Census 2010: Let The Counting Begin

The 2010 Census questionnaire will arrive at households throughout the region next week.  Census Bureau officials ask you to watch for the 10-question form, fill it out and mail it back immediately in the provided, postage-paid envelope. This is the easiest way to participate in the census that takes place every decade, as required by the U.S. Constitution.

“If the people of Tennessee complete the census form and return it quickly, then we won’t have to go out, knock on doors, and collect the information,” said William W. Hatcher, regional director for the U.S. Census Bureau. “Returning completed questionnaires saves taxpayer money and increases the likelihood of a full count. That translates into political power and needed federal funding for the state.”

Hatcher noted that for every one percentage point increase in mail returns of the census form nationwide, taxpayers save about $85 million in cost of sending census takers door-to-door to collect census information.

April 1 is Census Day, the reference day for the population count.  Every person living in a residence should be listed on the census form, including relatives and nonrelatives, as of April 1. People should be counted where they live and sleep most of the time.  You should not wait until April 1 to return the census form but return it immediately upon receipt. Census takers will begin collecting information from households that did not return the form on May 1.

Census results are important.  They are used to determine each state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and to redraw state and local voting districts.  More than $400 billion in federal funds is distributed annually through state, local and tribal governments to communities each year based on population data. The funds go for such things as schools, hospitals, transportation projects, roads, job-training programs and emergency-response tools.

“It’s a win-win situation when people answer the census and mail back the questionnaire,” Hatcher said. “It’s vital that everyone be counted once and in the right place.”
For help in completing the census form, call the toll-free Telephone Questionnaire Help Line at (866) 872-6868.  Spanish speakers can call (866) 928-2010. Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QACs) also are opening across the state to assist people.  Language Assistance Guides will be available in 59 languages at the QACs, and callers can get a census form in one of six languages.  QAC locations will be posted March 18 at www.2010census.gov

Artists Welcome To “Choose Chattanooga”

This month, ArtsMove Chattanooga will graduate from CreateHere, and Choose Chattanooga will become the parent organization for the program. Choose Chattanooga works to promote the amenities and attractions of the greater Chattanooga region.

This adoption of the program by Choose Chattanooga is indicative of an intrinsic message: Choose Chattanooga will promote the region by creating marketing and media programs that connect prospective and current residents and stimulate relocation. Additionally, they recognize the importance of attracting and retaining artists and artisans, like visual artists, culinary artists, musicians, and the like, to our city. They know that the attraction and retention of creative individuals to a city is what makes a community thrive and prosper.

ArtsMove, an artist relocation incentive, previously offered by CreateHere, has served to revitalize Chattanooga’s urban core by helping artists and artisans move to Chattanooga. The program provides up to $2,500 to help cover moving expenses, and offers a network of support and connectivity to individuals interested in adding to Chattanooga’s vibrant cultural tapestry.

To date, the program has helped relocate 30 working artists and artisans into revitalizing neighborhoods in the city’s urban core. Home sales resulting from the program come in at just over $4.9 million.

“But even more important than the infusion of capital into our local economy, we have seen the individuals who have joined our community via ArtsMove truly invest in their neighborhoods and enrich the quality of life there,” said Jessica Martin, former program administrator and CreateHere Senior Fellow.

“Choose Chattanooga’s mission made it an obvious choice to become the pilot organization for this initiative,” according to Martin. “We are very excited to see Choose Chattanooga nurture and grow such a bold and impactful program.”

Brown Thrasher Out, Cornish Hen In?

There are some feathers flying just south of the border as a group of Georgians are mounting a campaign to replace the state bird.  The brown thrasher has long been synonymous with the Peach State, but restaurant owner Chris Cunningham wants to see the Cornish hen take the top spot in the ornithological pecking order.

He has started a petition drive and launched a web site that accused the brown thrasher of being a fair-weather fowl, heading to Florida every winter when it gets too cold.  Many supporters of the change feel it is inappropriate for the state to honor a bird that won’t even stick around all year.

But why the Cornish hen, more notable for its place on the dining room table than flying freely about the state?  Cunningham points out that Georgia is the “chicken capital of the world” and thinks nothing would be more appropriate than to represent the agricultural interest of chicken ranchers statewide with the change.

