Secret course

The city of Houston is close to giving the Astros Foundation approval to implement major renovations to Memorial Park Golf Course — Houston’s flagship municipal golf course and one of the most historic and heavily used public courses in America.

In my opinion, this approval is being considered without adequate information. Council is being asked to allow demolition and construction to begin less than one week after an approval vote — without any idea of exactly what will be done.

There seems to be extreme haste and a great lack of transparency for such a major public project.

None of the typical public meetings and workshops have been conducted in preparation for this work. Limited information made available indicates major expansion of water hazards throughout the course.

This past Wednesday at City Council a few members voiced reservations, and the approval vote was delayed one week to allow public discussion to take place.

However, according to city officials, no public meeting or forum for discourse will be organized prior to the vote next week.

The golf course renovation process in place here is tantamount to the city allowing a well-funded private group to immediately demolish and completely renovate and change the character of City Hall, Hermann Park or Memorial Park without receiving proper public input or having thorough plans or permits in place prior to construction.

Perhaps the public is in favor of wholesale changes to Memorial, but it appears the project will be finished before they ever get a chance to weigh in. Baxter Spann, The Woodlands