From: Mary Sturgill
Columbus
The decision to close Greenbelt Golf Course has been bounced around, and has now landed in another court. The question is: will it be served up, or allowed to go out of bounds?
We as a community need Greenbelt to remain open — for the seasoned golfers as well as the beginners.
Turning it into a park will involve putting money into it to make it a park. Benches, lighting, removing tee beds, as well as regular maintenance such as mowing, weeding and pest control, will all be expenses. And how much revenue will this bring in? None.
There are ways to promote Greenbelt and bring in revenue instead of shutting it down, which will eventually lead to regret in the future. Promoting can be done on many levels.
Why not offer an incentive to golfers who play?
For every 12 rounds you play, you could get one free round (limited to one offer per month). Establish and recruit mixed league play — especially on a day when normal play is slow. Offer a free round of golf to regular golfers during their birthday month. Offer a free logo ball or marker to anyone who birdies a certain hole (one per person).
Bring back the women’s city tournament and actually advertise and promote it. Ask for help from your leagues!
These are only a few things that came to mind off the top of my head, and I’m sure that there are many more.
In this year of COVID-19, I don’t feel that this is the time to shut down another business. So many things were closed this year, and who’s to say they won’t be closed again next year?
Donner Aquatic Center — as an example — lost revenue this year due to being closed and yet there’s no discussion on closing it, but there’s also no guarantee that it can be opened next year.
The golf course was able to open and give people a chance to get fresh air and see another human outside the four walls of their house.
We, the Columbus community, need those with power to do the right thing for us: to keep Greenbelt open. City council is being asked to provide the necessary funds to do this for the community. There are other "projects" that are not needed or wanted, but this is not one of them.
