Now that he’s restructured city government and presented an outcome-based budget, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke is focusing on his other priorities for the city.
“I think that when you look at our city, you have to approach it like a business,” he told members of the Enterprise Gateway Council of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce in a short address last week. “What are our strengths? We certainly have industry … and small businesses, and innovation. There is tremendous opportunity here.”
He noted that in the time he’s been mayor, 1,500 jobs have been added to the city.
Keeping up with Chattanooga’s image and constantly trying to grow to be a better city are always on his mind, Berke said.
One such opportunity exists in the former Harriet Tubman housing complex, he said. Berke has proposed to buy the former East Chattanooga public housing development from the Chattanooga Housing Authority for $1 million.
Though residents turned up at the CHA meeting last week to ask that the complex be returned to affordable housing, Berke made it clear that plans for the property would center on development and bringing jobs.
“It was costing the Chattanooga Housing Authority $300,000 just to keep it closed … but the land has access to rails. And you can look at studies, we’re running out of land in Chattanooga,” Berke told the Chamber Council. “It’s a great site for expansion and development, and it’ll bring jobs.”
But that’s not to say that Berke doesn’t see a need for quality affordable housing. He told the group that another of his priorities is reflected in a new city program to turn municipally owned land into housing opportunities by working with private developers.
The Chattanooga Housing Authority is still reviewing proposals for the Harriet Tubman site.