City of Chattanooga

State of the City 2008

Thank you Mayor Claude Ramsey for that excellent introduction and especially thank you for being my able partner during these first three years of my term as Chattanooga Mayor. We have known each other for many years as – between us – we wore many different hats in pursuing local initiatives, but you have absolutely made these months of joint effort productive and pleasurable.

I also wish to acknowledge the presence of members of the City Council – the city’s board of directors and my friends and advisors. Also, with us tonight we have other elected officials and appointed representatives from government and executives of the Chamber of Commerce. I have said it often, and I’m sure many will agree with me: there never has been a better period of cooperation between city, county and chamber officials and staff. We are totally united toward the goal of jobs and economic development for our community.

When I was running for office three years ago, I said that my number one job as Mayor would be jobs – family wage jobs – jobs to rebuild our manufacturing base and strengthen our local economy. With that in mind, let me say a few things about where we stand today.

By almost any measure, Chattanooga and Hamilton County are doing very well – in fact, better than at any previous time in my memory. The near miss with Toyota was a disappointment, of course, but it had the lasting benefit of putting us squarely on the radar screen for site selectors, industrial representatives and economic development professionals of all types. The new found prominence has resulted in a steady flow of prospects inquiring, visiting and touring. This past January – just like last year – County Mayor Ramsey, Trevor Hamilton of the Chamber and I went to Detroit to visit people who can make a positive difference in our economic future. At this point I always stress that this was not some fun junket even though my traveling companions were pleasant. It was January in Detroit and ice flows as big as football fields were floating by in the river near our hotel. The results of this year’s visit were even more encouraging than last year. It quickly became obvious that our visits are having an impact. More than once, when discussing Enterprise South and the mega-site, we were told to “stay the course”, don’t break up that large tract because it is getting more and more attention. One savvy individual said very pointedly that something will happen there – something big will land there – and quite likely very soon.

Many local people have said, in a well-meaning fashion, that maybe we should quit swinging for the home run – quit going after the big win and go after small and medium enterprises. Well, of course, we are going after both and we are having surprising success. Such announcements aren’t as flashy – maybe they don’t get headlines on page one or even the business section, but they are no less important to the individuals that are employed there. We’ve attracted a manufacturer of large cable spools that moved into an existing building down off Rossville Blvd. and a manufacturer of auto carpets that moved into an existing building in Lookout Valley. That’s just two of many. Hardly a week passes when we aren’t approving some tax or benefit package to facilitate expansion of existing industry. The point is that we are not overlooking small and midsize enterprise – and there is no need to break up the mega site to accommodate such opportunities when they come. We have a lot of acreage at Enterprise South that can offer sites of almost any smaller size for locating new business – all without eating into the mega site. In addition, we have numerous private sites and existing buildings located throughout the city and county. We are rich with opportunity and rich with talented people and places to capture opportunity when it comes.

I must say a few words about Alstom Power because it has such important potential related to our future. It is such a great story of resurrection – an old Combustion Engineering plant that once employed thousands – largely idled and once almost totally stilled due to the shifting sands of industrial economics and international energy policy.

The effect, the impact of Alstom Power’s choice to locate a new enterprise in Chattanooga is much bigger than the quarter billion dollar investment and the 350 or so new high-skill, high-wage jobs. It is much more because it says that Chattanooga is once again in the middle of the next wave of nuclear energy development. Like most big undertakings, Alstom’s investment and their presence will undoubtedly draw more related enterprises to our community. We will experience a positive ripple effect that can’t really be measured – but it will be significant.

Tying up loose ends

911 unification

Remember all those unanswered phones and the resulting delayed emergency response about 3 years ago? Well we do – vividly. In fact, we resolved then that we were going to work with the County and the 911 Board to solve this continuing problem. Happily, we are now in the process of putting the final signatures on the final agreements to complete the merger of the separate staffs into a truly unified and more efficient and effective service. I would like to thank the members of the 911 Board, our partner governments and Director John Stuermer for working with us and guiding us all through this intricate, complex, sometimes maddening – but always essential process.

