Chattanooga++

I've mentioned before that I really like Chattanooga. I've been visiting there annually for at least a decade now, and it seems to keep just doing the right things in terms of investment, community building, diversifying the economny, public & private investment, focused and meaningful renewal efforts. It's got lots of local crafts, a tidy campus in UTC, a kid-friendly downtown, interesting old neighborhoods, and a lot more. Here's a nice article about the revitalized southside.

And I'm not sure how I missed it, but Nooga has gigabit internet available (at a super-high premium, but still) over the entire city. Been thinking about the state of fiber and broadband, inspired by an excellent PBS piece on the subject, so it's great to see Chattanooga actually leading the charge. As Ars Technica observed when 1Gb was rolled out in the fall, "Thanks to its aggressive buildout, solid management, and willingness to work with researchers, entrepreneurs, and big business, Chattanooga has become a model deployment for muni-fiber backers." And Ars has written a recent followup that not only makes a nice tie-in to the past (electricity to the Tennessee Valley), but talks about the possibilities when people start to "take advantage of abundance rather than conform to scarcity". Well said.

P.S. It's symmetrical!