OPINION: Hearing out the public over budget priorities couldn't hurt if the wheel doesn't get re-invented

Jan. 26—When government officials offer the public a voice in their upcoming budget priorities, they never know what they might get.

They may hear a strategy they've never thought of, learn of a particular group that's been left out of specific services or become aware of a problem they didn't know existed. Or they might get a gripe session — "the roof on my house ...," "my child has a problem with his teacher ...," or "the police are targeting my son ... "

We did not attend Monday's first virtual meeting in which Chattanooga residents could make their feelings known about what they'd like to see in the fiscal 2023 budget, so we don't know the context of each comment, but we'd like to parse several of the priorities mentioned in the story this newspaper printed Tuesday about the meeting.

— Comment: "We should try figuring out how we can make [housing] equal to everyone from high to low income. We should try and categorize what kind of housing that most people need."

If the speaker was referring to the city having available housing that suits every income level, we agree that would be ideal. Affordable housing in the city is both a problem and a challenge. It's a problem because people want something clean and livable between subsidized housing and the newer, more middle-class houses they can't yet afford, but the city doesn't have a lot of that. It's a challenge because you won't find a lot of builders who want to put up that kind of housing because their profits aren't large enough.

And the thousands of units of apartments that have been built in the city over the past decade or so — especially downtown — are not affordable to that demographic, either, despite some being identified as such.

Where the city can help is to work with individuals, organizations, foundations and the private sector to — as the speaker noted — see what the needs are and determine where existing homes or apartments can be improved that still will be affordable to those who need them or strategize about using parcels in the city's land bank to build such housing.

If the speaker, on the other hand, was talking about equalizing housing, no matter the income, he probably should seek a socialized society in another country. Equalized housing is what Americans saw from a distance in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1940s to the 1980s, and they didn't want any part of it.

— Comment: Bolstering sexual reproductive education in the city's schools.

If we had our druthers, students in public schools would learn how to properly use a debit card (the modern-day equivalent of balancing a checkbook); how to make a family budget; sexual reproductive education, including the best way to prevent it (abstinence); how to change a flat tire; how to interview for a job; how to safely use social media; how to have better social/emotional health; how to stretch a dollar; and, oh, English language arts, math, science, and social studies; and yes, art and music.

When an alarming number of our public-school third-graders can't read, when pandemic disruptions lead to lowered test grades across the board, when schools still aren't including art in their curriculum, sexual reproductive education should not be high on anyone's list of what needs to be taught in the city's schools.

Where the city can help is to offer this type of education, with the help of foundations and organizations, through its youth and family development centers. We would submit students might hear what they need to hear on this topic and are more likely to take it to heart in a less stressful, post-classroom setting.

— Comment: Prioritizing local jobs over using outside companies for projects.

A long time ago (or so it seems), back in 2016, a group of folks at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce kept hearing from local employers that they couldn't fill their family-wage jobs with local people because the local people didn't have the skills or proper training for those jobs.

Part of the Chattanooga 2.0 movement those folks created that year was to help drive employers, school administration, organizations and teachers to work toward a goal that students who graduated would go on to get some type of post-secondary training or certification.

Some strides have been made toward that goal in the community, and the city/county partnership in the Building and Construction Workforce Center that is expected to open later this year will help. But a project that requires a local company to build widgets can't employ people to build widgets if they aren't trained to build widgets, so project managers must seek outside employers or a company that already can build widgets if they want to project finished on time and on budget.

The city heard an earful at its meeting Monday and will at two more such meetings Jan. 31 and Feb. 10. We hope it will be helpful in figuring out when not to reinvent the wheel and when to think and act outside the box.