Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs’ Weekly Update

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs’ Weekly Update

TRANSCRIPT:

"It’s Friday. Time for another weekly update.

This week, I was honored to help send off Honor Air Knoxville Flight 37, which took over 130 East Tennessee veterans to Washington, DC, where they visited memorials built in their honor, and then returned home. Thanks to Honor Air Knoxville, over the years, more than 4,700 veterans from our region have made the trip. I was an escort a few flights ago, and it was an experience I will never forget. Many thanks to Honor Air Knoxville and its many volunteers, American Airlines, and the folks at McGhee Tyson Airport who make this wonderful effort possible.

Speaking of flights, I was thrilled to be at the Cleared to Takeoff event, celebrating Pellissippi State Community College’s new Aviation Technology Academy in Blount County. Pellissippi’s aviation technology pathway is an 18-month associate degree program designed to create a local pipeline of airframe and powerplant maintenance technicians, a lucrative, high-demand field. Currently, there is a shortfall of between 12,000 and 18,000 certified mechanics for commercial aviation alone. That shortfall is expected to more than double over the next several years, so this is a great career path to pursue. Thanks in part to this program, PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, is opening a new maintenance base at McGhee Tyson Airport, creating about 100 jobs.

The Imagination Library’s Seed of Imagination luncheon was this week. Started by Dolly Parton, Imagination Library sends books free of charge to children from birth to age five throughout the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Ireland. Over the years, the program has sent out over 287 million books. And here's the really cool part. Every single Imagination Library book. Landing in a mailbox across North America comes with a Knoxville, Tennessee postmark. Thanks to Ann Staup and her company, Direct Mail Services. In recognition of this Herculean work Ann is this year's recipient of the Seeds of Literacy Impact Award. We are so proud of Ann and of course, Dolly, for their dedication to this life changing program. but this year, the Imagination Library needs your help. Because of increased costs, they're facing about a $50,000 shortfall. So if you would like to be a dolly and donate, or for more information on Imagination Library, please visit the Knox County Library website.

Finally, thank you to everyone who participated this week in the first round of public meetings for the Unified Development Ordinance. If you didn’t make it to any of the meetings, you can still learn more about the recommendations and provide feedback at advanceknox.com/UDO.

Until next Friday, I hope everyone has a great week!"