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What will happen to Superior Creek Lodge? Cook: Superior Creek Lodge situation is a crisis on top of a crisis Superior Creek Lodge pets also needed relocating East Ridge officials condemn two buildings at Superior Creek Lodge 1,500 people, 300 families displaced by condemned buildings in East Ridge East Ridge officials force people out of about 138 rooms at Superior Creek Lodge
How is it that 1,500 people, all suddenly made homeless, don't constitute a disaster?
It's true there was no flood, no fire, no tornado.
But after East Ridge firefighters closed Superior Creek Lodge and ordered its 1,500 residents out into the parking lot because the buildings were unsafe, Community Foundation President Pete Cooper summed it up well: "If East Ridge had flooded and 7 percent of its population was displaced, I believe there would have been a larger community response."
Instead, these were poor people simply evicted from the extended-stay hotel/apartment complex whose owner had let the property rot to the point that it was condemned as a "danger to human life."
Community response became scattershot, lacking a designated lead agency, relief workers told Times Free Press reporter Joan Garrett McClane.
East Ridge United Methodist Church Pastor Ken Sauer said East Ridge "didn't do a doggone thing, except kick people out of their hotel."
His church leapt into action, taking in nine families. Monetary donations and food flooded in. Volunteers gave their time to help, but still, the city of East Ridge stumbled, he said.
The day after the condemnations, Hamilton County social service worker Carla Sewell set up a meeting among representatives from Metropolitan Ministries, the Community Kitchen, the Homeless Health Care Center, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the United Way, and officials from Hamilton County, Chattanooga and a handful of churches.
"It was standing-room only," said Jens Christensen, who heads Chattanooga Community Kitchen, which offers services for between 400 to 600 people a day. "No one was really in charge."
Key agencies said their hands were tied. There were no shelter beds, as the homeless population already overflowed them. Red Cross and Salvation Army cots, food and shelter require a "disaster." A United Way representative said the organization had some funding that could help but needed a nonprofit to front the money and paperwork had to be filled out. The county would aid some families with money for deposits, but getting the money would take time and couldn't be used for emergency hotel stays. (Then what can it be used for?) Now two weeks have gone by, and donations from agencies and individuals have totaled $50,650, McClane's reporting shows. That's just under $34 per person.
In 2013, Patten Towers in Chattanooga caught fire and left about 250 people on the street. Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke didn't have to, but did, take charge. He and his staff organized local agencies and held the out-of-state building owner responsible for long-neglected electrical and code violations. The owner put up money for some of the necessary hotel stays and assistance for those displaced.
It's true that a fire is more disaster-like than a condemnation, but it was, after all, East Ridge that condemned the Superior Creek Lodge buildings and ordered residents out. Now East Ridge City Hall and the Superior Creek Lodge owner or owners need to step up.