Thursday evening inside a Chattanooga Convention Center ballroom, Mayor Andy Berke will give his sixth State of the City address.
I remember his first speeches. There was a Springsteen vibe in the air, a diverse crowd with populist dreams. It was unlike anything I’d seen in this town.
Then, I stopped going.
In a way, I stopped believing.
Berke’s not Santa, and maybe that’s the point; when he was first elected, I had such high hopes, perhaps unfairly so.