Inaugural Remarks
04/18/2005

It was a long and contentious election and campaign and now we are engaged in a whirlwind transition.  Instead of six weeks to prepare my cabinet, we’ve got less than six days.  There has been little time to reflect.  But one thing I have been thinking about is that it is time to repair relationships and it is time to move on.

I want to assure everyone listening that one of my first priorities is to repair the rifts in our community.  It will be my personal responsibility.  I want to make one community our goal for the greater community.

I find it to be an extreme advantage that I can move seamlessly into the future having had former Mayors like Robert Kirk Walker, Rose, Roberts, John Kinsey and Bob Corker to follow. 

I want to make special recognition to Mayor Robert Kirk Walker for without his sacrifice Chattanooga wouldn’t be what it is today.  He ran for office and worked four years then graciously stepped down.  But while he was in office, his administration annexed enough people to ensure that Chattanooga could grow and become the vibrant city it is today.  A lot of people hold hard feelings about annexation, and it’s understandable.  But without Mayor Walker’s vision to bring in a wider tax base, Chattanooga would not have been able to achieve its potential. 

There are three elements I’d like to touch on that will guide my administration in the coming years.  The first one is change.  Let’s make it positive and progressive in our city.  I’ve spent time in the Rust Belt of the United States and observed cities that were victims of change.  Manufacturing plants were closed, people out of work, and the cities victims of change.

Chattanooga has shown it can be a master of change.  We are known nationally and globally as a city that transformed its downtown.  I want us to be known as a city that embraces change and finds new opportunity to transform the social and economic fabric for the better.  And all of this can be a natural progression for us.

The second element is creativity.  Creativity is the spark in the engine that drives change.  And under the heading of creativity is art, invention, discoveries in science and entrepreneurship.  Together our City can use creativity to move forward.

Let’s get creative in education as well.  Our City can do many good things for its children.  Let’s not fill up their minds with facts but unlock minds to unexplored territory.  There were many people throughout history with no formal education but creative ideas: Walt Disney, George Washington Carver and Thomas Edison.  Let’s help our students be exposed to creativity by interacting with museums, making our recreation centers a hub of knowledge and giving our central and branch libraries a bigger role in educating our young.

As Mayor I’ll begin a Great Ideas Fair for young people.  It’ll be like a science fair but with entrepreneurial ideas. We’ll reward our City’s youth for believing in their dreams and putting them on paper.  There will be cash prizes and possibly internships to the winners.  All students will be encouraged to think out of the box.  I believe in our youth and want them to know they are important to the success of our City.

The third element is compassion.  Throughout my campaign I’ve come face to face with poverty.  My headquarters was located on East 11th street near the Central Community Kitchen.  We had homeless living in our building.

As I walked door to door I saw poverty in our city first hand.  There were unheated homes, age, mental illness and unemployment.  Our City has done a lot for the homeless already with the Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, Habitat for Humanity, the Food Bank and United Way.  Some things Government can and will do to help the less fortunate of our city.  It is time for us to take an active roll in alleviating poverty in our own city.

So I ask you today, my Christian brothers, my Jewish brothers, my Muslim brothers and others, let’s step up to the plate and help those less fortunate in our community.  Let’s work together to bring everyone along with us to become a great City that is good to its less fortunate.

The three elements we’ve talked about today are:

Lets become a city that does not fear change but embraces it.  Let’s become a city that does not shrink from new ways, that sparkles with creativity and infuses our youth with curiosity and thirst for knowledge and adventure.  And let’s become a city that does not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to those struggling.  Lets become a city of compassion.

And as John Taylor said in his opening invocation, Mathew 5:14 says, “We can be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden,” a shining example for all to follow.

And to you Mayor Corker, I’d almost rather inherit disaster than follow a raging success like you have been.  But I think for Chattanooga, the best is yet to come.”