The Chattanooga City Council voted 6-2 Tuesday night to spend $150,000 to help buy Stringer’s Ridge and develop it as a public park, even as some council members expressed concerns about the economy.

Councilmen Jack Benson and Leamon Pierce both voted against the measure, while Councilman Dan Page abstained.

“We’re in serious problems right now,” Mr. Benson said. “We have to make sure we have enough money for the essentials. This is not an essential.”

The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit group that conserves land and turns it into public assets, had asked the City Council to contribute $500,000 — $150,000 this year and $350,000 next year — toward the purchase and preservation of Stringer’s Ridge, which sits just north of the Tennessee River and overlooks downtown Chattanooga.

The trust has reached a written agreement with the land owner to buy 92 acres of the ridge.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.

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