WEBVTT - Chattanooga Growing Into Remote Work Hotspot

0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.600
<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and

0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:08.039
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. We do

0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:11.240
<v Speaker 1>talk about a lot of the big global macro issues

0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.040
<v Speaker 1>that are facing our world, which is why we need

0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:15.200
<v Speaker 1>to remind ourselves that it's always important to check out

0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:17.760
<v Speaker 1>things from the ground level up. We've got a great

0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.880
<v Speaker 1>voice to do that. Tim Kelly is the mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.320
<v Speaker 1>Tim joins us now in the Interactive Broker studios here

0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:26.840
<v Speaker 1>at Bloomberg. Mayor Kelly, how are you. I'm doing great.

0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:28.680
<v Speaker 1>How are y'all? We're doing well. It's good to have

0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:30.520
<v Speaker 1>you with us. It's great to be here. Are we

0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:32.479
<v Speaker 1>doing well? We have a lot of questions that are

0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:34.680
<v Speaker 1>out there in terms of economic You were just saying,

0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:39.640
<v Speaker 1>how like the market. It's a beautiful thing. This weekend

0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:41.680
<v Speaker 1>was super hot, but it's today's and that's what I'm

0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.320
<v Speaker 1>thinking about. Okay, So so tell us how the outlook

0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.040
<v Speaker 1>looks from your perspective and what's going on in your city.

0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:50.720
<v Speaker 1>I've only been the mayor for about a year, you know,

0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:52.960
<v Speaker 1>I came at it from a business perspective of a

0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.080
<v Speaker 1>business guy. And and I spent a lot of time

0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:57.560
<v Speaker 1>in the philanthropic world too, and didn't really and still

0:00:57.600 --> 0:00:59.960
<v Speaker 1>don't really have future political ambitions. I really just believe

0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.080
<v Speaker 1>that Chattanooga has the potential to be one of, if

0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.319
<v Speaker 1>not the best city in America, all things considered. And

0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:09.319
<v Speaker 1>so entrepreneurs hate wasted potential and and that was kind

0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:11.560
<v Speaker 1>of my thesis, right. So, but we're doing well. I mean,

0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.080
<v Speaker 1>we we weathered the pandemic well, I mean, we had

0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.000
<v Speaker 1>our real challenges with public health and attitudes towards vaccination. Um,

0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:20.040
<v Speaker 1>but we you know, we we the city created some

0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:24.160
<v Speaker 1>incentives to to incentivize vaccination that that that we know worked,

0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.039
<v Speaker 1>and um, we made it through. What's well? What's well?

0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.360
<v Speaker 1>Tell us about growth? Tell us about unemployment? Okay, well, unemployment,

0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.240
<v Speaker 1>I want to say, is sitting about three. Um. Really, frankly,

0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:35.360
<v Speaker 1>most of our problems are stacking up on the other

0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:38.680
<v Speaker 1>side of the ledger where you know, again I'm every

0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.360
<v Speaker 1>day turning the crank with one hand for economic development,

0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:42.959
<v Speaker 1>but on the other hand, you know, we have to

0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:46.199
<v Speaker 1>tackle these problems of workforce development and affordable housing which

0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.520
<v Speaker 1>are becoming increasingly difficult. And you know, we're imagining our

0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.600
<v Speaker 1>public transit system, which is going to be important. So, um,

0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:54.680
<v Speaker 1>you know that's the bulk of what I do every day.

0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.040
<v Speaker 1>How do you get more people to move to Chattanooga

0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:02.480
<v Speaker 1>for work? Well, again, we have the fastest, cheapest, most

0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:06.440
<v Speaker 1>pervasive public internet in the country. We were lucky, you know,

0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.600
<v Speaker 1>my predecessors had the vision and foresight to invest I

0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:11.560
<v Speaker 1>think it was about two twenty million bucks at the time,

0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.320
<v Speaker 1>which seems like a cheap date to build out a

0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:16.840
<v Speaker 1>really you know robust Why don't you look at me

0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.880
<v Speaker 1>when you said that, I'm just getting I'm just kidding.

0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.480
<v Speaker 1>But it's been transformative, it really has, right, So you know,

0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.919
<v Speaker 1>you can get ten gigs speed there, download up two

0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.080
<v Speaker 1>hour hot f movie in three minutes, and you know

0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:31.720
<v Speaker 1>for a couple hundred bucks a month, and one gig

0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:33.720
<v Speaker 1>is maybe about a hundred and so we had a

0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.080
<v Speaker 1>lot of people that moved in during the pandemic. Um.

