Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. We do
Speaker 1: talk about a lot of the big global macro issues
Speaker 1: that are facing our world, which is why we need
Speaker 1: to remind ourselves that it's always important to check out
Speaker 1: things from the ground level up. We've got a great
Speaker 1: voice to do that. Tim Kelly is the mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Tim joins us now in the Interactive Broker studios here
Speaker 1: at Bloomberg. Mayor Kelly, how are you. I'm doing great.
Speaker 1: How are y'all? We're doing well. It's good to have
Speaker 1: you with us. It's great to be here. Are we
Speaker 1: doing well? We have a lot of questions that are
Speaker 1: out there in terms of economic You were just saying,
Speaker 1: how like the market. It's a beautiful thing. This weekend
Speaker 1: was super hot, but it's today's and that's what I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about. Okay, So so tell us how the outlook
Speaker 1: looks from your perspective and what's going on in your city.
Speaker 1: I've only been the mayor for about a year, you know,
Speaker 1: I came at it from a business perspective of a
Speaker 1: business guy. And and I spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: in the philanthropic world too, and didn't really and still
Speaker 1: don't really have future political ambitions. I really just believe
Speaker 1: that Chattanooga has the potential to be one of, if
Speaker 1: not the best city in America, all things considered. And
Speaker 1: so entrepreneurs hate wasted potential and and that was kind
Speaker 1: of my thesis, right. So, but we're doing well. I mean,
Speaker 1: we we weathered the pandemic well, I mean, we had
Speaker 1: our real challenges with public health and attitudes towards vaccination. Um,
Speaker 1: but we you know, we we the city created some
Speaker 1: incentives to to incentivize vaccination that that that we know worked,
Speaker 1: and um, we made it through. What's well? What's well?
Speaker 1: Tell us about growth? Tell us about unemployment? Okay, well, unemployment,
Speaker 1: I want to say, is sitting about three. Um. Really, frankly,
Speaker 1: most of our problems are stacking up on the other
Speaker 1: side of the ledger where you know, again I'm every
Speaker 1: day turning the crank with one hand for economic development,
Speaker 1: but on the other hand, you know, we have to
Speaker 1: tackle these problems of workforce development and affordable housing which
Speaker 1: are becoming increasingly difficult. And you know, we're imagining our
Speaker 1: public transit system, which is going to be important. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know that's the bulk of what I do every day.
Speaker 1: How do you get more people to move to Chattanooga
Speaker 1: for work? Well, again, we have the fastest, cheapest, most
Speaker 1: pervasive public internet in the country. We were lucky, you know,
Speaker 1: my predecessors had the vision and foresight to invest I
Speaker 1: think it was about two twenty million bucks at the time,
Speaker 1: which seems like a cheap date to build out a
Speaker 1: really you know robust Why don't you look at me
Speaker 1: when you said that, I'm just getting I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: But it's been transformative, it really has, right, So you know,
Speaker 1: you can get ten gigs speed there, download up two
Speaker 1: hour hot f movie in three minutes, and you know
Speaker 1: for a couple hundred bucks a month, and one gig
Speaker 1: is maybe about a hundred and so we had a
Speaker 1: lot of people that moved in during the pandemic. Um.
Speaker 1: The thesis was basically that you know, if you can
Speaker 1: work from anywhere, why would you not be in the
Speaker 1: place for the best quality of life? And that really
Speaker 1: is chanting Stock and Trade. Well, Mayor Kelly talking to
Speaker 1: us about this because I was looking at there was
Speaker 1: I think United Van Lines did a survey. They've been
Speaker 1: doing it for forty five years. Ranks Tennessee seventh on
Speaker 1: the list of top moving destinations and that was for
Speaker 1: last year. So tell us about how many people, like,
Speaker 1: what is the inflow that you're seeing? Well, that's really
Speaker 1: part of what what keeps me up at night is
Speaker 1: not knowing. Um, A lot of it is anecdotal, right,
Speaker 1: I mean the Chamber of Commerce. If if I recruit
Speaker 1: a company to come to town, I meet the CEO
Speaker 1: and you know, and come to a meeting and there's
Speaker 1: two hundred employees. But the long tale of the of
Speaker 1: the remote workforce, you you don't know. I mean, I
Speaker 1: was telling a story about being in a soccer game
Speaker 1: and somebody flagging me down because they knew I was
Speaker 1: a Tottenham fan and they were Arsenal fans and they
Speaker 1: were giving me grief about it. They moved here from
Speaker 1: Brooklyn with apologies to the Metro, but they moved to Chattanooga,
Speaker 1: and uh, I mean, I don't, I did not. How
Speaker 1: are we supposed to know who they are? Right? So,
Speaker 1: as the mayor, we're still newly on how we can
Speaker 1: find out who's there now and and like what do
Speaker 1: you do, I mean, you're working. We don't in the aggregate,
Speaker 1: we we don't know we know that. Um. So for example,
Speaker 1: we had him run a study through our electric utility