Considering that nearly 124,000 people are involved in the poultry industry in Georgia, it is not inconceivable that many people would rally to the cause of the Cornish hen.
However, the brown thrasher is not going down without a flight.  The powerful Georgia Conservancy has joined the fray and is gathering signatures for their own petition to keep the thrasher at the top of the roost.  They even go so far as to accuse “Big Chicken” of ignoring history for profit.

The Conservancy points out that the brown thrasher was originally named the state bird in 1935 after a statewide vote by schoolchildren, and then confirmed by a unanimous vote in the General Assembly in 1970.  One member of the Conservancy says that if Cunningham really wanted to give credit to the state for being the “chicken capital of the world”, as he claims, then the better idea would be to petition to change the nickname of the state from the Peach State to the Chicken State.

Cunningham acknowledges that state legislators do have more serious things to worry about than chickens and brown thrashers.  Between a stagnant economy, failing schools, budget deficits, and a myriad of other economic and political issues, a debate over the state bird strikes many as superfluous at best, and an unwelcome distraction from real governance at worst.

Yet, Cunningham intends to continue his quixotic campaign. Like Benjamin Franklin before him, who lobbied long and hard in to dethrone the bald eagle as the national bird and replace it with the less noble (but more gastronomically acceptable) turkey, Cunningham sees no lack of honor or disrespect in his quest.  And who knows, maybe there is a Solomon lurking in the halls of the General Assembly who could float the idea of having a pair of birds represent the state.

Be More Winners Featured on Summer Program

The “Be More” Awards winners were announced last week at a lunch held at The Chattanoogan.

They included the Children’s Advocacy Center of Hamilton County (Be More Collaborative – Partnership Award); Ballet Tennessee (Be More Enriched – Educational Outreach Award); Orange Grove Center, Inc. (Be More Creative – Innovation Award); Blood Assurance (Be More Impactful – Local Service Award and Be More Engaging – People’s Choice Award); and Jack Fish (Be More Courageous-Individual Leadership Award). The first-time awards program was sponsored by local PBS station WTCI.

“The Chattanooga region WTCI serves has an extraordinary nonprofit and volunteer community,” said Paul Grove, WTCI President and CEO. “I hope those who attended the awards program walked away inspired by the amazing work of our winners, finalists and all of the nonprofits that are so vital to our city and region.”

To bring further recognition to the nonprofit community, WTCI will produce a program featuring the award winners, which will air on WTCI in early summer.

Chattanooga Loses Championship To Dallas Suburb In Baffling Decision By The NCAA

The NCAA announced this past Friday afternoon that it will move its Division I Football Championship to Frisco, Texas, this year, marking the end of a 13-year relationship with Chattanooga.  Local officials expressed disappointment and dismay at the decision.

“It is hard to believe the NCAA would walk away from thirteen years of solid game experience to start over, regardless of the site.  Having been involved in running this event since the beginning, I am sick over this decision,” said Chattanooga Sports and Events Committee President Scott Smith.

On Thursday, Smith had led a delegation of Chattanoogans to present the local bid to the FCS committee at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. In addition to Smith, the group included County Mayor Claude Ramsey, UTC Athletic Director Rick Hart, Finley Stadium Director Merrill Eckstein, Sports Committee Chairman Jim Kennedy, Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Bob Doak, and Sports Committee Director of Operations Ben Austin. Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino also attended and was part of the presentation.

Chattanooga’s bid included a significant increase in the guaranteed payment to the NCAA, doubling the previous amount of $150,000. “It has been a long time since I have been this stunned.  I don’t think we left anything on the table, including the financial part,” said Mayor Ramsey.

Sports Committee Jim Kennedy added, ““I’ve participated in a lot of presentations in my life, and I thought this one was one of the most complete and polished from virtually every perspective. The data was strong, the images were compelling, all of the presenters were on message, and we had concise answers for their questions. I’m really not sure what else we reasonably could have done.”

During the pitch, the local delegation cited Chattanooga’s convenient location with a map showing that 74 percent of FCS schools are located east of the Mississippi River and Chattanooga in the midst of them.

In concluding the presentation, Kennedy reminded the committee, “Chattanooga is an FCS town. This is your national championship; it deserves to be held in a city that will treat it that way.”