0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.360
<v Speaker 1>The thesis was basically that you know, if you can

0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.040
<v Speaker 1>work from anywhere, why would you not be in the

0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.160
<v Speaker 1>place for the best quality of life? And that really

0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:44.480
<v Speaker 1>is chanting Stock and Trade. Well, Mayor Kelly talking to

0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:45.919
<v Speaker 1>us about this because I was looking at there was

0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.880
<v Speaker 1>I think United Van Lines did a survey. They've been

0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.079
<v Speaker 1>doing it for forty five years. Ranks Tennessee seventh on

0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:53.480
<v Speaker 1>the list of top moving destinations and that was for

0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.120
<v Speaker 1>last year. So tell us about how many people, like,

0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:58.400
<v Speaker 1>what is the inflow that you're seeing? Well, that's really

0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:00.959
<v Speaker 1>part of what what keeps me up at night is

0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.880
<v Speaker 1>not knowing. Um, A lot of it is anecdotal, right,

0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.160
<v Speaker 1>I mean the Chamber of Commerce. If if I recruit

0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:07.880
<v Speaker 1>a company to come to town, I meet the CEO

0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:10.240
<v Speaker 1>and you know, and come to a meeting and there's

0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.360
<v Speaker 1>two hundred employees. But the long tale of the of

0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:16.880
<v Speaker 1>the remote workforce, you you don't know. I mean, I

0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:18.839
<v Speaker 1>was telling a story about being in a soccer game

0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.919
<v Speaker 1>and somebody flagging me down because they knew I was

0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:23.720
<v Speaker 1>a Tottenham fan and they were Arsenal fans and they

0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.119
<v Speaker 1>were giving me grief about it. They moved here from

0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.919
<v Speaker 1>Brooklyn with apologies to the Metro, but they moved to Chattanooga,

0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.920
<v Speaker 1>and uh, I mean, I don't, I did not. How

0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:34.720
<v Speaker 1>are we supposed to know who they are? Right? So,

0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:38.119
<v Speaker 1>as the mayor, we're still newly on how we can

0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.920
<v Speaker 1>find out who's there now and and like what do

0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:47.960
<v Speaker 1>you do, I mean, you're working. We don't in the aggregate,

0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.880
<v Speaker 1>we we don't know we know that. Um. So for example,

0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.480
<v Speaker 1>we had him run a study through our electric utility

0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.840
<v Speaker 1>to that showed uh, new sign ups for more than

0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.920
<v Speaker 1>fifty miles away for for a electric service, and that

0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.520
<v Speaker 1>was about ten thou people, so you know, fairly significant. Uh.

0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:05.800
<v Speaker 1>And then we sent them a little bit of a

0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.520
<v Speaker 1>follow up survey and it was anecdotal. The response rate

0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:10.920
<v Speaker 1>was not great, but it was what you would expect, right.

0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.680
<v Speaker 1>It was a lot of remote workers, more retirees and

0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:16.200
<v Speaker 1>than I realized. But we still don't really have a

0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.560
<v Speaker 1>way to kind of rally them and leverage them as

0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:20.680
<v Speaker 1>a group, because there's some really smart and talented people

0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:22.960
<v Speaker 1>that are there. But we yeah, well, you know what

0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:24.880
<v Speaker 1>I wanted to ask you, because it's funny. We had

0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.200
<v Speaker 1>this story from the credits we CEO about saying that

0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:29.400
<v Speaker 1>you know a lot of make employees, they're not going

0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.360
<v Speaker 1>to come back to work. Do you think that the

0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.440
<v Speaker 1>really smart conversation or thought about this is that things

0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.440
<v Speaker 1>have changed dramatically. People are for the first time in

0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:40.000
<v Speaker 1>a long time, Americans are moving around the country because

0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.440
<v Speaker 1>they can do you think that stays with us. I do,

0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.600
<v Speaker 1>I mean I do, and I think it has kind

0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.719
<v Speaker 1>of fundamentally changed the landscape. I think it's good to

0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.360
<v Speaker 1>have a diversified economy. I don't see that Chattanoogle will

0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:52.839
<v Speaker 1>completely rely on that. I mean, we're still, you know,

0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.839
<v Speaker 1>spend most of our time working on traditional economic development.

