I'm voting for Larry Grohn. My reasons are simple: he's a leader and a good man who cares about his neighbors and what goes on in his own neighborhood and his city.
He put together a great little neighborhood watch website so we can network with each other better. If there is suspicious activity we can talk to each other or post it online so everyone knows what's going on and it actually works. When someone loses their dog he's right there to help. He loves animals and cares for his constituents and it shows.
He knows what needs to be done and he tries to get it done despite the efforts of the other people on the City Council and the mayor trying to freeze him out.
He's just an all around good guy and will bend over backwards to help people, and just maybe he can actually get some things done that need doing and will not waste our tax dollars.
He doesn't have a slick advertising campaign or rich backers, but I believe like Trump he's a man of the people, the silent majority who are never heard here in Chattanooga.
I think he will be a much better leader on crime since no one seems to be able to stop all the killings and gang activity going on here. We need to have a true leader who is going to care about the average taxpayer.
What have we got to lose? What we have currently is not working and crime is just getting worse so I'm going to vote for Larry Grohn for the change we need.
Susan Nicholas
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I don't know about you, but I am heart-broken by the amount of shootings that are taking place in our city. Every homicide that takes place in Chattanooga is another life that is lost forever. It is another family that has to live without a loved one.
What is going to happen when Zoe Duncan grows up? Zoe was shot when she was a year old. Her mother was shot a little over a year later. This is not the lifestyle that our children should have to grow up to.
Every single time Andy Berke tries to defend his Violence Reduction Initiative I get sick to my stomach. How can our mayor look a family in the eye, a family who lost a loved one, and tell them that his VRI is working? Berke's VRI has been a disaster that has failed the very people it was supposed to help. We need real leadership in our city. We need a mayor who will address the crime issue and let the police do their job. We need a mayor who will be open, honest, and accessible for all Chattanoogans.
Larry Grohn is the answer. I know a lot of people may be weary of him for various reasons, but I encourage them to look at his plans and to look at the status of our city four years from now with him as mayor. Then, take this picture and compare it to the status of Chattanooga under Andy Berke. Grohn has promised that he will get rid of the Chattanooga Police Department's "No-Pursuit Policy." This policy forbids police from chasing anyone unless they are suspected of committing a felony or driving under the influence.
Furthermore, Larry will address the root causes of our crime issue by expanding access to vocational programs and hopefully rebuilding a new 21st Century Kirkman High School. Kirkman will provide blue-collar job training for low-income families, and it will allow those individuals to be able to get well-paying jobs and enter the middle class. When people are working and making a decent income, they will not be on the streets committing crimes. In addition to his crime-reduction plans, Larry Grohn also wants to invest $5 million to fix our roads which are in total disrepair. The longer we wait to fix our roads, the more it will cost us, so we need to do it now. Our infrastructure should have been addressed yesterday, and our current administration neglected it. I believe in a better Chattanooga and I believe in Larry Grohn. Please go out and vote for him.
Speaking of a better Chattanooga, who has heard of Anthony Byrd? If you haven't, go and look him up right now. In all my years of following politics, I have never been so excited to see someone run for office. Byrd is not a politician, he is a public servant. He came from the streets, and he has worked for the juvenile court for twenty years. He has devoted his life to helping other people. Byrd wants to audit the VRI and create a citizen-led "crisis response team" to let the community work together to get through tragedies. He wants to expand vocational training in as many ways as possible to help lower-income people get better-paying jobs. Finally, Byrd wants to increase home ownership across District 8. In Avondale, the homeownership rate is a staggering 28%. With more job training and better-paying jobs, residents will be able to own their homes, and that will protect them from the negative effects of a gentrifying community.
Furthermore, Anthony Byrd has made it a core issue of his campaign to protect Lincoln Park. Tom Kunesh, another candidate for City Council in District 8 has also fought tirelessly to save the park. Moses Freeman, the current councilman, has shown little interest in the park, and he did not stand up for it when it was in danger. Lincoln Park is very important to our African-American and Native American history, and it ought to be preserved at all cost. The city can't just destroy a historical monument like this in order to build another road that connects to Riverside Drive. The current route is three minutes longer, and it is well worth it to preserve the history.
I really like Tom Kunesh's ideas. I honestly wish he were running in another district because he would be a great person to have on the City Council, but if I lived in District 8, I would vote for Anthony Byrd. Anthony Byrd will save the park, his policies will reduce crime and help the low-income community in Chattanooga, and he is one of the most humble listeners I have ever met in my life. His experience working for the juvenile court will help him create policies that protect at-risk youth. Byrd will listen to any of his constituents at any time. He will not let them down. He is the leader the urban community in Chattanooga needs, and I hope everyone in District 8 goes out and votes for him.
I hope that in four years we can have a safer and better Chattanooga, and I believe that with Anthony Byrd and Larry Grohn being a part of our leadership, we will be on the right track. Go out and vote for them on March 7.
Alexander Ioannidis
UTC Freshman
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I wouldn’t vote for Larry Grohn if he was the only person on the ballot. Ill break down Alexanders response to why you should vote for Larry Grohn.
1. Shootings / Violence: no Mayor/Chief/Police department is going to stop shootings. The only people who can stop the violence are the ones perpetrating it. Violent crime has been on a downswing for several years and now is trending up in almost every mid-major to major city throughout the United States. Chattanooga is not immune from the sickness.
2. VRI: This strategy is being adopted all over the United States. It is a basic policing principal based on “focused deterrence” – targeting the offenders causing the crime instead of saturating communities (none of which Larry Grohn live in) with cops. With PD numbers dipping all over the U.S., you have to be smarter with your manpower. It would probably benefit you to actually attend a call in to observe what is done. The PD explains partnerships/consequences while social service providers give alternatives to the attendees.
3. Larry Grohn recently stated that all the CPD does is “harass gang members”. Further, this “responsible candidate” had his own firearm stolen from his unlocked car in 2014. How many crimes has that gun been involved in? As for the “non-pursuit policy”, I spoke to a CPD officer and found out that actually the only way you can “chase” is for “in progress” felonies. This is to protect the citizens of the city. If you are unaware, there is currently a CPD officer in the hospital due to injuries sustained in an accident when he was going to back up another officer. The policy is there to protect the officers and the citizens from unnecessary injuries that can be caused by people fleeing the police. While it sounds good, one multi-million-dollar lawsuit would change his mind real quick.
4. While I applaud Councilman Grohn for wanting to invest in education, I guess he doesn’t realize that the Hamilton County Government runs the school system. They build schools, which has dominated the news recently due to the CSLA debacle.
5. I know Anthony Byrd and I can attest to him being a stand-up guy. He has worked at the Hamilton County Courthouse for 20 years, not Juvenile Court. As for “auditing the VRI to create a citizen-led crisis response team”, that is already done. Once again, attending a VRI call in would allow you to know about the “CPRVV – Citizens and Police Response to Victims of Violence” that has been in place the last year. This board, comprised of social workers/pastors/cops and citizenry visit those affected by the violence in the city to assist in various ways. The surviving victim of the murders last Labor Day was a recipient of the CPRV assistance.
I have been to a many a City Council meeting just to watch our elected officials perform their duties. I can say that without a doubt, the least interested person in the room is Larry Grohn. His campaign has been smear tactics from the start with no substance. How is he going to fix crime? What is his alternative to the VRI? Is the city taking back over the school system? Lots of questions, no answers. While Berke may not be my cup of tea in a lot of areas, he's the best of this bunch by far.
Steven Underwood
Avondale