Chattanooga, Tennessee. 35.046 N., 85.309 W. The Chattanooga Choo Choo. Moon Pies. The Aquarium. Lookout Mountain. Civil War Battle sites. Coca-Cola Bottling. All things forever woven into the streets, the fabric and collective consciousness of our city's history. Another such bedrock is the Orange Grove Center.
One cannot think of Orange Grove without also thinking of recycling. The Orange Grove Center became green long before it became a popular political cause and catchphrase. Orange Grove has been living green for 40 years. The recycling partnership between Orange Grove and Chattanooga has received national and international recognition for its best practices for sustainability and green initiatives. But the City of Chattanooga has decided to end its 30-year history with Orange Grove.
(IN THE NEWS: Cutting Orange Grove recycling contract leaves disabled employees without work)
Some relationships end for understandable reasons. This is not such a decision.
Since 1953, the Orange Grove School, and then the Orange Grove Center, has served individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Currently, Orange Grove serves over 1,000 adults and children in various ways. Don't take my word for it; visit and learn about Orange Grove on its website, orangegrovecenter.org. Clinical services, employment services, enrichment services, psychosocial rehabilitation program and residential services. Orange Grove Center does it all. Can you name another institution that rivals Orange Grove and its service to Chattanooga? Yeah, me neither.
The city is ending the Orange Grove recycling partnership so the city can "improve recycling and refuse services while using taxpayer resources efficiently." Political speak from the anointed to us, the citizens. Hollow talk with no real meaning. How many employees will the city need to hire? The Orange Grove Center relies on federal, state and local funding to continue its mission. So, is the city really saving approximately $700,000 by ending the Orange Grove recycling partnership? Orange Grove will need to seek these funds from the city or another government agency.
Is the ending of the recycling partnership an efficient use of taxpayer resources? Perhaps so, in a theoretical sense. However, the loss is enormous and incalculable.
So, I will issue a challenge to our municipal officials: Mayor Tim Kelly, Public Works Administrator Jerramy Wood, the Chattanooga City Council and unelected bureaucrats who make decisions that impact citizens' lives, yet lack accountability to us. Go visit Orange Grove. Watch and talk with the residents and people of Orange Grove. See if recycling matters. See if small paychecks matter. Volunteer your time to see how difficult it is to manage and operate a nonprofit organization serving our most vulnerable citizens. If you accept the challenge, let us know how you feel after your visit to Derby Street or to the John Germ Recycling Center.
Will you then want to terminate the recycling partnership? If you are still steadfast in your termination desires, let's debate in a public forum. You pick the forum and medium. Just give me a couple days to gather the Chattanoogans who created Orange Grove School and Orange Grove Center and those who sustain it today. If you dare, you can debate some of the recycling employees about the termination of the relationship. Our side will only need a few minutes.
If you decline the debate, we understand. Expect to see the backlash to this poor government decision to ramp up when T-shirts and billboards take over the city. Challenge extended.
Neal Pinkston is a former president of the Orange Grove Center Board of Directors and served as Hamilton County's district attorney from 2014 to 2022.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd/ Neal Pinkston Hamilton County District Attorney on March 19, 2019.