Who is the “City Park for Everyone Coalition”? What are we protesting and why?

We are homeowners, business owners, artists, fiscal conservatives, golfers, bird watchers, students, parents and fishermen. This coalition is working together to halt the development of a new golf course while preserving the park’s continued open access to green spaces. We have protested peacefully and will continue to do so.

This coalition has nothing against golf; we just see that there are plenty of other places to tee off. There are 11 golf courses in the metro area, including one in City Park. But there’s only one unique space in City Park that has been used by thousands of citizens for hundreds of uses in the last 9½ years, and it is about to be closed down for just one use.

Dear Mr. Becker,

While I applaud so much of the work that you have done to get City Park up and running post-Katrina and your efforts to transform it, making it more vibrant than at any other point in my lifetime, it is with great disappointment that I watch you proceed in the redevelopment of City Park’s Golf Courses on the site that now occupies portions of the former East and West Courses between Harrison Ave and Filmore Ave. As a lifelong resident of New Orleans and a regular golfer who grew up playing these courses and as someone who still plays North Course and spends time at the driving range, I can assure you that I am not opposed to golf. I also understand that the park needs to generate revenue through many different avenues since it does not receive any outside funding. However, I believe that the current strategy is misguided and overlooks the true value of what this land and nature in general represents as a cultural asset for all of us. It is based on an old way of thinking and an outmoded master plan that is in dire need of revision so that it better meshes with the changing needs of the community here in New Orleans. In case you have not noticed, a lot has changed in the last 10 years since this plan was approved.

I've been walking with my dogs for years in the old golf course area of City Park that was damaged by flooding during Hurricane Katrina. I was so surprised almost 10 years ago to find such a spectacular natural area with beautiful old trees and all kinds of birds and other wildlife that had been inaccessible to the public right here in New Orleans.

Since then hundreds of people have been enjoying it during the week for walking, running, cycling, exercising dogs, bird watching, mountain biking, painting and fishing. Local high school and fund-raising races have been held frequently on weekends. So in the last several weeks it has been heartbreaking to watch a fence go up to keep out the public while old trees are torn down to make room for the new golf course.

City Park officials say they are getting rid of an "eyesore" since it was damaged by levee breaches in Katrina. Those of us who go there frequently know it is absolutely beautiful. I was one of the volunteers who planted the young saplings, which are no replacement for the old trees. Most vibrant cities in this country would tout and protect their natural areas so that the public would have green space to enjoy. We should, too.

Maureen E. Shea, New Orleans

As a longtime, dues-paying Friend of City Park, it took me a while to get on board with the effort to save the wild public land that City Park CEO Bob Becker and the Bayou District Foundation nonprofit want to turn into a high-end golf course. The campaign seemed too little too late, or worse, an example of people who didn't live through the trauma of the flood but romanticized a wrecked version of the city.

The arguments against rebuilding the golf course accreted gradually— learning just how much that wild stretch meant to so many New Orleanians from all walks of life, learning how dire the economics of golf are in 2015, and learning about the sinister neoliberal elements of the "East Lake model" that the Bayou District Foundation, chaired by George H.W. Bush, seeks to emulate. When it was shown to me that, despite originally promising to only restore land that had previously been golf course, several far older cypress and live oaks and a fat slice of the Couturie Forest were being consigned to the ax, I was swayed

There is something insidious about fences. These man-made enclosures are a declaration of control; they create a hierarchical structure through limiting access, where there was once freedom. Jean-Jacques Rousseau explored the relationships of men in “Social Contract.” He found that fences engendered the notion of private property and led to the corruption of man’s essentially good nature,

Recently, a miles-long chain-link fence was erected around the wild northern portion of City Park, earmarked for development as a golf course by a closed decision-making process. There are many reasons why this golf course is a bad choice for the region: ecology, hydrology, financial sustainability, countervailing recreational trends — but I would like to highlight one particular aspect of the choice that is underappreciated: public access. Parks in contemporary urban life are the closest things we have to a shared resource. Like ‘commons’ of yore, they provide an undefined space for collective activity that has no equal, held in trust by the public, for the public. And by ‘public’ I do not mean strictly homo sapiens, but all flora and fauna.

As per the revised 2014 City Park Master Plan. Note the borders of the Couturie Forest's "natural resource area" continue to remain intact in relation to the golf course footprint, although we NOW know that City Park planned to bulldoze 5.5 acres of the Couturie Forest to be added to the new golf course.