0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.719
<v Speaker 1>But again, our you know again are if we have

0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.960
<v Speaker 1>a petitive advantage of a city, it's our outdoor space,

0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.880
<v Speaker 1>Our our outdoor activities are green space. And so that's

0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:11.160
<v Speaker 1>we're going to continue to leverage that because it comes

0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.520
<v Speaker 1>back to quality of life. Still with us is Tim Kelly,

0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.520
<v Speaker 1>may or Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is here in studio with us.

0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:19.359
<v Speaker 1>What would surprise people about Chattanooga, those who might not

0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:23.680
<v Speaker 1>be familiar with the city probably just how how green

0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:25.080
<v Speaker 1>it is, how much there is to do there, and

0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.400
<v Speaker 1>how and how you know, cosmopolitan it is. If we

0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:28.800
<v Speaker 1>were talking about you know, there are a lot of

0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:32.880
<v Speaker 1>stereotypes about the South um that are um, maybe we're

0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:34.840
<v Speaker 1>well deserved at one time, but but it's a it's

0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:39.320
<v Speaker 1>a very very um diverse, artistic, progressive city like you know,

0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.560
<v Speaker 1>all the all the cities in Tennessee, are you know,

0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:43.400
<v Speaker 1>not to get too political about it, but they're they're

0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:46.360
<v Speaker 1>largely blue cities, if not purple. And uh, yeah, it's

0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:48.000
<v Speaker 1>a it's a it's a great city to live in.

0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.960
<v Speaker 1>What are you doing to attract families there? Well, again,

0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.640
<v Speaker 1>affordable housing is becoming difficult. But schools. Again, Tennessee is

0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:00.000
<v Speaker 1>a very low tax state. That's that's a big drawing card. Uh.

0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.920
<v Speaker 1>The downside is we don't fund education well, so there's

0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.560
<v Speaker 1>a big push state wide to refocus on education funding. Uh,

0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.400
<v Speaker 1>and that's kind of my Bailey Wicks. Are you seeing

0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.479
<v Speaker 1>people who are moving to Chattanooga in the most recent wave.

0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.880
<v Speaker 1>Are they sending their kids to the public schools? Or

0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.279
<v Speaker 1>they are opting for private because they're moving to places

0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:19.320
<v Speaker 1>with a higher cost of living and potentially keeping the

0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:22.120
<v Speaker 1>same salaries, so they do have some extras disposible income.

0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.080
<v Speaker 1>I think it's both. I don't know the data, um

0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:26.760
<v Speaker 1>you know, chapter in verse, but I mean, I will

0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.240
<v Speaker 1>say private school penetration in Chattanooga is higher than the

0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.240
<v Speaker 1>national average, and we have some fantastic private schools. Um.

0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.200
<v Speaker 1>But public school quality is also on a on a

0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.480
<v Speaker 1>very good trend. So I think it's both In according

0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.279
<v Speaker 1>to you know, income Mary Kelly. We have about thirty seconds,

0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:41.839
<v Speaker 1>then we'll come back and talk some more. You said

0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:43.400
<v Speaker 1>you've been on the job about a year or so.

0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:47.240
<v Speaker 1>What surprised you about this position so far? Oh? Man, Um,

0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:51.160
<v Speaker 1>really probably just again. You hear all the jokes about

0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:53.800
<v Speaker 1>the speed of government, and I'm a big fan of

0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.680
<v Speaker 1>our patron, Mike Bloomberg, and and it's all true. Right,

0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.279
<v Speaker 1>it's a it's slow, and it's I am I'm a

0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.880
<v Speaker 1>pretty impatient guy. So um, it's it's it's tough, but

0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.760
<v Speaker 1>I'm I'm I have a plan. I've devised my ways

0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.120
<v Speaker 1>to move things along, and I come in most days

0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.920
<v Speaker 1>with my hair on fire. So keep swings. All right,

0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:16.280
<v Speaker 1>We're going to continue with Mayor Tim Kelly, mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.480
<v Speaker 1>You're listening and watching on YouTube Bloomberg Business Week, and

0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:21.640
<v Speaker 1>this is Bloomberg Radio. I want to get right back

0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:23.920
<v Speaker 1>to Tim Kelly. He's mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He's in

0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.000
<v Speaker 1>our Interactive broker studio. I feel like Tim and I

0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:27.440
<v Speaker 1>still have a list of things we want to get to.