With the championship game scheduled for January 7, 2011, Kennedy told the committee that it would be the only football game held in Chattanooga on that day, an indirect reference to the fact that Dallas is scheduled to host the FBS Cotton Bowl the same day as the FCS game. Smith noted that Dallas is also hosting the Super Bowl a few weeks later. “I hope they give these FCS teams the attention they deserve in the midst of all that,” he said.

The Chattanoogans also cited the increase in community support for the game, pointing out that locals purchased more than 10,000 tickets for the 2009 game, and then came out on a cold and rainy night while the two schools, Villanova and Montana, purchased 3,700 between them. Ramsey applauded the community spirit behind those numbers. “The citizens of Chattanooga and Hamilton County and the area businesses have really stepped up and supported this event over the years, and we were proud to point that out to the committee,” the mayor said.

Although he was disappointed at the NCAA’s decision, Eckstein sounded an optimistic note, saying, “We’ll have FCS playoff football back in Finley Stadium pretty soon. The difference is we’ll all be cheering the Mocs.

New Group Fights Hate Crimes

On February 23, the first meeting was held at the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department office of the Southeastern Tennessee Civil Rights Working Group.

Representatives of Tennessee Valley Pride, the Tennessee Equality Project, the FBI, the TBI, the Chattanooga Police Department, the NAACP, the US Attorney’s Office and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department all attended the meeting of the new group, which has announced these goals:

• To increase awareness of hate crimes and civil right protection through education outreach programs.
• To provide a forum for sharing information and the exchange of ideas between Southeast Tennessee’s diverse communities and the law enforcement agencies serving them.
• To foster greater fellowship, dialogue, understanding and interaction among our communities.

Membership is free and open to any person, agency or organization. Meetings will be held quarterly. For more information, contact Vann Hinton at the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office at (423) 322-8490.

Mayor Littlefield’s State Of The City

Recently, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield gave his annual “State of the City” speech, taking a look back at where the city was decades ago and comparing it to where he sees the city moving forward into the future.

“The first two decades of the last century were a golden age for Chattanooga,” Littlefield said. “Much of the infrastructure and many of our great buildings of Chattanooga are products of that age.”

However, he worries that moving forward into the next century provides us with much greater challenges than were faced by local leaders a hundred years ago.  As much as Chattanooga has improved as a place to live, there are still major problems to overcome in providing housing for less affluent residents.

Henry Cisneros, former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has invited the city to contribute a chapter to a book that he is producing on city livability. Cisneros, who has visited Chattanooga several times, has already written a book, From Despair to Hope, that described a new way of thinking on the subject of low-income housing.

During his watch as HUD Secretary, Cisneros fostered the shift away from the traditional concept of simply warehousing the poor in bland, depressing multistory, high-density housing projects to a more hopeful and enlightened approach of developing housing integrated with its community and neighborhood. In short, public housing that does not look or feel like public housing.

This is the view favored by Mayor Littlefield as well. Which is why he seemed especially frustrated with one of his own city agencies, the Chattanooga Housing Authority, and their determination to move forward on the controversial Fairmount Avenue public housing development.

“I have to say that it is difficult to understand why our own housing authority would wish to take a step backward and build, once again, a public housing development that concentrates and isolates the poor in a location that lacks the needed elements such as access to public transportation and other qualities that give the residents options and add to hope and optimism,” he said.

“Whatever else can be said about the proposed high-density housing development at the steep and narrow end of Fairmont Avenue, it unquestionably will look and feel like public housing. No one takes issue with the need for public housing in general or the utility of the Fairmont site in addressing the community’s overall goal of inclusion with safe and livable housing for everyone, but the development as proposed ignores the lessons learned over the decades since World War II and offers a 50-year retreat in thinking. It must not be built as currently planned and designed,” he said.

It’s not just public housing the mayor is concerned about.  He is also a major proponent of “Green Housing”, and is taking steps to have the city become a leader in the movement.  Last year, the City Climate Action Task Force asked that the city establish an office to pursue implementation of their very thorough and award-winning plan.
In response, Littlefield has appointed former City Councilman David Crockett as Director of the Office of Sustainability. One of Crockett’s first challenges, as set forth by the mayor, will be to ensure that from now on, any building built by the city of Chattanooga will be L.E.E.D. certified.

“The two large construction projects done recently, the Blue Cross Blue Shield office complex and the Volkswagen automotive plant, are both L.E.E.D. certified projects,” Littlefield noted. “These two large projects, along with many other significant L.E.E.D. projects, including city of Chattanooga projects, have already set that high standard and we will maintain it.”

