Third in a series on changing cities

First in a series on changing cities

When Pat Kelley was growing up in the 1960s, Chattanooga was still a bustling industrial town. Textile factories, chemical plants, and steam boiler manufacturers employed men and women by the thousands. As a boy, Kelley caught glimpses of fire flashing in the foundries and watched as steel mills hurled atomized carbon into the humid Southern air.

Remember fun? Your nostalgic childhood memories probably involve some sort of toy on wheels: Big Wheels, roller skates, wagons, skateboards. The latest craze is scooters—for adults.

A New York moment:

A rainy New Year’s Eve in Times Square went without a hitch thanks to tight New York Police Department security. We likely will never know the full extent of the NYPD’s security operation for this celebration that brings tens of thousands of people to Times Square each year, but at a press conference the department’s leaders shared a peek at how they do their work.

A New York moment:

All the buzz in New York at the moment concerns the new Amazon headquarters coming here with a promise of about 25,000 jobs. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and state Gov. Andrew Cuomo, typically archenemies, showed a united front supporting the deal. But they seemed surprised by the level of anger from the community about it—people who feel the transit system is already overloaded, who don’t like how much money taxpayers will shell out for the deal, or who just don’t like Amazon. 

UPDATE: The director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said that firefighters responded to 60 to 80 structure fires Thursday in the three communities affected by a series of natural gas explosions. Kurt Schwartz said Friday that firefighters in Lawrence, North Andover, and Andover responded to about 150 emergency calls, adding that close to 400 people spent the night in emergency shelters. The cause of the fires and explosions remains under investigation.

Almost 20 years ago, when Denver International Airport was still brand new and I may have been a little too brash, I detailed in this space some of the airport’s most noticeable problems. A few Denver residents have never quite forgiven me.

Now I read that our friends in the Mile High City are getting ready to spend over a billion dollars updating and expanding the fifth-busiest airport in the United States. Yes, I said a billion dollars. For that kind of money, maybe I can sneak in a few kind words.