City parks bigger asset than stadium
Whether you're in favor of building a stadium or not, it's hard to deny that great city parks are better long-term assets.
Building an epic city park enriches an entire city equally -- unlike stadiums that simply enrich billionaires and developers.
A city park never threatens to pick up and leave the city. City parks never charge money to use them. City parks encourage recreation, peaceful enjoyment and fitness. City parks are open every day. City parks don't require 20 acres of hardscape parking. City parks are available in all seasons.
Every activity that can be done in a stadium can also happen in a city park on a more positive recreational level. City parks also draw more thoughtful and resilient development on their perimeters than stadiums ever could.
Great city parks take more effort, more imagination and the development will fill in more gradually, but I believe it will be the better fit for Chattanooga in the long run because great city parks are forever.
John Mathna
In voucher talks, keeps traps in mind
It seems that Tennessee is about to go all out on voucher education. In the effort to end the TEA education monopoly, there are a few traps to watch out for.
› "Universal" vouchers: A truly bad idea is to give vouchers to folks in the upper half of income. People who achieve the American dream should not expect taxpayers to pay for their kids to go to elite private schools. Sounds like a kickback for political contributions.
› "Right of first refusal": The TEA would love to override private school admissions policies and force them to take any student with a voucher coupon, no matter what.
› "School student policies": Private schools should set their own policies on student conduct. The TEA would love to force all private schools taking voucher coupons to have to use the much lower public school standards.
This should be a warning to all state legislators.
Ronald Williams
City, county must get on same page
Silence is often not golden. I grew up in Rhode Island and am a huge Red Sox fan. My cable television career has had me in and around numerous sports deals. A few years ago, the owners of the Red Sox AAA affiliate in Pawtucket entered into a new stadium/development deal with the city and the state of Rhode Island.
A few years earlier, the state had given all of its $75 million in business development seed money to ex-Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling to move his digital gaming company to Rhode Island. The state would have been better off placing the money in Narragansett Bay. A public relations nightmare. So when the AAA Red Sox ownership approached the city/state with a new stadium/development deal, no one was listening. The governor was up for re-election. Taxpayer dollars and new ball parks were bad medicine.
Meanwhile, the GOP and Dem politicians in Massachusetts came together like gypsies in the night and stole the beloved PawSox away to downtown Worcester.
The leadership of the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County need to do what is best for the community. Lock your finance people in a room and get on the same page. Take the politics out of it. If it makes good biz sense, do it.
If the Lookouts ownership senses the divide between city and county is too wide to fix, you can bet they are shopping other cities. I see their CEO went to Dartmouth ... wicked smaht!
Kevin Gaffney
Fleischmann solid on Ukraine support
I emailed Chuck Fleischmann recently asking him to please do the right thing and support Ukraine with funding in the war against Russia. He responded in an email that we should strongly and quickly support Ukraine. In his second paragraph, he said, "The brutal aggression Russia has undertaken against a sovereign and independent nation is deplorable and they must be held accountable."
His email stated:
"Putin's brutal behavior will not stop with Ukraine. Russia's aggressive ambitions threaten the core interests of the United States, NATO, and our allies. Congress must act swiftly to provide aid and material support for Ukraine's resistance, prioritize energy independence, and strengthen the security of our borders.
"Thank you for contacting me regarding this critical issue, and do not hesitate to contact my office if I can be of further assistance."
Sincerely,
Chuck Fleischmann
Member of Congress
I was surprised and pleased that he responded to me and he wants to give crucial support that's badly needed.
Gary Smith
Governor should eye parks, make changes
When I lived in Pennsylvania, the interstate facilities (rest areas, food service and restrooms) were a disgrace. At one point, the governor took a car trip and realized how bad things were. Conditions improved remarkably after that. Certainly the Fall Creek Falls new lodge is lovely, but other state parks are in poor condition. Does Gov. Bill Lee ever go to any Tennessee state parks?
The state parks website advertised a Valentine's getaway for February. My sweetheart and I rented what was called a standard cabin in one of the parks. Unlike the nice park, and the pleasant employees, the cabin was disgraceful. It needed a decent set of cookware and dishes and an extra blanket for a February overnight's stay. The kitchen needed items like paper towels, a potholder and dish soap. I wrote a letter to voice my complaint and received a quick reply, stating a team has been put together "to create an updated set of minimum standards for all of our cabins."
Our area state park, Harrison Bay, is in very sad condition. To foster tourism, our parks need to be in much better condition.
Gov. Lee, please make a few unannounced visits to some of the state's parks, then take action like the past Pennsylvania governor did.
Pat Ralston
Soddy-Daisy
Who's going to pay for stadium site cleanup?
Gobbledegook. That's when a private company borrows money from private investors and talks the city and county into raising taxes on specific folks to pay off their loans. With interest.
The city and county are already taxing the folks for the bulk of the cost of a private stadium and now proposing a win-win for the private parties. The loans are over a 30-year period. Our current stadium is only 23 years old, so I guess the new stadium will be obsolete in 20 years, and we will still be paying for another 10 years.
The folks in charge say it is going to cost $10 million to clean up the environmental contamination on the stadium acres. We have yet to see an environmental impact statement from anyone, so I guess it is going to cost $150 million to clean up the 100-plus other acres. May I ask who is going to pay for that? Gobbledygook.
Mark Tyson