Dear Mayor Lyons
I read this in a local online newspaper:
"This city’s only golf course, a nine-hole facility at 1550 N. Indian Hill Blvd. that opened in March 1959, is scheduled to close Dec. 2."
As a member of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, I am a frequent visitor to Claremont. As you know, the golf course shared a fence with the garden. Members of my family have lived in and around Claremont since the early 1940s. In all those years, I believe the town has had but one public golf course and now it's closed.
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| The clubhouse in happier times |
I can recall playing that little 9 hole course with my father back in the 1970s when we were in town visiting my aunt. But, I do not write merely to ask you to reminisce with me. I write so you might be emboldened to look ahead. The loss of that little golf course may not seem like a big one today, but I can assure you that it will become a great loss in the future. A modest golf course like that can bring a community and, indeed, generations together in a way nothing else can. Worse, the effects of its loss will grow over time as Claremont residents are forced to leave their city to enjoy such a basic form of recreation.
I understand the operators of the course had failed to make their payments to the CUC. If the city has the vision, it will take the course on as a part of its recreation department. CUC has indicated they have no immediate use for the land, so now is the perfect time for the city to step in for the sake of its citizens to ensure the ongoing resource only a small, community golf course like this one can offer.
At this point, the city has lost the jobs the course provided and the citizens have lost their place to play and their place to come together. How will the senior citizens of Claremont manage to enjoy golf now? How far will they have to drive and how much will they have to pay? The same question now applies to your middle and high school students. The loss of the course is a loss to everyone in your city not just today but on into the future.
In closing, please ask yourself and your city council what you can do to bring your city's only golf course back to your citizens.
I think they deserve it.
Best regards,
Paul Cervantes
