Quietly announced Westside meeting leaves questions for residents, City Council

What was intended to be a public discussion on the future of Westside housing backfired on Mayor Ron Littlefield Tuesday, as members of the Chattanooga City Council voiced concerns over not being informed of the meeting.

Littlefield was making good on a pledge to allow Westside residents to raise questions over a proposed mixed-income redevelopment project by Atlanta-based nonprofit Purpose Built Communities. He presided over the 2:30 p.m. meeting, which took place at the James A. Henry Resource Center on Grove Street. 

Approximately 75 people attended. Along with community members, the crowd included officials from the Chattanooga Housing Authority, representatives for Purpose Built Communities, including former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, and members of Littlefield's gang task force. 

But despite being told by Littlefield that the meeting would occur "in late February," there were no local elected officials on hand. Members of the media found out about the forum after being tipped by sources close to the Westside community, as no official release was sent from the mayor's office. 

The only notice of the meeting came in the form of a flier, inviting neighborhood residents to be a part of a discussion for "planning the future." At no point was Purpose Built Communities mentioned. 

A copy of the flier obtained by Nooga.com had been marked over to read, "THEY ARE planning YOUR future."

Richard Beeland, spokesman for Littlefield, said the fliers were the easiest way to notify Westside residents of the meeting. Beeland added that council members—who were busy attending scheduled weekly committee meetings as the forum took place—were not required to be present for the discussion.

"It wasn't a meeting for the council," Beeland said. "It was a meeting for the Westside, and they were notified by the fliers distributed in their community … the easiest way to contact them was through the fliers."

The meeting lasted nearly two hours. 

Leading off, Littlefield read a list of recent crime statistics for the area and asked attendees to brainstorm over three topics—how to improve physical and living environments, how to improve safety and security and how to improve the neighborhood in terms of education and children. The crowd broke off into groups, where facilitators—the majority of whom were city employees—took notes. 

For one group, the conversation quickly turned to gang violence. Rondella Simmons, a resident of College Hill Courts, said she didn't want to have her kids in the Westside at times because of fights that took place "every other day" in front of her home.

Simmons said police presence wasn't helping and should be assessed. 

"They're never there when you need them, and they're there when you don't need them," Simmons said. "I see a fight every other day by my house, and it's just ridiculous … the violence is everywhere."

Other areas for improvement mentioned by attendees included renovating existing units, forming a neighborhood watch, developing leaders through job training and offering quality after-school programs to children to prevent potential dropouts. 

After the discussion, Littlefield took questions from audience members for 30 minutes. The mayor often deferred to Housing Authority officials or to former city Judge Walter Williams, who encouraged Westside residents to band together in the face of public housing changes that would come "whether you like it or not" because of decreases in federal funding.

Carol Naughton, senior vice president of Purpose Built Communities, said the attendees were asking questions similar to those the nonprofit hears when discussing redevelopment projects across the nation.

"Every question you're asking is the right question to ask," she said. "This whole process, if it makes sense for the community, can only be effective if we're all at the table, holding your leaders accountable for what needs to be done."

Some of the attendees attempted to hold Littlefield accountable Tuesday evening, during the time set aside for public comment at the City Council meeting. Gloria Griffith, a Westside resident, said many community members had not noticed the fliers for the meeting in time to adjust their schedules.

"The Westside was excluded from the meeting from the start," she said. 

The remarks kicked off discussion by council members, with many of them expressing surprise at not having been informed of the meeting. At one point, Councilman Andrae McGary asked Beeland if the Westside had been considered above the Harriet Tubman Housing Development or the former site of Maurice Poss Homes—the two other areas mentioned as potential Purpose Built redevelopment sites.  

"Not at this point," Beeland said.

McGary, who represents the Westside, later said the lack of information coming from the mayor's office about the meeting raised questions and concerns and added that it wasn't the first time he had been left out of a meeting as a councilman. 

"It certainly raises a lot of concerns as to how well are we being informed of what's truly going on, and unfortunately all we can do is keep asking questions," he said. "Hopefully, we'll get good information throughout the process and also interact with residents, so that we're able to understand exactly what they're being told. Because it could very well be that we are being told one thing and they are being told another, and it does seem to some degree to be what has taken place."

No additional public meetings regarding redevelopment plans have been scheduled by the city at this time, but both Littlefield and representatives from Purpose Built Communities have said they would be willing to hold them if necessary.

Updated @ 6:18 a.m. on 02/22/12 to correct a typographical error.