UT Lady Vols Coach Pat Summitt will be the featured speaker at the third annual Mayors’ Luncheon for the Parks October 21st in the newly expanded Tommy Schumpert Park in north Knox County.
Mayors Bill Haslam and Mike Ragsdale host this annual picnic-style luncheon to celebrate the importance of parks and recreational opportunities to the health and vitality of our community.
This event attracts 500 community and business leaders to hear of the year’s accomplishments by Legacy Parks Foundation and get a preview of upcoming initiatives. Prior speakers include Congressman Heath Shuler, Congressman Jimmy Duncan, and the Honorable Howard Baker and Senator Lamar Alexander.
Coach Summitt has long championed the impact of competition and recreational opportunities on personal and professional success in life. She is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history, men or women in any division, and the only Division One collegiate coach with 1000 victories. Just completing her 35th year of coaching, Coach Summitt has an unparalleled eight national championships and a 100 percent graduation rate to her credit.
The cost of the luncheon is $75 per person, $750 for a reserved table for 10 guests, or $1,000 for a sponsored table. Reservations can be made by calling Legacy Parks Foundation at 525-2585 or at the Legacy Parks website.
The campaign to save downtown Knoxville’s River Bluff was boosted by $325,000 in donations last month, including a $20,000 challenge gift from Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation.
To date $850,000 of the needed $1.6 million has been raised to acquire the 70-acre parcel on Cherokee Trail. It is the most significant unprotected green space in downtown Knoxville and was previously slated for a condominium development. Once purchased and protected by Legacy Parks Foundation, the property will become a city wildlife area with walking trails, two ponds and river access within a lush forest.
Fort Stanley Ridge is also under contract to purchase for $800,000 by Legacy Parks Foundation. This 17-acre forested ridge is home to one of three contiguous civil war forts.
Both properties are key components of the Urban Wilderness and Historic Corridor, a $6 million initiative to create a 1,000-acre urban forest paralleling the South Knoxville Waterfront Development in the heart of Knoxville. The corridor will contain three civil war forts, historic settlement sites, and diverse ecological features and recreational amenities, all connected by a system of greenways and natural trails. Contributions to the campaign can be made at the Legacy Parks website.
Legacy Parks Foundation teams up with the City of Knoxville, Knoxville Track Club and Knoxville’s Central Business Improvement District to beautify and improve the overall experience along Knoxville’s Waterfront Greenway. With funding from Legacy Parks Foundation and the CBID, the city has hired a part-time Americorp staffer for a 10-month term as Greenway Ranger. The Knoxville Track Club, through proceeds from the Knoxville Marathon, purchased a trail vehicle for the ranger to use while patrolling the greenway from Ned McWhorter Park to the Earthfare in Bearden. The ranger’s duties include providing advice and directions to visitors, making landscape improvements, clearing the pathway of fallen limbs and debris, and working with businesses and groups to adopt segments of the greenway for beatification. This is a pilot program that could lead to additional rangers throughout the city and county greenways.
The city will introduce Ranger Matt Butzlaff to the community, September 16th at 10 a.m. at Volunteer Landing.
Conservation easements provide a powerful tool for landowners who wish for their land to remain undeveloped in perpetuity and for builders/developers who are looking for a financially viable way to integrate greenspace and protected areas into their developments. When landowners donate a conservation easement, they maintain ownership and management of their land (and can pass the land on to their heirs) while foregoing their rights to develop the land in the future. In essence, they are giving the development rights of the property to a land trust, such as Legacy Parks Foundation, to hold forever. Land trusts are charged with monitoring and protecting the conservation assets of the land. There can be significant tax benefits from donation of a conservation easement. A federal bill currently under consideration will allow landowners to deduct a larger share of their income over a longer period of time. H.R. 1831 makes permanent an expiring incentive that allows modest-income landowners to receive significant tax deductions for donating conservation easements that permanently protect important natural or historic resources on their lands. This bill will aid in the protection of millions of acres of the nation’s agricultural lands and open spaces. For more information, contact Carol Evans at Legacy Parks Foundation.