And while many politicians across the country have jumped on the green bandwagon, Littlefield promises to put ideas into practice.  “This is a new path. We will learn together. We will partner with business and communities to develop new approaches. We will partner with leading cities around the country to transfer their experiences and knowledge. We will profit from this by developing new skills, new business opportunities and hopefully new technologies that can be used here and in other cities across the country. We will develop new codes and ordinances for landscaping, urban forestry, stormwater, street design, etc. that are integrated and promote functional and attractive green infrastructure.”

Kids on the Block Gets Huge Donation From Big River Grille

In a time marked by dwindling charity contributions, Big River Grille & Brewing Works significantly bucked the trend last week by presenting a record $130,125 check to Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block.  Kids on the Block is a United Way charity and Tennessee-licensed child abuse prevention agency that provides free programs to teach children and adults about social concerns and differences in a non-threatening manner.

The donation, generated by the 15th Annual Southern Brewers Festival sponsored by Big River Grille & Brewing Works each year, represents an increase of more than 30 percent over the previous year’s contribution and marks the largest single contribution the charity has received.

“This donation is significant not only because of its size, but also the timing. With the current stress on our economy, personal safety is an increasingly important issue for children everywhere and it’s crucial that we continue our work uninterrupted,” said Kelly Williams, Executive Director of Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block. “Businesses like Gordon Biersch make a difference by giving our community the tools and resources that are vital to enhancing local quality of life.”

In total, Big River Grille & Brewing Works has donated more than $365,000 to Kids on the Block since the partnership began four years ago.

“We’ve been a part of the Chattanooga community for more than 16 years and are proud to support an organization like Chattanooga Kids on the Block that works so hard to improve the lives of children in our hometown,” said Kelly Wilson, Director of Marketing for Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group, Inc. “Community involvement and charitable giving are core principals of our corporate culture and we are dedicated to making a difference in every city where we have a presence.”

For the past 30 years, Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block has used life-size puppets designed to teach children and adults about social concerns and differences in a non-threatening manner, giving them skills to stay safe and healthy.

Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block is one of the oldest, most active and most respected troupes in the country, serving 12 counties in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia. It currently provides more than 23 program topics on sensitive issues such as child abuse awareness, childhood obesity, autism, asthma and allergies, and accepting differences, among other issues.

Last year alone, Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block performed more than 480 programs in the 12 county service area, serving more than 53,000 children and adults.
The programs are free of charge to schools in the twelve counties served, thanks to funding from United Way, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, Chattanooga Area Brain Injury Association, Tennessee Donor Services, individual donors and large scale fundraisers such as the Southern Brewers Festival.

Leading Inner-City Youth

Among the hot topics discussed by more than 60 teens attending Boys & Girls Clubs of Chattanooga’s Leadership Conference on February 5 and 6 were closing the academic achievement gap, creating a network of support, and preparing for future employment.

Speakers included Mark Brock, BGCC board chair, who gave a “State of the Club Address,” Sheryl Randolph from the Hamilton County Department of Education, who encouraged teens to pursue their dreams through preparation and staying focused in their work, as well as presenters from Unum, Marion Environmental, Inc., UTC, and the Community Foundation, who discussed verbal and nonverbal communication, job readiness, and the importance of education.

Club teens had the opportunity to speak with business and school representatives from Old Navy, Unum, Tennessee Valley Authority, UTC, Miller Motte, and people from the Upward Bound program. Conference attendants were chosen from their clubs for their involvement in the Leadership program and the Club’s service organizations and because of their drive to graduate, which can be seen through their work in the College Bound program. The Leadership Conference is part of an outreach initiative providing mentoring, job training and counseling to at-risk youth, funded by the Team Tacala Charities/Taco Bell Foundation for Teens and through the local support of the Maclellan Foundation and Unum.

Brock noted, “Each of these teens are honored to be here, but really each of us should be honored they are here. With the circumstances these youth face daily, they consciously make the positive decision to come to the Club, work to help other youth, reach their academic goals, and make Chattanooga a better place to live.”
The BGCC provides programs for more than 3,000 boys and girls, ages 6-18, in educational enhancement and career exploration, leadership skills and character development, drug and alcohol prevention, delinquency intervention, and health and fitness.  Contact Debbie Gray at (423) 266-6131 for more information.

