City governments should keep their hands out of areas that should be left to the private sector. One key example of this is city owned golf courses. Private enterprise has found a lot of success by building golf courses. City governments have hoped to capitalize on the successes of others and have started to build golf course after golf course. This has over inundated the world with golf courses.
Recently Ogden has found that their Golf course is a loser in the financial world. With out some sort of change, it will be a failure. So to whom does the mayor turn to save the golf course? The citizens of citizen of Ogden get to pay the bill.
Although I am not opposed to turning it into a park as suggested in the article, The smartest move would be to sell the property. Either the new owner could turn it into a profitable golf course, or build houses on it, or something.
No matter what the decision, the tax payers lose. Property is selling low right now, so it isn’t a good time to sell, so the citizens lose on the sell. If they turn it into a park, the citizen have to pay tax, to make it so. Or the worst deal of all, would be the renovation to make it more profitable.
Cities need to keep out of the private sector. Whether it is Utopiah, golf courses, or other business. It is destined to fail.
Gazelem 
13 March 2008 at 5:17 pm
A number of vocal people in Ogden are opposed to selling the golf course because they want to keep it green space. They seem to instinctively know that the property would be developed, and these folks are against development on the bench area. Few of these people golf, but they could find allies among golfers. But frankly, the golfing constituency is fairly small and is dwindling rather than growing.
The only way to keep the golf course open is for those that want to maintain it as green space to force their neighbors to pay for it through taxation. Presumably, costs would be lower if it were converted to a park. It would also permit much broader usage. But I’m not sure the city wants a park that large in that area. There is already a park adjacent to the golf course.
Selling the course would enhance prosperity. Keeping it will just cost more taxes.