Speaker 1: to that showed uh, new sign ups for more than
Speaker 1: fifty miles away for for a electric service, and that
Speaker 1: was about ten thou people, so you know, fairly significant. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then we sent them a little bit of a
Speaker 1: follow up survey and it was anecdotal. The response rate
Speaker 1: was not great, but it was what you would expect, right.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of remote workers, more retirees and
Speaker 1: than I realized. But we still don't really have a
Speaker 1: way to kind of rally them and leverage them as
Speaker 1: a group, because there's some really smart and talented people
Speaker 1: that are there. But we yeah, well, you know what
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you, because it's funny. We had
Speaker 1: this story from the credits we CEO about saying that
Speaker 1: you know a lot of make employees, they're not going
Speaker 1: to come back to work. Do you think that the
Speaker 1: really smart conversation or thought about this is that things
Speaker 1: have changed dramatically. People are for the first time in
Speaker 1: a long time, Americans are moving around the country because
Speaker 1: they can do you think that stays with us. I do,
Speaker 1: I mean I do, and I think it has kind
Speaker 1: of fundamentally changed the landscape. I think it's good to
Speaker 1: have a diversified economy. I don't see that Chattanoogle will
Speaker 1: completely rely on that. I mean, we're still, you know,
Speaker 1: spend most of our time working on traditional economic development.
Speaker 1: But again, our you know again are if we have
Speaker 1: a petitive advantage of a city, it's our outdoor space,
Speaker 1: Our our outdoor activities are green space. And so that's
Speaker 1: we're going to continue to leverage that because it comes
Speaker 1: back to quality of life. Still with us is Tim Kelly,
Speaker 1: may or Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is here in studio with us.
Speaker 1: What would surprise people about Chattanooga, those who might not
Speaker 1: be familiar with the city probably just how how green
Speaker 1: it is, how much there is to do there, and
Speaker 1: how and how you know, cosmopolitan it is. If we
Speaker 1: were talking about you know, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: stereotypes about the South um that are um, maybe we're
Speaker 1: well deserved at one time, but but it's a it's
Speaker 1: a very very um diverse, artistic, progressive city like you know,
Speaker 1: all the all the cities in Tennessee, are you know,
Speaker 1: not to get too political about it, but they're they're
Speaker 1: largely blue cities, if not purple. And uh, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a it's a it's a great city to live in.
Speaker 1: What are you doing to attract families there? Well, again,
Speaker 1: affordable housing is becoming difficult. But schools. Again, Tennessee is
Speaker 1: a very low tax state. That's that's a big drawing card. Uh.
Speaker 1: The downside is we don't fund education well, so there's
Speaker 1: a big push state wide to refocus on education funding. Uh,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of my Bailey Wicks. Are you seeing
Speaker 1: people who are moving to Chattanooga in the most recent wave.
Speaker 1: Are they sending their kids to the public schools? Or
Speaker 1: they are opting for private because they're moving to places
Speaker 1: with a higher cost of living and potentially keeping the
Speaker 1: same salaries, so they do have some extras disposible income.
Speaker 1: I think it's both. I don't know the data, um
Speaker 1: you know, chapter in verse, but I mean, I will
Speaker 1: say private school penetration in Chattanooga is higher than the
Speaker 1: national average, and we have some fantastic private schools. Um.
Speaker 1: But public school quality is also on a on a
Speaker 1: very good trend. So I think it's both In according
Speaker 1: to you know, income Mary Kelly. We have about thirty seconds,
Speaker 1: then we'll come back and talk some more. You said
Speaker 1: you've been on the job about a year or so.
Speaker 1: What surprised you about this position so far? Oh? Man, Um,
Speaker 1: really probably just again. You hear all the jokes about
Speaker 1: the speed of government, and I'm a big fan of
Speaker 1: our patron, Mike Bloomberg, and and it's all true. Right,
Speaker 1: it's a it's slow, and it's I am I'm a
Speaker 1: pretty impatient guy. So um, it's it's it's tough, but
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I have a plan. I've devised my ways
Speaker 1: to move things along, and I come in most days
Speaker 1: with my hair on fire. So keep swings. All right,
Speaker 1: We're going to continue with Mayor Tim Kelly, mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Speaker 1: You're listening and watching on YouTube Bloomberg Business Week, and
Speaker 1: this is Bloomberg Radio. I want to get right back
Speaker 1: to Tim Kelly. He's mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He's in
Speaker 1: our Interactive broker studio. I feel like Tim and I
Speaker 1: still have a list of things we want to get to.
Speaker 1: One thing we do want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: is real estate, and as people are moving into Chattanooga. Um,
Speaker 1: is it so expensive that locals are getting priced out?