Environment

More than two years ago, in behalf of Chattanooga, I signed the National Cities Climate Protection Agreement – a project of the U. S. Conference of Mayors. I’m proud to say that Chattanooga was one of the early cities committed to the cause of reducing greenhouse gases – there are now more than 800 cities nationwide. Several weeks ago, I appointed a committee of 12 plus staff to advise and assist us in moving Chattanooga further toward the long-sought goal of sustainability. The US Environmental Protection Agency has just raised the bar on air quality and we must respond.

We are building more recycling drop off centers, using biofuels in our vehicles and planting more trees. To further promote recycling, we are committing to our partnership with Orange Grove and will make it easier for our citizens to remember their recycling day by offering an e mail reminder to participants who desire it. Our changes have reduced air pollution and actually improved our recycling rate. And yes, when the volume of material and the number of participants warrants it – when it is environmentally the responsible thing to do – we will expand our coverage to twice monthly.

Let me repeat something that I just said – and underscore it. If you wish, we will send you a monthly e mail reminder just before your recycling day. Simply call 311 and have your name added to the list.

The Mayor’s Green Committee is planning public events – idea gathering exercises much like we did back in Chattanooga Venture, but focused on environmental issues. You will be hearing more about this in coming weeks. Something big and regional in scope is proposed for the last of April. We hope that you will plan to participate.

It’s not pretty and it might be a somewhat impolite subject, but a very important part of our recycling program is our handling of sewage sludge. We’ve succeeded in diverting 300 tons a day from the landfill – it’s being land applied on rural farmlands in our region. But with one more step, it will be even easier to utilize as an approved general fertilizer. A $15 million project to produce a “Class A” product stalled back in 2003. We have an agreement with the manufacturer to get this most important “sustainability” project back on track and finish the job. We expect positive results by midsummer.

Homelessness

Just a few words on this subject – and I promise, just a few words. Thanks to the hard work of almost 50 engaged and informed individuals, we have an updated and improved “Blueprint to End Homelessness in the Chattanooga Region”. Thanks to the generosity of professional talent donated by the local chapter of AIA (architects) we have a master site plan for development of the Farmer’s Market property across from the Community Kitchen. Thanks to the generosity of our local Homebuilders Association and the various members and associates that they have pulled into the project, we have construction plans for a new home for the Interfaith Homeless Network on the Farmer’s Market site. There is much more – including a transportation hub to be constructed by the Southeast Tennessee Human Resource Agency – another partner in this great, difficult and worthwhile undertaking. We now can move forward with greater speed and determination.

The updated Blueprint includes 14 specific recommendations:

Recommendation One is that we should create a minimum of 200 affordable housing units for homeless people per year through the provision of rent subsidies, new housing development and the preservation of affordable housing stock. A volunteer committee just completed review of proposals for use of our current $600 thousand allotment of Federal HOME funds. We will be investing those right away. Accordingly, I am committing myself and this administration to this cause for this and all future years and I am challenging The Chattanooga Housing Authority and the streamlined Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise to make it happen.

Recommendation Two is that we should increase the availability of safe, decent and sanitary shelters for homeless individuals, families and youth until adequate and appropriate permanent housing is available. As we sit here enjoying our comfortable surroundings and quality of life, the Union Gospel Mission is facing the end of its 58 year history as Chattanooga’s primary shelter of homeless men. They have contingency plans, but the short story is that come this June, we will probably lose more than 50 nightly beds and will most likely see a substantial increase in people living on the street. We can and must solve this problem. I am committing myself and this administration to realizing this recommendation with all deliberate speed.

Paying attention to fundamentals

Safety – our protective services

The safety of our citizens always ranks high on the local public service agenda. Securing the safety and security of our homes, businesses and families is a top priority of this administration. Toward that end, the regular series of crime suppression efforts (I call them sweeps) by our police department – with the cooperation of county, state and federal law enforcement personnel – has been remarkably successful in getting bad people off the street and enhancing the safety of our city.

