Former mayor says, ‘think bigger’
“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!”
This quote from famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham has become the mantra of professional city planners everywhere.
Last week’s reveal of plans for the Chattanooga riverfront and the announced decision by local leadership to leave the psychiatric hospital on Moccasin Bend were equally disappointing and unimpressive. My blood was not stirred — at least not in a positive way. Chattanooga did not rise from the dark and dismal days of the recent past to become a desired destination for visitors and business investors by taking weak and timid steps.
Perhaps we have lost the ability to think in bold, visionary and transformational terms. Hopefully the pause is only temporary. Those who strive and struggle today to drive Chattanooga forward should not take this as harsh criticism but instead as gentle encouragement: Think bigger!