Mainstream Media Weighs In On The Park

Looks like the park is just about ready for the real "renovation" to begin. Won't be long now and we should have an idea of what will be done at the park to stave off those villainous, dookie-squirting rats and their compadres in caca-crime, the super-pooping pigeons that have invaded it and begun what seems, according to numerous reports, a feces-flinging-free-for-all. Oh, and ahem, let's not forget too that it's also going to be more "user-friendly." Now I know I promised to suspend judgment on the park's situation until after it's completed and I'm trying, I'm really trying, but all this discussion about bird and rat droppings being the precipitator of change at the park seems a bit full of....well, droppings. It just seems odd to me that after 9 years of existence, suddenly, this year, and after so much attention has been paid to the park as a result of the panhandling problem, city employees come out with a plan to rid the park of vermin and pigeon poop? Sure does raise an eyebrow or three, eh? "One doth protest too much," or something to that effect. Many of my colleagues have long since concluded that the reason for the closure was done to move the Homeless, under the guise of (or worse yet, included in) "vermin control." It's getting harder and harder for me not to believe them... Bird Droppings Close Nashville Park

Sep 8, 2007 10:44 PM

Featured Videos Bird Droppings Close Nashville Park

George Boone, park visitor

NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Birds and health concerns have caused one Nashville Park to close and start over, but some feel the city is renovating the park for other reasons.

The park on church street was a gathering place for all types of people who lived and worked in downtown, but Metro Parks said bird droppings have forced them to close the downtown park. The mess covered sidewalks, benches and bushes at a small park on Church Street, across from the downtown library.

It's not just unpleasant. The droppings can cause a respiratory disease, histoplasmosis, that can be deadly if left untreated.

So, the city decided to rip the park out and start over. When it reopens, it will have fewer trees. The city hopes that will mean fewer birds. The park will reopen later this month.

However, others in the downtown community don't agree that the closing is about the birds. George Boone said the park is a safe haven, and closing the park is the city's way of getting the homeless out of the park.

"It was about the homeless people hanging out, drinking, drugging, fighting and harassing people that came to the park to sit down on their lunch breaks from different businesses around here and they decided to shut it down," Boone said.

Ultimately the Metro Parks department said they decided to rip the park up and start from scratch when they noticed the fountain water was milky due to the droppings. The renovations will cost $22,000.

The city wants the Church Street Park to be more family friendly. The homeless people in the area also said they understand they are not going to be left out of the park, but they are not going to be able to gather there like they used to.