Public sends resounding message in marathon Nashville council hearing: Defund police – Tennessean
Nashville residents sent a resounding message to city leaders during a marathon public hearing Tuesday on the budget: Defund police and invest in community goods and services.
Though a handful of residents voiced their disdain for a property tax increase, including an individual against the calls to slash the police department’s budget, the conversation lasted until 4:30 a.m. Wednesday and was almost completely focused on budget priorities and on reducing funding for police.
The emphatic message follows a weekend of protesting and rallying from the black community and other residents decrying systemic racism, police brutality and the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other black men and women in Nashville and across the country.
An initial attempt to pause the public hearing compounded frustrations from residents who viewed the immense public engagement as a form of protest — the very kind officials have called for as they have condemned the disruption and damage that occurred in downtown on Saturday.
Some spoke from a script that appeared guided by information shared by a coalition behind the Nashville People’s Budget, which held a budget call Sunday that discussed how implementing a significant tax hike without also implementing a well-funded tax relief program and other social services, imposes a significant burden on residents, especially for the black and low-income communities.
The Nashville People’s Budget coalition involves the following groups: Black Lives Matter; Gideon’s Army; Music City Riders United; No Exceptions Prison Collective; Free Hearts; People’s Alliance for Transit, Housing and Equity; Southerners on New Ground Nashville; and Worker’s Dignity.
Fund community priorities, residents say
But a wide swath of residents also spoke off the cuff about the frustrations they have experienced or witnessed in the community, including chronic underfunding of schools and pay for Metro employees and teachers falling behind.
Many used the word “defund” in their call for reducing the police department’s budget and using those savings to invest in other community programs.
Mayor John Cooper’s “crisis” budget calls for a 32% property tax increase and includes cuts to step increases and cost-of-living adjustments for city employees, eliminates the Community Education Commission, and cuts funding for the Metro Arts Commissions, nonprofits and other social services.
His budget however, sends more money to public safety agencies, including $2.6 million to the police — which residents came out in droves to say is an imbalance compared to needed public services.
“We’re encouraged to see so many Nashvillians participate in the budget process, and we’re listening closely to the ideas shared tonight,” Cooper spokesperson Chris Song said in response to the public comments.
Nashville needs a budget that funds public safety through public goods, not policing and jails, said Jamel Campbell-Gooch, a member of the Community Oversight Board and the deputy director of Gideon’s Army.
“I stand here in opposition to racism, anti-blackness and any budget that does not radically change public safety,” he said, calling Tuesday just the first step for a “revolutionary change” needed in Nashville.
Anna Albescu, who said she’s connected with several grassroots organizations, asked council members to make the city one she can be proud to live in.
“This budget would not make me proud,” she said.
Amanda Kail, president of the local teachers’ union, came out to represent her students, saying underfunding of Metro Nashville Public Schools has greatly added to racial disparity in the city.
Cooper’s budget sends a flat $914.9 million for the district. MNPS officials have asked the Metro Council for nearly $15 million in additional funding to avoid cuts and to fund textbooks for students.
Sara Durán, a Nashville teacher in Antioch, said the city has responded reactively with policing, rather than proactively in other areas of society to reduce violence.
“We are in a position to perpetuate racial poverty when we prioritize policing over education. We are saying that it’s more important to punish than it is to build up,” she said.
Marathon meeting lasts until dawn
There was an attempt to shorten the record-setting meeting. After nearly five hours, Vice Mayor Jim Shulman had heard enough.
As hours carried on with a familiar theme and an unknown number of people still waiting to speak, Shulman returned from a brief recess at midnight to say he would no longer accept speakers repeating what has already been said as residents with differing positions struggled to get a chance.
“We’re at the point where we’ve had people basically saying the same thing to us. A solid democracy means that you allow other people to have a say,” he said, arguing the process was “tying up the hands of government” as he moved on with the agenda to return to a public hearing at the end of the meeting.
It spurred immediate protest from council members and the public, including those who had come to the Metro Courthouse late Tuesday night when their calls had gotten tied up in the remote queue as it reached capacity at the start of the meeting.
In the hallway outside the council chambers, Shulman accused some in attendance of engaging in bad policy and bad politics, a moment captured on video.
At one point, Shulman instructed security to escort people out of the building if they got “out of hand,” though everyone sat in spaced out chairs.
Late Wednesday, Cooper posted a statement on Twitter about Shulman, saying he has listened to “people’s distress” over the vice mayor’s words.
“The Vice Mayor is an independently elected Metro official, and his words are his own,” Cooper said. “They do not reflect my views, or the views of my office. I fully support all public speech, and I believe every single voice must be heard.”
Shulman pushed forward with council business, prompting some council members who had joined the meeting remotely to log off in solidarity with those wanting to comment.
After an hour into the agenda, Council member Dave Rosenberg, the chair of the council’s Rules, Confirmations, and Public Elections Committee, successfully received unanimous support to return to the public hearing and to allow anyone to speak without interruption.
Council member Kyonztè Toombs, the budget vice chair, said the focus of the public hearing was to hear from constituents.
“The overwhelming calls to defund the police and invest more in community resources reaffirms what I already believed and that is what as a city we need to reconsider our priorities and how we fund those priorities,” Toombs told The Tennessean.
She said more in-depth conversations are needed, including how to dole out the CARES Act funds — which she called one of the fastest ways to address some of the needs. Stand Up Nashville Executive Director Odessa Kelly, who stood in front of council for the third year calling for a tax increase, demanded the $121 million sitting in city coffers be spent immediately on those who need it the most.
At nearly 5 a.m. Wednesday after the public hearing finally ended, At-large Council member Steve Glover expressed frustrations that people opposed to the tax increase were “successfully snuffed out” of the lengthy process.
Glover called the turnout a “scam” that was designed toward giving an advantage toward the mayor’s budget or another that would include a significant tax increase.
“I’ve never seen such a fiasco in my life,” he said.
The meeting, handled largely virtually, tested council members with more than eight hours spent on the budget discussion, including Shulman, who is well-respected on the council and known for convening meetings that push for more public understanding.
During his recess, he went to speak to community members waiting outside, where tensions grew and he was recorded saying they were engaging in “bad politics.” He came back to the chamber to say that he had been informed that constituents with differing opinions on the budget and a tax increase said they hadn’t been able to speak.
At-large Council member Bob Mendes said he understood frustrations but said that the voices heard during the meeting should not be diminished as they were genuinely shared with council members.
“For anyone worried about the events of last Saturday in Nashville, tonight is an incredible show of force for democracy,” Mendes told The Tennessean, calling it inspiring to see the public turnout to engage on the budget.
He and other community advocates have also renewed their call for the removal of MNPD Chief Steve Anderson — the calls for his ouster a culmination of many years of public tension between the MNPD’s top brass and Nashville’s black community.
“I believe substantial change in policing practices is not possible as long as he is the chief,” Mendes said. “I appreciate so many people coming forward to share their ideas.”
Yihyun Jeong covers politics in Nashville for USA TODAY NETWORK – TENNESSEE. Reach her at yjeong@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @yihyun_jeong.
Published 8:19 PM EDT Jun 3, 2020
