Chattanooga sucks and is run by mountain wealth. (Knoxville, Ducktown: real estate, 2010)

[FLORIDA TO NIOTA 2010]

Life is like a pizza. You pick off what you don't like and take what you do like. If you don't like any of the pizza then move somewhere that you think you will like. Of course, do your research first.
Then start your pizza picking all over again. Chances are that you will move back to Chattanooga or somewhere else in TN. And maybe the pizza isn't so bad after all.


Everyone have a great day.

[Jon F Moss]

FL-Niota: food analogies score big points among the locals here

[ChattanoogaSucks]

Large percentage of "from some where else originally, not a Chattanooga Native" people offered opinions based on less-than lifetime experiences.

If you don't know about the HUGE manufacturing base Chattanooga had and was the envy of the whole world until the 1970s era of 'dirty air at my mansion has to stop', answer was to create laws making high paying manufacturing jobs die or move else where.

It is all run by the Rich living on Signal/Lookout mountain.

I guess if I didn't know that history I would also make something up and claim Chattanooga is the Mecca of industry.

And to those claiming people died often from the smoke stacks, Wong. Go check CDC data of the 1900-1970 era of smog in this city. Hardly a cloud of cyanide to breath daily. Tens of thousands of non-smokers from that era somehow managed to survive those terrible air pollution days and die in their 80s and 90s, I guess it was their superior genetics or just common sense.

Come back in another 20 years and the words factory of production plants will be replied with a 'what's that?" Oh erm, would you like fries with that sir?

Our economy is robust growing at 5-6% per year, these were considered high economic output. Well we have Negative GDP growth now and our Buddy CHINA has been seeing 15% and higher yearly GDP. China is building and making those things that are now illegal.

Great plan guys.

I'll end my replies here because it's obvious I am only speaking to people from other states who think Chattanooga has been his way for decades.

There is a huge difference between a debate and an educated debate with facts and decades of economics in this city's graveyard.

[gb1980]

Originally Posted by ChattanoogaSucks

It's a well known fact Chattanooga is run by the millionaires on Signal and Lookout mountain. It's no accident that we went from 13th largest manufacturing city in the world to below 5,000th place in under 40 years. The rich couldn't stand those well paying jobs that created air pollution so they secretly worked to outlaw nearly any type of business with above average pay. Unless you have a Master's degree you're lucky to get more than $15 per hour nearly part time hours. You can volunteer at many places but that doesn't work well when the landlord asks for the rent.

We also have a gang problem that's existed since the early 1980s but only NOW does anyone have a clue. People around here literally think gangs are only a recent problem. This is how this city's leadership thinks:30 years too late and $Millions too short in response. And the dumbest statement ever made when someone criticizes Chattanooga is "Well then why don't you move?" It's dumb, lazy and doesn't address problems we have. I guess it's better to pretend like Dorthy.

I failed to mention Volkswagen recently decided to move a plant to build cars here. It will add more than 2,200 new above min wage jobs to the city. The only problem is that would still put us on pace to surpass the 1980s employment and income levels. We literally would need 10 VW plants just to barely keep pace with what the rich destroyed so they could no be annoyed by smelly air as they golf and play tennis. Yeah, that's high IQ material we have down here.

Home ownership is limited to a few categories.
1.Super poor buy trailers [mobile homes to be PC]
2. Under $80K housing with the illusion it is an investment but loses 50% of it's value half way through the mortgage.
3. Filthy rich, buying home way above the $150K range [which is what northerners would pay $300k-$500K for], this way you can pass your 6,000 sq. feet mini-mansion to your children so that they will never know the value of hard work.

A person could write a 1,500 page highly compressed book about this 3 horse town's problems.

Of course I'm just jealous of other people's money and don't like rich people.... this will be the reason Others say is the root of my post. IGNORE the real problems facing this city and let things move along like it's the 1980s every day.

There is nothing wrong with being rich as long as you're solutions don't interfere with the freedoms and future of 99% of the working poor in this place.

Also our idea of solving traffic jams and excessive commute times is to add 6 lanes to intersections. We have some really dumb people living in and running this town. It's more like a village than a town since it's something only a fictional book would come close to describing.

I would like to know what was wrong with a vibrant thriving manufacturing city? Also, what was the evil about this city's above average median income 30 years ago? What was so evil and bad about that?

And when we run short on the budget the solution ALWAYS is to annex more land for more property taxes. Do these clowns know you have to repair the roads of this newly annexed area? How is this a revenue stream for future growth? This is the kind of people that run government, pass laws and live here.

If after reading this you make the bonehead decision to move here you have no one but yourself to blame.

p.s. Teachers starting pay is under $25K and Tenured Policeman earn under $40K....Now that is smart.

This sounds like the same thing here in Orlando. The demographics are about the same give or take a few numbers according to Wikipedia. The problem here in Orlando is that "White Flight' happened decades ago and it will never be the same again. Most affluent people moved into the county or out into other counties. That includes all of the NBA stars and the big wigs from Hollywood. They don't want the crime or the gangs around "their" neighborhoods. Its the same in Birmingham, Alabama where I grew up. It all started in the late 50's. White flight hit full steam in the early 60's and never let up and they never solved their problems either--just raised taxes. It is blighted everywhere. Crime in Orlando has been increasing hundreds of percent a year. There are a few places downtown you can go at night but don't get off the beaten path. It is a narrow area to stay within.

Until people can police themselves in the inner cities and get involved in solving problems themselves, people will continue to stay away in the 1000's. I do for that reason alone.

[dasmarian]

Opinions are like, uh, noses. Everyone has one.

OP, the problem you're discussing has happened all over America, not just here, and for economic reason due to globalization, not some folks on Signal Mountain. Chattanooga is growing and attempting (successfully) to attract industry. This is directly opposite of most other cities in the US.

Like any pundit you're simply blaming someone else for what you see as a 'problem', but offering no solutions. You ready to pony up and invest in a steel plant here in Chattanooga to compete against China? Put your money where your mouth is, no one is stopping you. The TFP will give you some awesome press. I'll keep my eye out.

[Jon F Moss]

Somehow I'm not to sure how ChattanoogaSucks, Inc. will go over to well with the locals and the Chamber of Commerce

[u4icmusic]

Exactly right Dasmarian, industry left Chattanooga because China had much lower wages than we did here in the USA. The industry left Chattanooga and the rest of the USA for money reasons only. It's cheaper to manufacture items outside the USA. The environmentalists had nothing to do with the decline of manufacturing in Chattanooga or the USA.

[Jon F Moss]

Attention residents! Unless you were born here you don't know nothing about Chattanooga so just clam up, pay your taxes and keeep your opinions to yourself. (Cue crickets)

[hiknapster]

Yeah. That pretty much sums it up, Tri Dad.

How often have I written about the history of Chattanooga, especially in the early days of the forum? About Walter Cronkite declaring it the dirtiest city in the nation? The businessmen used to have to go home at lunch to change their white shirts because it was so filthy.

Or even about the ORIGINAL residents of Chattanooga and The Trail of Tears?

And guess what? I've never lived in Chattanooga. I live in Knoxville, and that's only been for four years. I'm a Yankee.

That stuff is common knowledge.

It seems that the OP is in some sort of bubble and thinks that this so-called "renaissance," where we purchase everything at the local Walmart, even though it is manufactured in China, is some sort of a local phenomenon.

It's not.

And it's not a transplant issue.

If you want some change, do something about it, but don't blindly lash out at the wrong people.

[Jon F Moss]

For the record, I love meeting native Chattanoogans and hearing how some things have changed and some things have remained the same.

Floridian by birth
Tennessean by the grace of God