Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Eating the Bait

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by

James A. Bacon
in


by Joe Fitzgerald

Eating The Bait is the improbable story of Harrisonburg’s Golf Course, and how it came to be, told in a decidedly non-linear fashion by a non-objective observer. The whole sick, sad, silly, sorry, sordid story of the destructive, polarizing, maddeningly frustrating and ultimately hilarious battle over whether a city in the Shenandoah Valley — where little happens, nor should it — should build a golf course. Caution: the story is carefully doctored by a key player to make it more exciting and occasionally uses 4-, 11-, 12, and 7-letter words to express frustration and drama.

In April 1999 the City of Harrisonburg decided to build a golf course. “City” is capitalized here because the phrase refers to the government of the city, in all its majesty and error. The course was touted as raising the quality of life in the city, increasing city revenues, and helping make Harrisonburg a first-class city.

The only real catch, as the City Council voted 5-0 to launch the project and the city staff began making plans and spending money, was that the city didn’t want a golf course. And by “city”, non-capitalized, I mean the people who lived in the city, paid the taxes and owned the government that the council and staff only held in trust. Two polls and an election bore out the fact that a landslide of city voters and an overwhelming majority of its citizenry did not want the golf course.

The City didn’t care. The City knew better. And the city still bears the scars.

My involvement in and influence over the situation went from peripheral to central over the 14 months that followed. Those 14 months are summarized here, in the context of the five days that began with the final meeting of the old City Council and ended with the first meeting of the new.

Tuesday, June 27, 2000: Be Seated: The old council leaves but doesn’t take the contention with it. Somebody’s going to be stuck in the middle.

Wednesday, June 28, 2000: TAGS to CHANGE: Acronyms come and go, acrimony doesn’t. Why don’t we just wait?

Thursday, June 29, 2000: Prose and Cons: A colleague lightens up enough to make me an offer, but the mood continues to darken.

Friday, June 30, 2000: Executive Sessions: Government is like an iceberg in that you only see the top 10 percent. It’s easier to make decisions when nobody’s looking …

Saturday, July 1, 2000: Eating the Bait: … but it’s harder to change your mind if they are.

Joe Fitzgerald is a former mayor of Harrisonburg. This article is republished with permission from his Substack publication, Still Not Sleeping.

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14 responses to “Eating the Bait”

  1. William O'Keefe Avatar
    William O’Keefe

    What’s missing from this is information on whether citizens took legal action and if the course still exists is it making money and has a more recent poll been taken?

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      [Some] citizens took action. Their lawsuit was dismissed. – “Warren had been our representative to Walter during the legal fight, which ended two months before the election when a circuit court judge couldn’t quite find a reason to stop the golf course.”

      The course still exists. It is not making money – “The councils still make the big decisions, including construction of three new schools since 2002. Those schools would have cost more if we’d damaged the city’s bond rating by stopping the golf course. On the other hand, the golf course continues to lose money.”

      I saw no mention of a recent poll.

      1. Joseph Fitzgerald Avatar
        Joseph Fitzgerald

        The City is running a survey and seeking comments about the future of the course. Last year, or the year before, a local pol started an online poll against the course. A council member exploited the poll for attention, and found there was a second online poll, in favor of the course, with more signatures. Not much has changed in 20 years.

  2. Steve Gillispie Avatar
    Steve Gillispie

    Can you fix the link? I can’t access the article.

  3. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Fredericksburg does not have a golf course nor contemplates one but has similar controversies, perhaps the latest is a 5 million dollar waterfront park – albeit a “nice” one , and once it was locked in , all of a sudden, the city needed a new school, a fire station and a wastewater treatment plant upgrade!

    Isn’t this what elections are about?

    We also have no shortage of implacable critics who make their case over and over in the letters… but so far, apparently the “ayes” have it.

    I’m not in Fredericksburg, but nearby and the FLS is in the city so we get to share “news” and sometimes the city “news” is more interesting than the county (though not always, the S-Power solar farm donnybrook was “fun”).

  4. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    An interesting read. Thank you for posting it.

  5. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    My old man is gone, so what’s he gonna say when I tell this story? He was on an engineering IG tour of Vietnam, circa 1966, and on the basis of his report a USAF base commander was cashiered and brought back to the states in shame. Plenty of base facilities were in tatters, needing work, but that golf course was pristine. Damn fool base commander and base engineer probably invited the IG’s out for a round…

    SSDD

    FYI, the links seem to need attention….

    1. Walter Hadlock Avatar
      Walter Hadlock

      When I was in Vietnam, the joke about AF bases was build all the fun things, i.e. clubs, recreation, etc, then go back for more money for the runway(s), hangers, etc. Somethings never seem to change.

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Related to the story of the AF Base where they went back to Congress for more money because, after building the golf course and riding stables, they still needed runways. Priorities.

      The 4 military definitions of “secure”:
      Navy — tie knots in it,
      Army — fence it,
      Marines — attack it,
      Air Force — lease it.

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        One of the photos on my Dad’s memory wall was a riding stable in North Africa (Wheelus) that a 2-star asked him to build on base. Capt. Dad and the happy general and some Arabian’s in the photo….(horses, not Bedouins..)

  6. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    A golf course is a bargain at twice the price comparatively…
    https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/chesapeake/add-in-god-we-trust-to-city-vehicles-chesapeake-will-vote-on-proposal-tuesday-night/

    Always fighting the last war… previous, that is.

  7. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    This is wonderful! Anyone who likes local politics (the most interesting of all, in my opinion) and is drawn to good writing with a touch of humor and candor in a politician should read this. For those who don’t take the time, here is one of my favorite parts, the definition of a “liberterian Democrat”:

    “There’s too much government, it doesn’t do things well, most of what it does is inefficient, and God help us when it’s not. (It doesn’t help that the trains run on time if they’re going to Treblinka.) But upper-case Libertarians can’t compromise and I can. If there’s so damned much government and it’s not going away regardless of which party’s in office, we ought to try and do something with it.”

    And then there is the title of one chapter: “Government is like an iceberg in that you only see the top 10 percent. It’s easier to make decisions when nobody’s looking …”

    1. Joseph Fitzgerald Avatar
      Joseph Fitzgerald

      Local politics is like ethnic food. You don’t want it to be too authentic.

  8. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    This is wonderful! Anyone who likes local politics (the most interesting of all, in my opinion) and is drawn to good writing with a touch of humor and candor in a politician should read this. For those who don’t take the time, here is one of my favorite parts, the definition of a “liberterian Democrat”:

    “There’s too much government, it doesn’t do things well, most of what it does is inefficient, and God help us when it’s not. (It doesn’t help that the trains run on time if they’re going to Treblinka.) But upper-case Libertarians can’t compromise and I can. If there’s so damned much government and it’s not going away regardless of which party’s in office, we ought to try and do something with it.”

    And then there is the title of one chapter: “Government is like an iceberg in that you only see the top 10 percent. It’s easier to make decisions when nobody’s looking …”

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