“We are overwhelmed by the generosity of the community,” said Barbara Alexander, Executive Director for the Greater Chattanooga Area American Red Cross.  “When it comes to times of need people count on the Red Cross to be there, but we can’t carry out our mission without the support of the American people. With so much to be done we are stunned by the outpouring of support for Haiti and encourage people to do what they can do support the efforts of the relief workers.”

The infrastructure of Haiti is severely damaged—airports are clogged, roads are treacherous, and there is no large seaport available. This is causing bottlenecks and making it very difficult to get aid into the hands of survivors. Despite those problems, aid is starting to slowly make its way to those who need help.

“We want aid to move faster, too,” says Claudia Moore, Marketing Director for the Chattanooga Red Cross. “But it’s going to take government and relief agencies working together quickly to establish security and expand and repair, airports, roads and seaports to get the relief supplies moving.

“We know this relief effort will take place in two phases: The short-term relief effort is underway now and will continue for many weeks. We are starting to plan for a long-term recovery effort that will continue for months, if not years.  In just the first week of the short-term relief operation we’ve committed and spent funds in three basic areas: food and water, relief supplies and logistical and support services.”

The American Red Cross is just one part of the international relief operation in Haiti. Moore explains, “While many of these items are being distributed by our own workers on the ground, we are also providing supplies, food and logistical items to other Red Cross societies and groups, such as the World Food Program to assist in their efforts.”

This is only the beginning of the American Red Cross relief and recovery effort for Haiti. Over the next several days and weeks, as the international relief effort will grow, so will the monetary commitment of the American Red Cross. “Right now, it’s important to get relief there as quickly as possible, but also be thoughtful and responsible in how we spend the funds the American people have entrusted to us,” Moore continues.

“We want to ensure that we manage our money wisely so we can ensure that long-term relief is available as well.  We are already looking at how the American Red Cross can help meet longer term needs, such as providing reliable shelter, water and sanitation systems. This is an enormous relief operation now, but we also know it will be a massive long-term recovery effort and the Red Cross will be there throughout,” Moore concluded.

Donations can be made online at www.redcross.org, by calling (800) RED-CROSS, or by dropping off or mailing checks, made out to the Red Cross International Relief Fund, to the chapter at 801 McCallie Ave, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403.

Quote Of The Week:

Chattanooga Selected for Program to Fight Childhood Obesity

The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department/Step ONE program has been awarded a $360,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to improve opportunities and access for physical activity and healthy eating in the East and South Side communities of Chattanooga. Based on a rigorous selection process that drew more than 500 proposals from across the country, Chattanooga, Tennessee is one of 41 sites selected for the RWJF Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative.

The Grow Healthy Together Chattanooga (GHTC) partnership will focus the resources of lead agency Step ONE (Optimize with Nutrition and Exercise) and key allies in the effort to eliminate childhood obesity in the high-risk communities of East and South Chattanooga.

Nearly 30 percent of East and South Chattanooga’s 33,000 residents live in poverty. Seventy-one percent of the predominantly African American population is overweight or obese. Nearly 30 percent are physically inactive and only 21.9 percent consume five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

Yet these communities also have a healthy grassroots infrastructure, including well-organized neighborhoods and community-based organizations ready to provide leadership to a collaborative effort to reduce childhood obesity.

“By identifying strategic efforts to target childhood obesity in Chattanooga, our partnership will provide children in our community with the essential tools needed to stay healthy throughout their lives,” says John Bilderback, Step ONE Program Manager. “We are so pleased that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has recognized a need in our community and is committed to helping implement necessary changes to improve the lives of our children.”

“To reverse this epidemic, communities are going to have to rally around their kids and provide the opportunities they need to be healthy,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Through this project, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department and its partners are doing what it takes to make sure children lead better lives.”

Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities is a $33 million national program and RWJF’s largest investment to date in community-based solutions to childhood obesity. With nine Leading Sites chosen in late 2008, the program now spans 50 communities from Seattle to Puerto Rico. All are targeting improvements in local policies and their community environment—changes that research indicates could have the greatest impact on healthier eating, more active living and obesity prevention.  Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities is a cornerstone of RWJF’s $500 million commitment to reverse the country’s childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.

