I recently took a walk through downtown Chattanooga. I was appalled.
The Trail of Tears water had homeless people cleaning dirty laundry. Then I walked under the Walnut Street Bridge and there were over 20 rats running around, unfazed by my presence, and multiple homeless camps. The weeds were largely overgrown and unkempt.
The riverfront is a huge draw for tourism. I was embarrassed to say I’m from Chattanooga tonight.
Our taxpayer dollars should be able to clean this up. Our property taxes go up and recycling gets cut. At what price? Where is the money going? I just want a clean city that I can be proud of.
Sincerely,
Your concerned citizen
Adam J. Smith
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Adam,
Don't worry, with Chattanooga's new tax, 9.8 percent waste water, they surely should have the money to get rid of the rats, weeds and move the homeless.
However, I'm sure they already have the money but like you, where is the money going?
Downtown Chattanooga has seen its heyday and is slowly deteriorating. With dim lights, trash, rampant crime and homeless people walking the streets, why would anyone or family want to visit after sundown, or as a matter of fact anytime?
Light it up and clean it up, Mr. Mayor.
Michael G. Mansfield
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Dear Mr. Smith,
1. Where exactly do you prefer the homeless to wash their laundry when there is no laundromat nearby?
2. How far do you expect the homeless to walk to a laundromat carrying their laundry when Chattanooga has very few sidewalks?
3. Since homeless have limited shower facilities available, which limits their employability, and since panhandling for laundry money is illegal, how do you think they ought to pay the $8 most laundromats charge?
4. Rats go where food and poop are. Are you advocating that the city provide portajohns at each homeless camp and rat proof storage facilities for food the homeless buy?
5. Weeds? Do you think the taxpayers would approve of paying for a bevy of city employees with weed eaters to mow down weeds at how many of the dozens of homeless camps?
6. Are you proud that the Scenic City pays local animal shelters to provide homeless dogs with weatherproof shelter, heat and air-conditioning, food, medical treatment and inoculations, and outplacement screening and adoption (permanent housing) services, but jails or ignores the hoards of homeless whose houses have burned down, whose spouses or landlords have kicked them to the streets, whose mental illness is untreated due to lack of insurance, treatment facilities, or copay requirements?
7. Do you realize Chattanooga destroyed over 12,000 units of public and affordable housing in the past 30 years, and replaced them with an insufficient number of "scattered site" subsidized apartments sandwiched between middle and upper income units with residents who constantly complain to management, city code enforcers, police, and elected officials about their "unworthy" neighbors who receive taxpayer subsidized rent vouchers, knowing that every cent of those taxpayer dollars goes to wealthy owners of shares of the real estate investment trusts?
8. Do you know that the governor and Tennessee judges have approved resumption of evictions and local courts have expanded the number of weekly eviction from about 50 to 250, and that around 8,000 people will soon become the "newly homeless" and join the chronic homeless in many dozens of new camps throughout the city?
9. Are you aware that Chattanooga is one of the largest cities in the country without a government operated or subsidized homeless shelter?
10. Do you realize that some cities allow homeless who live in their vehicles to park free in public parking meter spaces and lots, use public restrooms and showers at campgrounds, but not Chattanooga or Hamilton County?
11. Do you realize that many homeless are employed full-time but their net pay covers only food and transportation to and from work, and due to refusal of employers to pay living wages, their earnings are insufficient to rent an efficiency apartment, room in a flop house, or in a fleabag motel?
12. Do you know that most churches in this Bible Belt town refuse to allow homeless who live in vehicles to park in the empty church parking lot when services are not being conducted?
13. Are you aware that some Chattanooga employers structure their operations so that federal minimum wage laws and state unemployment or workers comp or insurance benefits are not applicable, so their workers are trapped in virtual slavery, yet elected officials refuse to pass state minimum living wage laws and organize multimillion dollar campaigns to punish union advocates with untrue claims?
14. Can you take a guess how many homeless were rendered homeless and jobless because they were unable to pay medical bills or child support because their house was seized and sold by hospitals or medical practitioners, or their wages were garnished or the car they used to get to work broke down or was repossessed?
15. Do you think wages are rising as fast as rent increases, the cost of food or fuel or car repairs?
16. If you are a truly compassionate human being would you be willing to stop complaining about the destitute homeless citizens who have no address, and consequentially cannot vote, obtain state identification, open a bank account, or receive mail, and instead of complaining, serve on a committee to advocate for changes that will truly benefit not only the homeless, but also the greater society?
