The Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies prepares to celebrate its new name with an Open House on Monday evening at their new office on McCallie Avenue. The event will include remarks by Chancellor Roger Brown and Ruth Holmberg, music by New Binkley Brothers and food by Chef Neville Forsythe. In advance of the festivities, we spoke with the Center's President and CEO David Eichenthal about the organization's new name, their mission and the future of Chattanooga.
Chattarati: What led the Community Research Council to adopt a new name?
David Eichenthal: I think we wanted a name that reflected where we were from and where we wanted to go. The Ochs name reflects both our Chattanooga roots and our aspiration to be part of a regional and national conversation about public policy.
C: How is the mission and purpose of the Ochs Center different?
DE: The mission actually stays the same. Fundamentally, we think our work at the national and regional level is part of how we can work locally to improve the quality of life in Chattanooga and the surrounding region.
C: Looking to the future, how do you see that mission evolving over the next year? And five years?
DE: Again, I think that Ochs will be firmly rooted in our community. My hope is that we are able to share lessons learned in Chattanooga with other cities and metropolitan areas around the country and help them realize the same sort of turnaround that Chattanooga has had. At the same time, we think that some of our work outside of Chattanooga helps us to provide a national perspective to what we do close to home.
C: How do you see the Chattanooga metro area evolving over the next five years?
DE: It is a great question. Twenty years ago, the question would have been about whether we can stop the decline in the city's population. Today, the question is how will we grow. What will we do to capitalize on the investments and successes of the last twenty years? Our sense is that VW is the beginning—and not the end—of this story.
For more information on the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies, visit www.ochscenter.org We'd like to hear your take on the last question—how do you see Chattanooga evolving over the next five years?
John Hawbaker
Tim Price on Feb. 27, 2009
David Eichenthal is the mouthpiece of the power structure. He is not an "expert" in anything. Ruth Holmberg gives him her marching orders and then he sets out to justify whatever stupidity these local leaches want to do. He and the Ochs Center are a joke.