forward to envision the future of how the downtown and two huge new University of Tennessee districts will come together, but with far more options for public input.

The Knoxville City Council on Aug. 18 gave Mayor Indya Kincannon and the Knoxville Community Development Corporation approval to create a redevelopment district encompassing areas around World's Fair Park, the new Neyland Entertainment and Maplehurst Innovation districts, and residential and commercial properties.

The plan creates boundaries for a tax increment financing district, which funnels tax revenue into public improvements within the boundaries. The types of public improvements like walkways, road projects, riverfront amenities and parks will be determined as time goes on.

The plan's 7-1 approval was not without tension. Several councilmembers seriously criticized city leaders and Knoxville's Community Development Corporation for not engaging stakeholders. Only seven people came to two different public hearings KCDC hosted, and two work for the city and KCDC.

"When we asked for a redevelopment plan and a public process, I expected that the public would know sooner that a process was about to begin, than a day before a meeting," said Vice Mayor Lynne Fugate. "I'm gravely disappointed in this." 

You all know the KCSO stuff better than I do so I won't go back over it. Two things first though, because I almost got the first one wrong myself.

The workshop on the 24th has no public comment. You can go and sit and listen, and that's it. No votes either.

But the commission's regular meetings do let you speak. There's a public forum at the end of those and it's open to any topic, not just what's on the agenda. You get three to five minutes. You have to sign up with the commission office by 4pm the day before, either call 865-215-2534 or email them through commission.knoxcountytn.gov/contact, and give your name, address and what you want to talk about. You can also grab the vice chair in person before it starts. Regular meetings are the fourth Monday in the Large Assembly Room. Give them a ring to check the next date.

That's the bit I'd pass around. Everything in the news has been about the workshop, so people are going to show up on the 24th thinking they can speak and find out they can't.

About me: I keep a list of every place that's ended, paused or fought a Flock contract. What people argued, how the vote went, what happened after. Twelve have ended one so far. It's free and there's nothing to sign up for.

One favor: if you use any of this, link the news story and not me. Every entry has the original link on it. "WOSU reported on August 10 that the audit found" is hard to argue with. "I read it on some website" isn't, and somebody will try.

Here's the thing that surprised me reading all twelve. Almost none of them won by saying surveillance is bad. They won on one specific thing the council couldn't explain away.

WHO ELSE CAN SEARCH YOUR DATA. This is the big one and there's fresh proof. Columbus checked their own system last month and found over 15,000 searches that looked immigration related. None of them were ICE. They came from other agencies who had access to the same shared pool, and that's the part people miss. Mountain View in California found ATF offices in two states, Langley Air Force Base and the GSA Inspector General had all searched one single city camera. That happened through a nationwide setting the city says Flock switched on without the police even knowing. El Cerrito voted 3-2 to drop it over the same thing.

So if you get your five minutes, that's your question. Has anyone ever checked who searched Knox County's data, and can we see it? Columbus only found their number because one councilmember asked.

MONEY, for the commissioners who don't care about privacy. Killingworth in Connecticut was paying $14,600 a year for four cameras and their First Selectman said flat out they "had not added any value to local policing efforts." That gets through to people the privacy stuff doesn't. 270 readers running into a live feed center is a real number to hold up next to what you actually get for it.

IF YOU CAN'T KILL IT OUTRIGHT. Idaho Falls kept their cameras but rewrote the contract. They took away Flock's right to train its AI on local plate photos, capped data sharing at what state law allows, and changed audits from twice a year to twice a month. Way harder to vote no on that than on a ban, and it's still a win. Commissioner Thompson's resolution asking for a review before the ARC Center goes live is that same kind of thing, and it's still on the agenda.

WATCH OUT FOR THIS. Harrisonburg in Virginia voted 4-0 to end their contract and then never passed a rule saying the council has to approve future surveillance deals. The group there says out loud they don't think it's finished. Ask for that rule at the same meeting, not later on.

Being straight with you: out of the twelve, only El Cerrito and Syracuse are ones where you can actually confirm the cameras came down. Voting to end it and the poles coming down are two different things. Stanford just dropped Flock and is putting in a different plate reader company instead. And whatever happens with the 270, the cameras already up stay up.

One thing you've got going for you that most places don't. This isn't a left or right fight where you are. Your county mayor called the cameras a threat to privacy and civil liberties, and Tim Burchett, who filed the bill in Congress to defund them, used to be your county mayor. Most of the places that won had that going on too.

If you want me to look something up before the meeting, like a county about your size, or a sheriff's office making the same arguments KCSO is making, or the exact wording of a contract change that actually passed, just ask and I'll find it and post it with the link.

Full list by town: flockinghell.com/reports

Hi! I'm a local painter (you may remember my Sunsphere post if you're here often) and won't be living here come next year, so it wouldn't make sense to get super involved in a gallery or something. But I have Knoxville themed paintings that I'd really love to get into local hands before I go.

I have listings on Craigslist and Offerup, but is there some in-person place or otherwise that might help sell my work?

Note to moderation this is NOT an ad to sell here, I'm trying to find a place that sells local work as a service