RiverCity Co. officials have good reason to feel aggrieved about the city's decision to file a $1.5 million lawsuit against their not-for-profit company and the two companies whose construction work on The Passage at the city's riverfront has been criticized by the city for the past year. RiverCity, after all, has served superbly as the city's hand-in-glove partner for more than two decades in leading the redevelopment of downtown and overseeing contracts -- from the Riverwalk to the Southside -- involved in the city's renaissance. The city's action mainly serves to shatter the vital public-private trust that has cemented and built this invaluable partnership.

RiverCity Co., moreover, answers directly to the city's Chattanooga Downtown Redevelopment Corp. for its contract work. Through its executive committee, the CDRC advertises and approves all the contracts that RiverCity administers for the city's redevelopment work. The CDRC executive committee includes the mayor's chief of staff, Dan Johnson; city attorney Mike McMahan; City Councilwoman Sally Robinson; and the city's financial officer, Daisy Madison.