Remade Jackson Park Golf Course Won't Just Be For Elites, Parks Chief Says
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170110/south-shore/jackson-park-golf-course-south-shore-cultural-center-tiger-woods-barack-obama-michael-kelly
Ha ha. Some of you guys are funny and I love you for it. If the BMW is afraid to valet park in Chicago City Limits south of Madison after 3p that's fine. There are neighborhoods in Evanston that I'm just as afraid to traverse for fear of getting profiled and tasered. Alright, that's out of the way, Let's begin.
First, I've lived on all sides of Chicago, South Side, Lincoln Park, DePaul, River West, Oak Park, and Wrigleyville,... which is secretly a separate nation. There is nothing like living and taking your clubs on the El to play golf at Waveland and there is nothing impossible about this. YES there is blight nearby and YES there WILL be greasy palms and YES the Friends of the Park WILL s#it a brick but in the big picture, the city has ample precedent and a pathway to completion:
- NY's successful folly, The blindingly successful tax revenue generating absurdity of Chelsea Piers, a former brownfield rail yard
- The mass earth moving success of Whistling Straits, a former flat as a skating rink military base
- The gorgeous TV ready-for-its closeup oft Filmed Chicago Skyline
- Thousands of golfers not afraid to walk,park their cars, take the El, bus, cab or über to the South Shore with their clubs
- Potential positive economic and social development
- Tiger Woods * President Obama = Global Spotlight
- TGR, IMG, USGA, PGA, FoxTV, Golf Channel, ESPN etc.
If the BMW is afraid to go too urban, I will bet anybody that somebody else will jump at the opportunity to make the money.
The public spotlight will keep a focus on the First Tee and reasonable local greens fees.
The state could very well sabotage the effort in Springfield but the potential positive press and economic development revenue could stymie that resistance, at least to a compromise.
In closing,... have you seen Soldier Field? The city and state approved year round parking for a disfigured UFO. So a
well architected picture-postcard-TV-ready ready golf course framed by the beauty of the lakefront and ringed with the publicity halos of Tiger Woods and President Obama stands a pretty good chance.
Soldier Field Chicago