Differences among the candidates in experience and priorities were highlighted during a forum featuring four people vying to be the district 5 representative on the Chattanooga City Council.
Half the candidates spotlighted in the Thursday night forum — Cory Hall and Samantha Reid-Hawkins — are new to campaigning and politics. Both have backgrounds in youth education. Hall has worked as a sports coach, and Reid-Hawkins as a Hamilton County Schools employee.
Incumbent Isiah Hester, of Washington Hills, and Dennis Clark, a business owner who also works for the Tennessee Department of Health, faced off in two rounds of elections for the seat in 2021.
Hester’s record as a council member, the candidates’ platforms and a strategic plan for the city were all topics of conversation during the forum, which was hosted by the neighborhood associations of Washington Hills, Murray Hills and Lake Hills.
At least 75 people attended the event, according to one of the event’s organizers, Christy Rashed, president of the Lake Hills Neighborhood Association.
(READ MORE: Isiah Hester campaigning for reelection to Chattanooga City Council)
EXPERIENCES, PLATFORMS
Hester said he used communication with other stakeholders to help his constituents. A first-term council member, he said he was proud of his record.
“We’ve started at ground roots. We’ve put money in early-childhood learning, for our kids. We wanted them to excel,” he said. “We’ve put money into community development, to our police department. We gave them raises, and one thing — we gave them raises without raising city taxes.”
Crime is down by 30%, he said. “I’m working hand-in-hand with Chief (John) Chambers, to develop a community policing policy where we can further reduce crime in our area.”
Lowering the required ages for becoming first responders is another point of pride, he said.
Clark said he felt he could improve on Hester’s record. Currently a Tennessee Department of Health community impact consultant, Clark said he has decades of community development experience and has worked with people across state and local governments.
“How many of you still get your cars broken into at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning?” Clark asked residents Thursday. “Crime is not down in Murray Hills, which is a new part of our district in district 5. Crime is not down in Cherokee Hills, where I live. Crime is not down in Woodmore.”
He said he hoped to work with neighborhoods on a strategic plan for crime reduction.
Development is also a topic he said he hoped to address. As with crime, he said his approach would prioritize community involvement and accountability.
“I believe I have the expertise, the relationships, to really put in the work and deliver some results for you, so that we can make district 5 a better place to live,” Clark said.
Hall said he’d been raised in the district, though he’d attended Morehouse College in Georgia and lived in California before moving back to Chattanooga. He introduced himself by emphasizing his focus on helping young people in the district. He said engaging young people and revitalizing the district would be critical.
“I don’t have a huge platform that I’m reaching out to, except my community,” Hall said. “You see how things are getting built, things are getting placed in different places, and I see our area look exactly the same.”
Giving government work to locals is also a priority, he said, referencing a proposal that could allow out-of-state residents to work in some city jobs.
Reid-Hawkins said she would bring a variety of experiences to the council seat.
‘My passion is sensitivity and passion for people,” she said. “Over 40 years, I’ve dealt with the community in different areas, as far as from clergy to school, from child development and even my own development that I have.”
Her priority would be getting to know her constituents and working with them.
“I’m not new to the community, but I am new when it comes to this,” she said of campaigning.
(READ MORE: Dennis Clark announces run for Chattanooga City Council)
ONE CHATTANOOGA
Forum moderator Varion Walton directed a question to the audience. Walton asked the people who attended the event whether they had opinions about One Chattanooga, Mayor Tim Kelly’s strategic plan for the city. The crowd murmured and some audience members laughed.
Then she asked the candidates the same question.
“We feel left out,” Reid-Hawkins said. Communication could help, she said. “Yes, I do feel like we have been forgotten. And yes, everybody else feels like this area has been forgotten. But guess what: We are not forgotten, and it’s gonna get done.”
“I don’t like the talk. I like the work,” she said.
Hester said the plan is a strong idea. He said he raises potential benefit for constituents in district 5 in private discussions with Kelly whenever possibilities arrive.
“I don’t yell,” he said. “It’s about diplomacy, being thoughtful, talking to people.”
Hall said transparency is necessary.
“One Chattanooga is one district 5,” he said.
Combating injustice is the core of the plan, Clark said.
“Where is One Chattanooga … when four years ago, we asked for a grocery store?,” he said. “One Chattanooga has not reached district 5.”
Clark said after the forum that he supported the plan.
“It’s a great plan, but it’s only as good as the resources that are in it,” he said. It requires more budgetary support, he said.
Contact Mariah Franklin at mfranklin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.