Riverfront plans send wrong signals
Next year, Ironman is planning to host three events, including an international event, and Head of the Hooch will host its annual regatta. Combined, these events are projected to bring $50 million to our local businesses. What could go wrong?
(IN THE NEWS: BlueCross commits $10M to Chattanooga riverfront redevelopment)
River City Co. is planning to build two restaurants on Ross’s Landing. Construction will take at least 18 months to complete and will cause disruptions for all four events, or even worse, could cause the event organizers to move their events to another city. All four events need and use all the available space on the riverfront, so these events are not compatible with construction. Even worse, when the construction is completed, the city will be in the restaurant business at a time when many restaurants are going out of business and the riverfront will be less conducive to these events.
Why would the taxpayers want to spend $54 million building restaurants when this could cause the city and county to lose about $50 million per year?
Jim Olson
AI data centers education needed
We all need to start educating ourselves about AI data centers.
Few of us are experts on them, but all of us can understand environmental and economic threats. AI data centers are reported to be massive consumers of water and electricity that lead to increased costs of utilities, as well as marked increases in water, light and noise pollution.
(IN THE NEWS: East Tennessee cities are gearing up to fight data centers)
If these centers are set up in our backyards, without these threats alleviated, it will damage the life we know in Tennessee.
We have been here before. In 1969, Chattanooga had the dishonor to be named the dirtiest city in America, with severe air and water pollution. It took decades to reverse the damage.
We the people need to be the deciders on where data centers go, not a few people with a tremendous amount of money. We decide this by how we vote.
We must demand complete transparency on the impact of AI data centers, with proof that the utility costs and environmental impact will not cause suffering. Otherwise, we need to say no to data centers in our community.
Cathy Pyron
Signal Mountain
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