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Could Harding fixes be in danger now?
Brian Murphy
Sunday, April 4, 2004
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle

News flash -- the rumblings of change in City Hall last week just may produce aftershocks that shake up San Francisco's municipal golf courses.

Mayor Gavin Newsom ousted Willie Brown-appointee Elizabeth Goldstein as general manager of Rec and Parks, and immediately the city's golf community had to ask: What are the ramifications?

After all, Goldstein is and was an ardent supporter of the $16 million renovation of Harding Park, and the accompanying creation of a Golf Fund -- golf revenues funneled back to the courses, instead of the city's General Fund.

Yet, in the story reported by The Chron's own Matier and Ross, one of the vocal citizens in favor of replacing Goldstein was Dr. Isabel Wade, the executive director of the Neighborhood Parks Council. Wade wrote a passionate argument against the Golf Fund in the January/February issue of The Neighborhood Park Report, citing a David Binder survey ranking golf as the least important recreation activity in San Francisco.

Wade's argument: Other needs are wanting because of the Golf Fund, specifically soccer fields and neighborhood parks. Revenue from the golf courses, formerly used for all parks, is now missing, she argues.

"The golden goose," Wade wrote, "is now laying eggs only on the finely manicured turf of Harding Park."

This argument, if recognized by Newsom, could unravel the Harding project, which has yet to break ground on a clubhouse, yet to build its First Tee program, and now has entered into an agreement with the PGA Tour to bring the WGC-American Express Championships to Harding Park next October. The Tour has an out in the contract if the city fails to live up to its end of the project, and an official announcement isn't scheduled until June.

In other words, it could be crisis time for Harding if Newsom's Rec and Park appointee doesn't see the issue Goldstein's way. In many ways, Goldstein was a key figure at Harding. Her tenure, starting in June, 2000 has virtually encompassed the entire arc of the Harding project, from dead-in-the-water to the very-much-alive, renovated golf course you now play.

From her office on Friday, Goldstein said she remained confident Newsom would go forward with the Harding project.

"I do think he'll continue to be very supportive," Goldstein said. "This is a project I feel is very far along and very capable of continuing on with the leadership in the department and community."

As for Wade's arguments?

"I think Ms. Wade's mistake is to think there is only a narrow recreational purpose here," Goldstein said. "The truth is, we have huge numbers on our golf courses every year. More people play golf than swim, and if our pools are deserving and worthy, as I believe they are, of deep subsidies, I don't know why a golf course would be any less worthy."

Goldstein cited the work of San Francisco attorney and former United States Golf Association President Sandy Tatum as integral to the project's success. In a bit of fluky scheduling, Tatum has a private meeting with Newsom scheduled for Monday, a meeting at which Tatum had planned all along to make sure Newsom was aware of the Harding project's assets.

Namely, Tatum says, that the seven golf courses owned by San Francisco (including Crystal Springs, Gleneagles, Golden Gate and Fleming), entertain somewhere around 200,000 rounds each year. Throw in the direct economic benefits to the city (tens of millions, the Tour says) and tourism exposure the city will get from national telecasts of the AmEx, plus a possible U.S. Women's Open in 2009, and Tatum thinks Newsom can embrace the project.

Meanwhile, Goldstein says the clubhouse, which still needs $2 million of private donation, will be one of her top priorities before she departs this spring.

"I'm not leaving that out there to fate," Goldstein said, adding she was "pretty confident" she could raise the dough. "Harding will definitely be part of my legacy, in my view."

As always, stay tuned.