June 8, 2009 – Mayor Bill Haslam, Mayor Mike Ragsdale, Sam Anderson – Knox County School Board, Bob Richards – TDEC, Doug Bataille – County Parks & Rec Director, Lynn Liddington – Knox Air Quality Management and others broke ground on Monday, June 8 for the new Sarah Moore Greene Greenway at Sarah Moore Greene Magnet Technology School.
The City of Knoxville helped secure a $50,000 grant for this greenway construction and the city’s engineering department did the initial design work and sidewalk improvements. Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation provided the funding through the Recreational Trails Program. County Parks and Recreation managed the grant and construction. Knox County Schools worked with everyone to make this happen. Knox County Health Department is planning to study the impact of this greenway on community health. Knox County Air Quality Management provided matching funds. Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Ijams Nature Center are going to upgrade the school’s native garden as part of this effort. The greenway will be maintained by the Knox County school system.
The greenway’s .43 mile path will wind through school grounds and connecting playgrounds and the school’s native garden plus a 1/8 mile running track will be incorporated into the design. The greenway will also connect to sidewalks to make a total walking lop of over one half mile.
This greenway will become a great community asset to make the area an even stronger and better neighborhood. It will be a place where children can play, where people can take evening walk or go on a run.
It would be hard, and maybe impossible, to think of a better person to name this greenway after other than Sarah Moore Greene. She has spent a lifetime making our city a better place for all of us. It’s an honor to be able to name this greenway for her.
Greene, who is 97, was the first African-American to serve on school board, fought for integration, supported the creation of kindergarten program in city schools, and was the first African-American on the Tennessee delegation to the Republican National Convention.
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