Mayor maps vision for Chattanooga's future in State of the City address

Mayor Andy Berke delivers his second State of the City address at The Chattanoogan hotel in this file photo.
Mayor Andy Berke delivers his second State of the City address at The Chattanoogan hotel in this file photo.

Women, cars and smoking-fast Internet access: Those were the foci of Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke's second annual State of the City address Monday.

Before a standing-room-only crowd in The Chattanoogan hotel's ballroom, Berke announced plans to create a handful of new task forces aimed at stamping out gender inequality in the workforce and gearing Chattanoogans up for jobs in the automotive industry.

Additionally, he set out a plan to partner city police with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to stop sexual assault on local college campuses, and announced an initiative to provide EPB's hyper-speed Internet to low-income families.

That's a big list, considering Berke plans to keep up all the initiatives he launched this time last year.

New initiatives

During the State of the City address tonight, Mayor Andy Berke announced the following new initiatives: * Mayor's Council on Women -- A council to advise the administration on policies addressing equality in the workplace, education gaps, health and child care issues and protections from violence. * CPD/UTC/FJC -- Local police will work with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Family Justice Center to stop sexual assault on college campuses. * Auto Workforce Development Task Force -- A task force to look at ways to better prepare Chattanoogans for automotive industry jobs. * Cheaper Internet -- A plan for EPB to offer its hyper-speed Internet service at a reduced price to low-income families.

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But during his speech, Berke said difficult tasks are the Scenic City's bread and butter.

"Chattanooga's history is one of a community working together to confront its challenges and to direct its future. We have never been passive, letting forces beyond our control determine our fate," Berke said.

Automotive jobs

Berke's proposed Auto Workforce Development Task Force drew some of the most applause Monday. With the local Volkswagen plant's expansion on the horizon, Berke told the audience he wants to make sure Chattanoogans get the more than 2,000 jobs that will soon come.

"VW is going to have 2,000 job openings in their plant, and we have numerous auto suppliers around them, and more coming," Berke said in an interview after the speech. "When I visit these businesses, I hear from them that they have a hard time filling those positions, even though we know we have people in Chattanooga who need work."

The aim of the automotive task force is to bring VW, suppliers, educators and community members to a table to figure out how Chattanoogans can have a leg up on those competing for the future jobs, he said.

Despite obvious business relationships, Berke said it's more difficult to get suppliers, the automaker and other companies to have an open conversation.

"If this were easy, there would already be a plan in place to make it happen," Berke said. "Suppliers sell to VW, but they compete with VW. They compete for jobs."

City Councilman Chip Henderson said he hopes the initiative will help reduce the number of young people out of work in the city.

"We've been trying to reach the 24- to 40-year-old young men who are unemployed and struggling to find work," Henderson said. "We need to try to figure out how to develop our workforce there."

Opportunities, protection for women

The Mayor's Council on Women, which will be lead by City Council Chairwoman Carol Berz and state Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, will aim to open doors for women in the city's public and private sectors.

"We want to unleash the potential of everyone in our city," Berke said after the address. "That's including inside city government. We are going to examine our own policies to make sure we are providing every opportunity."

Berz said after the speech that the women's council is going to be a "think tank" to examine all aspects of the city to ensure Chattanooga is a place where women can flourish, both in business and in their own lives.

"There are women of all ages, all economic backgrounds here, and we need to be looking at ways to open doors for them -- for everybody," Berz said.

But the women's council will also touch on another Berke initiative -- to reduce sexual and domestic assault across the city and especially on college campuses.

Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher said the department has known about this goal for some time and has been working with the newly formed Family Justice Center, UTC, Chattanooga State Community College and others to tackle the issue.

"We are committing ourselves to do everything we can to prevent violence against women," Fletcher said.

The effort will move forward alongside the city's ongoing Violence Reduction Initiative, which is designed to combat chronic gang violence in the city, as well as a number of economic and good-government initiatives.

Since taking office, Berke has repeatedly said that public safety is his top priority. However, initial results from his Violence Reduction Initiative showed that while shootings in the city decreased, the overall number of homicides went up in the program's first year.

photo Staff Photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free Press - April 27, 2015 Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher, center, found room to stand as a large crowd filled the ballroom Monday as Mayor Andy Berke delivers his State of the City address at The Chattanoogan.

Internet

Finally, Berke announced a plan that will allow for the families of children who are on free or reduced-price lunch at school to purchase 100-megabit-per-second Internet service from EPB for a discounted rate of $26.99 a month. The normal rate is $57.99 a month.

"Think about it. Our low-income families will have a faster connection than Park Avenue millionaires, at a fraction of the cost," Berke said.

Last year's goals

Last year, Berke announced several other new initiatives, including the establishment of an innovation district, as well as new incentives the city will provide to small businesses that make substantial expansions.

Specifically, Berke touted fixing an unfeasible Fire and Police Pension Fund, improving morale in the police force and ushering in a 40 percent reduction in gun crime through the VRI.

Berke also introduced a youth readership program last year which now has 4,052 active students, with 50 percent of participants reading at or above grade level, he said.

Berke also pledged to end veteran homelessness in Chattanooga by 2016. As of now, he said the program has housed 24 veterans.

The mayor has worked this year to raise Chattanooga's national profile, from securing the Ironman Triathlon to conducting a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session to talk about the city's gigabit infrastructure.

Throughout Monday's speech, Berke invoked a spirit of togetherness similar to his 2014 State of the City.

In 2014, he said the city would get better. Now, he says it is.

"The state of our city is strong. It will only get stronger in the years to come. And it will be because we are different, because we work together, because we value each of our individual stories and how they come together to make a community," Berke said.

Contact staff writer Louie Brogdon at lbrogdon@timesfreepress.com, @glbrogdoniv on Twitter or at 423-757-6481.

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