Roadtrip: Chattanooga
(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-3300-p1060394.JPG)
After being recognized by the federal government as the city with the worst air quality in the country, the Dynamo of Dixie is back with a vengence and a strong focus on downtown redevelopment. Can Jacksonville learn anything from Chattanooga's rebirth?
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/684
Looks Nice, but the empty streets remind me of Jacksonville
The images were taken on a rainey weekend day in 30 degree weather between the hours of 6-9am. The streets were empty, but given the number of occupied storefronts and renovated buildings it was easy to see that the place gets a decent flow of foot traffic.
One thing Jacksonville does have over Chattanooga and others coming up in this roadtrip series is weather. We're warm enough to where things will stay open year round. In these places, most events and city tours take place between March and October.
I used to live in Chattanooga. I remember going up on Lookout Mountain and seeing the smog just settle into the Tennessee Valley. That Waterfall is called Ruby Falls. I went to that waterfall about 5 yrs ago and strangely enough met Hulk Hogan and his daughter Brook as they were in another tour group. He was in town for a wrestling event that night. Small world, huh? I can attest that Chatt has improved greatly since the 80's. It is a very nice place to live and visit.
Chattanooga is the perfect example of using what you have and running with it. Renovating existing buildings, and using the river to highlight downtown. They even have a very popular 6 mile path that runs along the southbank from downtown towards the east. If only we could see the potential of our city's existing groundwork and start from there, rather than destroying and building parking lots.
Great idea of using what we already have, but except for the railroad and Union Terminal, what is left of Jacksonville that we could use? Neanderthal planning, St. Valentines Day Execution, with Bulldozer mentality=Jacksonville. To obtain the elevated status of some of our projects, we have unique hybrids of imported Buck Rogers Planning (The Skyway for example) and Neanderthal construction (suffering from lack of vision, modern tools and loss of will beyond CYA). Never mind that Chattanooga, suffered horribly in the War of Yankee Aggression, they managed to collect and KEEP just about every other thing the City had from that date forward, and now they are laughing all the way to the bank. As a railroader though, that City is just not the same without the Louisville and Nashville's "Hummingbird" or the Southern's "Southerner", rolling into the stations... For that matter, micro-giant, UNION STATION, was razed about 1970, a terrible loss and waste.
Ocklawaha
We both agree our biggest resource is the river. On the Southbank we have friendship fountain (falling apart), the maritime museum (didn't even know we had one till a couple years ago), and all the shops on the other side of the hilton (it is still the hilton, isn't it). There should be festivals at the fountain as well as all long the southbank. The museum should be tied into MOSH. I believe thats been talked about here in the past. Finally all the shops space on the southbank. They were all used during the Super Bowl then immediately vacated. We need to give people a reason to come to the southbank. Oh one other thing popped into my head. Its a hassle to cross the river from The Landing for instance to the other side. Eaither by car, boat, or walk back to bay and walk over the main street bridge. There need to be better acess to the main street bridge on both sides of the river. Chattanooga has done a fantastic job incorporating the river into there downtown and north shore (as my family calls it). There are shops and restaurants on both sides with a pedestrian only bridge connecting the two. There is also always a festival or some activity going on there. The best being Riverbend in June.
Well I still miss Union Station. Ruby Falls was fantastic though wasn't it? Did you take in ROCK CITY? Well worth the trip by it's self as is the incline Railway.
My Great Grandfather Camped on Missionary Ridge, he was on the North end but they were having major trouble trying to contain a flood of yankee visitors. He was one of the last Southrons off the Ridge, and almost didn't get out of Chattanooga... but he finally made it to a peaceful little campground at Chickamauga Creek down in Georgia. It was at Chickamauga that he met the "Devil" and rode with him... Perhaps Riverside Gator has similar storys to tell.
So much for family memories of Chattanooga...
Ocklawaha
no longer the Hilton. It is a Crowne Plaza.
Chattanooga is my second home. My mother's family dates back to about the 1840's or so. My mom loves geneology. I think i've done just about everything there is to do there. The best would be Rock City. I remember, as a kid, hiking along suck creek and mocassin bend with my uncle looking for arrowheads. Great memories.
I grew up in Chattanooga, left for 20 years, and returned. I'm astonished at downtown's renaissance, and spend a significant amount of time on both the north and south shores. This doesn't even feel like the same city I left two decades ago.
It's a family-friendly downtown, and there's always an event or multiple events to enjoy, most of which are free. No one can say there's nothing to do here. If someone's bored, it's their own fault!
There is no question the great city of Jacksonville, with it's many wonderful assests, can accomplish the same thing, and develop it's own unique and spectacular downtown revival.
Those pics must have been taken on a Sunday.
Heights Unknown
I think it was on a Sunday around 7am in the morning.