When is a golf course more than a golf course? When it's a city-owned course that offers $10 rounds to local kids and the elderly, and when it's "vital open space" in a congested neighborhood.
Those are the reasons why backers of Rancho del Pueblo golf course in San Jose think Mayor Chuck Reed's plans to sell the 11-year old nine-hole course to a real estate developer are way out of bounds, the San Jose Mercury News reports. True, the golf course is losing money -- the city reported a loss of almost $280,000 on the course last year, which has turned a profit only once, and usually loses no less than $169,000 a year -- but another San Jose golf course, Los Lagos, loses $1.5 million a year in debt servicing alone, and it's not on the chopping block.
Reed's plan is to sell the golf course to a private developer who would turn the 34-acre course into 570 homes. That's not acceptable for Councilman Xavier Campos, who says the golf course is vital open space in an already crowded neighborhood, and that more housing would pollute and congest the area to unacceptable levels.
However, the choice is stark for Reed. "We're forced to choose between playing golf or having libraries or community centers," he told the newspaper.