0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.200
<v Speaker 1>One thing we do want to talk to you about

0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:33.360
<v Speaker 1>is real estate, and as people are moving into Chattanooga. Um,

0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:35.720
<v Speaker 1>is it so expensive that locals are getting priced out?

0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.800
<v Speaker 1>It is, it's getting there, and so you know, we've

0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.000
<v Speaker 1>jumped on it pretty quickly. UM. I announced a thirty

0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.200
<v Speaker 1>three million dollar allocation of a city budget, which the

0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:46.720
<v Speaker 1>city side of Chattanoo is a pretty good chunk. Uh.

0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.760
<v Speaker 1>And then I'm gonna use my UM experience in the

0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.520
<v Speaker 1>philanthropic world to really work with our local foundations and

0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:55.840
<v Speaker 1>national foundations to try to raise a hundred million total

0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.080
<v Speaker 1>and then also contribute a lot of city property that

0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:01.640
<v Speaker 1>we have towards the effort. But but it is, um,

0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:03.560
<v Speaker 1>it's a form of inflation, and you know, you have

0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:05.560
<v Speaker 1>to get on it early and often. So we're we're

0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:08.720
<v Speaker 1>where where there's a lot of buildings going up. Thank god.

0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.680
<v Speaker 1>You know, the splatchings issues seem to be slacking up

0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:13.720
<v Speaker 1>a little bit. But we we are going to have

0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.560
<v Speaker 1>to be very intentional about increasing supply. What is typical

0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:20.360
<v Speaker 1>cost of the house uh for a family or housing

0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:22.240
<v Speaker 1>for a family there, and how much has it increased

0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.160
<v Speaker 1>in the last two years. So the stats I've got,

0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.400
<v Speaker 1>I want to say, the median household price five or

0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:30.760
<v Speaker 1>seven years ago is like one fifty nine and it's

0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.280
<v Speaker 1>gone to I want to say, to seventy nineties somewhere

0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.560
<v Speaker 1>in there. So that's a pretty meteoric jump. So Mayor Kelly,

0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:38.920
<v Speaker 1>you know that there are people in the New York

0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.920
<v Speaker 1>metro area saying, Okay, I'm packing up and moving to Chattanooga.

0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.160
<v Speaker 1>I mean, that's the thing that's going on, right, the

0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:49.280
<v Speaker 1>perspective of exactly, I mean, that's part of the appeal.

0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:51.200
<v Speaker 1>It's sure, it is right, there's no question about it.

0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:53.959
<v Speaker 1>That plus plus the Internet, plus all the green space,

0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.520
<v Speaker 1>it's not really that complicated. But but the trajectory has

0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.360
<v Speaker 1>headed on. I mean, that's great. That's what we're here

0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:00.839
<v Speaker 1>to do, or I'm here to do, is to try

0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.160
<v Speaker 1>to sell Chattanooga and push economic growth. But but again,

0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.600
<v Speaker 1>my job is a Goldilocks problem, so I have to

0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.760
<v Speaker 1>have to have to push hard. You know, I wanted

0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.400
<v Speaker 1>to talk to you about Roe v. Wade because it's

0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:16.440
<v Speaker 1>a business store and Tennessee is one of about a

0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:18.600
<v Speaker 1>dozen states I believe they're thirteen that have a so

0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.880
<v Speaker 1>called trigger law, so abortion would become illegal if the

0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:25.040
<v Speaker 1>Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. We see companies speaking

0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.680
<v Speaker 1>out about this, especially that companies that have employees and

0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.120
<v Speaker 1>states were so called trigger laws could take effect. What

0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.199
<v Speaker 1>would you say to somebody who's concerned about moving to

0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:36.360
<v Speaker 1>a state where abortion could become illegal. Well, I am

0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.319
<v Speaker 1>concerned about it, right, I mean the break on economic

0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.120
<v Speaker 1>growth could be significant the flip side as a as

0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.120
<v Speaker 1>a city mayor, right, I kind of try to live

0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.160
<v Speaker 1>by the old serenity prayer and worry about what I

0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.480
<v Speaker 1>can control and not worry about what I can't control.

0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.200
<v Speaker 1>And that one is is well above my pay grade.

0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.320
<v Speaker 1>But but I am concerned as I think the most

0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:57.040
<v Speaker 1>most business minded people in the state of Tennessee are Um. Yeah,

0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.360
<v Speaker 1>I'll leave it at that, Okay, but I am going

0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:01.240
<v Speaker 1>to follow because you said you're concerned about it being

0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.960
<v Speaker 1>a break on economic growth. You could see something like

0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:08.120
<v Speaker 1>that slowing either companies coming to this, coming to the city,

0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.760
<v Speaker 1>or expanding within the city. Yeah, yes, of course, right.

