State of the city address

Staff Photo by Tim Barber Mayor Ron Littlefield, right, and his wife, Lanis, the First Lady of Chattanooga, enter the DoubleTree Hotel on Thursday to give his State of the City address to a large crowd.

Growth is coming to Chattanooga and the city needs to prepare itself, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield said Thursday.

“It’s safe to predict that, in the future, the near future, the places that we call cities will be very different,” Mr. Littlefield said. “This city will be very different.”

Giving his annual State of the City address, Mr. Littlefield spoke to a crowd of about 300 Thursday afternoon in a conference room of the Doubletree Motel on Chestnut Street.

A large focus of the speech centered on how to prepare for and handle growth, but the mayor also touched on trying to bring young professionals into the mix.

Saying the state of the city is “good,” Mr. Littlefield also praised his staff for helping to bring in Volkswagen and Gestamp Corp. to the Enterprise South industrial park as well as assisting with Alstom Power’s expansion on Riverfront Parkway.

Mr. Littlefield spoke briefly about expanding the city’s borders. County Mayor Claude Ramsey, who introduced Mr. Littlefield, also discussed annexation.

“I said I’ll come and do it if he doesn’t talk about annexation,” Mr. Ramsey joked. “I can’t think of one thing — except that — that we disagree with.”

For others in the audience, the absence of more talk about annexation was noticeable. A majority of City Council members said after the speech that they did not hear nearly enough about the subject.

“I’m sure one thing on everyone’s mind was annexation,” Councilman Andraé McGary said.

“I thought maybe there would be more talk about annexation, but I guess this wasn’t the time and place” Councilman Manny Rico said.

During the 30-minute speech, the mayor discussed the need for the federal government stepping up, specifically highlighting a proposed high-speed rail running through Chattanooga from Atlanta to Chicago as a potential economic development booster.

Citing a study by the Urban Land Institute, Mr. Littlefield also noted how rising gas prices will mean more development in central cities and inner suburbs. He said Chattanooga needs to position itself for such growth and already has made strides in that direction through urban planning.

“The common thread is that all of this relates to urban planning and the provision of urban services in such fashion that we create sustainable communities,” said Mr. Littlefield, who worked as an urban planner before becoming mayor.

After the speech, Councilwoman Carol Berz said she was impressed with vision behind the mayor’s words.

“I was impressed that he talked about the future,” she said.