Friends, Well, we came up short. The sales tax referendum did not pass. With pending threats to food security and health care, rising tariffs, and uncertainty across the nation, Knoxville voters were not in the mood to support a tax increase for long term investments in affordable housing, sidewalks, parks, and greenways. Couple that with the knee-jerk anti-tax sentiment many have, and the odds were not in our favor. I am proud of our proposal. It was a fiscally responsible strategy to meet the needs of a fast-growing city, particularly our acute need for more affordable housing. The time was just not right. Our Neighbors For Knoxville Campaign Committee was amazing! Thank you to our Treasurer, Brandon Bruce, to our Communications lead Cortney Piper, to our social media guru Katie Allison, and to Mary Martin, Zoe Scott and Jack Coker, who all helped in so many ways. Major kudos to Campaign Director Gage Schmid, and his team of Organizing Fellows who did the lion’s share of all the field work. Evan, Richard, Devan, Jaime, Autumn, Joshua and Dana are the best! In fact the people they spoke to voted overwhelmingly FOR the sales tax. We just didn’t get to talk to all 20,000+ voters. Big thanks to all the volunteers who made calls, knocked doors, endorsed, and talked it up to their friends and neighbors. I also want to thank all of the City of Knoxville staff who worked incredibly hard to develop this proposal and share information about how it would help our community. My commitment to addressing our housing shortage, to ensuring public safety, and to working toward a healthy, connected, resilient, Knoxville hasn’t changed. We will keep moving forward. Gratefully, Indya Learn more about the City of Knoxville Neighborhood Infrastructure Five-Year Plan here <[link removed]> ! <[link removed]> <mailto:[email protected]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> Paid for by Neighbors for Knoxville Committee. Treasurer, Brandon Bruce. PO Box 10425, Knoxville, TN 37939, United States Powered by Squarespace <[link removed]> Unsubscribe <[link removed]>