Though he’s been spotted scouting real estate in Nashville, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he still plans to keep the Scenic City as his main home.
The Nashville City Paper reported last week that Sen. Corker, whose primary home is in Chattanooga, was seen touring Nashville homes with a real estate agent.
After a roundtable discussion at Erlanger hospital on Wednesday, Sen. Corker said he is not moving to Nashville but is hoping to buy a second home there.
“My primary residence is in North Chattanooga. I love this community,” he said. “I’m working toward having a smaller, secondary residence in Nashville just because I’m there so much. … I’d just like to have a place with some clothes and a place to eat when we go to meetings, but that would not mean I would be leaving the community.”
MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN?
The Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority came to Thursday’s County Commission meeting to explain an $8 monthly fee for 24,000 gravity sewer customers, but a couple of commissioners had other topics on their minds, too.
Commissioner Fred Skillern asked why he had to pay for sewer service even though his home is not connected to the line that runs by his property.
Authority board Chairman Henry Hoss told Mr. Skillern that state law requires him to hook on to the sewer.
“Commissioner, you are out of compliance with the law,” he said.
Mr. Skillern also asked if there’s anything the authority can do to residents who have illegally connected to the sewer lines.
“In every case we can identify, we’re going to disconnect them,” Mr. Hoss said.
Authority Executive Director Cleveland Grimes said the authority can fine residents who do not disconnect illegal connections.
Commissioner Larry Henry had his own concern — about customers on Standifer Gap Road who have to pay for grinder pumps for their low-pressure sewer system. Mr. Henry asked if the $8 fee would apply to them.
Mr. Hoss said the 1,200 to 1,500 low-pressure sewer customers will not be charged the fees. He said the cost of a grinder pump is about $4,100 — $2,100 for the pump plus $2,000 for installation.
BENSON OPPOSES $27,000 PUBLIC ART
City Councilman Jack Benson made waves last week about a proposal for the city to purchase the “Rail Wave” sculpture near the Tennessee Aquarium downtown.
The price tag? $27,685.
In an e-mail sent to Mayor Ron Littlefield, Parks and Recreation Administrator Larry Zehnder and others last week, Mr. Benson said that the sculpture costs too much “for the value received.”
“I strongly believe art has a strong place in the quality of life within the community and I support the city’s good investments in public art,” said Mr. Benson, a retired educator. “However, in the Rail Wave Sculpture, I can see little value in this ‘art’ for our city.”
The sculpture, located near where Chestnut Street hits Riverside Drive, incorporates metal rails and pieces of wood that have been made to resemble a rolling wave.
The full council is expected to consider a resolution to buy the sculpture on Tuesday.
LATE-NIGHT CLATTER
Downtown resident Greg Whitcher approached the City Council to voice his frustrations with being disturbed by the loud clanging from private trash pickup.
Mr. Whitcher, who lives in an apartment on Georgia Avenue, said the noise bothers him several nights a week.
“We’re trying to get people to move downtown,” he said at last Tuesday’s meeting. “At the same time, there’s some qualityof-life issues inherent in being downtown.”
Mr. Benson said two city ordinances address this issue.
“You need your rest, you have a right to privacy and the ordinances are designed to give you that,” Mr. Benson said. “I believe that we can get that stopped.”
Councilwoman Sally Robinson said downtown may be considered a commercial area, but it is getting more of a residential feel.
“Our downtown dwellers are entitled to the same comforts that our suburban dwellers are in many instances,” she said.
Mr. Benson, chairman of the Legal and Legislative Committee, said this topic will be discussed at Tuesday’s committee meeting.
ONE APPLICANT SO FAR IN DISTRICT 5
One District 5 resident has applied for the temporary appointment as of late Friday afternoon, according to Carol O’Neal, clerk of the City Council.
Beatrice Hicks of 336 N. Crest Road turned in her name for the seat to be vacated officially this week by Councilman John “Duke” Franklin Jr. He has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of money laundering, giving false statements to federal officials and conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with a drug investigation.
Mrs. Hicks started a family insurance business with her husband in 1955 and the company merged with RSS Insurance in the late 1990s, according to information provided by the clerk.
The applicant also is president of the Missionary Ridge Garden Club and a member of First Presbyterian Church.
District 5 residents have until Friday at 1 p.m. to apply for the interim appointment. A special election for the seat will be held Nov. 4.
Health care reporter Emily Bregel has worked at the Chattanooga Times Free Press since July 2006. She previously covered banking and wrote for the Life section. Emily, a native of Baltimore, Md., earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Columbia University. She received a first-place award for feature writing from the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists’ Golden Press Card Contest for a 2009 article about a boy with a congenital heart defect. She ...