Of course, we are continuing to build our network of cameras – both in parks and public places and for traffic safety. And - as we revealed just this week – we will be using cameras to deal with illegal dumping and graffiti. We are using both fixed locations and mobile units. I promised when running for this office to supplement manpower with technology – and it is working.

Our fire department has put a high emphasis on training – especially urban search and rescue training prescribed by the US Department of Homeland Security. Immediately after the recent level four tornados that were so devastating to areas of West Tennessee, our department was put on alert but ultimately was not called to render assistance. We hope that we never need such skills locally, but it is more realistic to assume that we will suffer some incident in the future – either in the city or surrounding area. When it does happen, we are ready.

During the past three years, we have recruited and trained 53 new firefighters and 100 new police officers.

Both fire and police departments are feeling the effects of Chattanooga’s growth and are working toward new facilities for training. In conjunction with the county, we have identified 35 acres at the western edge of the old Volunteer Army Ammunition site – specifically, the red acid plant site that is unsuitable for industrial redevelopment, but is ideal for training firefighters. The police department must relocate its firing range from Moccasin Bend in the near future and a more comprehensive site to address more than marksmanship will be considered.

Neighborhood services – dealing with blight

The life of a city resides in its neighborhoods. We are fortunate to have a strong department of neighborhood services led by a skilled and professional staff. I don’t have time tonight to recognize each administrator of our excellent team or cite all the details of their accomplishments – those are in your handout material. However, I do want to recognize this department for the special role that it plays in keeping our neighborhoods organized and active in their own behalf. A city with enthusiastic and energetic neighborhood organizations is a sound city. I do want to recognize the approximately 100 or more citizens here tonight from our neighborhood organizations.

I also wish to acknowledge representatives of a very special community working to make all our neighborhoods more accessible – members of the Mayor’s Council on Disability.

Present time – a season of ground breakings and grand openings

Warner Park

– Always a centerpiece in our central city, this historic park is undergoing an almost equally historic makeover that will transform its appearance and utilization by our citizens. Anyone who has driven by lately might have wondered whether we were removing the entire park, but rest assured that it will all come together very soon. New softball fields will surround Frost Stadium and make this park, once again, a brightly lighted and lively capital of softball. The Warner Park Zoo will be opening a new $4.3 million dollar front entrance off of Holtzclaw Avenue with new features and a carousel to increase the visibility, accessibility and appeal of this wonderful but somewhat hidden asset. The zoo has set a record of over 170,000 visitors and with these enhancements, is sure to become one more destination for our visitors and locals alike. But something else is happening at Warner Park that you don’t see – and it’s something to cure a long-standing problem that has haunted the park forever and limited its use at times. The city is currently constructing a large stormwater retention basin, pump station and combined sewer overflow storage facility at Warner Park to minimize and control sewage contaminated overflows in the park at a cost of some $6 million dollars. A new parallel combined sewer and stormwater facility are also to be constructed in the Engle stadium area to reduce and control contaminated overflows in that area that negatively affect the whole neighborhood. As is often the case, it’s not what you see; it’s what you don’t see.

McKamey Center

Let’s talk about that other population for a minute – our animal population – dogs and cats – and since this is a city of great diversity – of ducks and chickens and an occasional horse or emu or some truly exotic specimen – and of course our favorite: goats. Let’s talk about the fact that cities and civilizations are often measured by how they treat their animals. I’m not going to recite that story that so many have already heard – about how Councilman Jack Benson and I came in one day and found over 350 angry e mails on our computers – from all over the nation and from several foreign countries – about how Chattanooga was treating its animals. You might recall that we had an unfortunate situation where our local shelter had problems. Someone published details on one of those web sites and the bad news literally went around the world. I won’t dwell on that. It was years ago. Still the experience made us look at other communities and see what the state of the art might be in dealing with shelters and animal populations. We quickly found that we were seriously behind the times. The response has been the McKamey Center – a $6.5 million facility that will make Chattanooga, once again, a leader among our peer cities. It will be opening this year. It will be a place of light and color and happiness. People will see animal services in a new and modern way - and things will never be the same. Thank you Bob McKamey for your generous lead gift. Thank you all who have contributed time and money. Thank you Barby Wilson and members of the Animal Care Trust.

