(gentle music) - [Narrator] You're watching highlights of the Chattanooga City Council meeting a production of WTCI PBS.

(cheery music) - We have no special presentations this evening.

We will entertain a motion on our minutes.

Minutes have been motioned for approval, they have been seconded.

Questions, comments in the minutes we will accept those minutes without objection.

Ordinances on final reading, planning item A, Madam Clerk, please.

- [Madam Clerk] In ordinance to amend Chattanooga City code part two Chapter 38, Zoning Ordinance.

So as the reason on property located at 1511 Mulberry Street from R two Residential Zone, to UGC, Urban General Commercial Zone, subject to certain conditions.

- Councilwoman Noel, this is a final reading on this planning item?

- [Noel] Move to approve.

- I have a motion to approve, I do have a second to that motion.

Questions, comments before we vote?

All those in favors say aye.

- [Council In Unison] Aye.

- Opposed?

Item carries.

Madam Clerk, ordinances on first reading finance item A, please.

- [Madam Clerk] An ordinance to amend the operations budget.

Ordinance number 13840 known as the fiscal year 2022 through 2023, Operations Budget.

So as to appropriate $1,382,573 from General Fund Contingency to various departments, amend sections five and five A to reallocate appropriation between departments.

Amend section seven, Pay Plans, to correct an error and amend section seven D to reallocate positions.

In order to amend the capital budget, ordinance number 13841 known as the fiscal year 2022 through 2023.

Capital budget, so as to appropriate $1,500,000 to Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise from the Affordable Housing Trust Capital Project.

- Dr. Berz, I believe you have the floor ma'am.

- [Dr. Berz] Move approval.

- Have a motion to approve.

I do hear a second to that motion.

Questions, comments before we vote?

All those in favors say aye.

- [Council In Unison] Aye.

- Opposed?

- [Unknown Man] No.

- Madam Clerk, one no.

Planning Item B, Madam Clerk.

- [Madam Clerk] In ordinance to amend Chattanooga City code part two Chapter 38 Zoning Ordinance.

So as to rezone and unaddressed property located in the 1000 block of East 10th Street from URD two residential, detached zone to URM three residential multi-unit zone.

- Is the applicant present?

Is there any opposition present?

Councilwomen Noel, you have the floor.

- [Noel] Thank you Mr.

Chair, I am recommending that we defer this for two weeks until October the 11th.

I actually need to have a conversation with the developer.

- I have a motion and a nod from the applicant for a two week deferral.

I have a second for that motion, all in favor say aye.

- [Council In Unison] Aye.

Opposed?

Thank you, two week deferral to October the 11th.

Thank you you ma'am.

Under resolutions economic development, Madam Clerk item A please.

- [Madam Clerk] A resolution authorizing the Mayor, his designee to enter into a lease agreement with Vincent Properties LLC and substantially the form attached, for the use of approximately 1200 square feet of office space by the Department of Parks and Outdoors at 221 River Street on a portion of tax map number 135EN003 for the term of three years with the option to renew for two additional terms of three years each with rent of $2,500 per month during the initial term with the effective date of October 1st, 2022.

- I have a motion to approve by Councilwoman Hill.

I do hear a second to that motion.

Questions, comments before we vote?

All those in favor say aye.

- [Council In Unison] Aye.

Opposed?

Item carries.

We will now move into recognition of persons wishing to address the council.

And I see we have quite a few in attendance and we expect quite a few persons to speak with us tonight as we also monitor social media and we understand what is going on and we know the intent and the spirit of conversations that go around in our community.

And before we come tonight to speak to the council we do have rules for public speaking and the most important thing I can tell you is that there are some things that are not within our jurisdiction or authority.

And Mr. Attorney will read those rules now.

- Sure.

At the end of every council meeting the chair will recognize members of the public who wish to address the council.

And these are your rules if you wish to speak.

Each speaker wishing to address the council can only be recognized at the microphone upfront, that is provided for that purpose.

No person can have more than three minutes to speak and the speaker can address the council only upon matters within their legislative and quasi judicial authority and not on matters that are not under their authority or regulated by other governmental bodies or agencies.

You can't use any vulgar or obscene language, nor use the floor to personally attack or personally denigrate others.

You should address your comments to the council as a whole and not make comments directed towards individual counsel members.

You can only do so one time a day and the chair in this matter is the person whose in control and he will not permit disorderly conduct or disrupting a public meeting, which is prohibited under Tennessee law.

