Wade Evans fires back
The BREC commissioner pushes back as the City Park golf debate goes full political campaign.
Central Mayor and BREC Commissioner Wade Evans is pushing back against a Friends of City Park social media campaign that has increasingly cast him as the villain in the ongoing City-Brooks Park master planning debate.
Why it matters: The City-Brooks Park master plan process has been overtaken by a single question—what happens to the 9-hole City Park golf course? Friends of City Park has run its opposition the way a political PAC runs a campaign: targeted social media ads, videos and posts naming and picturing specific officials and claims that don't always match what's actually been proposed.
Background: In a Facebook video posted this week, Evans denied claims that he wants to demolish the course in favor of beer gardens, mini-golf and amphitheaters.
- Evans chairs BREC's golf committee and said he's well aware of demand pressures, including rounds expected to shift to BREC once the LSU course closes June 30.
- He dismissed the preservation argument on historical grounds, noting designer Tom Bendelow built courses at volume rather than as signature works—though a question raised at the April 7 stakeholders meeting remains unanswered: whether Sasaki's proposed alterations would jeopardize City Park's status as one of roughly 25 surviving Bendelow municipal designs in the country.
- Evans accused Friends of City Park of prioritizing adjacent property owners over parishwide users.
- He later returned to Facebook with a longer post.
Says it all: "I'm not going to go into a process of creating a master plan with a singular view of what can happen," Evans said. "I think it's important that we look at all opportunities, all possibilities, and the commission can then decide which way to move forward."
The bottom line: Sasaki has already confirmed the course stays—proposing minor alterations to several holes and reducing its total yardage by some 350 yards. Evans, as a sitting BREC commissioner, will vote on whatever plan Sasaki ultimately recommends. He didn't start this fight publicly. He's not backing down from it either.
