People fill the Chattanooga City Council room.When the calendar flips to 2014, it will mark the third anniversary of the only New Year’s resolution I’ve ever kept. My not-so-flat abdominal muscles and rising cholesterol are testaments to this truth.
Nearly three years ago, I woke up the morning after watching the ball drop in New York’s Times Square as a complete and total stranger to much of Chattanooga. At that point, I’d been a Chattanoogan for roughly two years, but little aside from my home address gave me that distinction. I lived a life of relative anonymity, knowing only the folks I worked with and a small circle of friends.
As 2011 dawned, I swore I’d change that.
Within three months I was serving on UTC’s young alumni council, I’d become active with Chattanooga’s Young Professionals Association, and was volunteering heavily with a local nonprofit (which happens to be my current place of employment). Through these three organizations, my horizons expanded drastically–and quickly. And as a testament to this city’s welcoming nature, I suddenly felt more at home in Chattanooga than I’d ever felt anywhere in my life.
During the earliest stages of my civic courtship of Chattanooga, one particular element of the region’s DNA held my attention captive: a seemingly super-tenacious electorate. It interested me because my hometown’s political scene is a snoozefest compared to Chattanooga’s partisan drama. Most folks where I’m from are only vaguely familiar with the word “Democrat,” let alone “recall” or “congressional primary,” so I studied this new-to-me terrain from a distance.