Peter Murphy for Chattanooga

From the February 23, 2009 edition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Our Important City Council

Chattanooga has a pretty good system for choosing our local city government officials.

The mayor is elected for a four-year term, with citywide voting.

Nine members of the City Council are elected for four-year terms by voters in their respective geographic districts.

The next Chattanooga city election is Tuesday, March 3.

On yesterday’s Free Press editorial page, we editorially recommended the re-election of Mayor Ron Littlefield. Today we comment on the candidates for the nine City Council districts.

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District 9: Peter Murphy and J.T. McDaniel

There are more candidates for City Council in District 9 than in any other district. All of them are quite noteworthy. They are Quenston A. Coleman, J.T. McDaniel, Thomas L. Mott, Peter B. Murphy and Jackie Thomas.

Their district includes Amnicola, Avondale, Bushtown, East Chattanooga, Eastdale, Glenwood, Highland Park, Missionary Ridge and Orchard Knob.

Among the several good candidates, we believe either Mr. Murphy or Mr. McDaniel might be best equipped to provide effective service on the basis of their professional experience and accomplishments.

Mr. Murphy is an attorney. He is a bright young man who has as his top priorities neighborhood safety, diverse economic development and government accountability. He is obviously mentally sharp and vigorous in his approach to city government.

Mr. McDaniel is impressive as a free enterpriser, who started with $500 and has been successfully involved in several varied community businesses. His active personality and his personal desire to expand economic opportunities recommend him.

We must say that Mr. Coleman, Mr. Mott and Mrs. Thomas have made impressive presentations of their candidacies, too.

We commend all of the District 9 candidates but recommend either Mr. McDaniel or Mr. Murphy.

We applaud all of the candidates in all of the districts for offering their services. We believe the nine who will be elected should be able to serve Chattanooga responsibly, constructively and well.