Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield may not have liked the attention he got from local citizen groups trying to recall him from office this year.
But since a Hamilton County judge threw out the recall attempt, Littlefield is getting lots more favorable attention from the national media.
Littlefield hyped the Scenic City on Friday during a national broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” his third network television appearance in the past two weeks.
In interviews with CNN, Fox Business News and CNBC, Littlefield has touted Chattanooga’s success in holding local jobless rates below the U.S. average, citing investments by Volkswagen, Alstom Power and others. He also has hyped the prospect of more growth from EPB’s new gigabit-per-second Internet service, the fastest in the country.
“We’re suffering, but not to the degree that other cities are,” Littlefield said Friday in an interview from Washington, D.C., where he is attending a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “We’re not feeling like we are out of the pinch yet, but we are looking forward to the future.”
CNBC, The New York Times and other national media outlets also have mentioned the recall campaign, in which nearly 10,000 city voters signed petitions wanting him thrown out of office.
In a front page story Thursday in The New York Times, Littlefield acknowledged that raising property taxes stoked the recall fervor. But he insisted the tax increase was “the right thing to do.”
Election Commission seat still vacant
As far as Ruth Braly knows, she soon will fill a vacant seat on the Hamilton County Election Commission, but she said she has not received confirmation from the state election commission.
Braly, an active member of the Republican Party, said she expects to hear word that she’ll fill the seat vacated by Brandon Lewis any day now.
She was nominated in August.
What do we do about rabbits?
The City Council’s Legal and Legislative Committee convened Tuesday, and Councilman Peter Murphy made an announcement.
“There have been many who wanted us to address backyard chickens,” he said. “I don’t know any other way to put it.”
But Councilman Jack Benson said he had other concerns.
His issue? Legal rabbits in his district that are the property of one person in particular.
“The stench is incredible,” Benson said.
Councilman Russell Gilbert raised another issue – dogs that “poop everywhere.”
The council members decided they would review the city’s animal ordinance in two weeks.
There was talk about animal rights groups giving the council some feedback.
“If we have a presentation, I would like the group to bring materials,” said Councilwoman Deborah Scott.
“Chickens?” asked Councilwoman Carol Berz.
As the council laughed, Scott said that’s not what she had in mind.
Renae performs today at fair
Local contemporary country musician Jaymi Renae will perform Sunday at the Hamilton County Fair at 4 p.m., according to her record label, Kala Entertainment, and the Hamilton County website.
Renae, 25, is a family friend of County Trustee Bill Hullander and recently shot a music video for her song “Everything But Quits” at Hullander’s farm in Apison.
She will perform on the Dallas Island stage. Her debut album is called “Carousel.”
Compiled by Dan Whisenhunt, Cliff Hightower and Dave Flessner.