Kingsport shouldn't let another downtown gem disappear

If you are opposed to the city of Kingsport's selling off the former Kingsport Power Board Building and think this important building should stay in city hands, or if you are undecided about this issue, or even if you support the disposal of one of Kingsport's icons, come tonight to a meeting at 7:00 o'clock in the 2nd floor Court Room of City Hall.

Designed for the Kingsport Power Company by pioneer Kingsport architect Allen N. Dryden Sr. and built in 1932, this classical brick structure, located on a corner of Broad Street and Church Circle, later housed the Appalachian Power Company. In 2004 the city purchased it for $550,000 and has used it for tax, water and sewer payment collections. This use I admit is an uncreative and insulting use for so significant a building.

Recently, however, respected Kingsport banker Lynn Shipley, chief organizer of the Tri-Summit Bank, has approached the city with an offer to buy this building for its headquarters as well as some of the parking lot behind it.

After the Board of Mayor and Aldermen had given the nod to the sale, the City Regional Planning Commission deemed the property "surplus," and city planners have ruled that the building will be better protected in the private sector than in the public.

Those rulings within themselves, one that a magnificent structure, an enviable bird-in-the-hand is called "surplus," condemn the BMA for lack of vision, imagination and ability to prepare for the future.

What's more, to say that the private sector can better care for this fine building than the public is a condemnation of the city maintenance department and, again, city leadership for not protecting city assets, which is its responsibility. So they sell this asset off so as not to have to protect it, likely other words for pay for it. What then will be next?

The city's self-condemnation aside, five years won't pass before city leadership will change, and, if residents are lucky, to more progressive thinkers, and someone will say, "We shouldn't have done it."

Precedent exists for this argument. Although I never lived in Kingsport while the Kingsport Inn stood across Broad Street from the Power Board Building, now the location of AmSouth Bank, I've heard plenty about it - "If only the Kingsport Inn hadn't been torn down... ."

True, AmSouth pays valuable tax dollars into city coffers. But sometimes money is not everything. Aesthetics, service to the community, quality of life, economic development and other intangibles contribute to a good place to live and help make us human.

Further, in questioning the wisdom of selling the Power Board Building, Allandale and its precarious history with the city serves as an analogy. Even as a gift to the city from businessman Harvey Brooks and his wife, the city did not know what to do with the also Dryden-designed house, barn and property. Thus, it sat unused and uncared for until a group of friends organized and pressured the city to fix it up so that it again became the grand house it once was, open to the public, booked solidly for weddings and other events and operating in the black the last time I checked. Just look at it now! A star in the city's crown of assets. A similar case can be made for the Power Board Building.

In the short run the Power Board Building can become a downtown meeting place, in demand with few available. Two friends told me they as girls played piano recitals there. Likewise, music could once again waft its way up the curved staircase of this three-story gem. It could also be the mayor's office set in a prestigious, fitting space.

All that time, planning to tell this city's unique history as a model, industrial city could be under way. Actually Kingsport has two histories - the boatyard days, that story dramatically told at the Netherland Inn. Few residents and visitors even know Kingsport's modern history. I am continually astonished when I hear someone ask if new digital cameras are hurting our local economy. These uninformed folks think Eastman makes Kodaks!

A Kingsport museum could tell the developing story of the rise of the city, spotlighting the role of the railroad, then Eastman Chemical Company, the Press and its allied industries, the Glass Plant, Mason and Dixon and others. Residents and schoolchildren could learn the valuable lessons of their own local history. Tourism could include a stop there after the Netherland Inn and Exchange Place.

A museum celebrating the city's business and industry could also be a good recruiting tool for prospective business and industry. Scouts searching for new locations could see that our city values its business and industry and be convinced to move here.

Of course, many possibilities exist for the use of this building that the city is fortunate to own. A citizens' group such as the one working on ideas for the riverfront could be formed to report to the BMA, Kingsport Tomorrow could tackle it or ordinary citizens could put on their thinking caps.

But to sell arguably the most beautiful building in Kingsport's downtown will be like the demolition of the Kingsport Inn - gone forever.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.