In a post earlier today, I wrote that Raj Jain, one of the vocal critics of the Crestpointe proposal, is employed in some fashion by Oliver Smith Realty, the Knoxville firm that has listed for sale several parcels surrounding Home Depot and National Fitness.<\/p>\n
Ellen Smith commented in the previous thread that Raj does not work for Oliver Smith<\/a>, but has his own company, InteliSim Inc. LLC<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, upon double-checking my information, I learned that someone named Raj Jain (and matching the physical description of the gentleman who introduced himself to me on Monday) had presented himself as representing Oliver Smith Realty in a meeting with City staff, where the discussion centered on some mini-warehouses and storage facilities proposed by Jain for one of the parcels that Oliver Smith Realty has listed.<\/p>\n It is entirely plausible, therefore, that he is not an employee of Oliver Smith, but it certainly appears that there is an existing business relationship of the nature where he would claim to represent the company before City staff.<\/p>\n The proposal has not come before the Planning Commission, but what is proposed or planned for that property isn’t the point of this thread.\u00c2\u00a0 The purpose of this discussion is to determine whether Raj’s motive in pushing for a referendum, and for defeat of the proposed bond issue for Crestpointe, is really one of squeezing out competition rather than looking out for the financial health of the community.<\/p>\n And yes, there is more than one Raj Jain (the most common reference in a Google search is a computer science professor at Washington University in St. Louis); that’s why I asked my source if the physical description I gave matched the fellow linked to Oliver Smith Realty.<\/p>\n Thus, there appears to be some truth worth pursuing in this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a post earlier today, I wrote that Raj Jain, one of the vocal critics of the Crestpointe proposal, is employed in some fashion by Oliver Smith Realty, the Knoxville firm that has listed for sale several parcels surrounding Home … Continue reading