"Here is a classic example of a move to identify a golf course for its environmental and community values. The thing I find most resonant is that this powerful statement is coming from someone other than us."
~ Craig Kessler, Government Affairs Director, Southern California Golf Association Referring to community efforts to save the Verdugo Hills Golf Course
Fore Magazine's September-October issue includes an article about Proposition O and the efforts to save the Verdugo Hills Golf Course. Eric Noland's article, "Storm-Water Project Could Save Golf Course",
notes that the Southern California Golf Association has been working with community members in part because the SCGA views the "marriage of a golf course and a watershed project" as an 'ideal match'.
In researching the article Nolan spoke with L.A. City Councilmember Paul Krekorian, who recommended the VHGC for Prop O consideration; Southern California Golf Association's Craig Kessler; and Richard Toyon, president of Glendale-Crescenta V.O.I.C.E. [Volunteers Organized in Conserving the Environment].
What Nolan finds particularly interesting is that many of the community activists leading the charge are not golfers. They "simply appreciate the sight of rolling hillsides..., space that is free of development and adjacent roads that won't be clogged with the vehicles of all those extra homeowners".
You can read Eric Noland's article online at FORE Magazine, [see page 9]. Or you can view it in a pdf format at SaveTheGolfCourse.Org.
Recalling a Sad Time in History....
"Rancho La Canada: Then & Now", a film by local historian John Newcombe, provides a rich and moving glance back in time, examining some of the historic moments that shaped the greater Crescenta Valley.
One of the little known chapters in that history included Tuna Camp. Built on what is now the Verdugo Hills Golf Course, the camp was established after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United State's entrance into World War II.
The video clip, provided by John Newcombe, explores this dark period in our history, when Japanese, many of whom were American citizens, were detained in relocation camps, separated from their homes and families.
Last year Mike Lawler, of The Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley, devoted a series of his 'Treasures of the Valley' columns to the history of the land we know today as the Verdugo Hills Golf Course:
We cannot afford to lose sight of the already approved 223 houses of Canyon Hills. It is critical that the Final Environmental Impact Report consider the cumulative impact of Canyon Hills on the proposed Verdugo Hills Golf Course project of 229 houses.
