Residents press council on parks access, East Knoxville reconnection and equity restoration at public forum

Six people spoke during public forum at the Oct. 13 meeting, raising concerns about park access, community restoration, regional transportation and neighborhood investment.

Vivian Scheib asked the city to direct park management to remove padlocks at Cheahawee Park and to allow immediate reservations and programming while longer-term infrastructure planning continues. "People want the gates open," she said, urging short-term grants and removal of barriers so the park can be used by neighbors now.

Tiago Philip urged local support for reconnecting East Knoxville to downtown after a $42.7 million federal grant for an East Knoxville Reconnection Project was lost; he asked whether the council would pursue local approaches to bridge downtown and East Side neighborhoods.

Crystal Flack strongly criticized the African American Equity Restoration Task Force, saying the group was set up to fail and has not delivered property return or compensation to displaced families. Flack raised concerns about task-force composition and conflicts of interest and said she found no evidence the promised restoration funds reached displaced households.

Other speakers asked for continued regional coordination on large transportation projects (such as Alcoa Highway work led by TDOT) and urged council vigilance about how neighborhood-investment revenue would be allocated.

Council did not respond to public forum remarks during the forum but has other avenues for staff follow-up and future agenda items.