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March 06, 2007
A Tale of Two LTE's, Part 2: The Heartbreaker
Another letter was printed in the Times Free Press on the same day as the non-spontaneous, non-authentic pro-Rocky the Recycling Rodent letter. This letter was from Irene Blake Tucker of East Lake. There'll be no need for comments in brackets from me; a letter like this won't bear sarcasm and none is necessary:
Chattanooga is my hometown. I love it here. But we can't get anything done in my area...We went to meetings and they were going to do many things here. Why haven't they done anything? Where are our street lights on the sidewalks, and our sidewalks? They get up at those meetings and make you think they are going to help you and don't. ... Mr. Mayor, what about the East Lake area and Black Bottom. Or as you referred to it, Boulevard Park. We pay taxes too. We don't live in fine homes. We are just poor people, but we would like a clean pace to live. We are a part of Chattanooga, too.
I can guarantee you that message was not crafted by a PR professional. It wasn't massaged and tweaked before a search began to find a name to put to it. I'd be willing to bet it was handwritten. If you were trying to make a persuasive argument in five paragraphs, a professional writer could do better. But the plain-spoken language says all it really needs to: the frustration and feelings of helplessness are palpable.
Irene is a taxpaying citizen who can't get sidewalks poured in her neighborhood, but Ron has already spent $800,000 to acquire tainted land to build his Homeless Hilton for services that are already being rendered to people who don't pay taxes. I know it's self-evident that someone who is homeless, can't pay taxes and that some would love to have a home, no matter how modest, to be able to pay taxes. I get that. But I do think that if you are paying taxes, you should get return for your investment. You should expect your city government to provide service to you just like they do in other, 'better,' neighborhoods. Shouldn't you?
I'm concerned that it may appear that this blog is anti-homeless. Members of our staff have worked at the Community Kitchen and with the Interfaith Hospitality network. We are not opposed to Chattanoogans helping those among us who need help--it's what defines us as Chattanoogans really. But we do doubt the wisdom of the 11th St. complex.
We question Ron's priorities. It's easy to get on your high-horse and declare that helping the homeless should take priority over everything else. I happen to believe that that is not the mayor's job. I think government works best when it's fixing streets and pouring sidewalks and arresting criminals. Of the two issues, I actually think the homeless situation is in better working condition, than the state of our older neighborhoods.
Ron's obsession with his homeless campus is diverting money and attention from blighted areas of our city. He criticized Mayor Corker for the single-minded attention he lavished on the downtown waterfront, but Ron's only moved his target 11 blocks south.
Two letters. One, a PR tactic; the other, a frustrated plea filled with disappointment. Taken together, you get a pretty good view of the Littlefield administration.
Comments to: worstmayorever@aol.com
| By Billy Blades | 09:25 PM
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