The north Knoxville neighborhood of Fourth & Gill approached us to facilitate the process of voting on if they should keep or sell their existing neighborhood center, formerly known as The Birdhouse.

After meeting with the Neighborhood Board and several stakeholders and representatives, we were able to develop a comprehensive list of pros and cons for both of the options. A temporary page on our site was created for residents to access the information, and multiple neighborhood meetings were held as well. One meeting included a Q&A session with a panel consisting of the primary supporters for two options and residents were able to submit their questions to our staff, who acted as MCs for the event.

In the end, after thorough input from the groups involved, a survey was created asking residents several questions, with the primary one being to keep or sell the house. All responses were submitted via SurveyMonkey and calculated privately at our offices, with only the final tally being released to the neighborhood; no individual’s vote was ever made public.

It was decided to keep the house as a neighborhood center, and as of this writing it is undergoing renovations by the neighborhood, which hopes to use it for the foreseeable future as a gathering place for residents.