Summit of Softball

It’s a classic story of making something out of nothing – and in this case, it’s a good thing. Back in the 1980’s – when I was Commissioner of Public Works and the Summit Landfill was in full swing – taking in about 2000 tons of solid waste (garbage) per day – we bought several tracts of land to add to the growing facility. Some of it was simply bought to supply cover dirt for the daily needs of the landfill. We came into office in 2005 looking for a fairly large parcel of land to develop as a Class A softball complex. Someone asked if I knew about the 75 acres out next to the old – now closed – landfill. I really couldn’t believe it. Not only was it the right size, but there is room to expand and partner with Collegedale or the county to do even more in the future. So, we are preparing to spend $10 million to develop the “Summit of Softball”. It will be world class and it will have a long-term profitable return for our whole community – both as a recreational area for our own people and as a draw for tournaments. Thousands and thousands of visitors – millions of dollars spent in area hotels and restaurants. It’s a great use for land that was just sitting there waiting to be rediscovered.

Authorities estimate the positive economic impact of the new fields at Warner Park and Summit to be almost $26 million over a 5-year period.

Heritage Park

The old Narrow Bridge Restaurant property is adjacent to our beautiful and popular Heritage Park – the East Brainerd feature with that mansion like structure. We certainly needed the additional land, but rather than spend the money we worked out an installment plan with the owner – swapping parking in our riverfront garage for the property over a period of years. It is one of those “win – win” situations. We will demolish the dilapidated structures, clear the land and temporarily use it as a botanical garden until more detailed planning and community participation can determine the ultimate design.

Outdoor Chattanooga Center

That sad looking, vacant “floor covering” building is the last ugly thing in Coolidge Park. Again, in a fairly creative real estate transaction, we swapped leftover land at the corner of Cherokee Boulevard and Manufacturers Road for this critical location next to the Walnut Street Bridge. We have plans to transform the structure into an interesting and environmentally remarkable, LEED Certified home for Outdoor Chattanooga. The project should go out for bid within weeks and we hope to see completion this year.

A Clear and Concise Plan for our Future – An Action Agenda

Riverfront Development and the Riverwalk – more of a good thing

Interestingly, when we were negotiating with the chief executives of Alstom Power, they made a point that would take many old industrial development professionals by surprise. Sure, they were interested in taxes, and workforce and other basic issues, but they made a special request which they actually stressed was a “deal maker or deal breaker”. They wanted the cleaning and enhancement and beautification of our riverfront – in fact the river walk – that has characterized our renaissance and transformation as a community – to extend downstream from Ross’s Landing to their property. They said that they planned to make their site a showplace from all views and they wanted it to look just as good – to make just as strong an environmental statement – from the water side as from the land side. We promised them that we will do it – and we will.

To all those who wonder whether we are abandoning our attachment to the river – relax. We are continuing to work with property owners downstream of our present parks to expand our green and grand environment and to further the appeal of this tremendous asset – which now has confirmed that it has industrial importance as well as tourism and visitor value.

The heart of the city – both a challenge and an opportunity

Restoring and reviving our riverfront has been our most visible accomplishment as a community, but the center of business, the center of real estate value is still what most of us consider the traditional downtown of Chattanooga. We must pay significant attention to this area and make it just as healthy, just as colorful, just as lively a place to live and just as desirable a place to do business as the newly vibrant riverfront. For years, we have pursued a policy of requiring or promoting ground floor retail and office uses – transparent windows so that people can look in and look out – in the hope that it would promote new business that would actually relate to the street. The idea has been to bring life to the street, but our success has been spotty, at best. Most planners and downtown developers in any city will tell you that it is easier to talk a good game in making new retail happen than it is to actually make it work. The point is that this item has to take on a new importance if our city is to continue on a progressive path in downtown livability. This is a major item in our action plan.

