In the name of Market Square redevelopment, the city ripped out the park formerly known as Krutch and stomped that sucker flat. Not only did they flatten it, but they poured concrete over it and punched it through to Gay Street on a piece of land that they bought for $806,000 from the same contractor who did the flattening, pouring and punching.

For a sidewalk, it’s a pretty nice one, I reckon, since it’s dotted with trees and grassy patches and has a little water feature that’s probably supposed to be relief from all that cement. Skateboarders probably like it, and rollerbladers, maybe. City officials, like development director Bill Lyons, defend the redesign as “less closed-in, more accessible” and claim the old park “didn’t work.”

Baloney.

Krutch Park (pronounced Krootch, not Crutch) used to be something special. It was a tiny thing – less than an acre located on Market Street a block west of Gay Street, between Union and Clinch – but its meandering stream, flowers, trees and footpaths made it a shady retreat from the city streets and sidewalks. Downtown workers could go there on their lunch break, sit on a bench and read a newspaper and have a sandwich. People played chess in the gazebo, picnicked by the stream. It was probably pretty close to what Charles Krutch had in mind when he died in 1981 at the age of 94 and left $1.3 million to the city for a downtown park. His will said it would be “a quiet retreat with trees, shrubs, flowers and other plantings for the pleasure and health of the people.”

Granted, police officers charged with keeping homeless squatters from taking over the place weren’t so crazy about its enclosed, secluded design, and it wasn’t a fun place to be on those occasions when starlings decided to take the place over – but, hey, nothing’s perfect, and it was, in the view of lots of downtown habitués, a gem in the heart of the city.

The changes to the park were dictated by the Market Square plan, which was stretched all the way to Gay Street to include the movie theater that is in the planning stages. The execution of the plan isn’t so hot, either. The above-mentioned water feature, which is a little brook flowing from a waterfall, is bone-dry these days. Lyons says the architect “had the water drained and the stones are being fitted in there correctly.” Downtowners say the architect refused to sign off on the project because of “crappy workmanship.”

Architect Mike Fowler declined to use such descriptive language, but confirmed that some work had to be redone. The contractor, Cardinal Enterprises, is headed by Brian Conley, and, as mentioned above, sold the city the Gay Street property for the park extension.

Wonder what Charles Krutch would think?

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