Columnist David MartinHasn’t anyone told Chattanooga gang members they’re throwing a wrench in City Hall’s re-election narrative?
Man, the nerve of those fellas.
Heading into March’s city elections, our current mayoral administration is doing its best to highlight Chattanooga’s recent successes. It’s an expected communications maneuver: accentuate the good and promise more so long as an electoral extension is granted by voters.
That messaging, however, is struggling to cut through the persistence of some – here’s an understatement – “less-than-positive” headlines detailing Chattanooga’s ever-resilient streak of gang violence.
Examples? Here’s a sampling of some Times Free Press headlines from last weekend:
“Police officer discovers bag of loaded handguns in SUV with gang-affiliated teenagers“
“Chattanooga gang leader Jumoke Johnson, 23, slain in a hail of bullets Friday night“
“Three women shot early Saturday morning on East 3rd Street“
“Chattanooga woman defends herself, others; shoots man trying to assault her“
“Violent weekend continues as police respond to person with gunshot wound at CHI Memorial“
“Two shootings cap violent weekend in Chattanooga“
It’s hard to fathom, though maybe it shouldn’t be by now, that all those were published over the course of three short days.
As you shake your head, let’s make a brief attention pivot. When you’ve got a moment, visit the “Issues” page on AndyBerke.com, and you’ll be immediately greeted with this line: “In the last four years, Chattanooga has been renewed under Mayor Berke’s leadership.”
If that seems like an ambitious credit grab to you, you’re not alone. Last I checked, the Chattanooga renaissance story (the most popular version, anyway) began three decades ago, not in 2013. If anything, Berke’s tenure has been one primarily of stewardship, simply making sure that long-developing positive momentum isn’t fumbled. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s super important, but it doesn’t make for a great campaign slogan, does it?
So it’s no surprise that we’re being told that all of our good fortune, our renewal, is the result of policy measures enacted over the course of the most recent four years.
Such a move isn’t exclusive to Chattanooga. Politicians at all levels, everywhere, try to lay as much claim as possible to encouraging developments. Google “Trump” and “Carrier” to see this.
What we don’t hear elected officials do often is willingly take responsibility for the other side of the credit-claiming coin. You know, the bad stuff.
Four years ago, Mayor Berke campaigned on a straightforward platform to be Ron Littlefield’s successor. A leading pillar of that bid was, unless my memory has failed me, “safer streets.” Yet today Chattanooga’s streets are decidedly less safe. Shooting totals continue to rise, and as the TFP noted earlier this week, “Chattanooga saw 33 homicides in 2016, the highest annual number since at least 2001.”
But instead of rushing to own a piece of those growing numbers, as they have with rising employment statistics and other favorable trends, City Hall is pretending they don’t exist. Indeed, in a campaign blog posted Wednesday, Berke touts a decrease in violent crime.
Is that what we’re calling “alternative facts” these days? Nah. More likely, it just demonstrates a preference for focusing on self-serving numbers instead of more important ones (columnist Jay Greeson played with that idea in a column earlier this week). Either way, the sleight of hand isn’t fooling anyone.
Later in his post, the mayor states, “I am running for re-election because I know what it takes to build a city where every person feels safe.”
Hmmm, interesting.
That’s a pretty sounding sentence. The only problem is no one seems to have told Chattanooga’s gang members they should do a better job staying on that unproven script.
Contact David Allen Martin at davidallenmartin423@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @DMart423.