 |
|
|
|
Safe Streets -- A letter to the City CouncilmenBy Charlie BastnagelI have lived
in Chattanooga for the last eight years and like many people feel that it is a beautiful
city; not too big, not too small. The first three of those years, I was an overweight
workaholic (weighing in at 230lbs.). At a certain point, I began to have breathing
problems and started to have seizures and blackouts, which I totally attributed to the
weight. Now that I am a competitive triathlete with my weight down to 170lbs., I have
learned that it wasn't just the weight, but that our air pollution was a major factor as
well. To help
reduce our contribution to the pollution problem in Chattanooga, my wife and I sold one of
our cars and I either commute by bike, bus, or on foot (running) to work from Belvoir
(Brainerd Baptist Area) to downtown. People at work think I am a nut for doing so. It
shouldn't be considered that strange. In Europe, I would be a part of the norm. There are
now about 5 people commuting by bike here at Cigna. There would be more if they felt that
there was a safe way to get here. In my opinion
Chattanooga is in very real danger of becoming an unhealthy place to live because of
uncontrolled growth, poor transportation
planning, pollution, and litter everywhere you look. Bike lanes are an easy first step in
preventing the migration of families to other cities who are already doing the hard work
to make their cities more healthy to live in. Instead of trying to make room for even more
cars, we should be trying to find ways to limit the need for cars in the city. Eventually
tourists will not want to visit due to the cloud of smog that hangs over the city,
especially in summer. Have you ever
walked/run through the Brainerd tunnel? When you do several things may come to mind: 1. This is no
place for a human. 2. The air is
nearly unbreathable. 3. The
constant stream of cars with one person riding in them. Do they all need cars? 4. Why won't
they ride the bus? 5. Look at
the broken glass on the ground. You couldn't ride a bike through here. If you decide
to commute on bike or foot around this city you discover that the people of this city care
very little for it. The amount of trash is quite astounding. Sadly, the onus will be on
the city of Chattanooga to coerce or force its citizens to stop treating it as a landfill.
And when they still ignore your programs it will be up to the city or volunteers to
cleanup the mess. Take a walk down Shallowford Road from Moore Rd to Airport Rd and you
will see what I mean. As a cyclist, we get to see things in slow motion and so we notice
more of the trash. Cars fly by oblivious to the mess and so the passengers feel no
compunction to stop throwing out their McDonalds bags or entire bags of trash. Quite
frankly it is disgusting. The entrance ramp to I-24 at Germantown often has entire bags of
trash strewn along the roadway. It is not
just a problem for Chattanooga, in large part, it is a problem all over the south. This
past weekend I rented a car to visit my parents in Olive Branch, MS (south of Memphis) and
was stunned at the amount of trash along the road in front of their Church. I found so
much trash that I was unable to close my trunk after piling it all in. That is a lot of
trash. My six year old niece said to me, "Who would do such a thing Uncle
Charlie?" The only response I could think
of was, "People who don't care about themselves or the place where they live."
The problem for the city as I see it is: How do you keep people who don't care from
ruining it for those who do? My wife is already pressuring me to consider moving out west
to Colorado. Some concrete steps taken by the city would help us to feel that things are
getting better. Sacrificing current growth for future health is never an easy task and a
hard platform to win elections on. But it will cost you less to do it now. What happens
when the tourism market dries up because parents are afraid to bring their children to
Chattanooga because the air quality is so poor? Since I work in the TVA Blue Ridge
building, I ride the electric shuttle quite a bit and I have already heard some tourists
discussing the cloud of smog that hangs over the city in the summer. It might not be long
before the same magazine that declared Chattanooga as the most overlooked family vacation
destination then declares a reason why it should be overlooked. Thanks for
hearing me out Charlie
Bastnagel charlie.bastnagel@cigna.com This email was sent to each of our city councilmen. THANK YOU, CHARLIE!
|
|
|