0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:16.199
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I think history has shown that companies and workers,

0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.760
<v Speaker 1>particularly the knowledge economy, want to be in diverse, progressive cities. Right,

0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:25.319
<v Speaker 1>And and that is sort of antithetical, uh, running the

0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:29.960
<v Speaker 1>opposite current from from from overturning Browy Wade Um that

0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:31.720
<v Speaker 1>said you know, Tennessee has always been a very pro

0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.480
<v Speaker 1>business state and has has pro business leadership. I will

0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.240
<v Speaker 1>will see how it all plays out, but it is

0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.080
<v Speaker 1>it is of concern for us, you know. I do

0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.520
<v Speaker 1>want to point out, as full disclosure, Chattanooga among the

0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.760
<v Speaker 1>first AID cities selected for a nationwide initiative to improve

0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.680
<v Speaker 1>government performance and transparency through civic data. We're talking about

0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:52.480
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Philanthropies, What Works Cities and which is providing support

0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.319
<v Speaker 1>and training for midsize cities, including your city. I mean,

0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.760
<v Speaker 1>what does it mean to be a modern city today? Well, again,

0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.680
<v Speaker 1>I guess I'm if I came at it from business

0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:06.160
<v Speaker 1>and and philanthropy, not from politics. Advantage. I think it's

0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.920
<v Speaker 1>a huge advantage. I mean again, Mike Bloomberg of candidly

0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.040
<v Speaker 1>is my hero, right, I mean like I come at

0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.520
<v Speaker 1>it from the same direction that he did. We you know,

0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.840
<v Speaker 1>executive politics is a very very different, non ideological exercise

0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.560
<v Speaker 1>than legislative politics. My job is to run the city

0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:24.320
<v Speaker 1>like a Swiss watch, right to to to really have

0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:26.839
<v Speaker 1>the machinery of government work. And I don't think that's

0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:30.600
<v Speaker 1>a trivial undertaking. Because we ran in my whole campaign

0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.040
<v Speaker 1>based on filling potholes, which seemed really probably about analogy

0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.160
<v Speaker 1>but pedestrian. But what occurred to me through the course

0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.960
<v Speaker 1>of the campaign was people want to know that government

0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:41.760
<v Speaker 1>can solve their problems. And if you can't solve their

0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.839
<v Speaker 1>simplest problems, they're not gonna trust you to solve more

0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.480
<v Speaker 1>abstract problems. I mean democracy. I think it's fair to

0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:50.920
<v Speaker 1>say as an institution is under is under threat. And

0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.359
<v Speaker 1>I think cities are where we can prove that democracy

0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.560
<v Speaker 1>works and that government can still solve people's problems. But

0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:00.360
<v Speaker 1>all people, all people's problems. How do we make or that,

0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.600
<v Speaker 1>because that's that's the world we are in. Here. We

0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:06.080
<v Speaker 1>come off as two year pandemic, right uh, and we

0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.760
<v Speaker 1>see the gaps have just widened absolutely. And so the

0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.240
<v Speaker 1>thesis of my campaign not to get too political was,

0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.920
<v Speaker 1>you know, one Chattanooga, I published a forty page strategic

0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:20.880
<v Speaker 1>plan that's basically relies on two tenants. One is, you know,

0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.200
<v Speaker 1>creating government that works better for all Chattanoogan's. But the

0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.880
<v Speaker 1>other one, very frankly, is getting the difficult topics on

0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.160
<v Speaker 1>the table and talking about them until we fix them.

0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:32.400
<v Speaker 1>And that's racial equity, right, And it's not as Raphael

0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.400
<v Speaker 1>Bostick eloquently said to the Atlanta Federal Reserve, racism is

0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.640
<v Speaker 1>is expensive, it doesn't work. And so you know, the

0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.520
<v Speaker 1>gaps between the black and the white community and Chattanooga

0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:46.120
<v Speaker 1>are are worse than they are nationally and it has

0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:48.679
<v Speaker 1>to change, right, So that's that is a very explicit

0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.960
<v Speaker 1>goal for us is to close the gaps in average

0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:54.559
<v Speaker 1>income and network between our black and white communities. And again, look,