Speaker 1: It is, it's getting there, and so you know, we've
Speaker 1: jumped on it pretty quickly. UM. I announced a thirty
Speaker 1: three million dollar allocation of a city budget, which the
Speaker 1: city side of Chattanoo is a pretty good chunk. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then I'm gonna use my UM experience in the
Speaker 1: philanthropic world to really work with our local foundations and
Speaker 1: national foundations to try to raise a hundred million total
Speaker 1: and then also contribute a lot of city property that
Speaker 1: we have towards the effort. But but it is, um,
Speaker 1: it's a form of inflation, and you know, you have
Speaker 1: to get on it early and often. So we're we're
Speaker 1: where where there's a lot of buildings going up. Thank god.
Speaker 1: You know, the splatchings issues seem to be slacking up
Speaker 1: a little bit. But we we are going to have
Speaker 1: to be very intentional about increasing supply. What is typical
Speaker 1: cost of the house uh for a family or housing
Speaker 1: for a family there, and how much has it increased
Speaker 1: in the last two years. So the stats I've got,
Speaker 1: I want to say, the median household price five or
Speaker 1: seven years ago is like one fifty nine and it's
Speaker 1: gone to I want to say, to seventy nineties somewhere
Speaker 1: in there. So that's a pretty meteoric jump. So Mayor Kelly,
Speaker 1: you know that there are people in the New York
Speaker 1: metro area saying, Okay, I'm packing up and moving to Chattanooga.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing that's going on, right, the
Speaker 1: perspective of exactly, I mean, that's part of the appeal.
Speaker 1: It's sure, it is right, there's no question about it.
Speaker 1: That plus plus the Internet, plus all the green space,
Speaker 1: it's not really that complicated. But but the trajectory has
Speaker 1: headed on. I mean, that's great. That's what we're here
Speaker 1: to do, or I'm here to do, is to try
Speaker 1: to sell Chattanooga and push economic growth. But but again,
Speaker 1: my job is a Goldilocks problem, so I have to
Speaker 1: have to have to push hard. You know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk to you about Roe v. Wade because it's
Speaker 1: a business store and Tennessee is one of about a
Speaker 1: dozen states I believe they're thirteen that have a so
Speaker 1: called trigger law, so abortion would become illegal if the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. We see companies speaking
Speaker 1: out about this, especially that companies that have employees and
Speaker 1: states were so called trigger laws could take effect. What
Speaker 1: would you say to somebody who's concerned about moving to
Speaker 1: a state where abortion could become illegal. Well, I am
Speaker 1: concerned about it, right, I mean the break on economic
Speaker 1: growth could be significant the flip side as a as
Speaker 1: a city mayor, right, I kind of try to live
Speaker 1: by the old serenity prayer and worry about what I
Speaker 1: can control and not worry about what I can't control.
Speaker 1: And that one is is well above my pay grade.
Speaker 1: But but I am concerned as I think the most
Speaker 1: most business minded people in the state of Tennessee are Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll leave it at that, Okay, but I am going
Speaker 1: to follow because you said you're concerned about it being
Speaker 1: a break on economic growth. You could see something like
Speaker 1: that slowing either companies coming to this, coming to the city,
Speaker 1: or expanding within the city. Yeah, yes, of course, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think history has shown that companies and workers,
Speaker 1: particularly the knowledge economy, want to be in diverse, progressive cities. Right,
Speaker 1: And and that is sort of antithetical, uh, running the
Speaker 1: opposite current from from from overturning Browy Wade Um that
Speaker 1: said you know, Tennessee has always been a very pro
Speaker 1: business state and has has pro business leadership. I will
Speaker 1: will see how it all plays out, but it is
Speaker 1: it is of concern for us, you know. I do
Speaker 1: want to point out, as full disclosure, Chattanooga among the
Speaker 1: first AID cities selected for a nationwide initiative to improve
Speaker 1: government performance and transparency through civic data. We're talking about
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Philanthropies, What Works Cities and which is providing support
Speaker 1: and training for midsize cities, including your city. I mean,
Speaker 1: what does it mean to be a modern city today? Well, again,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm if I came at it from business
Speaker 1: and and philanthropy, not from politics. Advantage. I think it's
Speaker 1: a huge advantage. I mean again, Mike Bloomberg of candidly
Speaker 1: is my hero, right, I mean like I come at
Speaker 1: it from the same direction that he did. We you know,
Speaker 1: executive politics is a very very different, non ideological exercise
Speaker 1: than legislative politics. My job is to run the city
Speaker 1: like a Swiss watch, right to to to really have
Speaker 1: the machinery of government work. And I don't think that's
Speaker 1: a trivial undertaking. Because we ran in my whole campaign
Speaker 1: based on filling potholes, which seemed really probably about analogy
Speaker 1: but pedestrian. But what occurred to me through the course
Speaker 1: of the campaign was people want to know that government
Speaker 1: can solve their problems. And if you can't solve their
Speaker 1: simplest problems, they're not gonna trust you to solve more
Speaker 1: abstract problems. I mean democracy. I think it's fair to
Speaker 1: say as an institution is under is under threat. And
Speaker 1: I think cities are where we can prove that democracy
Speaker 1: works and that government can still solve people's problems. But
Speaker 1: all people, all people's problems. How do we make or that,
Speaker 1: because that's that's the world we are in. Here. We
Speaker 1: come off as two year pandemic, right uh, and we
Speaker 1: see the gaps have just widened absolutely. And so the
Speaker 1: thesis of my campaign not to get too political was,
Speaker 1: you know, one Chattanooga, I published a forty page strategic
Speaker 1: plan that's basically relies on two tenants. One is, you know,
Speaker 1: creating government that works better for all Chattanoogan's. But the
Speaker 1: other one, very frankly, is getting the difficult topics on
Speaker 1: the table and talking about them until we fix them.
