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Old State House Museum Associates Annual Supper
Former Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt was the guest of honor at the Old State House Museum Associates Annual Supper held in the Great Hall of the Governor’s Mansion on Nov. 3
A surface parking lot is proposed on the site of the 141-year-old brick building that held the Cheeburger Cheeburger restaurant until the building collapsed unexpectedly in late March.
Opposition has formed to the idea, since some say surface parking isn’t the best use for the now-empty lot at 138 Market St. which is in a prime location across from the Tennessee Aquarium in the heart of Chattanooga’s downtown.
“That’s not the highest and best use for an important corner in our city,” said Kim White, the president and CEO of the River City Co., the nonprofit organization that works to improve downtown.
Many urban planners argue that surface parking lots have hollowed out America’s once-densely developed downtowns and made them pedestrian-unfriendly. Surface parking lots have been called everything from “the scourge of American downtowns” to “parking craters.”