If the city of Chattanooga has its way, the military-related memorials on Patten Parkway will be moved off the parkway.
The city has talked for the better part of a decade about renovating the block-long, linear park, but removing the memorials was never a focus of those plans.
Now, the city has filed its intention to petition the Tennessee Historical Commission for a waiver that would allow it to relocate and rededicate the three military-related memorials either on "a plaza at the terminus of the new public space of Patten Parkway" (across Lindsay Street in what is now a parking lot) or in Phillips Park at the corner of McCallie Avenue and Georgia Avenue.
While we wish there had been more public discussion of such a move before the petition was filed, we don't see why either space - at least based on the renderings in the petition - couldn't serve as an appropriate, even if less visible, space for the memorials.
The petition, submitted on April 16, asks that the request be included on the commission's June 15 agenda for an initial hearing. At the initial hearing, according to the commission website, the commission "will determine which interested entities, groups, or individuals should be given written notice by the City of Chattanooga."
The three memorials are an American Legion Post 14 flag pole (near the Lindsay Street intersection), a Tennessee quartzite and Georgia granite World War II monument in the center of the parkway (with the names of 680 county war dead), and a memorial dedicated to Hamilton County Marines who gave their life in service to the country.
Artist renderings of the potential new Pattern Parkway space show almost the entire area between buildings on the north and south side as one shared by automobiles and pedestrians. On weekends, the space could be converted to its roots as Market Square, the city's first outdoor market. Open-air tents would replace automobiles, and the area would be a pedestrian plaza.
The location of the memorials apparently is contingent on the disposition of the public parking lot at the corner of Lindsay Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The lot, according to the petition, "is controlled by American Legion Post 14," and "is being designed for a new building."
The city, in its petition, says it has had initial discussions with the developers of the property and includes a letter of support from Carl Levi of Post 14.
The renderings picture a raised memorial plaza that appears to be an extension of the design work that would be done on Patten Parkway.
The city's petition says the area would be a "refreshed location that bestows tremendous honor on the servicemen from our county and city."
The alternative location at Phillips Park, the petition says, would be "quiet" and "off the beaten path and away from nightlife establishments, as well as in the shadow of our architectural history of the Hamilton County Courthouse and Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium."
At that location, a proposed memorial garden section of the park parallel to McCallie Avenue would contain the memorials, with the American Legion flag pole just off from the front of the iconic First Methodist steeple tower.
Patten Parkway, according to Times Free Press archives, was dedicated in 1943 to the memory of the late Zeboim Cartter Patten, a civic leader and founder of Volunteer State Life Insurance Co. The Post 14 flag pole was erected there in 1949, and the memorial to war dead was completed in 1950.
During the controversy over the removal of a tree there in 1981, the late Patten's relative, Mrs. Cartter Patten, made her thoughts known about a then-plan to "open up the area."
"I don't think we ever approved the plan," she told The Chattanooga Times. "I am very eager to have Patten Parkway as a war memorial."
Nevertheless, according to the petition, the city owns almost the entire parkway, with the exception of part of the sidewalk on the south side.
But, according to the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, no war memorials can be "relocated, removed, altered, renamed, rededicated, or otherwise disturbed" without a waiver from the Tennessee Historical Commission.
As recently as last July, according to Times Free Press archives, Patten Parkway designers envisioned keeping the World War II monument. At that time, it was said the parkway's median would be leveled to street elevation and would incorporate an existing tree and the monument with a new central terrace.
In its petition, though, the city notes recent public meetings and task forces have recommended "key public space improvements" including "the reconstruction of Patten Parkway to accommodate a wide range of activities and attract diverse audiences year-round." It also says the installation of a stormwater detention tank "will require that the parkway be completely rebuilt."
We're not sure the city believes a monument honoring the sacrifices of those who died in war complements the urban scene it imagines for the parkway, but at least the city has proposed the relocation of the memorials to an attractively landscaped nearby plaza and not to eradicate them altogether as some cities have done.