All Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke wants to do this year is tackle climate change, homelessness, economic mobility and school safety. Once he solves those, we wonder what he’ll do next.
He did, in fact, use his State of the City address at the Chattanooga Convention Center Thursday night to address the four topics, pegging them to how they’ve changed here since 1969, when CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite is said to have mentioned the city in a broadcast as having the dirtiest air in the country.
Berke is not likely to solve any of them by this time next year, but he believes the city needs to take the steps it can to address those four serious issues.
Two of those, homelessness and school safety (and education in general), have significant budget implications.
Berke in December, based on recommendations from the Chattanooga Interagency Council on Homelessness, released the Chattanooga Community Action Plan. A four-year blueprint, it suggested four steps from homelessness to housing for a local population that is said to be 2,000 adults and 600 children at any given time.