It was 2019, and Nathan Bird had a problem that ultimately led him to take on an unlikely role: podcast host.
Bird and his wife, who had both grown up in Chattanooga, had recently moved back after several years in Nashville. Wanting to familiarize himself with Chattanooga's government and local politics, he did some poking around on the internet and didn't come up with much.
“While I was looking for information on upcoming elections, I found 2-3 websites with a list of candidates, the occasional interview, and the occasional newspaper article," he said. "I knew that there were some radio shows and local news channels doing interviews, but those kinds of things are really hard to go back and reference."
What he wanted, and couldn't find, was a single source that would be a one-stop-shop for candidate information - interviews, campaign websites, platforms - that would make it easy to compare and contrast and ultimately decide how to vote.
Bird's attempts to learn, in layman's terms, how Chattanooga and Hamilton County governments were set up weren't very successful either.
“I found articles explaining what specific issues the local government was working on at that time, but not an easy breakdown of, what is this department’s job? What does city council do? What is the mayor’s job description?" he said. "All of this was very spread out, so I had to dive into the actual city code.”
Frustrated with the lack of user-friendly resources, Bird, a civil engineer, tossed around the idea of creating some kind of online hub for Chattanooga election and government information.
But it was the events of 2020 - the stay-at-home orders, the mask mandates, and the demands for police reform - that convinced him to get started.
"Those were all local issues," he said. "The coverage was national, but the issues at hand were distinct to cities and counties."
This observation, plus the desire to go into the 2021 mayoral and city council elections as well informed as possible, resulted in the birth of a podcast: Chattanooga Civics.
"Podcasts seem to be the most popular way to consume news media for people my age,” said Bird, who is 27. “I don’t know a lot of people who listen to the radio or watch local news, and sometimes it's easier to listen to a podcast while you're doing the dishes than it is to sit down and read a blog post.”
The first few episodes of Chattanooga Civics broke down basic civics lessons: What does the city council do? What's the difference between the city and the county? What authority does the mayor have?
Bird then set his sights on policy-based candidate interviews. With 15 mayoral candidates, 13 city council candidates, and the goal to interview as many as are willing before the March 2nd elections, he’s keeping busy. Nine episodes in (at the time of writing), he's getting more comfortable with the production process but is looking forward to a slower pace.
"After the elections, I’m going to take a little bit of a break, and then do some more explainer episodes on things like zoning, the school board, the sewer system,” he said. “I might start to try interviewing sitting government officials on what their day-to-day job looks like.”
As a civil engineer, Bird has to be very familiar with the city's zoning code and how to go through the rezoning process with the city council. But he believes everyone can benefit from a Civics 101 refresher, whether or not they deal with the government in their work life.
“If you don’t know who's in charge of what, you don't know who to talk to when things go wrong,” he said. “A really good example of this is that a lot of people are very interested in the school system. The city government has some involvement, but if you’re looking for the people who set the policy, that is the county school board. If you don't know who’s in charge, you might spend a lot of time barking up the wrong tree.”
Bird is equally passionate about convincing people to vote in local elections, and hopes that Chattanooga Civics can help voters get a good grasp on the candidates' platforms.
“Most of the issues that people are worried about in their daily lives - Are the roads in good shape? Are the schools functioning properly? How’s the housing market in my city? - have a lot more to do with local government than the federal government,” he said. “Voting is a very direct way to get involved with policy changes that can impact your day-to-day life. When you take into account how much further your vote goes at the local level, it becomes even more important.”
For more information and to listen: visit chattanoogacivics.com to access the podcast on all listening platforms, and for more city government, election and candidate resources.
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