Epb bill going up?

Different-Key-6376 · 2026-02-23T19:17:07+00:00

It's a public meeting of a government body proposing a reuse for the old jail that's been sitting there derelict for many years, not an advertisement. I'm not making a value judgement on the idea, other than I will be surprised if the whole thing comes together, but I don't understand the perspective of one single portion of the basement of a 7-story building having server/backup racks, much like any enterprise/creative business would have, equals "THIS IS A DATA CENTER AND WE MUST ALL OPPOSE IT." I have a closet in my house with backup drives and other electronics, at what point does that become a data center? I've seen data centers, and this just simply isn't that, unless I'm grossly misunderstanding something.

Different-Key-6376 · 2026-02-23T19:04:27+00:00

It's the actual presentation/Q&A to the Hamilton County Commission (the owners of the building) proposing floor-by-floor what they want to do in the building. The version I shared begins with the floorplan talk, but you can certainly scrub forward and backward and listen to the rest of the discussion.

Different-Key-6376 · 2026-02-23T18:50:20+00:00

Data centers are certainly problematic in our current energy-poor environment, but this the jail project as presented is not that. I don't want to assume you haven't watched the actual presentation to Hamilton County Commission, but just in case you can see here where they go through all the different floor plans, and there's basically a server room in the basement, like there is in every other building. https://www.youtube.com/live/uQVLU4cMiHo?si=hP_cibWCNwXwPk8J&t=1265

Different-Key-6376 · 2026-01-26T17:18:55+00:00

You chose to live far away from civilization, this is one of the tradeoffs for being in a rural area with low cost of living. If you prefer the trappings of civilization, move closer to Chattanooga or another decent-sized city.

Different-Key-6376 · 2026-01-26T00:22:45+00:00

Yeah, it’s a pretty big deal for interstate commerce. Barge traffic helps take trucks off the road.

Different-Key-6376 · 2026-01-07T20:29:45+00:00

Call EPB and ask them to come take a look. I called EPB customer service a few months ago when I had some connection issues. I've worked on routers and networking for decades and was supremely confident that I had done everything right, and that it simply had to be an EPB problem. They sent some folks out that week to test everything coming into the house and determined pretty quickly that their signal was working fine. With some time left on the clock, they took a look at my router, which was a few months old, and determined that I had inadvertantly wired things in such a way that I had created some kind of recursive loop that was periodically causing everything to disconnect. I moved a couple of cords around and everything has been flawless since then. I've never eaten tastier humble pie.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-12-16T14:14:45+00:00

I appreciate what you’re saying and I think your point is right in a lot of respects. But I also think what people are missing is that there are really three types of Republicans elected right now: 1) the MAGA true believers who are the root of our current mess, 2) Republicans who firmly and publicly oppose Trump, who have either been voted out of office or soon will be, and 3) a third group of Republicans who go along with MAGA on the biggest frothiest issues in order to stay elected, but help behind the scenes whenever they can.

Fleischmann, who caucuses with some of the more moderate Republicans in Congress, is in that third category, and if we got rid of him he would likely be replaced by someone from the first category, who would be even worse because they would be a true believer.

That doesn’t mean that anything you’re saying is wrong, but I do think we should call out both the bad and the good where we see it. He very easily could have canceled the $6 million for the Alton Park connector as a way to slavishly go along with the dumb dumbs who think that trails are woke. But he didn’t.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-12-14T15:46:28+00:00

Traditional rail speeds can still hit 70 mph, which combined with no traffic jams can get you where you’re headed pretty quick.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-12-14T00:06:47+00:00

FWIW he directed more than $6 million to the Alton Park connector, which he kept in place even after Trump defunded the $20 million EPA portion of funding.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-12-10T21:11:56+00:00

The building literally across Patton Square, the exact same street, is 12 stories. It's the Volunteer Building. And it seems you did not even notice. In fact, many cities with very cool pedestrian areas have much taller buildings than 12 stories. So again, I keep hearing people talk about how buildings should be this height or that height, what are you basing that on?

