Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke gives a preview of his State of the City address at the Chattanooga Rotary Club on Thursday, Apr. 7, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The need for Chattanooga to embrace a diversified economy empowered by a package of initiatives to strengthen innovation, revitalize downtown landscapes and improve safety and education was the focus of Mayor Andy Berke’s address to the Rotary Club on Thursday.
“As we pioneer this new economy, we must challenge ourselves to ensure that no one is left behind,” Berke said. “We face tremendous challenges in diversifying our economy.”
He called for continued private and public investment in the city’s downtown Innovation District, which supports a mixture of business incubators, start-ups and collaborative spaces.
There also needs to be more support for early learning initiatives if the city is to be successful, Berke said.
“We have to stop believing that early learning is a luxury that is only available to those who can afford it,” he said. “Instead, it’s an economic imperative for our city to remain competitive.”
He cited the importance of private and public investment in a proposed transformation of Miller Park and Miller Plaza as a “once-in-a-generation project” that, in conjunction with a revamping of Patten Parkway into a pedestrian-friendly public space, would be instrumental to downtown revitalization.
City Council Chairwoman Carol Berz praised Berke’s address.
“His message is clear,” said Berz. “It’s outstanding. It meets the needs of our city and he’s walking the talk. It’s not just political rhetoric.”
In his speech, which Berke billed as a precursor to his annual State of the City address on April 25, he also recalled challenges and accomplishments of the last year.
“We’ve emerged from some of the darkest economic times in our country’s history with a 2.4 percent drop in unemployment, the sixth-largest recovery in the U.S. since the end of the recession and the third-highest wage growth for a midsize city,” Berke said.
Berke touted the growing digital equity measures such as NetBridge, which provides low-cost access to EPB broadband services to more than 1,600 families, and Tech Goes Home, which assists with technological skills and low-cost devices.
“These initiatives change lives,” said Berke.
On a starker note, the mayor also described the impact of the July 16 shootings that left five military personnel dead.
“We will not be defined by the challenges and the adversity we face,” said Berke. “We will instead chart our own course.”
And he called for realistic expectations concerning the city’s Violence Reduction Initiative, which has been the center of recent controversy between the mayor’s office and District Attorney Neal Pinkston.
The goal of the VRI is to reduce gang-related violence and homicides. Berke said parents need tools to teach their children the importance of self-reliance and how to deal with adversity.
“To change this problem in the long run, we have to tear down the barriers that prevent [families] from being successful,” Berke said.
“While Chattanooga was able to keep shootings and homicides relatively flat over the last two years, we are not immune to the blight that gangs bring to our community with their cycles of violence and their codes of silence,” Berke said.
After the Rotary Club meeting, Berke said little about a recent meeting with Pinkston.
“We had a meeting that was productive, and we look forward to working together to making our city safer,” said Berke.
Berke said their discussion did not address a recent announcement by Pinkston that he would launch his own violence reduction task force.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com.