17. Are you aware that one mayor received a federal grant of $1 million to establish a community homeless shelter, and instead used the money to purchase a designated "brownfield" from his pal, at a time when three area motels which could have housed several hundred homeless Chattanooga citizens were in bankruptcy court and were auctioned off to wealthy "investors" for less than the grant?
18. Do you realize that nearly all media in this city is owned by out of state conglomerates (except the Chattanoogan) and the out of town owners of these media do not find it popular to advocate for this areas most disadvantaged, destitute, handicapped citizens?
19. Do you realize that when the Chattanooga Housing Authority's annual waiting list gets too long (many thousands) their policy is to stop taking applications, so the true number of citizens needing affordable housing is never honestly quantified, which is truly shamefully, do you agree?
20. Do you realize that more than 5,000 black Chattanoogans moved out of this HATE CITY USA for reasons that may include better opportunities or pay elsewhere, but also, some believe, because of the entrenched racism, official oppression, police brutality, scarcity of integrated neighborhoods, nearly still segregated schools and churches, and overt hostility with regard to advocacy by unions and community organizers?
21. Bombings of synagogues are no longer taking place here, and minority churches are no longer in fear of arsonists, but anyone who has observed meetings of the KKK, John Birch Society, White Citizens Council, Tennessee Tea Party, or a Trump Rally knows that the nooses and oak trees and overt violence are no longer employed, but the subtle discrimination and isolation still persists, if you open your eyes. Will you? Look around at how many restaurants refuse to hire blacks, Hispanics, or Asians, how many churches have pastors of the same race as their congregations. What would happen if pastors and choirs changed churches one Sunday a month? Or the school system required each school to have the same percentage of minority races as every other school?
22. What if senior citizens, handicapped, homeless, and students could ride on public transportation for free year-round? What if busses served homeless camps as well as public housing projects?
23. What if each patrol officer was required to mentor one homeless citizen or an entire year....hooking him up to the safety net agencies?
24. What if each church in Chattanooga counted their members, then adopted a number of homeless equivalent to five percent of their membership, and found ways to help them get showered, shaved, receive whatever medical treatments or food they are entitled to? Would you be willing to ask your pastor to study that option?
25. Does it sound fair to you that the homeless Chattanooga citizens pay the exact same percentage sales tax (9.75) on food required for their survival as a millionaire pays?
It's your right to complain, but please become a part of the solution also.
Mark Regan
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Thank you Mr. Regan. I so appreciate all the information you shared. I was aware of much that you said, but not all.
I, too, hear complaints about homeless. When a city becomes a trendy place, it seems to follow that the places allotted to those less fortunate have to be snatched up so they can have apartments and condos and 2,500-square-foot houses built on them.
I would also like to add another salient point. Many people may not realize this if they haven't been trying to find a place to rent for a while. I was not aware of the extent of the issue until family members were displaced. Most if not all of the rental housing in this area is handled by property management companies. If you want to see what people are up against, go to a rental website and pull up some of the property management policies for prospective renters. They not only want you to pay $50 to $100 (non-refundable) for a credit check and a background check, they also want you to assure them that you have no debt, don't have any judgments against you and that your rent is a certain percentage of your salary. Aside from being invasive, these questions don't present a full picture.
Putting judgment aside for a moment, ask yourself how many of the people who are renting apartments can jump through all of these hoops successfully. People living on low wages and people starting out often cannot. There's also the scam of requiring each person who is living in an apartment or a house to sign a separate lease and pay their rent separately, but if one of those persons defaults on their obligation, the others are held responsible. It may be legal, but it is not right. It is predatory.
It is pretty easy to complain about the situation downtown, and there are many improvements that need to be made, particularly the trash which currently covers the entire county. The people that I see throwing trash out of their car windows are probably not homeless, by the way.
I, too, would like to know where the tax dollars are going, when basic services are not being delivered. The homeless situation is not one with a simple solution. It is also not one that is going away. The answer is not to villainize people who in many cases cannot improve their situation without a great deal of help in a climate where we would rather subsidize luxury housing via TIF and PILOT programs than actual affordable housing.
When I see people in government addressing some of the issues that have been stated here, I will think that they are truly concerned about alleviating some of these issues. Currently, affordable housing in Chattanooga is a myth.
Darlene Kilgore