Plowing ahead with Hiawatha Golf Course plan is not the answer

Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

I saw a video the other day of a dog frantically jumping at an indoor gate to get past. At pullback, the viewer can see that the barrier does not actually surround the dog; there's nothing stopping it from backing up and going around. To get "out," all it has to do is notice.

Regarding the proposed redesign of the Hiawatha Golf Course property in Minneapolis, I would regard the master plan as the gate and much community energy as the dog insisting that the only way "out" is over. The plan, which would cut the number of golf holes in half to make room for a wetland and nongolf activities, has come before the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board three times in several years without reaching approval, but now it's on the agenda again (Star Tribune, July 18).

Information is important. Sometimes communication is direct. Other times, as in the game of "telephone," it is skewed by word of mouth. Let's untangle the connection:

The Hiawatha master plan doesn't solve anything it claims to solve. Citizens need to know this.

Trash in Lake Hiawatha? That has nothing to do with the Park Board. We've been asking the city to quit dumping on us for decades. Those hypodermic needles that Friends of Lake Hiawatha constantly find and remove? Dump them on the desk of Minneapolis Public Works. Trash in the lake will not be solved with this plan.

Protection of wetlands? At Theodore Wirth Park, fat-tire bikes are tearing up the delicate flora and fauna. Anything left in the wake of those bikes literally becomes dust. The master plan for Hiawatha calls for fat-tire trails along the creek and wetlands. How are fat tires good for ducks? Or water quality, for that matter?

Flooding? This is the big one. It is the coup d'etat in the world of the master plan. According to a recent Minnehaha Creek Watershed District report, basement flooding in homes surrounding the property was never caused by the course. More so, it's actually illegal, per Federal Emergency Management Agency criteria, to intentionally flood a flood plain, which is what the master plan calls for.

Yes, the Hiawatha master plan solves nothing of what it claims to solve. Now let's examine the problems it creates.

History? The course is recognized as a longtime home for Black golfers in Minneapolis. I have had people tell me "sure it's sad, but maybe we shouldn't have given African Americans the bad place to play golf" — as some sort of shrug on the historical implications of a long-marginalized group. It's not just a shrug, however. Brass tacks on the issue is that the Park Board could be, and likely will be, sued by the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C., if it proceeds with the changes, because Hiawatha is of "cultural historic significance." The prospective lawsuit is not nothing, and the Park Board wouldn't have the bandwidth to actually fight it and still, say, make sure the shingles are replaced on the Lake Harriet Band Shell.

Which leads me to the next problem the master plan creates: money. The plan costs upward of $60 million and growing. That is more than half of the annual operating budget of the entire Park Board for a year. The fundraising surrounding a separate renovation — at North Commons Park, with a price tag of $20 million — has happened only because that park is in an underrepresented and underfunded neighborhood. We have cobbled together moneys from the hard efforts of local officials such as state Sen. Bobby Joe Champion and national ones such as President Joe Biden. At Hiawatha, who is going to put money into destroying African American history? Seriously — ask yourself that question.

The final massive problem that this master plan creates is divisiveness. A 5-4 or even 6-3 vote in favor of proceeding isn't a "win." Having the community ripped apart by sides isn't a win for Park Board or anyone else. We open ourselves up to deep critique and possible veto. That's just embarrassing, frankly, at a time when the board and the city really still need healing and connection.

Some of my fellow commissioners see this as "helping water" or "getting ahead of climate change." I just see this as another unmitigated man-made disaster. If you want your voice to be heard on it, the board is scheduled to discuss the matter at a meeting of its Planning Committee at 5 p.m. on July 20.

We don't have to jump at this gate and make ourselves look foolish any longer. Yes, climate change is real. Yes, the course flooded in 2014. Those are facts. Here is another fact: This master plan solves nothing. Solution? Let's turn around, start over and find a plan that we can all be proud of.

Becka Thompson is a member of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.