How Chattanooga reminds Code for America fellow Giselle Sperber of BK

Giselle Sperber, a Code for America fellow now working in Chattanooga, Tennessee, wrote us a letter home to the borough.

Dear Brooklyn,

It’s been four months since I left and while I miss you a lot I’ve been up to some cool stuff.

I joined Code for America, a San Francisco based not for profit that brings technologist together with city governments to help improve the lives of citizens. The Code for America fellowship pairs 30 designers, developers and map makers with 10 cities across the country, for a year of building apps and fostering open government.

I spent February in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with my two teammates. Chattanooga sure gets a lot of press these days, but what you may not know is how much it resembles you, dear Brooklyn.

There’s a lot of people making things. Early May marked Chattanooga’s Zine Fest, where artists sold their wares at the Chattanooga Public Library. The 4th Floor of the library hosts a permanent maker space with a 3D printer, laser cutter, and coding classes.

Like Brooklyn, there are tech startups, coffee shops and foodie culture. Just this winter, OpenTable bought Chattanooga startup QuickCue. If I’m feeling homesick, Camp House Coffee, in an old industrial building, is my go to spot. Delicious bread? Niedlov’s Bakery makes tasty handmade sourdough loaves.

Unfortunately, the similarities also mean a lack of affordable housing, one of the main things my project with the city hopes to address. Chattanooga has two of the fastest gentrifying zip codes, ahead even of you, Brooklyn. My team is working on a tool that will help residents find safe, affordable places to live by bringing the city’s housing data together in one place.

In other ways Chattanooga is different, but maybe not in the ways you’d expect. The internet is FAST. The way my connection in Clinton Hill used to go out during rainstorms seems quaint as I speed on Chattanooga’s Gigabit fiber. I seized the opportunity to back up my hard drive. It took a few hours, rather than the weeks I’d anticipated.

There’s nature everywhere. Chattanooga is a rock climbing mecca. The gorgeous Tennessee River runs through town, and there’s easy to explore hiking and kayaking. When you’re exhausted from a day of outdoor exercise or marathon coding, delicious cheese grits await around every corner. And as my team has found out, there’s real southern hospitality.

The year away has been great fun so far but please send a care package full of Brooklyn attitude. Your unique combo of love and sass can’t be found around here. Throw in a slice of Di Fara’s pizza too. I miss you Brooklyn.