We have been going through a rather cool, often rainy, but beautiful Chattanooga spring. There have been lots of dogwood blossoms, just recently giving way to thick green foliage on our mountains and ridges, through which the Tennessee River and several creeks flow in woodlands.
We have a beautiful natural geographic setting.
But are you concerned about a great deal of “ugliness” in the midst of our garden city?
Every day, many thousands of us travel the highway “spokes” that lead us into and out of the center of our city. What do you think of them? How do they look to you?
Some of them have a few blocks, here and there, lined with small trees. They help cover some of the rather unsightly buildings, signs and other unloveliness. We thank our city officials for having done what they have done on some streets to camouflage some of the necessary (and some of the careless and thoughtless) results of our civilization.
But isn’t it a shame that we have such a fine natural setting, so many fine people, so many good neighborhoods, so many things that are good about Chattanooga — and so many visitors who spend a lot of money supporting our economy — and yet we have so much unsightliness on so many of our main traffic arteries?
OK, we admit this isn’t “Disneyland.” We can’t have Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck manicuring stretches along our streets. But we do love our city and enjoy living in “the finest place in the world.” But in honesty we must admit we are too messy in our “living room.”
Our city has many challenges, including financial ones. We can’t spend a lot of money on beautification and “upkeep,” though we do spend some. But wouldn’t it be possible, with not much cost, at least to begin a planned improvement of the looks of our main streets, which we travel every day?
What if our political leaders, the members of our many fine civic clubs, our businesses, our garden clubs, our school kids and the rest of us who are interested resolved to “do something” that wouldn’t cost much but would yield dividends to make our main travel routes scenic and more attractive for us all?
What if our city officials selected just two of our unloveliest (or “worst-looking”) streets each year and resolved to make them more “sightly”?
In just, say, five years we could have nearly all of the main traffic arteries greatly improved without much expenditure!
Our wonderful city would be more wonderful for us all. Beautification might even help local companies and our substantial tourist business.
Wouldn’t it be great if many interested parties and people would “just start” to make some economical improvements, one or two main avenues at a time — all their full lengths, not just in spots?
We could make our delightful home city even finer for us all.