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March 21, 2007

I [heart] Train Songs

Billy Dreamed of Trains

When Billy was a little girl, she only dreamed of TRAINS
She never played with dolls or lacy kinds of things
Billy counted boxcars instead of counting sheep
She could go anywhere when she went to sleep

All she ever talked about was getting on to ride
She was living in another time you could see it in her eyes
And every day after school she'd head down to the track
Waiting for the train that was never coming back

The depots been boarded up, the rails have turned to rust
There hasn't been a TRAIN through here since the mill went bust
No one believed her when she said she heard the TRAIN
Said she was just a little girl acting kind of strange

Official Littlefield Bullet Train Count: Day 702

With apologies to "Jenny Dreamed of Trains" by John Denver

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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.

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March 05, 2007

A Tale Of Two LTE's, Part 1: The Ringer

I wonder if you read the Letters to the Editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Friday, March 2. If you did, you were privileged to read the very sane, organized and literate thoughts of concerned citizen and recycling advocate Sarah Phifer. The same letter appeared on the Chattanoogan.com four days earlier.

It seems Ms. Phifer, just so happened to be attending to her weekly groceraterial needs at the Lupton City Bi-Lo when she encountered, let me quote the very quotable Ms. Phifer, "the most unusual thing: a raccoon inside the store. [Imagine! The very thought of it! Right here in RiverCity! BB] "Naturally, my curiosity got the best of me and I could see that others were drawn to this raccoon, as well." [Oh, mesmeric Procyon lotor, unspool thy web! Say, Sarah, you wouldn't happen to know the name and purpose of this critter, would you? BB] "This raccoon was Rocky the recycling raccoon with the recycling education team. I hung around for a bit and listened to the volunteers talk to people about recycling as I watched the raccoon give coloring pages with information about recycling to children and information cards to their parents [I'm with ya, go on...BB]. Several people had questions that the team was able to answer (and answer quite well, I might add) [Oh, do! Please do add! If you could, have a remarkable grasp and encyclopedic knowledge about the program, as well. BB] about pickup schedules or drop off centers or recycling correctly. I learned a lot about why it’s important for Chattanooga to recycle just by listening in. Like myself, both kids and adults were initially drawn to the raccoon [Well, it is a genius marketing tactic costing a hundred thousand dollars--you're only human, you can't be expected to avoid its moon-like gravitational pull! BB] but were roped in by the recycling information. I think this is a great way to get people’s attention and spark interest in recycling.

Sarah Phifer

Wow! And all from a simple trip to the grocery! Perhaps, you've sensed my skepticism about the authenticity and nature of this letter. I spotted a plant from the get-go, but it wasn't until I received an email informing me that Ms. Phifer is, in fact, the manager of Rock Point Books, Chattanooga's best new book store, of which I am a frequent visitor [Billy Blades Identity Alert!]. Nothing unusual about that, other than you'd think someone that literate wouldn't really need to be educated about recycling, but whatev.

No, it's not unusual until you Connect The Dots (TM Missy Crutchfield) that Albert Waterhouse co-owns Rock Point Books. The same Albert Waterhouse of Waterhouse PR that is being paid by Ron Littlefield to handle PR for the city's recycling 'efforts.'

Now, I think my readers are hipper to the political scene than most, but for those who aren't I need to drop a little knowledge on you: 80% of the LTE's (letters to the editor) that you read during a political campaign are arranged, and often written by, the campaign being endorsed. This practice is certainly not illegal, and it's only borderline shady in the ethics department. It's shady because an LTE presents itself as an organic, spontaneous opinion generated by an excited, engaged or enraged citizen who simpy had to communicate his or her feelings to their fellow citizens via their local paper or news website. That is not the case most of the time where politics is concerned, and I really doubt it's the case here. I'm guessing a staff member at Waterhouse PR wrote that letter.

On the other hand, this ghost-writing tactic is legit to the degree that you can assume the letter writer, whether the campaign got them to agree to write the letter, or just sign their name to a letter composed for them, does in fact endorse the ideas and/or candidate in question.

LTE's have become a tactic so common, that they are a bit passé. But they can still be effective among certain audiences--namely, naive readers and the person that the campaign benefits.

I don't fault Ms. Phifer for her involvement. It's not a stretch to assume she's a recycling advocate, as am I, as are you, most likely. I'm quite sure she endorses every word in the letter. I just doubt she wrote it unprompted and unaided. I suppose there is a chance that the employee of the PR guy hired by the city just. so. happened. to be at a Rocky The Recycling Raccoon in-store appearance and was moved so deeply that she just had to write such a well-constructed, talking-points-perfect letter. But I doubt it.

And I don't fault Albert, if he is behind the letter, for using this hoary old tactic, because, well, it's inexpensive and a client likes to see this kind of thing on the editorial pages.

And I actually think an informational campaign to promote recycling is a good idea, even if it is 10 years too late. In fact, a mascot is a drop in the bucket of what should be done to educate on the topic. I just think it's important for everyone to see through the scrim--the man behind the curtain, as it were.

The letter itself is hardly the point. Littlefield decimated a very important recycling program and replaced it with something so unworkable, that even those who are eager to use the program can't. I refer specifically to the fact that the main drop off is closed Wednesday's and Thursdays, but also the whole once-a-month pickup thing.

I won't let Littlefield get away with spin, whether it's about his Homeless Hilton (TM Billy Blades) or Rocky Raccoon (TM The Beatles).

Does it feel to you that the recycling situation is improving in Chattanooga? Because that letter was intended to lead you to that conclusion. Or does it feel to you that our mayoral leadership is so abysmal that this is what they are willing to do to try to spit-shine the reputation of this failed, flailing campaign. Because this post was intended to lead you to that conclusion.

Next: A Tale of Two LTE's, Part 2: The Heartbreaker.

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