Chris Long, who is running against Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, speaks at the Pachyderm Club Monday.
Chattanooga mayoral candidate Chris Long told the Pachyderm Club Monday that Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly’s policies have attracted career homeless people and sent non-minority workforce talent elsewhere.
He characterized the city’s One Chattanooga as a city-county government merger plan that will drive up taxes, and said that Mayor Kelly has raised the city’s annual budget from $2.1 million to $6.6 million in the three years he’s been in office.
Mr. Long pledged to “make Chattanooga great again” by supporting small businesses and adding to the large-scale manufacturing industry, together the “economic engine” that will pay for lagging infrastructure and bring home rent back down.
A member of the audience challenged that inflation takes most of the blame for budget increases, and another asked if Mr. Long will raise taxes.
“I think I’m going to have to raise it a little bit,” Mr. Long answered, but pinned Mayor Kelly with bigger increases to pay for the programs his administration has set in motion.
“If you want a national park for a city, or a metro government, I’m not your guy,” Mr. Long said.
Mr. Long warned that Chattanooga’s sought designation as the first National Park City in the U.S. will “cause chaos,” joking that citizens won’t know who to call first: a park ranger or a police officer. The designation is not connected to the U.S. National Park Service.
“We can forget about manufacturing,” he said. Mr. Long described 500 cubic meters of natural gas buried between McDonald, Tennessee, and Lookout Mountain, “just sitting there,” waiting to blossom into jobs. New drilling technology has made it accessible, he said, and the materials are in high demand for plastics manufacturing.
“Plastics are not going anywhere,” he said.
Mr. Long suggested that restrictions imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, a “cash cow,” will soon be loosened by the Trump administration “in our favor.”
“We can save people tons of money,” he said.
“I’m not an environmentalist. I’m a conservationist,” he said. “I don’t want to destroy nothing, but I’m not a wacko either.”
Mr. Long said the city’s 120- to 190-day permitting system should strive to be 30 days, like Nashville’s.
“That’s putting a hurt on our small business people,” he said, adding that they are the backbone of Chattanooga’s revenue.
Crime
“We need to stop crime, like, the day before yesterday,” Mr. Long said. He proposed a 30-day notice in the media, after which “there will be no more shooting in this town.”
DEI
Diversity, equity and inclusion positions added to city government during Mayor Kelly’s tenure pay six-figure salaries without results, he said.
“They’re not solving problems,” he said. “They’re studying.”
Homelessness
“Eighty percent of the homeless is gaming our system,” Mr. Long said, taking advantage of “gracious” Chattanoogans.
Mr. Long said he would work to identify the legitimate 20 percent and put military veterans at the front of the line for aid.
Background
Mr. Long is an architectural engineering consultant who worked on Chattanooga projects remotely for 18 years while caring for his parents in Colorado Springs, Co. He attended Tyner High School and has been married to his wife for 30 years.
“I’m just a genuine guy,” he told the crowd.
His ideal is that Chattanoogans passing each other on the street would want and be able to look each other in the eye, he said.
District 6
Robert Wilson, who is running for the District 6 seat left by Dr. Carol Berz when she passed away in December, told the Pachyderm Club Monday that he will fight for more vagrancy laws and to develop northern Brainerd Road, what could be Chattanooga’s “billion-dollar” corridor, he said.
“Let’s get serious about developing Brainerd Road,” he said.
Mr. Wilson told the group that “most of the problems you see come from the City Council.”
Former city councilman Manny Rico told the group that changes made just last week by City Council will allow an official candidate for the District 6 seat to serve also as an interim member appointed by the council.
Mr. Rico did not give a name but hinted that he knew which of the five candidates the council would appoint, giving that candidate "an unfair advantage" in the election March 4.
The candidates in the upcoming election are: Jenni Berz, Jennifer Gregory, Mark Holland, Christian Siler and Robert C. Wilson.
The council will interview, choose and swear in an interim appointee Jan. 28.
The election is March 4. The winner will be sworn in April 14.