A person commits an offense if that person substantially obstructs or interferes with the meeting by physical action or verbal utterance with the intent to prevent or disrupt this meeting from continuing.

At this point, whoever wishes to speak come up front.

- Mr.

IT there'll be a three.

(throat clearing) - My name is Charles Wysong, I live at 6872 Robin Drive here in Chattanooga.

I'm here to address what I hope all of you have seen and that is this display of the drag queen at the Wanderlinger bar.

Where a little girl maybe three or four years old goes up and is induced to rub the genitals of one of these drag queens.

And this video has now made the internet and this little girl will live with this image or these images of her, the rest of her life.

And clearly a crime has been committed, sexual battery.

But my concern is you have children protective services and I just want to inquire the council.

I think the council ought to involve themselves in this.

And we have the Chief of Police here tonight and wonder if we could, if there's any way you folks could ask what is being done to investigate this and could come back to the council and report on what is being done.

The parents of a little girl, that they induced her to go up there and portray herself as part of the crowd.

We are looking at serious matters, corrupting these children, corrupting their morals.

And tonight there are good many people here, those that are concerned about this would you stand up?

And I just wonder if there might be kind of a response from the council to this, what would you do?

- [Chair] Mr. Wysong?

- [Mr. Wysong] Yes sir.

- [Chair] You know me for a long time, we're great friends.

I will not let this council be strong armed.

- [Mr. Wysong] Oh, I'm not trying.

- [Chair] No, I will not let this council be strong armed.

- [Mr. Wysong] You're saying- - Under any circumstances.

We are looking, everyone is looking at this.

The Chief of Police has been notified and we are not gonna be strong armed, okay?

I mean, I see you and there's been a lot of people, a lot of people who come here and stand and they all are passionate about whatever it is they're passionate about.

- [Mr. Wysong] Sure.

- And I just want you to know that we're not gonna be strong armed in a public meeting.

- [Mr. Wysong] Well, I'm sorry you misinterpreted my presentation as being strong armed.

I'm not strong arming anybody, but I do want you to understand there's a deep - [Chair] I hear you.

- [Mr. Wysong] There's a deep matter here.

- [Chair] Yes sir.

- [Mr. Wysong] That numbers of people, and listen, this is just a smattering.

But anyway, what I'm asking for is there an investigation going on?

And that's what I'm asking.

- I would like for you to turn around and ask the Chief of Police who's right behind you.

- [Mr. Wysong] Yes, yes.

- And because that is our enforcement side of the city and not the legislative side of the city.

- [Mr. Wysong] Okay.

- Thank you.

- Good evening Council.

My name is Matt Adams and I am a proud resident, proudly represented by Councilwoman Noel in District eight.

About 10 years ago, I was down here in Chattanooga for a leadership conference when I was in high school.

And I came out to the first person as queer.

And that was a really big step for me because I grew up in a very rural area and this city has always felt safe to me.

It's always felt like, it's always felt welcoming.

It's always felt like a family to me.

You see, I've always thought of things in a historical context.

In 1969, the Stonewall riots occurred in New York City and launched what is considered to be by most, the modern gay rights movement.

Why, a lot of people wonder, did those riots happen in the first place?

Well, it was simple, really.

People were tired, right?

They were tired of being threatened, they were tired of being harassed and not just by their neighbors and not just by their family, but by elected officials by members of the New York City council.

Members of the county commission, the State Legislature were harassing these people and they were just tired, right?

And so I come before you tonight as a resident of the city of Chattanooga to say thank you, for allowing weeks like this to happen.

Allowing Pride week to happen because you see the reason that weeks like this have to happen is because for far too long, folks like myself have had to hide away from the public view and had to pretend that we don't exist.

And I'll leave you with this and promise this is not usual for me to keep it this brief, but I'll leave you with this.

Harvey Milk, who was considered to be by most historians, to be the first openly queer elected official in the United States.

While he was on the city Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, he made a series of tape recordings.

And in one of them he says a quote that has stuck with me since I first heard it.

He said, "If a bullet shall enter my brain, may it shatter every closet door in America."

Thank you.

- Good evening Council.

My name is Cheryl Twitty.

- [Chair] Good evening.

I did not grow up in Chattanooga but I did spend the summers here with great friends on Single Mountain.

- [Chair] Ma'am, do you live in the city or county?

I've been a little laxed in that, so I'm trying to do better in my job here - I'm sorry.

City.

- [Chair] City.

And what district?

