Cars are parked outside the 2510 E. Main St. event hall. Several shootings have made the entertainment spots on Main and Dodds Avenue a dangerous place to be.Chattanooga City Council members said they will work with Mayor Andy Berke to better regulate two East Chattanooga event halls where three people have been killed since April.
“It’s serious enough it doesn’t need to take a lot of time to respond to this,” council Chairman Yusuf Hakeem said at Tuesday’s council meeting. “Literally people are dying.”
Emotion Event Hall on Dodds Avenue, better known to patrons as Da Building, and a hall with no sign at 2510 E. Main St., are under scrutiny since a third person was shot to death July 5. Police have responded to more than a hundred calls between both places since 2010.
Gary Ball, former president of the Ridgedale Community Association, grilled council members during their meeting Tuesday night on what can be done about these facilities.
The Beer and Wrecker Board cannot regulate the event halls because they don’t need a beer license under the current law. Traditionally, the beer board monitors businesses that serve alcohol and revokes licenses when there is trouble.