Chattanooga Pulse

Quote Of The Week:
“It brings us back to full strength and adds an additional 10 officers. That would be 50 officers on the street by the end of this next fiscal year.”
—Interim Chattanooga Police Chief Mark Rawlston, explaining his request for $9 million in increased funding for the department in the next city budget.

Is This The End Of Pops In The Park?

One of the most popular holiday gatherings of the summer may not happen, an apparent victim of the economy. According to Carla Pritchard, President of Chattanooga Presents, the Pops in the Park celebration may not happen this year due to a lack of funding.

For the last nine years, Chattanoogans have gathered at Coolidge Park to celebrate Independence Day with patriotic music and fireworks.  But the contracts of the three major sponsors have expired, and organizers are scrambling to replace the funding.

Pritchard, who formed Chattanooga Presents after the Chattanooga Downtown Partnership was dissolved by River City Company, was given oversight of the event, which she organized on behalf of the CDP for the past nine years.

Unfortunately, the recent economic downtown has affected her major sponsors, leaving a close-to-$70,000 hole in the event budget.  Pritchard said that she and her staff are working very hard attempting to line up new sponsors to fund the event.

Many longtime attendees have expressed disappointment in the news.  Local blogs and Facebook conversations have been hopeful that the Chattanooga business community will step up and help save the event, which routinely draws tens of thousands to Coolidge Park every July.

No Public Transportation For Volkswagen

When the new Volkswagen assembly plant opens early next year, workers won’t be able to take public transportation to get to work. CARTA officials said that Volkswagen declined to pay for bus service to the plant at Enterprise South.

CARTA Executive Director Tom Dugan said it would take about $60,000 a year per bus to run service to the plant, and that neither the city nor the county was willing to subsidize the cost without assistance from Volkswagen.

The original plan had been to split the cost of service to the new plant three ways, with VW paying a third, the city paying a third, and the county picking up the remaining third.  However, officials with the German automaker decided against the expenditure.

However, Dugan was quick to point out that it wouldn’t take CARTA very much time to start service to the plant if VW changes their mind.  He noted that “long traffic jams on the day [the plant] opens” might help Volkswagen officials rethink their views on public transportation.

UTC Master Chorale Looking For New Singers

The UTC Master Chorale will be holding auditions for the summer season until the end of April.  The Master Chorale is a graduate-level chorus, founded to provide a summer ensemble experience for graduate music students, and sponsored by UTC but consisting mostly of members of Chattanooga and the surrounding communities.
Members in the past have come from as far as Dalton, Monteagle and Athens to participate.  The group performs an advanced level of music and meets for a single concert each summer.

They have a truncated rehearsal schedule to keep from taking up the entire summer.  Beginning on May 4, they rehearse on Tuesday evening for two weeks, then Tuesday and Thursday nights for the next three weeks ending on concert week with a rehearsal on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening with a concert on Friday, June 11.
The full schedule and literature are posted on the chorus web page at www.utc.edu/Faculty/Kevin-Ford/SummerChorale.htm.  This year’s literature will include works by Eric Whitacre, Henry Purcell, Reneé Clausen and others.

All voices are welcome but qualified male singers are especially needed.  The short five-minute audition consists of singing “My Country ‘tis of Thee,” range check, ear training and/or short sight-reading check.

If you are interested in auditioning for this season, contact the director, Dr. Kevin Ford at (423) 425-5243.