East Ridge is at a crossroads. Littered with boarded up storefronts and plagued by unemployment, the city has become a prime example of economic stagnation. City leaders can take a path of working to jump start East Ridge’s economic engine or choose the easier road of letting the city continue its decline until it, eventually, becomes a place where no one wants to live or do business.
Rather than working to revitalize East Ridge, the city council has wasted recent months banning smoking outdoors, preventing new revenue-generating, job-creating extended stay hotels from moving into the city and, most famously, running a family with a pet pygmy goat out of town.
Fortunately, the Nov. 6 election provides an opportunity to fill two seats on the city council with people who can serve as guiding forces in the effort to turn East Ridge around.
Unfortunately, judging by Monday’s East Ridge City Council candidate forum, only one of the seven candidates running for the two seats has a clear plan to facilitate economic growth, improve run-down areas of town and make the city a more vibrant, livable community. That candidate is Marc Gravitt.
The Free Press editorial page has not traditionally endorsed candidates for East Ridge elections. In this case, however, Gravitt displayed such a clear vision for improving the city through growing the tax base, trimming wasteful spending and encouraging a more transparent government, that he is worthy of support.