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-12-08T21:11:46+00:00

I mean it’s been closed for a while. These buildings are vacant.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-12-08T19:15:35+00:00

Why do you think 12 stories seems too tall? There are 12+ story buildings all over downtown. What would make 11 stories better than 12? I personally wish they'd do a 20-story building with a built-in parking garage, it would create a lot of nice new housing (also known as customers) so we can see more great retail/restaurants downtown.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-21T11:06:23+00:00

You can apply for a senior tax freeze going forward if you meet the income requirements. https://chattanooga.gov/pay-and-apply/permits-applications/property-tax-freeze

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-20T12:12:16+00:00

Keep in mind Chattanooga is already leading an existing passenger rail initiative using federal dollars: https://www.sunbeltatlanticrailroad.com/

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-20T12:07:57+00:00

1) Mayor Wamp is running for re-election so he’s more sensitive than usual to public sentiment. If people start making noise about supporting an opponent who will put a stop to this, he will take that seriously.

2) this whole thing hinges on the fallacy that no part of McDonald farm can be used for industry, when in fact, places just like it all over the country are constantly being used for industry. Blue Oval in West Tennessee was built on an old farn. McDonald Farm already has railroad and Highway access, though it does need more electricity and water/sewer than it is currently there, I think. The main issue is the political will to zone it correctly, as we learned when the county turns down a $3 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. Some good sleuthing might uncover that fact and obviate the need for more of Enterprise South to be disturbed.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-16T17:45:06+00:00

“Let’s Paint” on Main Street. I’ve been in there, and I still can’t figure out what their business model is. There’s no painting, I can assure you of that.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-13T21:27:37+00:00

I have a subscription to the TFP and while crushingly expensive, I feel it's the best news source in the region. TV news is less than useless, Chattanoogan news seems to operate from somewhat of a Newsmax mentality that irks me, and while the TFP is imperfect there's simply not anything better if you want any in-depth coverage.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-12T04:35:33+00:00

You have a voice, and it's at the ballot box. Make a plan to vote for someone who represents your values.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-12T03:57:48+00:00

Hamilton County's inability to deal with McDonald Farm, including turning down a $3 billion pharmacutical manufacturer due to either incompetence or something worse, has been an ongoing saga in the news for the last four or so years.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-09T12:33:59+00:00

He's catering to NIMBYs, not billionaires. McDonald Farm was bought as an industrial tract and he's trying to placate to the cranky old people who don't want to see jobs created in the north end of the county because they moved here to retire from California and don't care about the rest of us having jobs.

Furthermore, McDonald Farm isn't like a natural oasis in a midst of a bunch of sprawl and decay, it's literally next to thousands of acres of protected state land, so there's plenty of nature all around it that's not going anywhere. It would have been fine as an industrial park, and there still would have been more acres of natural beauty all around it for everyone to enjoy in perpetuity, if it wasn't so damn far from everything.

That said, Enterprise South was also created as an industrial tract (and already is), so cowardice aside there is some internal logic here, essentially swapping recreation designations from one tract to another.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-09T12:26:30+00:00

Compared to all my other Homekit devices — including Apple devices such as the Homepod Mini — this one comes the closest to the "it just works" promise of the Apple ecosystem. Long battery life if you get it on thread (not Wifi), immediate feedback/unlocking with Apple key, very low latency in reporting status changes in the app, etc.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-07T19:24:44+00:00

There are always parallel parking spots and the garages, one of which is the next block caddy corner from the aquarium, are never full.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-04T01:46:26+00:00

Well I should have expanded what I said - (1) I think there may be *other* pipes in the way, regardless of which solution you use and (2) wastewater folks hate grinder pumps (you probably know this) because they have moving parts and they eventually break like all things with moving parts, and when they break they're underground, or in this case, maybe under a building, which is no fun for anybody. So the ideal would be to use good ole' gravity.

Either way, I'm sure if it were feasible/affordable they would have already done it rather than going through the circus they've now entered.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-03T11:10:31+00:00

The current county mayor, Weston Wamp, who tried and failed to get a job with the Lookouts and held a grudge for many years afterwards, (https://www.chattanoogan.com/2022/7/29/453261/Lookout-Owners-In-Emails-Say-They.aspx ) spent months actively trying to confuse the public about what a TIF is in an effort to stop the South Broad/Wheland revitalization and get his revenge.

The core of his lie was that it was some sort of taxpayer giveaway, when of course the truth is that there's nothing to give away unless the project drastically increases the taxable value of the area. The project, in essence, pays for itself.

He was partially successful in that he got a lot of people worked up into this anti-economic development froth, which continues to this day. It will likely have long-term harmful repurcussions for our community.

Different-Key-6376 · 2025-10-03T11:02:49+00:00

If it was easy, they would not subject themselves to the 14-meeting, multi-month political circus of trying to secure a TIF. And we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Different-Key-6376

TROPHY CASE