Weekly review of political stories in Chattanooga and beyond.
Without fear or favor
The City Council voted 9-0 to uphold an existing ban on guns in city parks this week. Following the vote, someone asked me what I thought of the decision. I replied, "Before today, you couldn't legally carry firearms in city parks. After today, you won't be able to legally carry firearms in city parks."
Consider yourself served
On July 21, City Attorney Mike McMahan and Public Works Administrator Steve Leach will explain the process of annexation to council members during the Legal and Legislative Committee meeting. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held in the J.B. Collins Conference Room, following the weekly agenda session at 3 p.m.
Despite some rumors to the contrary, no parts of the county have been annexed into the city limits this year. Nor has the RPA made any decisions—that I'm aware of—on this issue. The city attorney said Tuesday's meeting is not related to any specific area, and will deal primarily with the legal process involved.
The television adds 10 pounds
Rep. Wamp criticized Rachel Maddow this week for basically quoting him via a Knoxville News Sentinel article about C Street on national television. Maddow responded to Wamp on her show:
If I have said something untrue on this program, I am quite literally, not kidding, more than happy to correct it it. But Congressman Wamp, if you say something to your hometown paper that sounds bad when it's repeated on national television, don't blame the person reading the quote back to you for how creepy that quote makes you sound.
All in all, I didn't think the original quote was that creepy, but the fact that Wamp went after MSNBC—thus putting his statement under further scrutiny—instead of getting the newspaper to print a retraction is kind of absurd.
Suddenly, everything has changed
One year ago, Volkswagen announced that it would build its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Chattanooga. Since then, the German automaker has awarded $436 million to local contractors for the plant's construction, according to the Times Free Press.
In addition to the plant's ongoing economic impact, the announcement continues to play a major role in local politics as well. 'Annexation' and 'metro government' were both revived—in part—under the banner of Volkswagen, and there have only been a few public meetings where the company wasn't alluded to at least once. All this in just one year.
If one thing was made certain by the announcement, it's that Chattanooga will be a very different place 4 years from now. Some changes will be good. Some will not. But I believe, or at least hope, that our current trajectory is moving Chattanooga forward in a positive way. And the presence of a large and sustainable industrial base is a key component towards that end.
David Morton
Mike_Licht on July 18, 2009
There's nothing sinister about the C Street Fellowship. The group just believes that "love thy neighbor" trumps the Ten Commandments if you're rich, white, male and Republican.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/c-street-sex-scandal
bradstinks on July 19, 2009
Nothing creepy about C Street?
It doesn't creep you out that The Family's mantra is being accountable only to The Family...and not Constituents, General Public or their ACTUAL family?
It doesn't creep you out that there is a group of religious fundamentalists that choose to ignore the constitution because their "higher power" is guiding them?
It doesn't creep you out that The Family is encouraging windbags like Ensign to offer hush money to his mistress?
Someone needs to hire a clean-up crew for the overflowing skeletons in the closets of C Street.