Of all the brilliant people out there with their opinions, not a one has figured out how to cure all of this council, mayor, Rutherford mess.

It's simple - get rid of all city government.

Go metro and save on duplicate (non) services.
Bob Richey N. Crest Road rasrichey@comcast.net

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Are you serious? Have you been paying attention to the way the county handles money? By the time they get finished "consolidating" and "enhancing" services you might as well save yourself some trouble and have your paycheck direct deposited into the county's account.

Maybe they'll send you a couple of bucks back if there's any left over.

Melissa Cantrell
Signal Mountain
mcantr23@comcast.net

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I am not necessarily opposed to the idea of metro government, but the advantages that its proponents so loudly verbalize simply do not exist. Doing away with one government simply puts that workload on its counterpart. The employees of one would be absorbed by the other.

While one department might disappear (city Public Works, for example), the county public works would have to be increased since they would now have to service the city. Either you provide garbage service and fire protection for the entire county or you don't have it in the city anymore. Providing it countywide would probably cause increased taxes. No longer providing it for the city residents would most likely result in numerous very expensive class action lawsuits that would probably force the issue anyway.

A combination of the police forces would be somewhat easier as would the parks departments. But neither would bring a reduction in taxes.

Finally, I can assure you that doing away with the City Council will not affect the change that is obviously the underlying reason for your letter. I have worked for both the city and county governments. Trust me when I say this: everything that you find repulsive about the city is just as deeply embedded in the county. Remember William Cotton (Mr. I Don't Have To Answer To Anyone)? What about the debacle they call our school system? At least the City Commission meetings are more publicized than the county. Both are governed by the Sunshine Law and both are open to the public, but usually the county meeting goes largely ignored by the press unless something juicy is going on.

Metropolitan government is not a terrible idea. But it isn't the cure for much of anything.

E. Bradley
Brainerd

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"Going Metro" in Chattanooga is code for a greater "Greater Chattanooga" and a lesser of all the surrounding towns such as Red Bank, Signal Mountain, etc., all the while sucking all the revenue from these areas without having them benefit from the consolidation.

Racie Miller
Signal Mountain

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Metro government seems to make sense in theory but it doesn't make sense when put into practice. We heard the same "duplication of services" and "savings" argument with the consolidation of the Hamilton County School System. The city came out like a bandit and spent their school money on downtown development. The county got all of the city's problems without the funding and was left holding the bag. We all know how well that turned out. No savings and virtual fiscal insanity.

Recently I did some research on the Davidson County Metro experiment. Their tax structure is absolutely crazy and consolidation of services has not saved one dime of taxpayer money.

We can fix our mismanaged county government by replacing the people who mismanage like Claude Ramsey and several big spending commissioners. Furthermore, we can fix the school system the same way by replacing most of the board members who have been absolutely dishonest and incompetent. The new members like Kenny Smith and Chester Bankston have been absolute disappointments. Rhonda is still the only one with any sense.

All in all, making things bigger does not mean better. Especially when it comes to government. You would think we would have learned that by now.

Tim Price
jat-55@msn.com

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Metro government sounds like a great idea - if you live in Chattanooga and want the folks living in the smaller cities to help bail you out of paying the bills for football stadiums, hotels that compete with private enterprise, and ridiculous car-destroying brick intersections downtown, among other boondoggles.

I agree with Melissa Cantrell and Racie Miller, though - metro government is a horrible idea if you live in one of the county's smaller municipalities like Signal Mountain that would be swallowed up and "Chattanoogized" with no effective voice to speak for you. We have enough of a problem at the county level with poor representation by our commissioner and school board member - but at least our town council members listen to us, or can be recalled if they don't.

Honestly - if metro government were enacted, does anyone really believe there would be economies of scale or savings from elimination of redundant services? If so, I have some prime land in south Florida to sell.

What would really happen is that taxes in communities outside the current borders of Chattanooga would increase to (at least) match Chattanooga's combined city and county tax rates, while the sense of community in Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain, Walden, Red Bank, and other small towns in Hamilton County would evaporate.

Metro government? Not no, but heck no, so long as I have breath to oppose it.

Joe Dumas
Signal Mountain
joe@joedumas.com