This is one of a series of posts I’m writing on my website to outline what I’m calling My Platform. It’s all done with the goal of explaining to voters who I am, why I’m running and how I will approach the job of County Commissioner if I am elected.

I figure as a Knox County Commissioner, at some level I need to be looking out for the best interests of the whole county. Having seen some of the Commission work online and in person, I can tell that Commissioners are called upon to decide upon issues that affect the entire county, not just their individual districts.

Still. If I’m looking to be elected by the voters of District 4, I need to make sure that I know the absolute most I can about the District and its residents. To that end, I’ve decided that, by election day, August 6, 2020, I will drive, bicycle, and walk as many of the neighborhoods of District 4 as possible. Here’s my plan:

  • I plan to drive all of the streets and roads of District 4 by the time of the primary election, March 3, 2020. Very likely, I’ll be able to pull this off by the end of the month.
  • I plan to walk all of the neighborhoods in the district. I’m going to build in an exception for gated neighborhoods, unless I’m accompanied by a resident of the neighborhood. I’m also not going to commit necessarily to walk any of the main thoroughfares if they don’t have sidewalks, just for my own safety. This one is going to take me until the general election, August 6, 2020. Some of this will be typical door-knocking. I will also try just to walk some neighborhoods as well, to see how walkable they are. You might see me out and about with my Lab, Indi. Don’t worry, she’s super friendly. And, yes, we named the dog, Indianna.
  • I plan to bicycle as many of the neighborhoods and greenways in the district as possible. I’m not going to commit to cover the entire district, but rather I’m going to focus on how bikeable the district is.

Money in campaigns is an issue I’m running on, so I’m trying to do what I can campaign-wise on my own. There’s a publicly available site – KGIS Maps – which has various maps of Knox County, including the lines for the County Commission Districts. But, the map there isn’t as detailed or user friendly as you might like it to be. I use Google Maps pretty frequently and figured out yesterday how to make my own map with the outline of District 4, using the KGIS map as a guide. I think it worked out pretty well. Here’s the link, which I also shared on my campaign Facebook page. I think this is going to go a long way to help me meet those campaign promises.