Residents sought to chart course

Looking to encourage a new set of citizen leaders in Chattanooga to "take the lead," Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield on Thursday convened a conference not unlike the Venture meetings that sparked the Tennessee Aquarium and riverfront revitalization.

Once again, he said, Chattanooga residents need to help map the city's course to becoming a green, healthy and more livable place.

"But this time, we didn't bring you here to talk, but to get you to do something," he said. "Often building partnerships begins with using the resources we have and finding common ground."

Participants have a number of areas where they may offer expertise, and they heard from five panels of planners, health and social agency workers, and city and county officials.

Largely the message was that all areas of concern -- healthy living, street and stormwater planning, safety and education -- are linked.

"From obesity to a ball field to play, into the environment and to transportation planning -- all those things are connected," said Karen Rennich, a senior planner with the Regional Planning Agency.

Healthy living involves more than streets with sidewalks and bicycle paths in neighborhoods with parks and recreation access, said Philip Pugliese with Outdoor Chattanooga and Lori Quillen, a policy analyst with the Ochs Center. It also requires neighborhoods with grocery stores -- not just convenience stores -- in walking distance for an increasingly elderly population, he said.

Streets that are landscaped to avoid stormwater runoff problems are streets that "lead to a green city, clean water and revitalization," but they also are people friendly and invite walking and biking, said David Crockett, director of Chattanooga's new Office of Sustainability.

Josh McManus, creative strategist for CreateHere, held up a chart with red dots covering much of East and South Chattanooga. The dots represent locations of shootings in recent months.

"We must develop a sense of urgency" about making positive changes in the community, he said. "And we need to get our youth involved in helping."

Mr. McManus and John Bilderback, head of the county's health program aimed at reducing obesity, challenged conference participants to help.

"Stop pointing fingers at parents and schools. Raise your hand" to help, Mr. Bilderback said.

Mr. McManus said the Venture meetings decades ago that led to the turnaround of Chattanooga with the building of the aquarium and the riverfront's revitalization also helped the city build an "unprecedented connectivity and networking map that serves us to this day.

"The new question," he said, offering the audience a challenge, "is can we broaden that connectivity map? The talent is here."