19 in 19: Chattanooga’s Year in Review

As 2019 comes to a close, it’s hard to remember all of the great things that have happened in our city over the past 12 months. While many of us are looking forward to a new year and what that holds in store, I wanted to take a quick look back at some of what we’ve accomplished together.

VW Chooses Chattanooga…Again

For more than a decade, Volkswagen has proven time and again that when they invest in Chattanooga, their company and our community succeed together. At the Detroit Auto Show, I joined Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger, former Governor Bill Haslam and incoming Governor Bill Lee alongside Volkswagen’s leadership to announce that VW would be investing $800 million and creating 1,000 new jobs to bring an electric vehicle facility to the Scenic City.

Stronger Neighborhoods

In February, I joined with community leaders to unveil the Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund, which was created to aid neighborhood projects, small businesses and affordable housing in Chattanooga.

• Park improvements come to Brainerd’s Tacoa Park.
• The City allocated $500,000 to aid small businesses that can help cover so-called “hard” costs, such as facility renovations, equipment and inventory acquisition and even website development and marketing.
• Our affordable housing fund will allocate $1 million per year to projects that create and preserve affordable housing options throughout the city.

Right Place, Right Time

Chattanooga Police Officer Joseph Coleman was in the right place at the right time he was flagged down by some panicked parents whose 3-month-old daughter had stopped breathing on their way to the hospital. He was able to get the little girl breathing again before the family headed to the hospital. Officer Coleman and Lakelynn Durham, now 4-months-old, eventually reunited and posed for a picture at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger where she’s been treated for meningitis.

Seats for Success

In 2018, I announced our goal to create 1,000 high-quality early childhood education seats by 2021. Just a year later, our Office of Early Learning confirmed community partners had added 365 seats over the course of 365 days and another 600 seat commitments were well on their way to opening.

Top Dogs

Chattanooga Police’s furriest members competed in the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) Region 22 Spring Trials and took home the top prize. CPD Officer Timmons’sK9, Burt, was named Overall Top Dog.

Houston, We’ve Got No Problems

You may not think converting a street from one-way to two-ways would be big news, but earlier this year the Chattanooga Department of Transportation (CDOT) transformed Houston and Lindsey streets from one-way to two. You can read about why here.

Expand Your Collection

Earlier this year, the Chattanooga Public Library was presented with a $100,000 grant from Secretary of State Tre Hargett to expand its collection. The grant went toward purchasing digital and hard copies of popular books and broadening the library’s collection.

No Kid Hungry

According to Feed America, one in five Tennessee children struggles with hunger. But Chattanooga’s Department of Youth and Family Development (YFD) worked hard to make sure that wasn’t the case in Chattanooga. Through its Summer Camp Lunch program, breakfast and lunches are delivered to 17 different camps in the area feeding more than 1,400 Chattanooga children.

Granny Cassandra

Through YFD, Chattanooga seniors can volunteer their time with youth as “Foster Grandparents.” One Westside Foster Grandparent, Cassandra — better known as “Granny” — has spent the last three years teaching youths in the area cooking and life skills and was rewarded for her dedication to helping Chattanooga’s children.

Recruiting Diversity

In 2019, the Chattanooga Police Department graduated 21 new faces into the police force, and one-third were women. This year’s number is the result of a steady climb from 2014 when there were no women in that year’s academy. With the eight new female officers, 48 women now wear the CPD badge.

Safe Stations

Earlier this year, the Chattanooga Fire Department held an event to highlight the department’s ‘Safe Stations initiative, which provides a safe space for anyone battling opioid addiction. When someone arrives seeking help, a firefighter will immediately connect them to the Hamilton County Coalition’s Nu-Start Program, and from there a Nu-Start team member will help them find the best treatment option.

Paving The Way

As CPD graduated a record amount of women from the Academy in 2019, two women were recognized for paving the way for women in the workforce. Melinda Bryan and Helen Cooper were given the Distinguished Alumni award. Bryan helped modernize the sex crimes unit by building out the department’s first rape kits, and Cooper taught the first of the field training classes.

Limitless Library

Librarian Carol Guerra wants to make sure the library is enjoyable for all Chattanoogans. La Paz Chattanooga celebrated Carol as one of the 12 Latinx leaders to highlight for their achievements and community involvement. The Chattanooga Public Library was also recognized for providing a variety of services and resources, including bilingual passport services, free ESL classes, a growing number of Spanish-translated books and bilingual staff members.

Putting Out Fires

After six months of grueling training, oftentimes in that Southern summer heat, the Chattanooga Fire Department graduated 23 new cadets. This class has members with exciting resumes — there are former professional athletes, military veterans, a pair of twin wildland firefighters, and it’s the highest percentage of women to graduate from a CFD Fire Academy. But it was the opportunity to serve that brought them together.

East Chattanooga is Rising

Six years after purchasing the former Harriet Tubman homes site in Avondale, we announced that automotive paint company Nippon Paint would invest more than $60 million and bring 150 jobs to an area that hadn’t seen an investment of this magnitude in a century.

The City and County will also create a TIF District to develop infrastructure around the Nippon plant to stimulate further high-quality development for the neighborhood.

High Honor to Host National Exhibit

The Chattanooga Public Library is one of 50 libraries nationwide to host a new traveling exhibition: Americans and the Holocaust. More than 250 libraries applied for the 50 spots, and Chattanooga’s library was selected through a peer-reviewed application process that considered community demographics, library outreach plans, and the availability of other Holocaust-related educational opportunities in the library’s region, among other factors.

Honoring Our Fallen

In October, the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County unveiled a new public art installation to honor our Fallen Five called ‘The Wreath of Honor.’ The memorial stands less than 1,000 feet from where the five servicemen lost their lives on July 16, 2015 and is available for the public to pay their respects along the Tennessee RiverWalk.

Welcome Home Avondale

In November, a decades-long dream came to life. The Avondale community was able to walk in their dream of a new, state-of-the-art Youth and Family Development Center. The new Center is more than 22,000-square-feet and can house the entire old center in just the gymnasium.

Important Connections

After answering hundreds of calls to assist those with non-emergencies, two Chattanooga firefighters thought there would be a better way to connect these frequent callers with the help they needed. CFD partnered with UTC’s Social Work program to create CFD Connects, which seeks to pair frequent non-emergency 911 callers with social services that proactively address their problems before they turn to call for emergency help. Through CFD Connect, 13 of the department’s most persistent callers got the help they actually needed.

From all of us at the City of Chattanooga, have a very happy and safe New Year! I look forward to seeing you in 2020.