| Chattanooga citizens monitoring local governments

Apr 17th, 2013

Legal Fee Windfall

Little Chicago Watch members are collectively researching the city of Chattanooga's business practices in the award of legal contracts. What happens when a City Attorney does not advertise contract opportunities under the city's purchasing policies? We believe that legal contracts have been awarded without the benefit of advertising for Requests for Proposals.

Apr 9th, 2013

UPDATE Obar Investments, LLC Principals-The Aetna Mountain TIF

Little Chicago Watch will compile and store information we obtain about this private development. Volunteers let's get to work, examining the details of who, what, where. Odor Factor 10 of 10

Mar 20th, 2013

Littlefield Admin.has Eye Spy on Citizens

Mayor Littlefield and his Administration campaigned and monitored the activity of citizens on taxpayer funded equipment and with taxpayer funded staff. WE OBJECT!

Mar 15th, 2013

Littlefield Emails

The Times Free Press Newspaper recently obtained the emails of Mayor Littlefield. The content of the Mayor’s emails removes all doubt that taxpayer resources, staff time, equipment, and taxpayer funds were used to monitor the actions of citizen activist in Chattanooga Organized for Action, Citizens to Recall the Mayor, and others. Drew Johnson Times FreeRead More...

Mar 13th, 2013

Little Chicago’s New Radio Ad

Little Chicago Watch is committed to good government, and was created solely for the purpose of deterring public corruption that has been historically pervasive in our community. We are certain that public corruption operates in government procurement rules with layers of transactions, and rarely occurs as a single event or transaction. Little Chicago Watch simply seeks the truth contained within the procurement layers.

Nov 25th, 2012

Chattanooga’s Passion for Corporate Welfare

This document will serve as a beginning point for a citizen initiative to collect and examine local data on Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreements issued by the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County governments that abate or partially abate property tax payments for a certain select group of corporations and nonprofits.

Nov 24th, 2012

City Council’s Favorite Charities Millions Annually

The City of Chattanooga converts millions of our tax dollars annually to charity pursuits for some of the most top heavy nonprofits. River City and the Chamber of Commerce CEO's have salaries in excess of $200,000. Do they really need the property taxes paid by families trying to get by?

Nov 21st, 2012

EPB Gig Debt

Little Chicago Watch has monitored local government bond debt for over two years. We began after the City of Chattanooga lost $13 million in bond issue penalties in a Swaption Bond Issue. City Council called this bond a "gamble."

Nov 19th, 2012

Sales Tax Revenue City and County

Sales tax revenue returned to 2008 amounts that existed prior to VW and Alstrom. Why would anyone attribute a ‘wave of tourism” dollars that was obtainable prior to the corporate welfare incentive programs at VW, Alstrom as a factor? In 2008, prior to the housing meltdown, the sales tax revenue was $26,604,000 for the CityRead More...

Aug 1st, 2012

In Progress: Public Education Foundation (PEF) – No Free Lunch for HCDE

Little Chicago Watch began an open records process to obtain financial records, and agreements (contracts) between the Hamilton County Department of Education (HCDE), and the Public Education Foundation (PEF).