In the spring of 2022, I was walking back from the Creative Discovery Museum with my 3-year-old daughter. Between us and my truck was a man urinating on the Market Street sidewalk. It was 3 p.m. The day before, the same man was harassing Sports Barn members and tourists.

A year before, as the Berke mayoral camp was transitioning out, downtown was showing signs of fatigue. COVID, the work-from-home phenomenon and a skyrocketing homelessness problem were leaving their mark. By the time Tim Kelly took the Chattanooga mayor’s office, he had garnered a lot of goodwill. He was popular, but did he have what it takes to solve a big challenge? Business leaders began to privately voice their concerns in closed-door meetings.

In