Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly announced new initiatives and underscored his values during an emotional State of the City address Thursday night at downtown’s Walker Theater.
Since 2021, 30,000 jobs have been added to the area, and household income for young families compares favorably to Nashville, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Houston and Manhattan when adjusted for cost of living, Kelly said, citing an analysis of census data for families in the 25 to 44 age group.
The analysis shows the Chattanooga area household income in that age group is $76,766, amounting to $87,234 when considering the lower cost of living here.
A very recent Washington Post analysis showed rents in Chattanooga “increased 0%” over the past year, he said.
Still, urgent work remains, and lives are at stake, the mayor stressed during his speech, which advocated for bipartisanship, decency and localism and pointed to affordable housing gains.
“For all of our great press, this is still a poor town, folks,” Kelly said during his first formal state of the city speech since being elected. “The gaps between the haves and have-nots, the Black community and the white community are gross, grotesquely large, and that has got to change.”
Kelly cried while speaking about the death of a 16-year-old Brainerd High School student shot Wednesday after getting off his school bus and became so overcome that he asked the 300-plus in attention to observe a moment of silence while he collected himself.
“CPD tells us this was probably gang related, and when a 16-year-old kid in school thinks his only path to prosperity is through a gang, through a life of crime, we have failed that child,” he said. “We have failed his family.”
Kelly said Chattanooga’s median income is still far below the national average, a fact noted in the recent Fitch downgrade to AA+. In the River-to-Ridge area, the median income is still $30,000 a year, he said.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, an independent, drops by Democratic National Convention)
“Too often, I have seen Southern nice used as an excuse to kick problems down the road or excuse work that just isn’t good enough,” Kelly said. “We have got to get better, Chattanooga, at speaking truth in love. There is too much at stake and too much work to do.”
Chattanooga is the only major city in Tennessee without a major research university with very high research activity, and Kelly said he is going to work on recruiting other universities if the University of Tennesee system doesn’t begin to invest in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which doesn’t have the research capacity to draw higher wage jobs. UTC is now classified as having moderate research activity.
He said he is also working with the city attorney to craft a policy that factors the economic benefits of purchasing locally into the city bidding process, which he admitted may trigger lawsuits.
Kelly said he intends to hold private parking accountable for “gotcha fines” that jump from $10 to $70 before tourists even make it home and are turning people off from visiting downtown. He praised CARTA officials, who he said will soon announce expanded free parking options and a new app to help navigate downtown parking.
He said he also is working with state leaders to reform a broken workforce development system because workforce development remains paramount.
“I appreciate Mayor Kelly’s commitment to addressing difficult challenges,” said City Council Member Jenny Hill after the speech. “Issues including affordable housing, aging infrastructure and economic opportunity require long-term, even courageous work. Our city is a wonderful place to live, and when we identify our common values and goals and commit to working together toward them, we collectively move the needle. Tonight Mayor Kelly said, ‘The work is working.’ He’s correct, and I’m proud to be a Chattanoogan.”
Contact Joan McClane at jmcclane@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6601.