Tom,
Congrats on the vote and can't wait for you to start work tomorrow.
I played one last round on the course today and golfers were excited about the changes.
Look forward to visiting with you at MP during the work!
[font=&][/font][font=&]Houston City Council members unanimously voted Wednesday to approve plans for the renovation of the Memorial Park golf course, which will allow the PGA Tour’s Houston Open event to be held at the course as early as 2020.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]The vote, which occurred after a week’s delay[/size][/font], will enable work to begin within days on the $13.5 million renovation plan, to be funded by the Astros Golf Foundation. Renovations need to be completed and the course open for play by Nov. 1 for the Houston Open to be played at Memorial Park in 2020. [/size][/color]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]The foundation will pay an annual tournament fee of $1 million for the PGA Tour event’s use of the city-owned course, with $750,000 going to the city and $250,000 to the Memorial Park Conservancy. Mayor Sylvester Turner said he would recommend that the city’s share of the annual fee will be used for city parks.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]"As one of the council members said, it's a win win win win," Astros owner Jim Crane said. "Everybody wins – the (Memorial Park) conservancy, the park, the city. We'll be able to raise a lot of funds through the golf tournament that will go to charity, and there will be revenue that comes into the city being here."[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]Giles Kibbe, the Astros' general counsel and president of the Astros Golf Foundation, said the Memorial Park course will be closed to the public as of Wednesday afternoon's final group of players and that workers will begin renovation work at 8 a.m. Thursday.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]The weeklong delay was prompted by City Councilmember Mike Laster's hope that the city could receive the entire $1 million fee. Turner, however, said that would not be possible because the park conservancy's share was part of a negotiated settlement on the issue.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]At a Tuesday public comment meeting, multiple people - including a golf course architect as well as former U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson - raised questions about the project.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]Baxter Spann of the golf course architecture firm Finger Dye Spann, which oversaw a 1996 renovation of Memorial Park, questioned the feasibility of the timeline for the project, which he said was being conducted with "extreme haste" and in a “clandestine" manner.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]“I'm not against renovating (the course)," Spann said. "… What I am against is the process that I see unfolding to facilitate this project.”[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]Magidson, who said he plays the course five times a week, pleaded with the council to ensure that the course remains in top condition for local golfers before and after the Houston Open is played there.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]"You are the overseers, you are the caretakers, you are the people who are going to protect the crown jewel of the City of Houston," Magidson said. "....I'm asking you to oversee if in a way that it will continue to be the crown jewel."[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]Turner and others responded that the project, despite the temporary shutdown, would be a boon for golfers in the long run.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]"When it comes back, it would be even nicer than it is today and the fees will remain the same," Turner said.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]Turner, who supported the idea of bringing the PGA Tour within the Houston city limits, said the council vote "signifies that we were voting not just for Houston's present, but we were voting for Houston's future."[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]"We want Houston to be in the top tier of conversation across the board, and in order for that to happen, you have to have things occurring within your city that people will focus on around the country," Turner said.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]Other golfers said the renovations could make the course more difficult for amateurs and recreational golfers. Joseph Kratoville described Memorial Park as an "anti-country club" and said he prefers playing it because he gets to meet regular Houstonians.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]Susan Chadwick, president and executive director of Save Buffalo Bayou, which described itself as a watchdog group regarding development along the bayou, submitted a letter to the City Council in support of Laster’s efforts to capture the entire $1 million annual tournament fee for the city parks department.[/font]
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[font=&][/size][/font][font=&]She also questioned whether the city should seek a higher fee for the use of Memorial Park for the PGA Tour event.[/font]