Capt. David Roddy and Police Chief Bobby Dodd, left and center, listen as Mayor Ron Littlefield answers questions from the Times Free Press during a meeting today. Roddy, Dodd, Littlefield, and Chip Baker, executive director of Friends of the Festival, spoke about the changes to the Bessie Smith Strut with the Times Free Press in its offices.ALSO READ
Chattanooga’s black leaders frustrated by plan to move Bessie Smith Strut
The Bessie Smith Strut should have been moved last year, and moving the blues and barbecue street party was “seriously considered” in 2004, the year after 20-year-old Tory Hardy was shot and killed following the event, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield said today.
“The principal driving force” in relocating the Strut is safety, the mayor said.
“We should have closed it last year,” Littlefield said.
The Strut, held along M.L. King Boulevard, is no longer a safe situation, the mayor said.