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Chattanooga: City approves Stringer’s Ridge funds

By: Cliff Hightower
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Chattanooga City Council -- Oct. 7, 2008

The Chattanooga City Council voted 6-2 Tuesday night to spend $150,000 to help buy Stringer’s Ridge and develop it as a public park, even as some council members expressed concerns about the economy.

Councilmen Jack Benson and Leamon Pierce both voted against the measure, while Councilman Dan Page abstained.

“We’re in serious problems right now,” Mr. Benson said. “We have to make sure we have enough money for the essentials. This is not an essential.”

The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit group that conserves land and turns it into public assets, had asked the City Council to contribute $500,000 — $150,000 this year and $350,000 next year — toward the Stringer’s Ridge work.

The trust has reached a written agreement with the land owner to buy 92 acres of the ridge, which sits just north of the Tennessee River and overlooks downtown Chattanooga.

Rick Wood, executive director of the Trust for Public Land, said afterward the council meeting that the trust now has almost $1 million toward its total $2.5 million goal of fundraising. He said he was happy to get a “vote of confidence” from the council to help cement more private donors.

“It’s good for them to know the public community, public entity is committed,” he said.

During a Parks and Recreation Committee meeting Tuesday, city Chief Financial Officer Daisy Madison told council members the city had enough to cover the initial $150,000.

During the council meeting Tuesday evening, Parks and Recreation Administrator Larry Zehnder said the money was going to be spent on the South Chickamauga Greenway but would be diverted.

Councilman Leamon Pierce said the money has not been spent yet, and it easily could be diverted to essential projects if necessary.

“Are you going to spend everything in your pocket because you have it?” he asked.

In other business, Councilwoman Sally Robinson said she would get together with local groups and conduct a study to see how much revenue beer and wine sales would generate at the Tivoli Theatre and Memorial Auditorium, which have lost a combined total of about $2.4 million since 2005.

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