Chip Henderson has grown a lot since he won the Chattanooga City Council seat for District 1 four years ago, and even he notices it.
"I feel a lot more qualified this time around. I feel like I work well within the council."
And he does. As a residential and commercial contractor who made it through the 2008 housing recession, he says he likes to feel that he brought some good-sense business principles to the council. But he also brought understanding of people's basic needs.
He was instrumental in the city's understanding that roads don't repair themselves, and the city's $1.7 million paving budget has more than doubled. It still needs to increase more, he says.
And now as chairman of the public safety committee, he understands that gang violence in any district is a problem for all districts - and not just a problem of law enforcement, but also of our social systems, education and workforce development efforts.
"With gangs, we've got to shut off the pipeline," created when young men and women fail in school or get suspended and are left on the streets without the skills to get jobs. "We've got to address this at a younger age. We didn't get here overnight. And I think we've got to start admitting it's going to take some time. And we need to stick to game plan," he said, referring to the city's Violence Reduction Initiative aimed at bringing down gang violence and shootings.
Henderson, 56, acknowledges that VRI has needed some tweaks - primarily in better community and prosecutorial buy-in, along with amped up workforce buy-in through specific programs for older gang members who seek a way out of that street life.
"We've got to gain the trust of the African-American community. If we're going to speak honestly, we have to forfeit our right to be offended," he says.
Henderson says he visited a program in Carrollton, Ga., that dovetails with some Chattanooga 2.0 suggestions. Carrollton put at-risk high school juniors and seniors into a half-day school and work program, employing them to cut and bundle wire at a local manufacturing company.
These were 250 students who were on track not to graduate, but by going to school at Southwire, their graduation rate climbed to 95 percent. Henderson wants similar programs here. He said police have told him we should not judge a young person's decisions until we are completely aware of what their options are, and Henderson - working with disadvantaged young people on mission trips and with young veterans who are homeless - has seen the same thing for himself.
"Kids are smart, and they want to know that they matter," he said.
Businesses looking for workers in Chattanooga know it, too, and through Chattanooga 2.0 and the Chamber of Commerce are pushing for similar ways to help our at-risk students.
Henderson has two very worthy opponents in the race to represent a district that stretches from Lookout Valley north and east toward Moccassin Bend and Mountain Creek: Unum auditor Susan Miller, 49, of Lookout Valley, who wants to see more smart manufacturing than tourism jobs come to Chattanooga, and cycling enthusiast and businessman Jay Nevans, 47, co-owner of Scenic City Multisport - Timing and Event Management, who believes we could create jobs with a multicity glass recycling initiative.
We hope both of Henderson's opponents will remain interested in politics and run for office again - perhaps for the Board of Education or County Commission.
But for now, Henderson is the best choice for Chattanooga's District 1 City Council seat.