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The Planning and Design Studio served as Chattanooga’s hypothalamic hub from 1981 until earlier this year, or so goes the hypophysis. (Pausing for groans.) When Ron Littlefield took office in April, he lacerated the Studio’s main artery and thus rendered it incapacitated. Mayor Littlefield’s campaign platform attempted to reassure those not enmeshed in the downtown design-and-develop loop that they would receive the full focus of ongoing renewal efforts. “I want to assure everyone listening that one of my first priorities is to repair the rifts in our community,” he said at his inauguration. That’s a good idea, but since he seemed to spend a lot of time in his campaign highlighting and deepening those rifts, it’s a little like me punching you in the eye and then promising to spend the next few days helping to heal your bruise. I’m not giving up hope, though. We can keep our urban revival alive without its principal architect. We can curb sprawl and unwise development; we can disseminate the vibe of the riverfronts to other parts of the city through micro-projects and community listening sessions; we can overcome the “bland leading the blind” effect we (and our visitors) are starting to notice. The challenge issued to each one of us is to make sure we’re paying attention and taking part.

Remember lying on your back, watching clouds, and thinking of objects their shapes brought to mind? Did you know you could play the game indoors, too? Just look at a map of electoral districts, at any level of jurisdiction, and your imagination just may take over. What are your voting precinct’s boundaries? Mine roughly form the shape of a 1960s-era telephone handset. I don’t know if the earpiece knows that it’s connected to the mouthpiece, or vice versa. I was telephoned recently by a Fourth District candidate for the Hamilton County Commission, and among the several topics of our conversation was the fact that those in his end of the narrow, curved (or make that carved) slice of geography had rarely, if ever, seen anyone campaigning for the office. Most Pulse readers likely reside in Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District. Chattanoogans, say hello to your co-constituent brothers and sisters in Wartburg, Dandridge and the Cumberland Gap. I have nothing against the good people of these areas, but I find it odd that we share a U.S. Representative: Congressman Wamp hails from Hixson. Do people on the Kentucky border know Hixson? Maybe the rule is that as long as a district line doesn’t cross over into a different Grand Division, anything goes. No, that can’t be it. Look at District 7. The Representative from northwest Tennessee, Democrat John Tanner, has introduced legislation that would change how districts are drawn. This column will follow up on that and other gerrymander-stopping measures in subsequent editions.