Amelia Parker honored for work to decriminalize homelessness | Georgiana Vines

Knoxville City Council member Amelia Parker’s work to establish an alternative crisis response program – which would send trained teams to answer emergency calls without police to help those experiencing nonviolent mental health or addiction emergencies – and other work on behalf of the homeless will be recognized by the National Homelessness Law Center on Oct. 11 in Washington D.C.

Parker, who represents At-Large Seat C on council, will receive the nonpartisan Local Legislator Award at the Human Right to Housing Awards event for her leadership to decriminalize homelessness and promote solutions informed by her unhoused constituents, the center said in a press release. Parker said she was nominated by Allie Cohn, secretary of the Knoxville Knox County Homeless Coalition.

“I am honored to be recognized by the National Homelessness Law Center and to receive the local legislator of the year award. I strongly believe that housing is a human right and I will keep fighting for my city to abandon strategies that criminalize our unhoused neighbors and instead adopt strategies that will help us ensure as a city that all of our residents have access to safe, adequate, and affordable housing options," Parker said in the release.

In the alternative response program, a medic and behavioral health specialist respond to nonviolent calls to 911, she said in a Thursday interview. The approach was approved in two resolutions supported earlier in the year by City Council and introduced by Parker and Vice Mayor Andrew Roberto. Another step in the process is a public hearing on the topic to be held in January, she said.

She’s also been critical of Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon’s program to break up homeless camps in several areas of the city, particularly on Broadway. In 2022, city officials said a 72-hour notice is provided before camps are broken up. Parker said often paperwork needed for services is left behind and destroyed, so the homeless have to begin all over in getting materials needed for temporary housing or jobs.

Parker, executive director of Peace Brigades International USA and the first Black candidate elected in a citywide race in Knoxville without first being selected in a district race, is seeking a second four-term in the Nov. 7 election. She ran first among three candidates in the Aug. 29 primary and faces Tim Hill, a real estate developer, Knoxville-Knox County Planning chairman and Knoxville Sports Authority board member, on the ballot. Among her supporters for re-election is former Councilman Theotis Robinson Jr., who served in 1970-77 and was the first Black Knoxvillian elected to represent a district since the early 1900s.

The homelessness awards program will be at Microsoft’s Innovation & Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Other awardees include: the Baker Donelson law firm, which has Knoxville offices, for its pro bono work; U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who had announced as a candidate to replace U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein before her death at her home Thursday night was announced Friday; collaborators of the “Unhoused & Undercounted” series by the Center for Public Integrity, Street Sense Media, WAMU/DCist and the Seattle Times; and Maryland State Sen. Mary Washington, a Democrat.

∎ OTHER CANDIDATE NEWS: A meet and greet for Tim Hill, who is seeking City Council At-Large Seat C, will be held 5-7 p.m. Oct. 5 at the home of Patricia Bible and Stephen Hackney on Cherokee Boulevard. Refreshments will be served. To RSVP, contact nick@nickpavlis.com.

Hill has raised substantially more money in this campaign against incumbent Amelia Parker. As of Aug. 22, he had $86,586.31 on hand to spend until Election Day. Parker reported having $2,065.45 on Aug. 28.

∎HOW THEY VOTED: Tennessee Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty were among Republicans initially voting no last week to advance a short-term funding measure needed to avert a government shutdown beginning Oct. 1.

The Senate’s continuing resolution would fund the federal government until Nov. 17, while providing around $6.15 billion in funding for Ukraine and $5.99 billion in disaster assistance.

Voting was to continue on Saturday in the Senate, but that would not leave enough time for the CR to be sent to the House. National media reported it looked increasingly likely the federal government would shut down when funding ran out at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

The Senate confirmed Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. of the Air Force on Sept. 20 as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, circumventing Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s blockade of Pentagon promotions. The vote was 83-11, with both Blackburn and Hagerty supporting Brown.

On Sept. 21, both senators joined the Senate’s vote to confirm Gen. Randy A. George in 96-1 vote and to confirm Gen. Eric M. Smith as Marine Corps Commandant 96-0. The confirmations have been held up for months by Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, over the Defense Department’s abortion-access policies.

Gen. Brown succeeds Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, who stepped down as Joint Chiefs chairman at the end of August.

The Democratic majority leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, worked around Tuberville’s roadblock by bringing up each individual nomination for a full Senate vote. However, hundreds more promotions remain in limbo over objections by Tuberville.

Georgiana Vines is retired News Sentinel associate editor. She may be reached at gvpolitics@hotmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Vines: Amelia Parker honored for work to decriminalize homelessness