From the City Park for Everyone Coalition Press Release, 3/26/15: The City Park for Everyone Coalitions announces its’ intentions to immediately bring federal suit against City Park and FEMA. This lawsuit will be filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana, at 9:00 AM on Thursday, 3/26/15. While the Coalition has tried numerous ways to convince the leadership of City Park to halt construction of a golf course development north of Harrison Avenue, the park has charged full steam ahead with construction. Of immediate concern is the bulldozing of several acres of previously undeveloped wetlands in the Old Couturie Forest. City Park does not have the federally required permit for this development. The Coalition is asking the court to order an injunction that ceases construction and requires City Park to fully comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Louisiana Public Trust Doctrine.
For further comment, please contact: Galen Hair, Esq., City Park For Everyone Coalition; cityparkforeveryonecoalition@gmail.com

The Coalition asserts that FEMA has violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement regarding this golf course project, and that their Environmental Assessment was inadequate; that the City Park Improvement Association has violated the Louisiana Public Trust Doctrine, which is founded in our State Constitution, by proceeding with this project; and public records and open meetings violations by the City Park Improvement Association. They are asking that the court enjoin further work on this project until FEMA and the CPIA are in compliance with the law, and hope that this lawsuit will be a positive step forward towards a plan for this land that is far better for everyone and for our environment than the current approach.

The protest against a new, championship-level golf course in City Park has taken a new turn, bringing the issue into federal court.

The City Park for Everyone Coalition is bringing federal suit against New Orleans City Park and FEMA in an attempt to stop the construction of a $13 million golf course slated to occupy land between Wisner Boulevard and Marconi Drive and Harrison and Filmore Avenues.

The course, designed by architect Rees Jones, ranges from 5,100 – 7,250 yards. Filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana, the lawsuit is the latest development following a series of protests and rallies decrying the new development. It also comes days after a man protesting the course’s construction fell out of the tree he had been staying in and was taken away by ambulance, according to reports.

Coalition members contend that instead of building the course, park officials should allow nature to prevail. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, much of the land was occupied by two golf courses, but it has since become overgrown.

On February 12, 2015, four long years after the public meeting on March 22, 2011 in which the reduced-footprint compromise golf plan was unveiled, City Park officials were finally ready to break ground on the new course. However, unbeknownst to the public, a bait-and-switch had been pulled somewhere along the line, and a deal quietly struck with the golf course developers that allowed 5.5 acres of the Couturie Forest to be bulldozed for the new golf course. That was never part of the original plan presented to the public at the March 22, 2011 Public Meeting, nor was this change ever reflected in the updates to the City Park Land Use maps printed as part of the Master Plan 2018 revisions in 2011 and 2014. Shame on them for intentionally hiding their plans from the public in this manner! And as a result, it is disingenuous in the extreme for them to try and counter the current protests with claims that they've been open and aboveboard with their plans all along.

Refer to the "Resources" section for full maps and Master Plans

Despite City Park officials claim to FEMA that the CPIA had kept the public informed concerning redevelopment of the City Park Golf Course Complex, the decision to grab 5.5 acres of Couturie Forest land for conversion into golf course was never publicly announced or addressed. The first inkling of the plan to destroy this land was outlined in FEMA's May 2013 Draft Environmental Assessment of the Golf Complex, whose purpose was "to analyze potential environmental impacts of the proposed project." The Draft EA and draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) by FEMA was first made available for review to the public and other interested parties in April 2013 at the Orleans Parish Main Library, or by download from FEMA's website. The public notices apparently ran on May 22, 24 and 26, 2013 (where they ran, it doesn't say), and the comment period began May 27, 2013 and ended June 10, 2013. Not surprisingly, FEMA received no comments, so the Draft EA became the Final EA.

Since the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) process consists of an evaluation of the environmental effects of a federal undertaking, including its alternatives, four golf course alternatives were outlined in the Draft EA:
Alternative 1 - No Action: Golf Complex would not be repaired or reconstructed.
Alternative 2 – Repair Back to Original Configuration/Footprint (of 526 acres).
Alternative 3 – Repair in Same (526 acre) Footprint to Different Configuration.
Alternative 4 – Consolidate/Reconfigure in Substantially Same Footprint (Proposed Action, and the alternative that was chosen).

The word "substantially" hides a multitude of sins in this case, and was undoubtedly the terminology used by City Park officials when they presented Alternative 4 as the chosen alternative to FEMA.

February 24, 2015; Minutes of the Board of Commissioners of the New Orleans City Park Improvement Association:

President Hess noted a group of speakers was present and wished to address the Board about the golf course construction. She asked the CEO to put the matter in context.

