In his final State of the City address, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke departed from a traditional year in review/preview speech, delivering instead a somber but ultimately optimistic battle cry to the city ravaged by a deadly tornado, lethal COVID-19 outbreak and economic uncertainty in recent weeks.
From behind a computer, Berke delivered the usually well-attended address via livestream to prevent a crowd as the coronavirus continues to spread within and threaten the community, calling for citizens to focus on the version of Chattanooga that exists beyond these uncertain times.
While Berke addressed some acclaim and general progress of the city, including a now-distant and uprooted prediction by Forbes in December that Chattanooga would be the nation’s hiring capital in 2020, the speech focused on the reality of the last two months in which more than 15% of the state’s workforce has filed for unemployment, nearly 200 residents, including 13 from Hamilton County, have died of coronavirus and the way out of the pandemic remains unclear.
“The question of what is right seems more debated than ever. You hear one thing from [Tennessee] Gov. [Bill] Lee, another from me. On the nightly briefings, the president and his advisors contradict each other from minute to minute,” he said, apparently alluding to his recent dissent from the state and county on when to safely reopen closed businesses. “In the balance hangs our city and the 180,000 people who call it home. Both our health and our pocketbooks depend on what happens next. Chattanoogans are watching the news, trying to make sense of it, worried that touching a door handle could lead to an infection – but also knowing that keeping a small business closed will cause tremendous financial hardship.”
But, in a comparison to the Hebrew prophet Elijah, who is said to have found God in the quiet stillness after fire, winds and an earthquake, Berke said Chattanooga exists in what people make of these tragedies and how the city comes out on the other side.