Opinion and Commentary
This week San Angelo’s new mayor will be sworn in. That set me to thinking about another Mayor, J.W. Lown.
I served with J.W. on the City Council, and over time, came to respect him as a leader with a vision for our community. It was from J.W. that I learned what San Angelo needs most from a mayor is a vision.
Mayor Lown had a vision.
Even after he was no longer in office, his devotion to his hometown never wavered. His passing November 15, 2023, at 47 was a shock.
In the months leading up to his passing J.W. published a series of editorials on San Angelo Live.
In those he advocated for reimagining the use of our public spaces, and rejuvenation of San Angelo’s natural beauty. As our new mayor and council take office, we should consider some of the ideas he mentioned.
Perhaps his most radical idea was completely reimagining the use of Santa Fe Park and doing away with the nine-hole golf course.
A Park, But Not a Golf Course.
I have run into many people over the years who believe the deed of the Santa Fe Park to the city requires it be used as a golf course, and that it must be used as such. That is not true.
The deed requires that it be used as a park, but it does not stipulate exactly how we use it as a park.
Doing away with the golf course and doing something else with the land was not a recent idea of his in 2023. It was something he had mentioned when we served together on City Council. I have heard other city leaders mention it off and on as well.
The question is whether a nine hole golf course that only a small the percentage of the population can use is the highest and best use of largest park space in the city.
A Hundred Years Is a Long Time
The nine-hole golf course at Santa Fe Park is 103-years old this year. The municipal course was established in 1922, around the time San Angelo really started getting civilized.
Warren G. Harding was President. Popular books that year included “Ulysses,” by James Joyce and “The Beautiful and Damned,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The biggest grossing movie was Robin Hood starring Douglas Fairbanks.
The only other golf course in existence at the time was the San Angelo Country Club. Santa Fe became the only public course. Now we have two private and two public courses, along with the nine-hole course at Santa Fe.
Because that was what the people needed in 1922, does not mean that is what we need now. There should be no sacred cows when it comes to how best to use our city parks.
After a hundred years maybe it is time to reexamine our use of Santa Fe Park.
In the last century, we added a couple of golf courses. How else might this park be used? As a public park for the entire city — and everyone in it?
Towards A More Vibrant, Livable City
J.W. was not anti-golf. As I recall he was an avid golfer.
But his vision wasn’t just about Santa Fe Park or a golf course. As I understood him he advocated for an improved quality of life, to bolster economic development.
It’s been a winning concept for San Angelo for generations; make this the best, most livable city it can be, so that people will want to live here, and businesses will subsequently be drawn here.
People desire not just a job, and a place to live. They want a livable community with a real quality-of-life. That includes incorporating the river and its natural beauty in a way everyone can enjoy to the fullest.
The more I think about this idea, the more I believe J.W. was right.
The city should start by engaging the community in a long, thoughtful process to reimagine Santa Fe Park and the river as the center of community life in San Angelo.
While Mayor Thompson soon will be faced with many challenges, I hope he and the City Council will consider this idea and make Santa Fe Park the centerpiece of our community life in the years to come.
Speak Your Mind!
If you think this is the worst idea you’ve ever heard, we enourage you to drop us a line and let people know why the Santa Fe Park Golf Course is important to you!
(If you like the idea, we’d like to hear from you too!)
Send an electronic Letter to the Editor to editor@conchoobserver.com
1 Comment
Expand the natural beauty of the river for all to enjoy. Adding gardens with rocks and trees to stroll along through our beautiful city that we call home.