Former mayor says, ‘think bigger' and more letters to the editors

Former mayor says, ‘think bigger’

"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood!"

This quote from famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham has become the mantra of professional city planners everywhere.

Last week's reveal of plans for the Chattanooga riverfront and the announced decision by local leadership to leave the psychiatric hospital on Moccasin Bend were equally disappointing and unimpressive. My blood was not stirred — at least not in a positive way. Chattanooga did not rise from the dark and dismal days of the recent past to become a desired destination for visitors and business investors by taking weak and timid steps.

Perhaps we have lost the ability to think in bold, visionary and transformational terms. Hopefully the pause is only temporary. Those who strive and struggle today to drive Chattanooga forward should not take this as harsh criticism but instead as gentle encouragement: Think bigger!

Ron Littlefield, former Chattanooga mayor


Bad driver crackdown given thanks, praise

Thank you, Chattanooga Police Department, for getting serious about deadly drivers on our streets.

I've looked over the numbers arrested and ticketed for everything from speeding and reckless driving to DUIs, contraband and other deadly crimes.

Most people have noticed a huge difference in racing noise and speeding cars and trucks throughout the city.

Pedestrians and bicyclists also are benefiting by the dramatically reduced rates of cars being used as assault weapons.

This is a big win and shows that it only takes a small percentage of miscreants to upset our societal safety.

Please don't let this enforcement end. Please, Chief Celeste Murphy, Executive Chief Glenn Scruggs and Mayor Tim Kelly, let this be a regular part of the public policing effort because we all know that as soon as this safety measure ends, we'll be right back at the same level of unsafe streets that we had before this effort started.

John Mathna


You wanted my opinion: Here goes!

No one has ever really wanted my opinion — until lately. My email is full of mail asking for my opinion.

If I ever want to remember what I did yesterday, all I have to do is look in my inbox. Someone is surveying what I thought about this store, that restaurant or that purchase.

These surveys always have a comments section. Here are a few of my comments:

Why are the restrooms in a hard-to-find place in the rear of stores? Don't make customers ask where the restrooms are located.

Why are certain over-the-counter medicines under lock and key at the drugstore? Don't make customers wait extra long for an employee to unlock the cabinet and get your medicine so you can stand in line — again.

Why do restaurants predetermine the amount of the tip? Don't assume customers want to give that amount.

The best survey was from the post office. The comment section was too small to reply.

Ruth Cote


Are we staring at WWIII beginning?

The U.S. has decided to get involved in the Russia/Ukraine fight by providing Ukraine with not only F-16 jets but also cluster bombs.

Cluster bombs are banned by 123 countries due to how they kill and maim indiscriminately over a wide area, and for years after a conflict.

The United States, Russia, China, Israel (and obviously Ukraine) have not banned use of these bombs. Cluster bombs were used by Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and in its 1978 invasion of Lebanon up to the Litani River and during the first Lebanon war in 1982. Israel was especially criticized for its widespread use of the bombs during the 2006 second Lebanon war, against the orders of then-IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz.

This is a fight, in my opinion, that the U.S. (and countries other than the two involved) should stay out of, for fear of escalating it way beyond something we can control. I understand that both Russia and Ukraine have nuclear weapons, as of course does the U.S.

Could this turn into World War III?

Doris Rausch

Tullahoma


We also have the freedom of purchase

So Jason Aldean is whining about being denied freedom of speech. He has never been denied that. What he should recognize is that if he wants to sell a thinly veiled racist song, good Americans have the right to call him on it. They also have the right not to buy his music and to refuse to buy from any company that sells his music.

Neil Greenwood


Whatever Biden did, Trump did it first

Conservative columnist Cal Thomas is at it again with his "Biden is slipping" theme.

Thomas (as old as Biden) claims he hears that the president has taken to shouting at and using foul language toward his aides and postulates that as an early sign of dementia.

Wow, who among us must have wished that an abusive boss would get "retired" to a restful place like "Shady Oaks"? Does any other former occupant of the Oval Office shout and use foul language?

Poor Cal, it is as if Biden has taken a hostage; he can't take a shot at Biden without hitting Trump, and perhaps himself.

Byron Chapin


TFP, give us an uplifting Rave column

Uplift and energize us by adding a RAVE column. Help us focus our minds and hearts on our blessings. The Rant encourages us to be negative and hateful.

As my precious father, Raymond Witt, always said, "Each of us is either part of the problem or part of the solution; no one is neutral." My parents lived full lives endeavoring to be part of the solution.

So, which do you want to be: part of the problem or part of the solution? Give us something to rave about! Encourage us to be positive and thankful.

Mary Alice Wyatt


Identify Cherokee by specific tribe

Too often people in the state of Tennessee with no blood connection to the Cherokee Nation or Eastern Band of Cherokee feel that they can freely claim tribal affiliation as a means of buttressing their truth claims. People lie about themselves. I wish the media would more often check the backgrounds of people who claim to speak about and publicly represent indigenous issues.

To protect themselves from this popular lie told by white and Black people who want to associate themselves with indigenousness to this land and its original peoples, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, formerly of Tennessee, passed a law last year called "A Resolution Requesting Museums, Media and Other Entities Refer to Living Cherokees by Their Tribal Enrollment and/or Affiliation." It's a very simple request: "The Cherokee Nation strongly urges and requests that a living person never be identified or listed simply as "Cherokee" by museums, members of the media, and other entities, but instead identified or listed by the specific federally recognized tribal government in which the person is enrolled and/or affiliated."

Implementation comes down to media outlets asking persons who claim to speak for indigenous issues from an indigenous identity to identify their specific existing tribe in which they are a member or are descended from, and their enrollment status or closest relative who is/was enrolled.

tom kunesh

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