A number of concerned citizens left the Chattanooga Theatre Centre last week feeling as if they had been railroaded in a public meeting by proponents of the proposed Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center.
It was so one-sided, some said.
We didn't get the chance to have our say, others related.
In truth, no railroading occurred - at least by heritage center supporters.
The evening may not have gone as folks for or against the proposed center, to be located on one-tenth of an acre in a corner of Coolidge Park, might have hoped. But proponents were just doing what city officials had asked them to do. City officials had heard plenty from some people who said they had no opportunity to weigh in on the project at two hastily called "open houses" in early June.
"We are not allowing for groups to make comments and this is not a public hearing," city parks planner Akosua Cook wrote in a July 28 email to Bill Raines, chairman of the board of trustees for the Medal of Honor Center. "It is a public meeting to obtain feedback."
Raines, perhaps anticipating frustration on the part of attendees who would not be able to speak, had asked Cook in a previous email about the possibility of a written "question and answer format" with a professional moderator.
Earlier in July, Stacy Richardson, chief of staff to Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, had clarified to Raines in an email that "the city is leading efforts as it relates to this public meeting."
So, efforts to pin the one-sided presentation on Medal of Honor Heritage Center proponents are wrong-headed. Emails show they had sought the meeting to be more of a public hearing than it was.
Last week's gathering grew out of the City Council's June 21 approval - with two caveats - of the project. One of those was that a more widely advertised public meeting be held. Last week's event at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre was that meeting.
The meeting, planned to be informational in scope, did not include comments or questions from anyone specifically opposed to the Medal of Honor Heritage Center, per the city, but it did include remarks from architect Bob Franklin, who spoke about the transformation of the Coolidge Park space nearly 20 years ago, and Rick Wood, state director of the Trust for Public Land, who spoke about the importance of parks in general.
Following the presentation, attendees in the near-capacity 300-seat theater were invited to stay for a charette-type event, where they could voice their support or opposition on sticky notes and post them on boards. Trained table leaders were in turn charged with summarizing the points about the project's opportunities, concerns and questions and including them in a report to the city and the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency.
Many on both sides - some forcefully - did just that. Some wasted attendees' time by asking questions that already had been answered or asked questions that had nothing to do with whether the center should be located in the park. Some seemed to have no understanding, despite the presentation, that the man for whom the park is named requested more than 70 years ago that the space be a place to honor all veterans and not him alone.
The problem is that many who use the park today don't remember the years the land was unused and was ringed by manufacturing firms. They don't know who Coolidge is, what he did, why the park is named for him and why the 95-year-old veteran believes the park is the perfect location for the Medal of Honor center.
They see only the transformed park, the carousel, the fountain, the wide open green spaces where they picnic, throw Frisbees or come for Pops in the Park.
The ball is now in the court of the city and the regional planning agency. Having heard and sensed opposition to the plan, they may be in a quandary about their next step. With city elections coming up in the spring, no public official wants to disappoint either veterans or young, active park users and jeopardize votes.
But even with approval from the city, county and planning commission, it would hardly be a done deal. Millions of dollars - the price cannot be set yet - would need to be raised to move forward. Center officials have said they wouldn't break ground until a majority of the money is raised. And with hands out across the city, from a new children's hospital to the upcoming annual United Way pledge drive, nothing is guaranteed.
However, we'll stick with our original belief that the tiny corner of the park is the right place for a center that would honor Coolidge, a Medal of Honor recipient, and all recipients like him.