Audio clip
Pachyderm Club
Mayoral candidate Rob Healy said Monday Chattanooga has a public safety problem and that he would increase police manpower during his administration.
“If we don’t have a safe city, companies aren’t going to want to come here,” Mr. Healy said. “People are not going to want to go downtown. People are not going to want to live in their neighborhoods.”
All four mayoral candidates — Mr. Healy, Mayor Ron Littlefield, Joe Lance and Thomas Smith II — participated in a public forum Monday at the Pachyderm Club in downtown Chattanooga. Each candidate had five minutes to give his campaign platform and then respond to audience questions.
Mr. Healy and Mr. Lance said public safety would be a main concern. Each said he feels police and fire departments in the city are underfunded and underequipped.
“The No. 1 priority is to increase the effectiveness and the reach of our police force,” Mr. Lance said. “Now, we have to pay for that somehow, right? The only answer is to take a look at the existing budget, and there are moneys in there.”
Mr. Littlefield rebutted the arguments, saying he put the departments “on notice that they have a bright future ahead of them.”
“Our police and fire department will definitely grow,” he said. “We’ve done pay studies and brought them up to a comparable level to other communities.”
The mayor stressed he wants to be re-elected so the city could see stability during rough economic times.
Mr. Smith, a candidate who has run for mayor in the past, told club members he was running to help shine a light on poverty in the city. He asked all Chattanoogans to volunteer one hour of community service during the year.
“I’m not here to get your vote,” Mr. Smith said. “I’m here to get your heart.”
Early voting for the city election begins Feb. 11 and ends Feb. 26. The municipal election is March 3.
Cliff has worked for the Times Free Press for five years and covers Chattanooga city government. He previously covered Rhea County, as well as transportation and growth and development in Southeast Tennessee. A native of Maryville, Tenn., Cliff graduated in 2003 from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis on journalism. Before coming to Chattanooga, he was a crime reporter with Hernando Today, a supplement of The Tampa (Fla.) ...
The canidates have not diclosed their experience in acting as a CEO over thousands of employees or their government experience. Like it or not, government is not like the private sector in any shape form or fashion, because their operations are stickly governed by state and federal law. I enjoy blogging and outdoor activities, but do these short stints make me an appropriate canidate for mayor? Maybe I am as qualified as Healy and Lance given my ability to write on blog and bicycle up the street with my son. Thats right, vote for me people the bicycling mom. The people that work in government all know each other, and Healy was not around long enough to learn about how to fill out a purchase order. Give me a break, vote for me as a write in. Experience apparently is not required to run this 60 to 100 million dollar operation.
There is not contest hear Mayor Littlefield is the best canidate
Allison
The canidates have not diclosed their experience in acting as a CEO over thousands of employees or their government experience. Like it or not, government is not like the private sector in any shape form or fashion, because their operations are stickly governed by state and federal law. I enjoy blogging and outdoor activities, but do these short stints make me an appropriate canidate for mayor? Maybe I am as qualified as Healy and Lance given my ability to blog and bicycle up the street with my son. Thats right, vote for me people the bicycling mom. The people that work in government all know each other, and Healy was not around long enough to learn about how to fill out a purchase order. Give me a break, experience apparently is not required to run this 60 to 100 million dollar operation called a city. If I learned to hike, maybe I could of run.
There is not a contest here Mayor Littlefield is the best canidate
Allison
Mayor Littlefield has done nothing for the City of Chattanooga in the past 4 years. Mr. Littlefield had nothing to do with VW coming into town, that was all Senator Corker. Mr. Littlefield has done nothing at all to protect the citizens of the community. Crime in Chattanooga is at an all time high and it sounds like he has no plan to fix the issue. If public safety is not on the top of Mr. Littlefield's list and protecting the taxpayers of the community, then waht is.
Mr. Littlefield also LIED about pay raises. Mr Littlefield DID NOT increase pay for the police. He did not give them any pay raise at all and they are still over 40% underpaid. If you do not believe me ask any police officer on the street, they will tell you the truth. Mr Littlefied wasted over $200,000.00 of taxpayers monies to find out they are underpaid and did NOTHING to fix the problem. I truly believe Mr Littlefield lives in his own little world and has no idea about the crime in the community.
Mr. Littlefield plan will bring more homeless people into this town, we are having a hard time taking care of our own. We will be taxed to provide them with health care , food and shelter. We should take care of our own taxpayers before calling people from all over the United States to come to Chattanooga for a free handout. Mr. Littlefield plan is to bring hundreds if not thousands of homeless people into town. Remember this is OUR taxpayers money he will use for the funding. This does not sound like a good idea to me.
It is time for Mr. Littlefield to move on and let someone come in here to fix the mess he has created. It is time for someone to come in here that knows what they are doing....so I say ANYONE besides Mr. Littlefield.
Amen to Frank.
SO what about this http://cashmap.chattarati.com/ stuff it has some valuable information, Money seems to be coming from odd places.
Government is to be for the people by the people, a set of guidlines (code of ethics) should set the standards not experience running a company or being a councilman but someone dedicated to doing the right thing without favor, following the code of ethics --- or is that something people don't know of anymore?
Or login with:
New Account