00:00Well, you know, when we want to be smart, we call it a smart person.
00:03So we're trying to find out more about this thing that's going on with the National Links Trust
00:08and all of the local golf courses out here.
00:12What do you see happening?
00:15Well, it's really hard to say.
00:17I mean, the background is that National Links Trust is a nonprofit that in 2020
00:24was granted the rights to not only run but redevelop the three municipal golf courses
00:31in the district, which is not far from where you're sitting right now.
00:36Maybe a drive or three would for you, Brian.
00:40Langston, which is in the shadow of what was RFK, and then Rock Creek, kind of in, you know,
00:48Rock Creek Park area.
00:50And they had designs to redo each course, had big swinging, big-name architects working
00:59with them pro bono.
01:01They've done a lot of work to improve course conditions, even as they have to work with
01:06the National Parks, you know, the Department of the Interior, which oversees or owns the land.
01:15And it was really a good development for people like me who play public golf in the district.
01:22The Trump administration last fall essentially tore up National Links Trust's 50-year lease
01:31with the Parks Department.
01:33They cited a bunch of stuff that NLT says is not true, that they were behind on rent payments
01:38and that they hadn't come through on promises.
01:40Because, you know, the process to work with the National Parks Service is a little bit,
01:44it's like working with a government agency, it's a little bit cumbersome.
01:48So things have been kind of slow.
01:50What's happened most recently is there was a report last week that the administration was
01:59going to shut down the most heavily used course, which is East Potomac, right on Haynes
02:04point there, Sunday night, and that there are designs in place, they have renderings of
02:13what the administration would want the course to look like in the future.
02:19The confusion comes because, for a number of reasons, but one, no one told National Links
02:25Trust that they were closing the course after Sunday night.
02:29And in fact, they didn't, it opened this morning.
02:32So there was a hearing, supposed to be a hearing this morning that I don't know the result of.
02:38A citizens group was, wanted an injunction against the, against the administration to prevent
02:46them from shutting down any of the courses.
02:49But it all just leaves both National Links Trust and area golfers wondering about the administration's
02:58plans, even if it has any that are, that are deliverable about what they're going to do
03:04to the courses, why they're getting involved in any case.
03:08This is all because the president's helicopter, Marine One, when he flies from the White House
03:16out to Andrews Air Force Base, which he does a lot to catch his flights, whether he's going
03:21to official business or he's going down to Florida for, for a weekend, it flies right
03:27over Haynes point.
03:28And he's able to look down at that golf course and say, well, we could make a, you know, a
03:33much better public golf course.
03:36Why don't, why don't we do that?
03:37It's a long kind of winding, hard to follow saga that right now doesn't have any of the
03:45courses closed, but people kind of wonder day to day, if that's going to change.
03:49Um, yeah, it's very complicated.
03:53I think there's a lot they could do at Haynes to make it awesome, but you don't want to change
03:59the character of that being a place anyone from this area can go to.
04:04Um, so it seems like as much as we keep hearing stuff, nobody actually knows anything.
04:10Is that right?
04:11Well, I mean, you know, the story that came out on the, on the website notice, um, N-O-T
04:18-U-S,
04:19I think it was Friday.
04:21Um, maybe it was as late as Saturday about the, um, about East Potomac being closed by
04:27the administration that clearly came from the department of the interior because the guys
04:33that who founded and run national links trust had no word of it.
04:39So we know for a fact, and I've seen, um, there's a fundraising, um, kind of, I don't
04:48know, flyer, I guess you'd say, or mailing, um, that has been sent out to potential donors
04:54trying to raise money, not just for the redoing of East Potomac golf courses, but putting that
05:04in conjunction with what the president has planned at West Potomac park, which is around
05:11Ohio drive.
05:12If you're familiar with that area, it's a huge construction site right now.
05:15Yeah.
05:15They're doing some water stuff over there right now.
05:18East of there where he wants to put that, like, I'm going to have the name kind of wrong,
05:23but like a monuments to Patriots.
05:25And he wants to have statues and, uh, a great kind of a hall of fame for American history,
05:32you know, angling, um, toward the 250th anniversary of the country this year.
05:38So there is some material out there saying, Hey, you could contribute to these patriotic,
05:45um, programs.
05:47Um, but the, the rendering of the golf course, like it's almost comical.
05:53Um, it is like, it's not 18 holes.
05:57It's like, you know, that area, the, that bike road, um, runs all the way around the point
06:05and it's heavily, you know, Brian, you as a biker would heavily, heavily, heavily used.
06:12And, and the renderings show the golf course, which again, doesn't have 18 holes, like pushed
06:18out all the way to the edge of, um, of the property, taking away, uh, you know, a community
06:25resource that is part of that area and has been part of that area forever and ever and
06:29ever.
06:29Um, this is with, you know, no regard to community input, community wants, community needs.
06:36Um, and it's also not with apparently is what I've been told, you know, with any regards
06:43to what's actually possible out there, because you push things out to that seawall, which is
06:48already kind of fragile.
06:51Um, you know, it's, it might be physically impossible to put what they want to put there
06:56without falling into the river.
06:58So, um, it just doesn't seem, you know, I think if there, if the administration said, this
07:05is a valuable piece of property, it's not being maxed out for the community, we can help
07:10do it better and faster because we can get rid of a lot of the red tape.
07:15Let's get some input from, um, the community on what it wants and needs.
07:21Then there, that could be a really positive thing because if you can cut aside some of the
07:25bureaucracy and make things happen faster, I think everybody wouldn't be in favor of that.
07:30This feels like a president who is very, very interested in golf, his course in Miami, just
07:37hosted the PGA tour, his course in Virginia is going to host live this week.
07:41We know his history and love for the, for the sport.
07:44Um, it feels like him saying like, ah, this is a real estate project, um, project and we
07:50can kind of take it over and run it and kind of bully these people and kick them out.
07:55Um, and without a real plan behind it to say, this is what's executable in this amount of
08:03time.
08:04It's just a haphazard thing that has a lot of people shaking their heads and wondering,
08:08you know, I mean, if I had a, a tea time there on Friday, I'm wondering, you know, am I
08:14going
08:14to be able to tee it up or are they going to close it down?
08:16Yeah.
08:16Um, speaking of, of, of new things and new ideas and new executions today is your first
08:22day officially as a, as a reporter and columnist for the athletic.
08:26Um, I'll be so excited to read your work.
08:28I'm an athletic subscriber.
08:30Um, congrats.
08:31How excited are you for this new chapter?
08:33I got to get through these like sexual harassment workshops and all this onboarding stuff.
08:38Um, you know, that you have to do when you join the new, you got to do that stuff when
08:42you, I haven't joined a new company in 23 years.
08:45So this is a wild, uh, wild first day, but I'm super psyched.
08:50I'll be out at a rookie.
08:52I was going to ask, does this mean Barry Straluga is coming to rookie mini camp on Friday?
08:57Things change.
08:58Don't they JP?
08:59Uh, I'm also going to check in on the Nats.
09:02Uh, I'm going out to live golf tomorrow.
09:04So, um, excited to get back to work and, and work with a ton of people I've worked with
09:10in the past, but also a ton of really talented people I haven't worked with and have admired
09:14their work from, from afar.
09:15So, um, excited, you know, really excited to get going.
09:18My man, we're excited too.
09:19We'll be reading.
09:20We'll be following along.
09:21Everybody give him a follow at Barry Straluga S V R L U G A.
09:26I'll see you Friday, dude.
09:28Thanks man.
09:28Look forward to it.
09:29All right.
09:29That's our friend Barry Straluga from the athletic.
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