- I don't know, sorry.

I'm kind of planted two places.

I've come from Jonesboro, Tennessee and we're making all our transfer over here in the last seven years.

But we're still, got one foot in each county.

Hamilton County and Washington County.

So I have businesses here.

I've been building new construction, had a great success with that, providing beautiful homes for people and have some rental properties, that kind of thing.

But when I was young, I would ride the Chattanooga choochoo from Atlanta up here to spend the summers and had a growing love for Chattanooga.

I love Chattanooga because I have some roots here but because of the people here and the history here and the love of that history.

I'm 69 years old, I had five children.

My education background was a Bachelor's in Special ED out of Valdosta, Georgia.

I've taught for a long time, 30 years.

I taught my own children, I tutored, I mentor now.

But my specialty was with child development.

And I'm very concerned about what's going on with our children and the exposure there with this drag stuff.

I can say from personal experience, it's not a healthy situation for a young child to be exposed to male nudity or any kind of physical touch in a way that is a sexual touch.

And I would say touching private parts is a sexual touch.

We've had foster kids in our home, I've worked with children who have a background and a history of exposure to sexual behavior from adults.

It's not produced something good and healthy.

It's produced a lot of difficulty for those individuals.

So I would say, whoever thinks that there is no consequence to what these children are experiencing would need to dig deeper.

I would just implore you because you are influential in this community and people look up to you and respect you and they trust you because they've elected you.

I implore you, protect our children, keep the regulations as tight as possible to protect our children, thank you.

(clapping) - [Chair] Good evening.

- Thank you Chairman, I'm Angela Favaloro.

I am in city and county district five.

I come to speak tonight as a parent and community member.

I would say our conversation starts around safety, right?

I don't think this is an either or situation, right?

It's not like anybody in this room supports pedophilia.

No one in this room supports grooming.

I think what we have is misguided direction on what safety is and how we address that.

One of the oldest myths in the book is that sexual orientation or gender identity determines child molestation or things like that.

And that is proven time and time and again by American Psychology Association, the Academy of Pediatrics, the child molestation things that the data is not there to show that.

That kids are actually in their family and community groups, those who are closest to them, that is where they are susceptible to the most harm.

To take this conversation and apply it toward a vulnerable community is doing disservice to two communities.

We have one community who we know is heavily oppressed and this type of oppression from all the governing bodies and their community leads to crisis and fatal situations.

Then we have a disservice to actual child harm, actual grooming, pedophilia, these issues.

This is taking away from the ability to fund, the ability to legislate, and the ability to actually protect children.

The environments in which drag is, is no different than The Rockettes.

The Rockettes wear bloomers and kick their leg up and have for a hundred years.

We have gymnasts who wear glittery leotards and flip up around in everything.

And the Olympics is for children, family and everyone.

This is a debate about perception and ideology in which, both of those are free for us to all have individually and we don't legislate based off of those things.

My ideology is that I'm the mother of a queer child, and those spaces are very affirming and positive and life giving to my children.

Those places may not be for other people and they don't have to go there.

And for someone to say that they're not going after any other situation where small children aren't present, is inaccurate.

Any place that a queer person, or a transgender person, or nonconforming person is, is being attacked.

And we have a right to protect all people in this community.

And Chattanooga, come on y'all.

We love everybody here and we have to do our best to make that known and apparent that everybody is welcome.

(clapping) - Hi, my name is Reed Ebrman and I actually have no idea what district I'm a part of but I know I live in the East Brainer area, so.

- [Chair] that would be four, sir.

- District four.

So I actually had a diatribe prepared but I'm gonna forego that in honor of everyone here.

Hopefully you can appreciate that.

Instead, I think I've just, I have a simple question at the end of the day, that I hope that we can somehow muster an answer to.

And it is in reference to what took place over the weekend and these drag shows that took place with minors.

I wanna be very clear to say this, that if we were not talking about small children being involved, I think half of the people that are here, would not be here.

I think we need to be very clear when we talk about freedom, that we understand that diversity and inclusion is not an excuse to expose small children to sexually explicit material.

(clapping) We started this meeting out talking about compassion and we used Henry Nowak and I think that's pretty interesting because Henry Nowak was actually a Christian theologian and came out as a gay man later in life and decided not to act upon those predilections and rather to remain celibate later in life.

And was probably one of the foremost theologians of his time and perhaps even today, in the area of compassion.

And so my question would be in light of that to say this, when we talk about compassion, what about the compassion for small children who do not have the ability to understand what is being placed directly in front of them?

