Chattanooga clung to its old ways and manufacturing past for too long, leaving the former "Dynamo of Dixie" with barren factories and a polluted environment when old-line businesses relocated from Chattanooga to cheaper places offshore, Mayor Andy Berke said Monday.
But Berke said Chattanooga is now building a more sustainable, innovative economy. During a brainstorming session Monday night in the hub of Chattanooga's Innovation District, Berke urged community leaders to help design a better way to create more innovation in the heart of the city, using the ultra-fast broadband links in the self-proclaimed "Gig City" by bringing together the academic, business and cultural attributes found in an urban city.