All 41 cities were selected because of strong vision, partnership and a commitment to make lasting change in their communities.  The new program grants will continue through June 2013. Visit www.healthykidshealthycommunities.org to learn more about these communities’ work and plans.

ACT-SO! Seeks Aspiring Artists, Business People and Scientists

ACT-SO! (Afro-Academic Cultural Technological Scientific Olympics) will hold its initial orientation for its new competition at the Center for Creative Arts, 1301 Dallas Road, at 10 a.m. on January 30. This free competition is open to African American high school students interested in the arts, humanities, business and sciences as career choices. This year’s local gold medal winners will go to Kansas for the 2010 national competition.

In 2009, Chattanooga took four local gold medal winners to the national competition in New York City. This is Chattanooga’s seventh year of competing in the NAACP-sponsored event, now in its 33rd year.

Further information and applications can be found on Chattanooga Hamilton County NAACP’s web site, www.chattanooganaacp.org. Click on the ACT-SO link. (423) 400-1040 or (423) 760-0961.

Housing Authority Defends Fairmont Avenue Development

The Chattanooga Housing Authority is upset over the City Council’s 120-day moratorium on new building permits for the proposed Fairmont Avenue public housing development.  They’re responding to what they describe as a move designed to delay construction of the 38-unit complex in North Chattanooga.

Naveed Minhas, vice president of development for CHA, said the move could cause CHA to give up a $4.3 million dollar grant as well as construction jobs for Chattanooga residents.

In a statement, the authority said, “CHA continues to believe this site offers public housing residents an opportunity to live in an upscale and growing community where they are offered access to quality schools and other amenities in this vibrant and culturally-rich area.  Public housing residents do not have to be relegated to just rundown areas.”

Last week the Chattanooga City Council voted 7 to 2 to place a 120-day moratorium on the issuance of new building permits for the Fairmont Avenue site. The resolution also calls for the Planning Commission to take a look at the property and determine the appropriate zoning to protect the public safety and welfare.

“The long-term goal is to have a reasonable and logical development of Fairmont Avenue based on the limitations of the site,” Mayor Ron Littlefield explained.  “All I’ve heard so far from the Housing Authority and others is that they have this much money and they want to build as many units as they can with that money.  To me, that’s not a good way to design a development.”

The planned 38-unit housing project has been severely criticized by area residents and many city leaders. Councilmember Manny Rico felt the plan was a throwback to the failed projects of the past, while Councilmember Sally Robinson noted that the current plans go against current HUD guidelines.

Councilmember Andrae McGary, who cast one of the dissenting votes, said he was uncomfortable with the resolution since no one from the Housing Authority was there at the council meeting to tell its side of the story.

Littlefield responded by pointing out that CHA had already “thumbed their noses” at the city by going ahead with the development without any response to many of the concerns about narrow roads, lack of access to services, and population density.

Public Art Goes “On The Fence” On Main Street

Public Art Chattanooga is excited to announce the creation of a new program, “On the Fence.” Funded by the Lyndhurst Foundation, On the Fence is a public art competition that aims to enhance the creative, urban side of Chattanooga’s bustling Main Street.

The competition invites local artists, architects, designers, schools, teams and/or individuals to submit ideas for temporary art installations that will transform and enhance the urban environment along Main Street. Seven chain-link fences along the Main Street corridor are available for this project.

For full competition details and guidelines, please visit www.onthefencedesign.com or contact Peggy Townsend, Public Art Chattanooga Director, at (423) 643-6096.

Chattanooga Tree Commission Honored

The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council (TUFC) presented the 2009 Urban Forestry Awards of Excellence at the 18th annual statewide conference, Greening Your Community, held at Lipscomb University in Nashville.  The awards are cosponsored by TUFC and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Division of Forestry.

The Chattanooga Tree Commission received the Tree Board award.  The Commission was noted for their implementation of the Take Root tree-planting program, which planted 600 new trees in the downtown area of Chattanooga using donations and matching grants.

“We’re thrilled to receive this award,” said Gene Hyde, City of Chattanooga Urban Forester.  “It is truly reflective of the hard work and dedication of the Tree Commission volunteers who continue to function at a high level.”

The mission of the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council is to serve as an advisory body to promote healthy and sustainable urban and community forests in Tennessee by providing leadership and assistance through education, planning, advocacy and collaboration.