Homeless At Miller Park Find Another Barrier

Last week Chattanooga city officials told a group of people who help feed the homeless at Miller Park to go away unless they get a permit.

But Thursday they went right back to Miller Park and made sure that the city's homeless and poor had something to eat - only to find another barrier.

City workers closed Miller Park and placed barriers and yellow tape all around the block on Market Street.

People with several churches still offered food on the side walk. They say that they hope the barriers are just a coincidence.

City parks director Kevin Brady said Miller Park will be closed for six to eight weeks for major landscaping renovations.

But Bucky Buckles of North River Vinyard Church said "it makes it a little difficult to do what we planned to do."

Buckle's church, along with several others, have given meals for the homeless and poor at Miller Park for several years.

We found Terry Huffer serving bowls of home made beef stew, and said she does it for "love, we want to love people the way Jesus loved them and that's why we're here."

Last week Chattanooga police officers, on orders from city hall, told the churches to stop what they were doing or apply for a permit to feed the homeless through the Parks and Recreation Department.

So you can imagine church members first thoughts when they saw the park sealed off. We shared those concerns with Mayor Ron Littlefield as he took a lunchtime stroll by the park.

"It's coincidental, but for some time we tried to send the message that we need to be moving these feeding operations to another location and that's what we're doing."

The mayor says there are no sanitary facilities for feeding anyone in the park, which is right next to a lunchtime hot spot, Miller Plaza.

Pastor Barry Kidwell of the Forrest Avenue United Methodist Church said "if it's unsanitary for us to have a picnic, maybe then it's unsanitary for anybody else to come down here and have a picnic too."

Despite recent barriers Kidwell, Buckles and others said they will continue to offer meals right out of their van on the sidewalk.

"We want to be a church that's outside the walls. We feel called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. And this is for us is more than just feeding. Honestly, it's more than just giving food, it's a process of building relationships and we really care about the people," Buckles said.

Kidwell said he can't find anything in the city ordinance saying they need a permit to feed people. So he and others will continue helping the poor on the sidewalks of Miller Park even as the construction continues.

Brady said the renovations at the 30-year-old Miller Park include new landscaping, sidewalk pavers, new park benches and trash receptacles that will match the new scheme along Market Street.