Norton Golf Bills Aim to Improve Golf Courses in the District of Columbia (6/8/09)
Norton Golf Bills Aim to Improve Golf Courses in the District of Columbia as Langston Course Celebrates its 70th Anniversary
June 8, 2009
Washington, DC- To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the John Mercer Langston Golf Course in Northeast, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a resolution noting the anniversary and highlighting the golf course's venerable history. To commemorate the anniversary, Norton also introduced the Golf Course Preservation and Modernization Act of 2009, a bill to pave the way for desperately needed investments and improvements at the Langston, Rock Creek and East Potomac golf courses. Investments are needed to reverse the long-term deterioration of these courses and to preserve "these unique, valuable and historical D.C. attractions for the enjoyment of future generations," Norton said. The Golf Course Preservation and Modernization Act would allow the National Park Service (NPS), which owns the three courses, to use public-private partnerships to rehabilitate the courses. "Involving public private partnerships is the only way to modernize and rehabilitate the courses today," Norton said.
Norton's bill mandates that all three courses be combined into a single competitive request for proposals in order to generate ideas and alternatives that will lead to renovations while preserving their historic features. Norton said, "All three golf courses are treasures in their own right, but they must be matched with the private market that would be quick to recognize their value and act to make them worthy of the golfing public in the nation's capital."
The site for the historic Langston Golf Course, celebrating its anniversary today, was selected in 1929 following repeated demands of African Americans who were excluded from all but one of the District's public courses, the Lincoln Memorial. Construction however, did not begin until the mid 1930's and in 1938, African American women in the Wake Robin Golf Club pressed for desegregation of the District of Columbia's public courses by drafting and introducing a petition to Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes. The historic Langston Golf Course was officially opened in 1939 as a segregated golf facility for African Americans and was named for John Mercer Langston, a renowned Howard University educator, prominent political figure and the first African American Congressman from Virginia, elected in 1888. Norton will attend the anniversary celebration tonight at Langston Golf Course.
Norton Proposes Private Investment for District’s Public Golf Courses
By: Hayley Peterson
Special to The Examiner
06/15/09 8:12 PM EDT
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced a bill that would open up the District’s three public golf courses to investments from private contractors who would revamp the aging facilities.
“The courses have been in hands of the federal government for more than 80 years, and they have allowed them to deteriorate,” said Norton, who introduced the bill to the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“Governments are money-hungry establishments” and are “not very good at nourishing golf courses,” which require hefty investments but provide only moderate returns over time, Norton told The Examiner.
But contractors would be champing at the bit to get “exclusive rights” to the links, she said.
“Some golf developer would see these courses for what they are — undervalued properties that don’t have [modern] clubhouses,” she added. -
Under a contractual agreement, the developer chosen for the job “would have to create a state-of-the-art golf course at East Potomac and use funds to improve Langston and Rock Creek,” Norton said.
But 70-year-old Langston might not be able to wait for profits to trickle down.
“Langston was built on a trash dump,” said Langston general manager Jimmy Garvin. “Trash has begun seeping up through the ground — like rubber tires.”
Langston was the only golf course in D.C. available to blacks when it opened in 1939.
Since then, Langston and the city’s two other public courses have provided affordable access to a sport traditionally limited to the wealthy.
Langston needs paved cart paths and a new irrigation system, Garvin said.
“Langston, at one point, was scheduled to be closed because it wasn’t expected to pull in any revenue,” said D.C. Councilman Harry Thomas Jr.
At Hains Point in East Potomac Park, the trouble was on the greens. A government contractor scorched 36 putting greens after mistaking herbicide for fertilizer, The Examiner reported in July 2007.
Garvin, however, is optimistic about Norton’s bill.
He said Norton introduced a similar act in October 2007, but “the Republican administration didn’t take a serious look [at it].”
Norton’s 2009 bill will have a better chance in a Democratic administration, he said, “with a president who understands and plays the game of golf — and is an African-American — that understands the importance Langston has for the community.”