Okay, counter-anecdote. I grew up in Chattanooga. Those neighborhoods range between fine and quite nice.

Most people in Chattanooga live in the burbs, so I feel like there may be skewed perspectives as to what counts as a nice place to live. Downtown can be quite nice by urban standards.

While it might not be the best place for technology in the universe, it's a very nice place to live, and I'm glad that they are incentivizing tech and making the most of their internet infrastructure. It does seem a bit gimmicky overall but the incentives might tilt it to being the best option for some talented people. Who knows.