A $43 million plan to redesign the Hiawatha Golf Course failed for a second time Wednesday night.
The Minneapolis Park Board voted against the measure which looked to address flooding issues at the historic golf course. Wednesday's vote came as golfers and community members spoke out against the measure which would have reduced the 18 hole course to 9 holes.
"I think it got the community in an uproar a little bit," said former Minnesota Viking John Turner. "We talk about equity, we talk about diversity. We have a lot of Black golfers out here that come and play. We have a lot of Black leagues that come and play here. Equity and diversity, that sounds like Hiawatha."
During the meeting, Park Board President Jono Cowgill told the commissioners that failing to approve the renovations would just delay the inevitable.
"If we don't take action, maybe not tonight, but soon...we don't have a golf course to protect," Cowgill said. "There won't be an historic place to golf at or recall the history of."
According to the park board, 300 million gallons of groundwater are pumped from the course each year, in excess of state water appropriation laws.
Commissioner Londel French told the Park Board that he was not in favor of the renovations, even with ecological issues facing the course.
"Being environmentally conscious and protecting our watershed, these are all good things to be doing. But why do they have to be at the expense of what Black folks care about?"
A separate measure to rename the Hiawatha clubhouse after Solomon Hughes Sr. was approved. Hughes, who died in 1987, was a club pro at Hiawatha Golf Course. He, along with Ted Rhodes invitations, were the first African American golfers to play in a PGA-sponsored event in Minnesota.
