Coolidge Park may soon be playing host to a new Medal of Honor heritage center, but the development has its fair share of critics who are drawing a line in the grass.
On Wednesday night, more than 200 members of the public, including city officials and a crowd of veterans, packed into a small auditorium in the Chattanooga Theatre Centre, some craning their necks in the back of the room to hear a pitch for the project from its organizers.
Several of the project leaders said the park was originally named in honor of one of Chattanooga's own Medal of Honor recipients, Charles Coolidge, and the center would pay homage to American veterans, an important fulfillment of the park's historical intent.
The chairman of the Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center, retired Maj. Gen. Bill Raines, said the building would occupy less than 5,000 square feet of real estate in the northeast corner of the park on the parcel of land situated between the Walnut Street Bridge and the theater center.
"It will be an enhancement to what the focus was intended to be," said Raines, who also argued the land is only infrequently used.
Raines was joined by other community leaders, including the son of Charles H. Coolidge, retired Lt. Gen. Charles H. Coolidge Jr., in walking the crowd through details of the design, funding and reasons for the development.
"My dad was promised that [the park] would be for veterans," Coolidge said.
Coolidge said he was impressed by the turnout at the Wednesday night event, which was lauded by organizers as an opportunity to receive public input before moving forward on a final plan of action with the city and county.
He praised the number of service members who showed up - almost a third of the crowd - to demonstrate their support for the center.
"My dad feels kindred with all veterans," he said. "He's their symbol."
But not everyone is thrilled about the proposal. Some members of the community have said they oppose the idea of relinquishing prime green space in the park to another building.
Jim Johnson, the president and founder of Bike Tours, said he isn't opposed to the idea of the center itself, but he is opposed to putting it in Coolidge Park. In his mind, any construction of a building in the area would disrupt the feel and function of the park.
"Green space is absolutely crucial to our way of life here," he said. "Even if it were just one wall, it ruins the aesthetics of the area. It's going to take down a lot of trees and other plantings, and it sort of destroys the flow and atmosphere."
Johnson said he certainly wouldn't mind seeing the museum in Chattanooga, since he said it is important to recognize the many sacrifices of service members, but added he would like to see it relocated.
"It could be any place other than this park and be better," he said.
Coolidge pushed back on concerns about the use of green space, saying parks have been nibbled at and restricted for years by commercial interests in Chattanooga.
"Why don't we negotiate with some of these commercial spaces rimming the park and expand it if you want more green space," he said.
But Johnson is not alone in his concerns. Rich Bailey, a local custom content editor, said he's primarily frustrated with how the plan was rolled out in the first place. He said Wednesday's event was a sales pitch rather than a discussion.
"This is the most anemic public participation I have ever seen," he said.
After the presentation by the project leaders, the crowd members were asked to break into discussion groups and come up with suggestions on how to move forward. Bailey said that should have been one of the first things that happened in the project's infancy months ago.
"This is happening far too late in the process," he said. "What we're being presented with is an idea that's fully formed."
Although he supported the idea of the center itself, he said the process was actually an affront to Coolidge and service members who devoted their lives in sacrificial service to the country.
"He risked his life to defend democracy," he said, implying that the process had so far been less than democratic.
Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.