That's right, City Park is attempting to cover its newly found green spaces with new golf courses.

As a review, here is the link http://neworleanscitypark.com/downloads/nocpgolf.pdf This is the draft of a modification to the City Park master plan for the area north of I 610. Page 18 is the existing conditions although it is difficult to tell that north of Filmore there is an open course and south of Filmore there are no courses. Page 21 is the new plan for the entire area including a multi million clubhouse, a street entering City Park at Mirabeau Avenue and parking lots. And page 37 shows the considerable cut and fill that is needed to accomplish the plan.

A public hearing was held Tuesday evening – March 10th with about 150 people in attendance. Several dozen individuals spoke about the proposal with most being in opposition to the idea of building three new golf courses plus another street, club house and parking lots in City Park north of I 610. All sorts of objections were raised about the proposal. Where will the money come from to complete the project? (There is now about 16 million available but 46 million is estimated to complete the project.) Where are the financial projections of the income? How many rounds will needed to be played at what fees to generate how much income? (No financial data is included in the proposal) Where is the environmental assessment for a project of this magnitude? (The answer was that none had been made). What happens if the income is below expectation, will tax payers be on the hook for that? (One speaker referred to a golf course on the west bank that is now being subsidized by Louisiana taxpayers.) Why are more golf courses being built when nation wide and in Louisiana golf courses are being closed and others in New Orleans have never reopened after Katrina? (No answer was given)

Many individuals expressed an appreciation for the green spaces that Katrina provided. Others noted there are no exercise paths in City Park but that the perimeter of the existing green spaces would make for an ideal setting for a multilaned path for strollers, fast walkers, joggers and cyclists. Old time golfers were concerned that the fees at these newer and fancier courses would no longer be affordable.

Bayou Foundation District (an uncommon mix of businesses and charities) is the driving force behind this rush to get these courses built. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-9/119476299018110.xml&coll=1. Also supporters include some members of the City Park Improvement Association’s Board of Commissions, golf professionals, golf course designers and builders and enthusiastic amateur golfers. This coalition is bound and determined that regardless of what anyone else thinks they will have a park north of I 610 that will be covered with new and improved golf courses. At the hearing, one young very smug golf pro said the courses are “a done deal”. One older golfer shouted at the end of his presentation that you (those who were critical of the proposal) were “being selfish”. (A most remarkable statement since he expects taxpayers to spend millions so he can have his recreation.) At the end of the evening, despite the majority view at the hearing, an individual stood up who was identified in the Times Picayune article as a Bayou Foundation District board member and said that he had heard nothing this evening to prevent the proposal from going forward. In other words, the public be dammed, the fix is in.

The existence of the proposal and its enormous impact on City Park and the financial support required of the taxpayer has been kept very quiet. On February 18th, the proposal was announced and then written up in the Times Picayune. At the end of the article which was in the sports section, there is a mention that there will be a public hearing on March 10th. As far as I know, this was the only mention in the TP of a public hearing.

A few days after the 18th, on the City Park web site, a link to the proposal was provided and the hearing was added to the calendar of events. Despite this hearing being the only opportunity for the public to comment on this rather momentous undertaking, the hearing was listed as just another event along with plant sales and twilight concerts. A public hearing was held on March 10th – about three weeks after the initial announcement. The City Park Improvement Association (CPIA) is due to vote on the proposal on March 24. The entire span from introduction of the proposal to its possible adoption is about six weeks. There is no provision for written comments made on the web site. Informally park management are now saying that comments can be sent in up to March 20th—four days before the March 24th meeting.

Is six weeks enough time?? There is a quiet rush to get this proposal past the media, the investigative reporters, the talk show hosts, the neighborhood associations, the softball players who complex will be wiped out, the joggers, the wild flower people, the birders, etc and most of all the taxpayers before anyone can learn about the existence of this proposal and its implications.

Unless an individual spends their discretionary time reading the City Park web site and the back pages of the sports section, he or she would not have known about the golf modification proposal, the public hearing or the quick vote scheduled by the commissioners. The result is that almost no one knows about the proposal and its implications for the park or their pocketbook.

There is a tsunami of physical change coming to City Park. In the 1930s, the WPA built many of the structures, roads, bridges, lagoons and golf courses that now exist in the park. After an absence of seventy years, the park is again scheduled to be massively rearranged.

At some time in the future, individuals will be driving down Wisner Avenue and will look over at City Park and will be stunned by what they see. Instead of greenery, the park will be a construction zone. The vision will be of earth moving equipment roaring about, draglines enlarging lagoons or making new ones, bulldozers shoving dirt around, trees being cut and platoons of hard hats standing around. Most people will think “what the hell is going on??

There is no organized opposition to this proposal to modify the golf master plan. In contrast to this coalition representing a myriad of business and personal interests, there is no counterpart. There is no individual or organization that is identified with opposing this scheme. However, if you have any thoughts that you think green spaces would be wonderful, that you think your tax dollars are being misdirected or that you are repulsed by the tactics of this coalition, there are steps you can take.

First: send an email or letter to the Board of Commissioners of the CPIA expressing your wish that any vote on this modification of the golf master plan be postponed. This is no need to rush to a decision to physically rearrange such a venerable institution as City Park. Instead the public needs to be consulted about should become of City Park grounds north of I 610. Address your comments to Bob Becker, Chief Executive Officer at

New Orleans City Park 1 Palm Drive New Orleans, LA 70124 (504) 482-4888 email: bbecker@nocp.org.

Second: drive over to City Park and cruise up and down Wisner Boulevard from I 610 to Filmore Avenue so that you understand where the construction is to take place. Park on Harrison Avenue and using the golf cart paths walk out into the open spaces so you can see what the green spaces are like. People who have lived their entire lives in New Orleans and who have been to the southern end of the park a million times have no idea what the rest of the park is like.

Third: spread the word. Everyone has friends, associates, co workers, neighbors, relatives, churches and clubs. Tell individuals about this plan to rip up the north half of City Park using tax payers dollars. Most people will be surprised to learn that tidbit and may themselves want to find out more. Give them the link to the proposal and ask them to pass the news on. City Park management certainly has made almost no effort to inform the public so individuals will have to do it. And you have to spread the word within the next week.

Fourth: become involved in how the park is financed. The reason for this entire episode of keeping the park mostly in golf courses is that golf has for decades paid for the park. If the park would be financed like any other park then the pressure to build golf course would be much less. Fundamental changes have to be made. The state is projecting deficits in coming years but City Park is a state park. Somehow the legislature and governor need to convinced that the park has to be provided for.

You may not live in Orleans Parish so you may think that this issue is of no importance to you. You may not care if City Park is golf courses, green spaces or paved with concrete, but you are probably a federal and state taxpayer. Do you want your dollars to be spent building golf courses in City Park which then you may have to keep paying for if income falls short? Are you repulsed by the tactics of this conspiratorial cabal quietly and quickly trying to slide this proposal past you?

I am an advocate of green spaces in City Park but my world will not end if they disappear. I am a taxpayer who very often disagrees with how my taxes are spent so this folly is just another irritant. But I really unhappy how a few are trying to bully their way past the public for their own personal financial gain and pleasure. That does not seem right. I hope you agree and that you will contact City Park. Only individuals who care can have this proposal postponed. You have until the 20th to write or email in your opinion. Unless you act as a concerned individual representing the public, the proposal will be adopted. Remember the fix is in !!.

Byron Almquist

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