Speaker 1: And that's racial equity, right, And it's not as Raphael
Speaker 1: Bostick eloquently said to the Atlanta Federal Reserve, racism is
Speaker 1: is expensive, it doesn't work. And so you know, the
Speaker 1: gaps between the black and the white community and Chattanooga
Speaker 1: are are worse than they are nationally and it has
Speaker 1: to change, right, So that's that is a very explicit
Speaker 1: goal for us is to close the gaps in average
Speaker 1: income and network between our black and white communities. And again, look,
Speaker 1: i'm a startup guy, I'm an entrepreneur. A lot of
Speaker 1: it will be focused there, a lot of it's focused
Speaker 1: on workforce development, adult learners, and and of course good
Speaker 1: old fashioned education. We need to fund from early childhood
Speaker 1: to a post secondary. We need to fund our educational
Speaker 1: institutions better. All Right, So I'm gonna say, i feel
Speaker 1: like we've been having these conversations and I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: I'm targeting you because you're here, but I mean it
Speaker 1: more broadly and the same thing, you know, after George Floyd, Like,
Speaker 1: these were not new conversations. So what is it? So
Speaker 1: many people say, Well, the people who are most impacted
Speaker 1: don't have a seat at the table, right, So so
Speaker 1: what would you say if you could pick one or
Speaker 1: two things that you think would change some of the
Speaker 1: inequities that are out there, whether it's black, white, whether
Speaker 1: it's you know, well, look, I mean it's to some extent,
Speaker 1: it's an attitudinal thing. A good friend of mine ran
Speaker 1: against me, is mayor a black man and I one,
Speaker 1: you know, and um, and if there was a consolation,
Speaker 1: we're you know, we're still quite close. You know, Racism
Speaker 1: is a problem for the black community, but it's a
Speaker 1: problem with white people. Right, So I think as a
Speaker 1: white candidate can can do some things to help close
Speaker 1: those gaps that a black candidate might not be able
Speaker 1: to do. And that's what I try to do on
Speaker 1: a daily basis, right just to keep having those conversations
Speaker 1: in a very very intentional way, and again not in
Speaker 1: a political or polemical way, but in almost a utilitarian way. Right,
Speaker 1: this this doesn't work, it's it's not working, and so
Speaker 1: we we've got to figure out a way to bridge
Speaker 1: those gaps. And again that's what we again, that's what
Speaker 1: we do. Your background is as an entrepreneur, as an executive.
Speaker 1: You started companies, you started the soccer team there, I
Speaker 1: did my favorite startup. But what comes what comes next
Speaker 1: for you? I mean again, I firmly believe I have
Speaker 1: Andrew Young to thank for the quote. But I mean,
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs hate wasted potential, and I firmly believe the Chattanooga
Speaker 1: has the potential to be one of, if not the
Speaker 1: best cities in the United States. And that's what I'm
Speaker 1: going to spend the next seven years doing. I don't have,
Speaker 1: you know, political ambitions beyond that. I'm I'm going to
Speaker 1: pour every ounce of my energy into into Chattanooga and
Speaker 1: not worry about anything else. So you're saying, if they said,
Speaker 1: can you can be a senator? Could you? I'm not.
Speaker 1: I mean Corker is a good friend of mine and
Speaker 1: and has been a great mentor of media something else,
Speaker 1: and bonk Corker would tell you that like being the
Speaker 1: mayor of Chattanoog was still the best job you ever had.
Speaker 1: I would never say never, but I can't imagine. All Right,
Speaker 1: Tim Kelly, what a pleasure. UM, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. He is the mayor of Chattanooga.
Speaker 1: Joining us in studio, I'm Carol Masser along with Tim
Speaker 1: Stanovic for the Hold Bloomberg Business Week team. Have a good,
Speaker 1: safe evening everyone, This is Bloomberg