Main Street-Chattanooga, TN
By Ann Heppermann
A man sits outside an abandoned building on Main Street in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
We finally arrive on Main Street in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kara and I will be here for two weeks documenting the city’s infamous Main Street. During our story research, we discovered a website called “Trick the Johns” which is a site created by residents of a neighborhood on Main Street that is trying to rid the area of prostitution.
We were intrigued to document a Main Street that is not the place politicians are talking about when they say, “We need to get back to Main Street.”
Chattanooga’s Main Street is a known prostitution stroll. On this Main Street, people sell crack. Right off of this Main Street, there are homeless camps and abandoned buildings. Yes, the city is revitalizing a portion of Main Street near the downtown area. But out of the more than a mile or so of Main Street which stretches west to east, the revitalization covers only a few blocks.
We park the car at a gas station on the corner of Main and Holtzclaw and take a few pictures of buildings and people out on the street.
A man shows off his leg brace as he walks over to the gas station on Main Street in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
A sign on an abandoned building on Main Street.
Crossing Chattanooga's Main Street.
I walk down Main Street and take a few photos, too. As I’m crossing the street, a truck whizzes by me and a man yells out “PROSTITUTE!”
What?
I’m shocked. I’m wearing a below the knee dress, far from revealing. In fact, I think it’s a little dowdy. I look around to see if anyone else is on the street…perhaps he was talking to someone else.
Nope.
No one else is around, it’s just me. Apparently, the only women walking on Main Street in Chattanooga are prostitutes, or at least that is what people assume.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Um, there is more to main street Chattanooga than you may have seen on your brief visit. While vise still exists, many new and thriving creative business have cropped up since 2000. You may want to take a close look and get the old pen and paper back out.
The writer of this article is uniformed and ignorant of the facts. Please re write and provide a more full and balanced article.
July 12th, 2009 at 9:35 am
[...] the best civic engagement always happens at the street level. Take the example of Main Street in Chattanooga, TN, where people living in the vicinity have joined hands to rid their area of prostitution. If they [...]
August 23rd, 2009 at 10:03 am
It is often in unbalanced reporting that attention is grabbed, a headline, a problem. With good news, there is certainly less to “sell”. I agree with Mike and think the ‘writers’ should definitely take in and report the ENTIRE street – from east to west. Although, perhaps, it was simply easier to take that narrow view, I believe and entire thing would present a terrific microcosmic example of the larger society – rather than just one slice of the pie.
August 28th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Living here, it astounds me that people are interested in living on the southside/main st. area’s. They are crawling with those in need of help, and those who don’t want help but enjoy crawling. Crime is an issue there. I’m resident of North Chattanooga, and have been to main street during the day. It is 2 blocks of nice and a couple of miles of bad. There is no way I would be interested in visiting that area in the evening when I might be there after dark. If you like Main St. good for you! As for this article, it is main street love it or hate it. To a visitor its a high traffic street for prostitues, drug addicts and homeless with a flashy corner of boutique shops.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Agreed that more credit may have been due to the foundations and community organizations who are trying to spruce up main st. The efforts there are commendable. As a resident of Chattanooga, I am nervous to know what will happen to the residents on Main as the revitalization begins to spread. As the resident above pointed out – the North shore is a wonderful place to live. However, the north shore was also once a place riddled with crime, poverty and prostitution until rich, white, upperclass developers came in and changed the area. The population was pressed out of the area to make room for high rise condos and expensive shops. And as a result some of the neighboorhood behind Frazier Ave are just as bad as those on Main St. Perhaps the authors could have worked with some of the neighborhood associations who are trying to work with developers to protect the population already living on Main to ensure they don’t get pushed out. The south side of chattanooga can be very beautiful, but it is easy to forget that building a few new restuarants or coffee shops that people already living in the area can’t afford to go to will not solve any economic problems. The development on the southside needs be much more diversified.
Overall, I think it was good story and I’m glad that there was an attempt to capture all of main st, but there is clearly much more to the area than “a little revitalization and a lot of prostitution.”
BTW: one driver calling you a prostitute does not mean that all chattanoogans think women walking down main street are working girls. That generalization is a little absurd and quite rediculous.