Ron Peabody, spokesman for TYP Choice, a group opposed to the Knoxville-Knox County's Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, announced today his group is suspending its effort to get 15,000 signatures to place referenda on the ballot in November that would stop the Ten Year Plan from moving forward.
There was always a question of whether Peabody's group could get that number of signatures, but the suspension today still comes as something of a surprise. In his press release, Peabody says it wasn't possible to get the necessary signatures because of Mayor Haslam's involvement in the governor's race. However, it would seem that Haslam's involvement would only help the movement, since we've seen record turnout in early voting.
At any rate, Peabody says his group will restart the drive next year during the mayoral and city council races, leading some to conclude what they'd only suspected before: That the people behind Peabody, who have remained anonymous, are more interested in influencing city elections than in this issue specifically.
More to come in next week's issue. Press release after the jump:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Effective today, TYP Choice will suspend its effort to collect thousands of signatures
needed to have our petitions for ballot referendums placed on the November 2010 ballot.
These Petitions are listed on our website, www.typchoice.com.
We thank the many people who have volunteered their time, effort, and energy to collect
the tens of thousands of signatures, state law requires. This simply was not possible
during the Tennessee Governor's race where our own Mayor Bill Haslam was a
candidate for Governor.
We will resume a new petition effort next year during the Knoxville Mayoral and City
Council elections.
Moreover our efforts to educate the public about the Ten Year Plan, such as a public
televised debate and a Knoxville News Sentinel roundtable article that were planned this
year, will continue. For the next year, www.typchoice.com will remain active and
updated frequently. TYP Choice members will attend Ten Year Plan meetings and report
findings as well as offer suggestions and comments to improve awareness of the serious
issue of chronic homelessness in our community.
Once again TYP Choice wants to thank everyone in the community for including their
voice and participating in this ongoing debate.
There was always a question of whether Peabody's group could get that number of signatures, but the suspension today still comes as something of a surprise. In his press release, Peabody says it wasn't possible to get the necessary signatures because of Mayor Haslam's involvement in the governor's race. However, it would seem that Haslam's involvement would only help the movement, since we've seen record turnout in early voting.
At any rate, Peabody says his group will restart the drive next year during the mayoral and city council races, leading some to conclude what they'd only suspected before: That the people behind Peabody, who have remained anonymous, are more interested in influencing city elections than in this issue specifically.
More to come in next week's issue. Press release after the jump:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Effective today, TYP Choice will suspend its effort to collect thousands of signatures
needed to have our petitions for ballot referendums placed on the November 2010 ballot.
These Petitions are listed on our website, www.typchoice.com.
We thank the many people who have volunteered their time, effort, and energy to collect
the tens of thousands of signatures, state law requires. This simply was not possible
during the Tennessee Governor's race where our own Mayor Bill Haslam was a
candidate for Governor.
We will resume a new petition effort next year during the Knoxville Mayoral and City
Council elections.
Moreover our efforts to educate the public about the Ten Year Plan, such as a public
televised debate and a Knoxville News Sentinel roundtable article that were planned this
year, will continue. For the next year, www.typchoice.com will remain active and
updated frequently. TYP Choice members will attend Ten Year Plan meetings and report
findings as well as offer suggestions and comments to improve awareness of the serious
issue of chronic homelessness in our community.
Once again TYP Choice wants to thank everyone in the community for including their
voice and participating in this ongoing debate.
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