An angry, frustrated public walked, rode wheelchairs and packed the City Council building on Lindsey Street on Tuesday night to voice their annoyance on housing issues and moving the Bessie Smith Strut.
And they showed visual anger at Mayor Ron Littlefield, who has played a role in at least half the issues.
"The Strut and College Hill are not his to take," said Gloria Griffith, a Westside community leader. "They belong to us."
Protesters took to the streets Tuesday to march to the council building in support of low-income housing. At the same time, another group of community members came to the City Council, which meets regularly Tuesday nights, to express their disappointment in Littlefield deciding last week to move the 30-year-old Bessie Smith Strut from M.L. King Boulevard to the Riverbend site.
Frank DePinto, a Chattanooga resident, called the mayor a "fascist" and called on the council to hold hearings and hold a vote of "no confidence" on the seven-year mayor.
"There's a great feeling in me that this has been an easy way out for the white Riverbend to rip off the black community," DePinto said at the end of the council meeting.
He was immediately interrupted by cheers from the packed crowd that streamed into the council hallway outside.
Patrick Kellog, a community organizer, said he felt many young blacks would feel disenfranchised and disrespected because the Strut would be moving. He said there could be more violence on the streets because of retaliation.
"There will be shootings," he said.
The council reacts
Councilman Andraé McGary, who represents the district where the Strut is held, made a motion to put on the agenda next week a resolution that would express the council's support for the M.L. King Merchant's Association to hold the Bessie Smith Strut.
The motion also asked that the Chattanooga Police Department and the Chattanooga Beer Board also help the event.
Councilman Russell Gilbert seconded the motion, so it will be on the agenda. The council also will talk about it again next week during a Legal and Legislative Committee meeting.
Gilbert said he felt there needed to be more concern about the Strut night in light of a Facebook group vowing to go to the M.L. King Boulevard that night anyway. He said he was concerned about the mayor ignoring that issue.
"He's going to create more problems because he's going to stretch out our police force," Gilbert said.
As of Tuesday night, 1,100 people had signed up to attend the Facebook event.
Many council members discussed earlier in the day the possibility of the Strut becoming it's own standalone event. Gilbert said maybe those who attend should be required to have wrist or arm bracelets and he also said vendors should face more monitoring.
Other council members talked about temporary fencing for security.
Councilman Jack Benson said he knows events take time and money to put on, though. He said an event being held in East Brainerd within a few weeks at Heritage Park will cost around $2,000.
"To have a separate event, it's going to have to take a lot of support," he said. "A lot of business support."
Councilwoman Carol Berz agreed, saying the M.L. King Merchants Association would have to step to the plate.
"They have to get serious," she said.
Wylie Morton, a member of the M.L. King Merchants Association, said after the meeting that his organization has been part of the festival for years and would have no problems meeting those needs.
He said he felt the entertainment part did not have to be on stages in the streets and could be hosted in some of the merchant's locations along the boulevard. He said the Bessie Smith Strut is about the people, not bands.
Morton said he would also want one other request granted. Don't take the name Bessie Smith down to Riverbend and away from the museum named after her.
"Leave the name on M.L. King," he said.
Housing pleas
People participate in a "March to Support the Right to Housing" on Tuesday in Chattanooga. The group marched from Renaissance Presbyterian Church on Boynton Drive to the Chattanooga City Council chamber.Eight-year-old Hezekiah McDonald rolled his head to the side and belted, "Oh this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine," as he and about 60 Westside residents and supporters marched from the Westside to the City Council meeting Tuesday.
"In the council's chamber, I'm going to let it shine," he sang.
Dozens more residents and supporters joined in closer to the council meeting room on Lindsay Street.
They came representing 1,226 people who signed a petition demanding the city government work to restore lost public housing, ensure that no more public housing units be destroyed and ensure that all new housing developments include units for low-income people.
Westside residents and Chattanooga Organized for Action planned the march after the Westside community was identified as a possible site for Purpose Built to implement a mixed-income housing model for community revitalization. The model calls for reducing public housing as more market-rate apartments are put into a community.
The possibility of involvement by Purpose Built, an Atlanta-based nonprofit backed by billionaire Warren Buffet, comes as the Chattanooga Housing Authority already has nearly 1,500 people on a waiting list for public housing and another 5,000 people on a list for subsidized rent. In addition, the 440-unit Harriet Tubman housing development, once the second-largest public housing site in the city, is being vacated so that it can be put up for sale. About 137 families still remain on the site.
Several Westside residents are concerned that if more public housing is destroyed they will not have anyplace to live.
"Honey child, I'm going to be out here fighting," said 67-year-old Beulah Washington. She wiped sweat from her face as she hobbled down M.L.King Boulevard to the council meeting. "I had surgery. I had a stroke, and I'm still on it."
She wasn't the only one marching to save their home.
Disabled veteran Karl Epperson rode to City Council in a wheelchair while carrying his dog and oxygen supply. Karl Kendrick was among several senior residents with walking canes.
"Our petition asks you to make the right to housing a priority," he said in a written statement to the City Council.
Chattanooga Organized for Action representatives opted not to speak to media to keep attention on residents, but walked in back of the crowd, participating with chants and carrying signs.
Brandon Williams came from his home in Collegedale to support public housing residents.
"It's a good day to march in unity," he said. "I hate segregation; color, age, it don't matter. We are all the people."