The great Blue Cross Blue Shield transition

Have you seen those bright and shiny buildings on top of historic Cameron Hill? How could you miss them? As those buildings begin to fill up in just a few months, much of our traditional downtown will empty. It is both a challenge and an opportunity.

The 700 Block of Market Street

In sharp contrast to the bright and shiny new structures on Cameron Hill and the neat and clean riverfront is the last bad tooth in our downtown – those old, dilapidated, rotting and actually smelly buildings in the center of our central business district. Yes, we’ve noticed and yes, we are as offended as anyone else. It is an intolerable blight and will not remain. The young entrepreneur who has tackled this task has our sympathies and – more than that – our aid and assistance – not to mention our insistence – to get on with the task. This problem must be cured – and will be.

Keeping TVA and Cigna downtown

It was a lot harder than most people realize. For months, the question was still a question and the possibility that TVA would build a new building on their property out near Chickamauga Dam presented us with a clear and present danger that we could be left with still more vacancy downtown – and a vacancy of a very specialized building that would be very hard to lease to new tenants. Cigna was looking around at the same time, and if TVA decided to exit downtown, it was much more likely that Cigna would be leaving even sooner. It took a concerted effort. Mayor Ramsey and I flew to Chicago with former Mayor Kinsey to meet with the equity partners who actually own the TVA complex. That was followed by meetings of the owners with Sen. Corker and TVA executives before an acceptable purchase price was negotiated. That wasn’t the end, however, and it should be noted that we at the local level have made commitments to TVA to provide more downtown parking to serve their office building – plus attempt to help facilitate the creation of daycare services to serve the complex and perhaps other nearby downtown offices. We promised the TVA Board of Directors that we would do it. I signed a letter of intent to that effect before the Board voted to go forward with the purchase. I gave them my word and – for that reason and others – we must do it. More about all this later.

Warehouse Row Redevelopment

We can all remember when Warehouse Row was the newest new thing in retail: An upscale downtown outlet mall in historic restored buildings featuring stores bearing designer labels. I worked on that project as it became a reality in the 1980’s – first as the city’s economic development director and later as Commissioner of Public Works - and it really made me proud to come down and see all the out-of-state tags on shoppers’ cars – people from Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville and everywhere in between. People say “What happened to Warehouse Row”? Well, the obvious answer is 20 years happened and during those two decades things changed. New outlets with similar or same labels opened along the interstates and near every major market. In any event, all things change – especially in retail – and it’s time to update, remodel and reposition this important asset. Fortunately, the property has new owners with imagination and resources to make good things happen. They have asked for our assistance in helping make it happen. Warehouse Row will be even better and will once again be a part of our attraction to visitors and a lively place to be for our citizens.

New Hotels

Sometimes I am amazed at how seeds of development planted so very long ago can evolve into something very significant over time. Back in the 1970’s a group of young enthusiasts got together and incorporated the Chattanooga Museum of Regional History to occupy and salvage Missionary Ridge Elementary School at Bragg Reservation – on the crest of the ridge near the I-24 cut. Public Works Administrator Steve Leach and I were among that group of incorporators. After a few years, the museum was moved downtown to the old Chestnut Street School at Fourth Street. Congressman Zach Wamp – then a young JC – physically helped with the move. In both cases, the fledgling museum paid a dollar a year rent while it established itself as the keeper of all things historic for our city and region. It was a wise investment in patience for everyone involved. The 30 years or so that have passed have led to two very important developments: the original site on Missionary Ridge is becoming the location for very upscale townhomes and the latest location – the old school on Chestnut Street – was just sold as the location for a new downtown hotel and office complex. The proceeds will permit the now well established museum to move closer to the Aquarium.

Hotels are very important in the life of our downtown – our riverfront – in fact our city. The hotel- motel tax paid by visitors is what pays for the improvements that attract more and more visitors.

