The Moving Forward Act was unveiled in the United States House of Representatives last week. The proposed act is a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill. Among funding for infrastructure priorities, the legislation also incorporates several community development provisions aimed at stimulating o…

 “I don’t recall a golf course being here,” I muttered to myself as I was driving home from Pigeon Forge this past Saturday. That was the first inkling that I must have made a wrong turn somewhere, making a tiring drive even worse.

I was first introduced to the concept of developing “missing middle” housing back in 2016 when I attended a series of small developer training workshops in Columbus and Savannah, Georgia, led by a group called the Incremental Development Alliance (IDA) and hosted by community and civic organ…

“It’s a bear!” I heard one of my friends exclaim from the back seat of my car as I slowly cruised along a winding mountain road above Pigeon Forge this past year.

Students and learners, the times we are facing as cities and nations in the world are unprecedented. We are being challenged like never before, but we at Motlow State Community College know the importance of your educational and social growth needs. We must pull together as one people more n…

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded $20 million to the new Oak Ridge Institute at the University of Tennessee to expand the university’s partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, allowing this important institution to train the next generation of American scientists and…

What if I told you that there was a way to revitalize downtown Tullahoma in a way that was better for social equity, created more jobs, strengthened the local economy, improved the health of residents, and benefited the environment, all while attracting investors and developers by ensuring p…

I think I’m out of practice holding babies. Hey, I’m hard to rattle. I’m a smooth dude. However, I’ve got to admit, I get nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers when someone hands me their bouncing bundle of joy to hold. There’s so much responsibility. You got to watch their …

This week I am virtually attending the 28th Annual Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). Founded in 1993, CNU was formed out of the movement that began in the 1980s when many urban designers, architects, planners, developers, and engineers became frustrated with the prevailing development pat…

I’m a patriotic American. Along with paying my taxes and generally following the speed laws of the land, I believe in putting my hand over my heart when “The Star-Spangled Banner” plays and showing respect to the flag. I was just brought up that way, in a community that believed in showing r…

Like many working professionals, my career has existed solely on Zoom for the past three months. As someone who, in a normal year, travels constantly for work, Zoom has been a useful, temporary fix; it’s allowed me to hold client meetings in New Hampshire, lead webinars for partners in Saska…

Our world and our reality shifted in early March when Tennessee’s first case of Covid-19 was confirmed. Now almost three months later – after we successfully shifted to an online teaching and learning environment – Motlow State Community College stands ready to continue our support of commun…

“There’s a pervert in the woods!” a woman screamed, her shrill voice splitting the quiet placidity on the banks Dale Hollow Lake. “Look. Over there. It’s a pervert! No! There’s two perverts!”

It’s not every day when I walk into church on Sunday morning and the greeter flashes a picture of me dressed in drag.

As the month of May comes to a close, take the time this weekend to celebrate National Historic Preservation Month. Preservation Month began as National Preservation Week in 1973 and was expanded to the entire month of May in 2005. While you may not be able to visit certain historic sites in…

The question of how to foster high-quality places is one of the most important challenges in economic development today. Key solutions for downtowns everywhere are to provide ample outdoor spaces, outdoor amenities, connectivity to surrounding residential neighborhoods and natural areas, as …

“You don’t have any brakes!” I yelled, pointing to the structure looming in our windshield, my life passing before my eyes. “How are you going to stop?”

It seems like much of my adult life has been spent “digging up those bushes” as I’ve been subjected to becoming an indentured servant when it comes to yard work, constantly haunted by overplanted shrubberies no matter where I’ve lived.

Over the past few months, Motlow’s Department of Workforce Innovation has hosted a series of collaborative Zoom meetings between community organizations across the region including chambers of commerce, economic development agencies, industrial development boards, community development repre…

My grandmother and I used to collect quotes that we liked. She was an educated, well-read and well-traveled lady steeped in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and the magazine journalism of Reader’s Digest and National Geographic.

Since its Mother’s Day I thought it’d be appropriate to write something mother-y to stay on my mom’s good side.

As I’ve previously mentioned here before, the idea for this column was inspired by my interactions with James and Deborah Fallows while they were conducting research in Greenville, South Carolina, for their book “Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America.” If you haven’t re…

Let’s never stop our forward-thinking about how we can plan to help our businesses and our community.

If I hadn’t been an award-winning news writer and best-selling murder mystery author, I think in another life I would have been a meteorologist. That’s right, a weatherman, like Danielle Breezy.

First, I would like to thank the countless residents who have written or called to offer words of encouragement this week regarding the downtown revitalization effort. The city of Tullahoma successfully completed the TN Downtowns program last month.

“Ready. Set. Go!” The gun sounds and I’m off, sprinting through downtown like a gazelle with a lion on its tail. My skinny bird legs are pumping like a steam engine as I weave my way through the other runners, working myself toward the clean air in the front.

Last month, Motlow State announced the MotlowTrained Relief Fund to provide free training to help community members experiencing any loss of income due to COVID-19 by giving them the opportunity to upskill for advancement or to re-enter the workforce.

Craig slammed the door shut, pushing his weight against the flimsy wooden door as the would-be intruder banged on the other side, his strikes so hard it appeared the door may come off its frame at any moment.

No one benefits as much from the preservation of local historic sites and buildings nor suffers as much by their destruction as the citizens of a community. It is the members of the community who feel most personally, the loss of a treasured local landmark that was a fixture in their lives a…

Granted, Easter Sunday this year will feel different than it has in the past but it still holds the same meaning whether you’re dressed up in your Sunday best at church or if you’re hiding eggs in your backyard for the kids to hunt while practicing social distancing.

First of all, if you are unfamiliar with the term “placemaker,” don’t worry. You are not alone. The term only began being used outside of planning circles within the last decade or so, though the movement was born back in the 1960s in response to the federal policy of urban renewal.

Social distancing is the right thing to do at this time and protecting the health and safety of everyone in the community is always the top priority. Yet the negative ripple effect of the coronavirus on the local economy also has the potential to leave many families, local businesses and ind…

I should be lying on a cruise ship deck right now, soaking up the sun, sipping on an overpriced drink with an umbrella sticking out of it, enjoying the warm tropical breeze with nothing to care about other than what buffet I’ll hit next.

Okay. I admit it. I’ve got a big mouth which I often tend put my foot in. It’s not that I’m a bad person, a gossiper, a spreader of rumors, a back-talker. I just have no filter, so sometimes things that I’m thinking about just burp forth into words and are out there before I know it. In othe…

Welcome to the most risk-intensive, stress-inducing, capital-consuming world of real estate development. No other industry involves the collaborative effort of so many different disciplines to create a product in such a publicly accountable process as development. 

This past week, several communities across Tennessee suffered extensive damage as a result of an historic tornado outbreak.

As a past candidate for elected office, I can sympathize with the folks who have recently finished their races here and were less than successful.