What about the compassion for sexually explicit material that they are being subjected to in our city under the guise of a family friendly event?

Now I think most of you have seen the video, but if you haven't you will know that what the man said, Mr. Wysong that was up here is absolutely correct, about a child fondling the privates of an adult that is a complete stranger to that child, not that it would be any better if it wasn't.

And then we also have grown men flashing their crotches to small children.

This is not the kind of behavior of an adult and this is not the kind of behavior that you should ever subject a child to.

If I were to do this to any one of you, I would be accused of sexual harassment, especially in this, Me Too era.

Now how much more when it's a small child and they do not know any better?

So I would just say this, I urge every person in this body who has the power to consider these events to speak openly and publicly rather than to defer to strong arming or to legal ease, to actually explicitly come out and say what they actually believe and where they stand about exposing small children to sexually explicit material.

That's what I would like to hear.

(clapping) - Hi, my name is Mara White, I'm in Nixon area and I'm not sure what district that is, I'm sorry.

I just wanted to say that you know, a lot of things can be taken outta context.

Video clips can be edited.

I think everyone should wait and, you know see whatever the whole video is.

I personally feel like if a child's at an event, perhaps it's the parents' responsibility to make sure where they're taking them, what they're seeing.

And this all seems to formulate hate and fear cause I am deeply terrified about my personal safety and the safety of my friends and family for even just speaking here.

I know I have fought long and hard to get to the point in life where I feel safe within myself and everyone here and you know, we all elected all of you but to represent all of us and to protect all of us.

And I wish nobody any harm or ill will.

I just wanna be able to live my life and I want my friends and family, whether it be by blood or however related, to feel safe and having people come into shows and events and make videos and clips that don't show the full story.

It's frightening.

It seems like a continuation of the last several years about false news, et cetera, are not seeing the full story or making a judgment call before they understand the whole situation.

Every public event, you're always gonna have people trying to destroy the situation.

And especially when it comes, you know during pride week when we are supposed to feel represented and safe and these attacks happening at the same time, just doesn't seem to be authentic and it seems to be like a targeted attack, so to speak, on our rights and our abilities to love ourselves for who we are.

I have been through so many things and been terrified my whole life.

I really don't want to be terrified anymore.

And even, everybody here elected y'all and I have love for everyone here and I hope one day we can, I can feel that and feel safe, thank you.

(clapping) - Mara, did I get that name wrong?

Ms. White?

Earlier a person here spoke with our Chief of Police about the situation and was concerned and got connected with Chief Murphy.

I want you to know that I hear you when you say that you are terrified and I want you to know that I'm not okay with that.

In district two, we have a lot of diversity of thought.

And what I have found when I've knocked doors and talked to people all over our community, is that we can all agree that everyone belongs.

And that means everyone, we all belong and everyone in our community deserves to feel safe in their home and they deserve to feel safe as they move about our community.

So I urge you, if you choose to stay, take a moment and meet our Chief of Police, Chief Murphy make eye contact and know that there are people who their job every day is to help keep you and your family and your friends safe.

And you deserve nothing less than that.

I hope that we are past, I would love to think that we are past the day where people are threatened for being different.

Were people who are misunderstood, are mistreated but unfortunately no we're not.

So I urge you call 911 when you need to, never think you're not worth that, okay?

Thank you.

(clapping) - Before I entertain a motion to adjourn this evening, I too want to thank each and every person in this room for coming down and sharing your beliefs.

That's exactly what this meeting is for.

And it's difficult sometimes.

You may not like me for saying what I need to say to keep this meeting where this meeting needs to go.

And that's to represent everybody in this district, everybody in this city, not just your group not just this group, that group, this meeting is for you to come and tell us and it's for us to hear.

And I've heard a lot of very, very important things that I will take home tonight and I thank you for that.

But I just want to appreciate what each and every one of you have had to say tonight.

I promise you I've listened to every word and it's very important what you have to say.

And thank God we have a place in our world, that we can come and share those opinions without fear.

That's what I'm most grateful for.

So I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

We have a motion to adjourn.

We are adjourned.

(gavel slams) (cheerful music) - [Narrator] You've been watching highlights of the Chattanooga City Council meeting a production of WTCI PBS.

Get on demand access to even more of the shows you love with WTCI Passport an exclusive benefit for members of WTCI PBS.

Watch your favorite shows in Passport on the PBS video app.

Download it today.