Mayoral candidate Larry Grohn said under the administration of Mayor Andy Berke that homicides have risen 82 percent and violence against women "is rising at a dramatic pace."
The City Council member said, "The number of female victims of homicide has risen 10 times since 2013.
"Chattanooga’s African-American community bears the overwhelming burden of homicides. African-American victims account for 78.5 percent of all total homicide victims from 2013-2016. Additionally, African-Americans are eight times more likely to be the victim of a homicide than white Chattanoogans.
“Every year of the Berke administration has seen an increase in the total percentage of female homicides. In 2013, female homicides accounted for five percent of the total number of those killed. In 2016, female homicides make up 32 percent as of now, or one out of every three victims."
He said 2016 "has seen a disturbing increase in the number of homicides committed against women. There are now double the number of female victims of homicide this year compared with 2015.
"During Berke’s time as mayor, African-American women have made up 77 percent of all female victims of homicide, and these numbers are rising. Most disturbing, African-American youth under the age of 21 account for one out of four victims of total homicides from the years 2013-2016.
"The programs that this administration created are not working. These programs are putting communities in more danger. This is a problem that connects us all. As violence rises, our families from the outer banks of our city feel fear coming downtown. This fear decreases economic outcomes where local families would spend their money at local business, enjoying time downtown as they do.
"As violence spreads, our downtown communities that are so rich in the upcoming and formation of our city's history become more detached and disenfranchised by the current administration. As violence spreads economic equity is limited by where developers will spend their money.
“This is unacceptable in the city of Chattanooga to see numbers like these and for those numbers to be rising at such a drastic pace. Multiple communities in our city are in desperate need of education, opportunity, and hope. This type of violence robs communities, of opportunity. Opportunity cannot flourish where violence is around every corner. Community cannot succeed, family cannot prosper, and business cannot grow when struck by out of control violence. This rising tide of violence will end with the Grohn administration.”