[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 87 (Thursday, June 11, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1380-E1381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE GOLF COURSE PRESERVATION AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 
                                  2009

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 11, 2009

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the Golf Course 
Preservation and Modernization Act to renovate and modernize the three 
National Park Service, NPS, golf courses in the District of Columbia. 
Several years of research, investigation and consulting on ways to 
improve these courses demonstrate this bill is necessary to turn around 
the deterioration of these unique and valuable federal assets. Langston 
Golf Course, Rock Creek Golf Course and East Potomac Golf Course are in 
desperate need of capital investment to maintain and preserve their 
historic features and to reverse decades of deterioration.
  East Potomac Golf Course was built in 1920 and included three courses 
that accommodated all levels of play, with an 18-hole tournament level 
course and two 9-hole practice courses. East Potomac was initially 
segregated, with African Americans permitted to play only on Mondays. 
The course was desegregated in 1941 by the Secretary of the Interior, 
Harold Ickes, following pressure from an African American women golfers 
club, the Wake Robin Golf Club. Rock Creek Golf Course opened in 1923 
as a 9-hole golf course and an additional nine holes were added to make 
Rock Creek an 18-hole tournament level course in 1926. Langston Golf 
Course opened in 1939 as a segregated golf facility for African 
Americans and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 
Langston was the home course to the Royal Golf Club and the Wake Robin 
Golf Club, the nation's first clubs for African American men and women 
golfers respectively. Langston was named for John Mercer Langston, the 
first African American Congressman from Virginia elected in 1888. 
Originally a 9-hole course, Langston's expansion to an 18-hole course 
began in 1955, but was not completed until the mid 1980s.
  The courses were built and have been administered by the NPS since 
the early 20th century for the enjoyment of the general public. 
However, despite their best efforts, NPS has had a constant struggle to 
maintain the courses. None has been modernized and all three courses 
have fallen into disrepair and lack the amenities necessary to serve 
the public today. As a result, they are underused considering their 
value to the public.
  NPS was created by Congress to ``. . . conserve the scenery and the 
natural and historical objects and the wild life therein, and to 
provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such 
means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future 
generations.'' (16 U.S.C. 1) However, NPS's own backlog of repairs, its 
chronic funding limitations, and the continuing use of concession

[[Page E1381]]

contracts that are inappropriate for the unique capital investment 
required for golf courses militate against appropriate maintenance, 
historic preservation and the NPS mission ``to leave them unimpaired 
for the public enjoyment.'' This bill will restore the original intent 
of Congress, consistent with this important NPS mission.
  The three courses together constitute an undervalued public asset 
that, if appropriately funded, could be renovated and modernized, 
facilitating affordable recreation, attracting significantly more 
golfers, and perhaps producing new revenue for the United States 
Treasury. Unlike other NPS facilities, golf courses require unique and 
continuing significant capital investment to keep them not only 
maintained but operational. As a result for nearly 100 years, the 
courses have had problems associated with upkeep and insufficient 
capital investment. Without a ready source for capital investment, 
apart from appropriations, NPS has continuously struggled to manage and 
maintain each of these courses since their inception. There is no 
prospect that the necessary federal funds for capital investment and 
improvement of golf will be available today or in the future. Moreover, 
the current fee to play at the golf courses, as established in the 
concessions contract process, must remain affordable and cannot 
generate sufficient revenue for NPS or the concessioners to keep the 
courses properly maintained, or to make the capital investment required 
for a golf course today. In fact, NPS owes millions of dollars to the 
concessioner of the golf courses for necessary improvements.
  General Services Administration land and real estate professionals 
and other experts advise that the best option consistent with federal 
law and practices is to create a long-term ground lease that bundles 
all three of the courses into a single contract and then to request 
proposals that allow for response with ideas and alternatives for 
modernization and maintenance consistent with anticipated use and 
affordability. This bill requires that historic features of the courses 
be preserved and that two of the three courses remain affordable to the 
general public.
  The confines of federal concession law inhibited NPS and the 
concessioner from making improvements to the courses because Federal 
concession laws are incompatible with golf course operations. 
Historically, the constrictions of NPS concessions law have been a 
direct cause of disrepair and capital disinvestment, reducing the 
quality of play and jeopardizing the historic preservation of the 
courses. However, the NPS joined two of the three golf courses together 
for the next seven years under a proposed concession contract that was 
issued on October 23, 2007. The contract requires only that the next 
concessioner be able to perform routine repair and maintenance 
consistent with NPS practice and the limits imposed by concession law. 
The contract does not and could not impose any requirement that capital 
improvements be made to the courses, usually guaranteeing that these 
courses will stay in the same poor condition until 2015. East Potomac 
was excluded from the proposed concession contract because its 
concession contract expires next year, not for any reason associated 
with maintaining and improving the courses for public use. This 
separates East Potomac, the only financially viable golf course, from 
Langston and Rock Creek, the two that need subsidy for their 
operations. The effect will leave Langston and Rock Creek worse off 
than they are today. Now the contract for East Potomac is expected to 
be put out this fall.
  This bill would require the new lease for East Potomac to be set to 
expire on the same date as Langston and Rock Creek leases, binds the 
three courses into one contract and exempts these golf courses from 
concession law. This approach applies another vehicle commonly used by 
the federal government to allow for more creative solutions consistent 
with the NPS mission to preserve general public access and preserve the 
historic qualities of the courses. The single long-term ground lease 
for all three courses, designed outside of the constraints of 
concession law, provided by this bill would encourage private 
investment in these courses, improve the quality of the courses, ensure 
affordable play, and preserve their historic nature.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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