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Renovation will help park
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Times-Picayune, 08/14/2001
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Audubon Park is fortunate to enjoy the devotion of many dedicated park users. Even some of the users concerned about the golf course renovations recognize, as stated in a recent letter to the editor, that Audubon Park is "one of New Orleans' loveliest spaces."
That fact is due primarily to the joint efforts of the Audubon Commission and the Audubon Nature Institute working with our neighbors and city and state officials. Without receiving any operational support from public money, over the last 20 years we have significantly improved park services and enhanced the tranquil beauty between Magazine Street and St. Charles Avenue.
From the closing of the roadway to vehicles, the renovations at the St. Charles Avenue entrance, the repaving of the jogging path and planting of more than 800 trees to the recent renovations around the Newman Bandstand and the soon-to-be completed well to provide fresh water to the lagoon system, we have worked to keep Audubon Park the treasure that it is.
The renovated golf course is an important, necessary part of these improvements. That work will accomplish a variety of important objectives:
Move vehicular access to the golf course from the residential Walnut Street to Magazine; provide the type of quality golf experience consistent with Audubon's other facilities; improve safety for park users and golfers; create a more beautiful visual experience for park users; increase the level of maintenance on the course's landscaping; provide operational funds for improved maintenance park-wide and provide access to an area in and around the new clubhouse currently used by few people.
The Audubon Commission and the Audubon Nature Institute take their responsibility seriously and are extremely proud of the public facilities we provide. The golf course plans were developed, beginning in 1999, with public input from a public hearing; eight public meetings of the Audubon Commission; meetings with neighborhood groups and with the current users of the golf course.
All of the plans developed for Audubon facilities include input from a wide range of sources. The plans we implement will be designed to provide facilities which will be an asset to our community long into the future.
L. Ronald Forman
President and
chief executive officer
Audubon Nature Institute
New Orleans
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