While other types of development might be struggling, we are actually doing very well with hotels. The new hotel at Fourth and Chestnut coupled with the new hotel serving the North Shore – on land that we created in rerouting Manufactures Road plus buying out some railroad interests and then swapped for the property next to the Walnut Street Bridge – these two new hotels will add life and energy to these two emerging parts of our center city.

There is a new hotel under construction on West MLK Blvd and another older hotel undergoing a dramatic renovation on Chestnut Street.

There are more on the drawing board – two more proposed for existing buildings in downtown. Again, we recognize the economic importance of these projects and we are doing all that we can do to make them happen.

Commitments to parking and transit

There is a common thread running through all this downtown activity – needed elements that can make things successful – or absent that, things will be much more difficult. Back in the mid 1980’s I was part of the last City Commission. Mayor Gene Roberts had a dream to bring streetcars back to downtown Chattanooga. I must admit, knowing Gene to be the very conservative leader that he is (and I mean that kindly and with admiration) I was both inspired and a little frightened that he was pushing such an audacious idea. Well, I jumped into the thick of it with Mayor Roberts and we began to do preliminary engineering on the idea. We quickly found that we had just finished pulling up the last of the long-buried trolley tracks in Market Street and it would be prohibitively expensive to go back and reinstall them. Not to be stopped, Gene said, well let’s do something modern instead. The result was our downtown electric bus transit system and the rest, as they say, is history. New parking garages serving as places where people could leave their cars and hop on a free and environmentally clean little transit vehicle that could take them on a circuit that would bring them near most key downtown destinations. We were successful in obtaining federal assistance for the great idea and it has been serving downtown now for a long, long time. In fact, during the 16 years that the shuttle has been operating, it has carried almost 13 million riders.

It’s time to do more – to add to what we have – to extend the transit system and build more structured parking at critical points throughout downtown and the north shore. Some of it is already underway – some of it is still in the talking stage – and some of it is just in the dreaming stage. The economic health of our downtown and Northshore areas is dependent on cost effective parking and transit. Once again, this is not something that is fun and flashy – it’s not something that makes the imagination soar or the heart race – it’s not fun, but it is fundamental. We must do it and we will.

The next big thing

The Library

For the past few months, we’ve been talking about the library. You’ll be hearing a lot more during the next year. Since the middle of last year, a task force of local citizens – people who care about libraries and our library in particular – have been hard at work studying the changing role of libraries and crafting a proposal for giving this most important cultural institution new life and new attractiveness.

Back in the 1970’s, Chattanooga Mayor Robert Kirk Walker and other local leaders envisioned a new central library as the way to breathe new life into our downtown. Downtown was different then. They picked an unusual location – a site in the abandoned rail yards of the old Union Station. It wasn’t exactly what Realtors call a 100% location – but it made a statement about our future. The result was our Bicentennial Library – a state-of-the-art building with the intent of extending the reach of the collection into the growing suburbs through several new branches. It’s time to recapture that spirit and enthusiasm – to recast our library as a place of knowledge – a place where our young and our older citizens can gather and feel a special connection to the assembled wisdom and the unique reverence for our human experience, the great thinking of great minds and the recorded achievements of mankind that can only be found in a great library.

While some have predicted the end of the library as we know it – as we have known it for centuries – simply a repository of books – a recent writer concluded, “in its mutating role as urban hangout, meeting place, and arbiter of information, the public library seems far from spent. This has less to do with the digital world—or the digital word—than with the age-old need for human contact.”

It’s time to rethink, refresh, remodel – perhaps rebuild our central library – at least to a necessary degree to bring our library to the current city – perhaps bring our library to the street (literally) and add new spaces, new meeting and gathering rooms and new functions to make our library once again the central feature in today’s downtown and the cultural center that it deserves to be for the coming decades.

Denver did it. Closer to home, Columbus GA did it, Nashville did it. And we can do it too.

That task force of our local citizens will be finishing its work soon and you will be hearing more about the library’s part in the next big thing.

