Nashville’s marathon budget hearing sees ugly confrontation with public – Chattanooga Times Free Press
Nashville’s marathon budget hearing sees ugly confrontation with public Chattanooga Times Free Press
Nashville, Tenn. (AP) — A marathon 11-hour public hearing on Nashville’s budget turned ugly in the early hours of Wednesday morning after hundreds of people showed up or called in asking the council to defund police and put more money into social services.
The hearing comes after days of protests in Nashville over the May 25 death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed a knee to his neck. Peaceful daytime protests on Saturday turned destructive that evening as demonstrators toppled a statue of a former state lawmaker who espoused racist views and set a fire inside the city’s historic courthouse.
Council President Pro Tem Jeff Syracuse had to take over the budget meeting when Vice Mayor Jim Shulman became frustrated by a number of people repeating the same talking points, Syracuse said in a telephone interview.
Shulman had an angry confrontation with a group of citizens sitting in the hallway outside the council chambers on folding chairs spaced several feet apart, waiting for their turns to speak. In videos posted to social media, Shulman can be seen lecturing them and jabbing his finger at them as he accuses them of engaging in “bad politics.”
He then speaks to a group of policemen while gesturing at the onlookers and says, “If you haven’t been paying attention in this city, we’ve had problems.”
One woman can be heard saying, “You asked for peaceful methods and this is peaceful.”
Syracuse said it was unfortunate that Shulman “lost his cool.”
“I want people to feel empowered and heard,” he said. “I want them to understand the budget and what our options are. … I don’t want people to be disappointed if they think their voice is going to effectuate some $100,000 change in the operating budget.”
Also on Wednesday, Wesley Somers was charged in federal court with malicious destruction of property using fire or explosives in connection with the courthouse fire, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The 25-year-old Hendersonville man was filmed and photographed “attempting to smash windows of the Courthouse with a long object” and “holding an unknown accelerant, which had been set on fire, and placing the accelerant through the window of the Courthouse,” according to the release. It says Somers was shirtless and his “distinctive chest tattoos portraying the words ‘WILD CHILD’ and ‘HARD 2 Love,’ among others,” can be seen in some of the photos and video.
Online court records do not list whether Somers had an attorney who could comment. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in prison, according to the release.