0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:56.600
<v Speaker 1>i'm a startup guy, I'm an entrepreneur. A lot of

0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.440
<v Speaker 1>it will be focused there, a lot of it's focused

0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:02.160
<v Speaker 1>on workforce development, adult learners, and and of course good

0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.600
<v Speaker 1>old fashioned education. We need to fund from early childhood

0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.120
<v Speaker 1>to a post secondary. We need to fund our educational

0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.760
<v Speaker 1>institutions better. All Right, So I'm gonna say, i feel

0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.320
<v Speaker 1>like we've been having these conversations and I'm not I'm

0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.160
<v Speaker 1>I'm targeting you because you're here, but I mean it

0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.760
<v Speaker 1>more broadly and the same thing, you know, after George Floyd, Like,

0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.600
<v Speaker 1>these were not new conversations. So what is it? So

0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.160
<v Speaker 1>many people say, Well, the people who are most impacted

0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.280
<v Speaker 1>don't have a seat at the table, right, So so

0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:28.760
<v Speaker 1>what would you say if you could pick one or

0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.320
<v Speaker 1>two things that you think would change some of the

0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.520
<v Speaker 1>inequities that are out there, whether it's black, white, whether

0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.600
<v Speaker 1>it's you know, well, look, I mean it's to some extent,

0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:39.840
<v Speaker 1>it's an attitudinal thing. A good friend of mine ran

0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.840
<v Speaker 1>against me, is mayor a black man and I one,

0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.720
<v Speaker 1>you know, and um, and if there was a consolation,

0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.720
<v Speaker 1>we're you know, we're still quite close. You know, Racism

0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:51.800
<v Speaker 1>is a problem for the black community, but it's a

0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.000
<v Speaker 1>problem with white people. Right, So I think as a

0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.400
<v Speaker 1>white candidate can can do some things to help close

0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.280
<v Speaker 1>those gaps that a black candidate might not be able

0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:02.640
<v Speaker 1>to do. And that's what I try to do on

0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.439
<v Speaker 1>a daily basis, right just to keep having those conversations

0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:08.720
<v Speaker 1>in a very very intentional way, and again not in

0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.720
<v Speaker 1>a political or polemical way, but in almost a utilitarian way. Right,

0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.600
<v Speaker 1>this this doesn't work, it's it's not working, and so

0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:17.360
<v Speaker 1>we we've got to figure out a way to bridge

0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.880
<v Speaker 1>those gaps. And again that's what we again, that's what

0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.960
<v Speaker 1>we do. Your background is as an entrepreneur, as an executive.

0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.400
<v Speaker 1>You started companies, you started the soccer team there, I

0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.080
<v Speaker 1>did my favorite startup. But what comes what comes next

0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:35.120
<v Speaker 1>for you? I mean again, I firmly believe I have

0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.160
<v Speaker 1>Andrew Young to thank for the quote. But I mean,

0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:41.400
<v Speaker 1>entrepreneurs hate wasted potential, and I firmly believe the Chattanooga

0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:43.440
<v Speaker 1>has the potential to be one of, if not the

0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:45.200
<v Speaker 1>best cities in the United States. And that's what I'm

0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:47.240
<v Speaker 1>going to spend the next seven years doing. I don't have,

0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:50.560
<v Speaker 1>you know, political ambitions beyond that. I'm I'm going to

0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.320
<v Speaker 1>pour every ounce of my energy into into Chattanooga and

0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:55.880
<v Speaker 1>not worry about anything else. So you're saying, if they said,

0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:57.880
<v Speaker 1>can you can be a senator? Could you? I'm not.

0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:00.800
<v Speaker 1>I mean Corker is a good friend of mine and

0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:02.840
<v Speaker 1>and has been a great mentor of media something else,

0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.200
<v Speaker 1>and bonk Corker would tell you that like being the

0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.120
<v Speaker 1>mayor of Chattanoog was still the best job you ever had.

0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.360
<v Speaker 1>I would never say never, but I can't imagine. All Right,

0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:11.440
<v Speaker 1>Tim Kelly, what a pleasure. UM, thank you so much.

0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.880
<v Speaker 1>I really appreciate it. He is the mayor of Chattanooga.

0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.920
<v Speaker 1>Joining us in studio, I'm Carol Masser along with Tim

0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.000
<v Speaker 1>Stanovic for the Hold Bloomberg Business Week team. Have a good,

0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.400
<v Speaker 1>safe evening everyone, This is Bloomberg