Becker stated that when the Master Plan was adopted in 2005, one major strategy was to try and reduce the footprint of golf to make the land available for additional uses. At that time, the South golf course was closed, and the space has become Big Lake, the Festival Grounds, and eventually, the Splash Park and Children’s Museum. After Hurricane Katrina, we revisited the Master Plan and made another effort to reduce the footprint of golf. The footprint has been reduced from four courses to two courses, a driving range, and a new club house. The area that the new course is being built on was parts of the old East and West golf courses. If the Park would have chosen to renovate the two courses, they would have opened five or six years ago, but the delay to develop a better plan has meant the area between Harrison Avenue and Zachary Taylor which was part of the old East Golf course is no longer designated for golf but will remain open for other uses. Because the Park does not receive any general tax revenue from the City or State, it is necessary to review ways to try to generate revenue and help maintain the rest of the Park. Golf has been a historic part of the Park; the first course opened in 1901. We held five public hearings since the plan was originally adopted, and at every hearing, this area has been designated as golf. Construction of the course is underway.

Chief Executive Officer Becker read the rules for receiving public comments and asked speakers to abide by those rules. The Board allowed speakers to make public statements. The following is a list of speakers:
Melissa Gray, Byron Almquist, Chris Boozer, Philip Garrett, Chris Lane, Kevin McDunn, Marilyn Eyer, Lauren Sullivan, Justin Kray, Clint Romig, III, Mike Ricci, Ashly Rose, Jerrell Hazlett, Caity Bower, Anthony Hart, Gavin Gillen, Benjamin Morris, Cate Irvin, Macqui Stavis, Sarah Rose, Keanan Cole, Adrian Bruneau, Ken Reynolds, Stephen Weller, Rebecca Rae, Molly Reid, Demetria Christo, Dawn Dedeaux, Lindsey Berger, Jean Martinolich, Ann Coviello, Steviera Blake, Kezia Kamentz, Julie Ray, Raymond Jackson, Denise Ondaro, and Kate Paxton.

Becker thanked all the speakers for their comments. Hess thanked all Commissioners for being patient and listening to all the comments, and noted that it is very important to have participation from the public. In her President’s Report, Hess reported that the ground breaking for golf was very successful and received lots of media coverage. Hess thanked all Board members who participated in the ground breaking.

January 27, 2015; Minutes of the Board of Commissioners of the New Orleans City Park Improvement Association:
The State signed a construction contract with Duininck, Inc. to construct the new golf course. Construction is expected to begin in February with a completion date of February 2017.
The Disc Golf course was moved to the area between I-610 and Harrison Ave to make room for the Splash Park.

Chip Patterson admits he isn't much of a golfer. He'd much rather go camping and enjoy the great outdoors than spend time on the course.

Nevertheless, he is bullish on the new City Park Championship Golf Course that is currently under construction and expected to open either in the fall of 2016 or the first of 2017. As the executive director of The First Tee of Greater New Orleans, Patterson has a first-hand understanding of what this course can do for the underprivileged youth he works with on a daily basis as well as their families.

That's why he's troubled about recent protests, vandalism on the construction site of the course and what he sees as misinformation being propagated in recent weeks by those opposed to the new course.

Officials at New Orleans City Park are threatening legal action after a third trespasser climbed a tree at a construction site to protest a new golf course being built on a portion of the park’s Couturie Forest.

The park’s statement Saturday night came two days after a group called the City Park for Everyone Coalition filed a lawsuit in federal court in an effort to stop work on the course.

On Saturday morning, another group of protesters — identifying themselves with the social media hashtag “Wild Is Free” — said a man named “Beaux” had climbed an oak tree that was supposed to be cut down that day. His action followed that of another man protesting the golf course, Jonathan “Lloyd” Boover, who had to receive medical attention after he fell Tuesday from a tree he had inhabited for more than a week. Boover was initially joined by a woman known as “Heart,” but she voluntarily came down from the tree.

New Orleans City Park Chief Executive Officer Bob Becker this weekend called the latest attempt to block construction of a $24.5 million golf complex an "act of vandalism and trespassing."

In response, the City Park for Everyone Coalition, a newly formed nonprofit organization fighting against the complex, called Sunday for "all parties to be respectful to one another."

Another protester occupied a tree in City Park Saturday (March 28) in an attempt halt the ongoing clearing of trees and bushes to prepare for that complex, which includes a new course that opponents say will illegally trample 5.5 acres of wetlands and forest.

A new person has taken to a tree in an area of City Park this weekend to protest a new golf course being constructed.

A group of people known as "Wild is Free" issued a statement, which said a man known as "Beaux" had climb up an oak tree which was supposed to be cut down Saturday. Beaux and the group are protesting the new $24.5 million public golf course. Protesters want the area preserved as a green space. It was the former footprint of a portion of the City Park Golf Complex, but it flooded during Hurricane Katrina and has been uninhabited since.