Moccasin Bend National Park

– More than 25 years later, Chattanooga comes full circle

Back in 1980, Chattanooga was looking for industrial property. There was no Enterprise South Industrial Park (the Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant was still a federal facility) so local leaders began to consider a long held asset – hundreds of acres in public ownership on historic Moccasin Bend. Though somewhat controversial, the public seemed generally in favor of industrial use for the land. Fortunately, local leaders took a careful and measured approach and appointed a group of interested citizens to study the property and make a recommendation. That group came to be known as the Moccasin Bend Task Force. Councilwoman Sally Robinson was a member of that group. I was the city’s economic development coordinator and worked with the group at times when they were beginning their study. As they considered the value of Moccasin Bend and the city’s riverfront, in particular, they came to an early realization that they should go beyond the limits and study the entire river as an urban asset. That led to early concepts for revitalization – including an outrageous idea for a small aquarium near Ross’ Landing.

Now, after more than a quarter century and millions and millions in improvements along both banks of our river, we find ourselves back to the beginning: Moccasin Bend. Again, this has long been a major interest nurtured by many in our community – a major interest of our Congressman Zach Wamp – and – (I must confess) a particular interest of mine. In recent years, the property was transferred to Federal control and the development of Moccasin Bend Archaeological Park is absolutely assured.

Last July, I took the development of this park to a gathering of The Mayor’s Institute on City Design in Providence, RI. At these gatherings, Mayors and design professionals from around the country are presented with special projects for review and comment. I presented the 25+ year history of our Moccasin Bend, described how it had led to so much rethinking and rebuilding, and then gathered their ideas on linking our new park to our revitalized downtown.

The development and telling of the rich history of Moccasin Bend will finally become a part of our legacy as a city. The park is going to happen. The dreams and visions of those early planners on the Moccasin Bend Task Force will finally be realized. Moccasin Bend Park is a big part of the next big thing and connecting that park to our downtown is one of our next great challenges.

Something new – bringing the Choo Choo back to Choo Choo City.

This is a new one to me – and a somewhat whimsical idea, but potentially something that will add significantly to our visitor appeal.

A small group of local business people are interested in making it possible to once again ride a passenger train in this city – the city that is world famous for such things. It has been a long time since you could hear that “all aboard” in downtown Chattanooga. There is a plan in the works to make it happen. It isn’t as easy as you might think. There are technical problems and permit issues and such things. Still, as one said to me, when many people come to Chattanooga they want to know where to ride the train. Perhaps this too – this audacious little project – should be part of the next big thing. Let’s do it – for the business impact and perhaps most of all – for the fun of it.

Greatest factor putting our progress at risk – uncertain economic times.

People ask me what is our biggest worry – what could cause our progress to stall or otherwise complicate our lives? The nation and the world are struggling with an economic correction that threatens to become a major, full-blown recession. In fact, many financial media sources are already using the “r” word. The crisis in banking and credit and the rising price of oil are having an effect difficult to counter.

First let me say to you that I truly believe that the state of this city is good. In spite of the national economy, it appears that the pace of local industrial development – the traffic in site selectors and plant locators remains high. I know from talking with Realtors, that the residential sector is statistically in a “buyers market” and we know that foreclosures are trending upward. However, the expansions of new and existing businesses already underway are translating into positive factors bringing new people to our community and, ultimately, into home sales. We are the fastest growing large city in Tennessee. In spite of uncertainty, I believe that we can keep our momentum moving forward.

Some months ago, a friend spoke of Chattanooga possibly experiencing “Eisenhower Years”. Well, I’m old enough to remember the actual Eisenhower Years of the 1950’s. The country was adjusting after World War II – and we weathered some economic trials: recession and correction. Even so, for some those years were very good – very disciplined but very productive.

The state of the city is good.

If these are challenging times, if these are Eisenhower Years, we will turn them to our advantage. In harder times, we have reclaimed our river and rebalanced our economy. We have cleaned up our environment. We have our plan and our marching orders. We have the resources and the resolve. We have more to do but the collective will and ability to do it.

We are now – and shall continue to be – the most transformed city in America and our best days are still ahead.

Good Night

Ron Littlefield, Mayor

To view the State of the City Address please use the following links: