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A Conversation with Congressman Duncan on Mom and Pop...
and East Tennessee's Prospects for ProsperityFollowing is the first Knoxville Business Movers and Shakers Interview. So I was pleasantly surprised when several weeks later there was a message on my voicemail saying that Congressman Duncan was willing to meet with me. The following Monday, I showed up in the Congressman's office in my best (only) navy blue suit: a little nervous and very excited about the conversation to come. When called into his nice, but simply-decorated office, we shook hands and the Congressman directed me to one of two chairs facing each other. Pad of paper and pen in hand, East Tennessee mover and shaker opposite me smiling with interest, I began our conversation. [NOTE – I wasn’t allowed to carry a voice recorder into the Federal Building, so the following is a reproduction from notes and memory, and should not be considered direct quotations of the Congressman.] Congressman Duncan, when my wife April and I had an opportunity to meet you in Washington D.C. with a group of people from your district, you mentioned that you think East Tennessee is poised to be one of the top areas in the Country for growth. Could you comment further on that? Sure. I hear it all the time, and it’s true all over East Tennessee. We have beautiful natural geography, good hard-working people, and a low-tax environment. It’s the kind of area that people and businesses all over the country are looking for. There are a lot of things going on in the Knoxville-area – what do you think are the best opportunities for someone interested in business? Well, real-estate for one. For example, I was recently talking with someone from McMinn County who told me that developers from Florida are buying up huge patches of the county for development. A lot of “half-backers” (people who move from Northern states to Florida and then decide to move half-way back towards their original home) are coming to this area. They’re paying upwards of a million dollars for a decent home in Florida, then they get tired of the lack of seasons, or the weather’s too hot for them. They start looking around, and they find out they can move to this beautiful area of the country with four distinct seasons, and they can buy a nicer house than they’re living in now for half the price. They’re really driving up the cost of real estate in East Tennessee. Consequently, you can buy a patch of land pretty much anywhere in East Tennessee now, and can expect to make a profit from it in 3 years or less. The only land that I think is kind of iffy right now is water-front property. People are paying crazy prices for it. Personally, I think they may not be able to get their money back out of it. But then, maybe if folks have that much money, they don’t care if they can get their money back out of the property or not. They just want to live on the lake. Right. I’m not a rich man though, and most folks aren’t, so I personally wouldn’t buy the water-front property as an investment. One of the main focuses of my website KnoxvilleBusiness.com is the promotion of Mom and Pop in East Tennessee. Do you have a favorite Mom and Pop store? [a brief pause while he considered the question] Or maybe if you shouldn’t name favorites, do you have any thoughts you’d like to share on Mom & Pop businesses? Well, I always say we should pin a medal on anybody who can succeed with a small business. It isn’t easy for people to survive with a small business these days. And you can tell when you go into a city. All the businesses are big national chains. It’s very homogenized from one city or town to the next. I have a lot of memories of Mom and Pop stores from when I was a boy. I grew up in Holston Hills, a neighborhood in East Knoxville. There were businesses all around the neighborhood. Grocery stores, gas stations, hardware, drug stores with malt shops…and they were all owned by people who lived in the neighborhood. Back then anybody could start a business of their own. If you were really poor, you started a gas station. That was actually the cheapest business to start. These days, it costs over a million dollars to start a gas station. The average businessman can’t do that. I think it’s a shame.
NOTE: Congressman Duncan has mentioned both times I've met him that he’s proud to be a non-computer guy. He doesn’t have one at home or in any of his offices (though I did note that there were plenty in his staff’s offices!)
What I wanted to say in response to his comment is that the equivalent of the poor-man’s 20th century gas station is every bit as available to the poor business person of the 21st century. It’s what I’m doing right now, and it’s what you should be doing if you’re capital-poor, but willing to work for a brighter future.
But given that he’s not interested in computers, I decided to keep my conversation with Congressman Duncan on task, and share my opinion with you instead! Back to East Tennessee as a top growth area in the Country, do you have any other comments about that? One that leaps to mind is the Turkey Creek Development. I don’t think people know this, but it’s one of the most successful, fastest-growing developments in the Country. There probably aren’t 2 or 3 that have been more successful in the last several years. I think when you expand that success over the rest of Knoxville and East Tennessee in the coming years, people aren’t going to believe the amount of growth this area is going to experience. I’ve heard it said by a lot of different business leaders that the people of East Tennessee – their work ethic and can-do attitude – are a big part of what brings industrial jobs with auto manufacturers and the like to this area of the country. Absolutely. The people here work hard, and they’re dependable. Plus, this is one of the few states left in the country that doesn’t have a state tax. That’s really a big lure for corporations of all types. I’m really proud of the people here. I like saying I’m from East Tennessee. And another thing I’m proud of is my East Tennessee accent. I met an English professor from [I think he said] Virginia, and she immediately said, “You’re from East Tennessee or Western North Carolina.” I asked her how she knew, and she said that natives of East Tennessee have the closest accent to the Elizabethan English of Shakespeare’s days, because that’s when the original settlers from Scotland, Ireland and England settled in this area. The accent stayed very similar to those days because the people were secluded from others by the mountains. Well, I know our time is about up. In closing, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to talk with me. You’re welcome. Thank you for asking. MB
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