Locals concerned after Trump administration ends lease on DC's public golf courses
Trump administration ends lease on DC's public golf courses
The new year is starting off with a new uncertainty about the future of affordable public access to golfing in D.C. FOX 5’s Bob Barnard has a deeper dive now... and is live at East Potomac Golf Links in Southwest.
WASHINGTON - The new year is starting off with a new uncertainty about the future of affordable public access to golfing in D.C.
FOX 5’s Bob Barnard has a deeper dive now... and is live at East Potomac Golf Links in Southwest.
What they're saying:
Even on a cold winter's day, die-hard golfers are out playing golf or hitting the driving range at Haynes Point, and can do so without breaking the bank with 18 holes for less than $50.
"All three of these courses…they're gems in the D.C. area," longtime golfer Ben Newhall told FOX 5.
Newhall, part of a foursome of strangers, teed off Friday afternoon at East Potomac Golf Links.
"It's accessible to anybody. You don't have to come out here and pay $200," Newhall said.
But D.C.'s three public golf courses are now at risk of closing.
"My feedback is it's a shame because I think, if anything, they need to have more investment in more accessible clubs," golfer Pat Cary said.
What's happening:
Through the Department of the Interior, the Trump administration has basically fired the people managing the city's three public golf courses.
"It is kind of a shame we need more affordable golfing that's accessible to everybody in the community and so I thought what the National Links Trust was doing was really good," said golfer James Gamarra.
The National Links Trust is the non-profit that's been operating D.C.'s public golf courses for the past five years under a contract with the National Park Service. The organization's 50-year lease that's just been terminated by the Trump administration.
"It's really hard to wrap your head around. It's really disappointing. And obviously, we are trying to figure out if there's any way to reverse it," said Michael McCartin, co-founder of the National Links Trust.
Rock Creek Park and Langston are the other two golf courses caught in the middle of this new controversy. Rock Creek has been closed for weeks now, undergoing major renovations, including the removal of hundreds of trees.
Local perspective:
That work and what will happen now concerns Vanessa Bertelli, who lives adjacent to the course.
"Who's going to do the restoration? Who's going to do the environmental restoration that we were promised? The environmental damage has already happened," Bertelli said.
The Trump administration claims that it severed the lease in part because the National Links Trust has failed to pay millions of dollars in rent it owes and hasn't made the agreed-upon capital improvements to the golf courses.
"We've been working through the process of getting our projects off the ground since the day we began the lease, and now to be told that we're terminated because we didn't move fast enough when those processes are dictated by the federal government in the first place, it's just extremely frustrating and disappointing," McCartin said.
The Trust says it could walk away right now, but instead will stay and manage the three golf courses so they can stay open. The next steps are still up in the air.