To the residents of Melrose - I need your help! At a recent Park Commission meeting, the Commissioners are again looking into the possibility of selling alcohol using beverage carts on the fairways on our city-owned golf course at Mount Hood. This presents added safety risks given the problem of speeding vehicles coming down Stillman, Slayton, and Waverly streets from the clubhouse. Unlike other golf courses, our golf course is integrated with passive recreational areas at Mount Hood where people routinely use park areas to walk dogs, hiking, there is a tot lot where children play, as well as fishing and people walking up to Slayton Tower for sightseeing. Increasing the sale of alcohol on public land is a bad idea and sets a poor example for our youth especially since excessive drinking remains a problem in our city.
As President of the Mt. Hood Park Association, dedicated to the promotion and protection of Mount Hood Park, I am asking concerned residents to send me an email to voice your support of our effort to stop this action by the Park Commission. Please send me an email at mdittmer@mthoodpa to voice your concerns. Thank you for any support you can give us.
I am 100% in support of beverage carts at Mt. Hood. It will provide a meaningful boost to revenues and increase player satisfaction. People bring their own right now anyway, which this will help curtail while providing "eyes" on the course to manage any inebriation.
Without commenting (yet) on this alcohol cart issue, I simply want to confirm that you accept that at least SOME of those "speeding cars" MIGHT be coming another facility in the area!
Because I do not golf, do not drink, (and therefore do not understand the desired combination of the two), do not live in the immediate area, drive as little as possible, and prefer that 'governmental agencies' not have to make restrictive "rules" for generally intelligent people, I will leave it for those more affected to opine on this matter.
Understandable, Geezer. I do like to both golf and drink. I don't think anyone would disagree this will bring welcome additional revenue. From my experience, one beverage cart over 18 holes means each group has the opportunity - maybe - to purchase drinks twice. I've never seen a cart three times during a round anywhere. Given the difficulty keeping beers cold on a hot day, that's two, maybe three, beers per person over 4 1/2 to five hours while exercising - certainly a manageable amount and unlikely to cause pandemonium on the paths nor on the streets.
Melrose has to get past this "just say no" attitude permeating every decision making process from licensing to zoning. Forget right or wrong, and it is wrong, but it's just SO costly!
Melrose has to get past this \"just say no\" attitude permeating every decision making process from licensing to zoning. Forget right or wrong, and it is wrong, but it\'s just SO costly!
Good heavens, it's not like golfers are going to be stumbling around, vomiting all over the place, waving their johnsons at people, and driving into the ponds! Let's give adults a bit of credit, shall we?
If you did - you would know these facts - (1) every time this matter is discussed at Park Commission meetings, local neighbors come out an complain about speeding coming down from the golf course and have asked the city to do something about it - which they have not, (2) there have been golf cart accidents that have occurred over the years that have damaged the carts with people injured (alcohol could be part of this problem since golfer are known to sneak alcohol onto carts, (3) the clubhouse has been cited twice in the last 10-11 years for selling alcohol to underage people - they can't even control alcohol in the clubhouse let alone being able to do this with 18-19 year olds operating beverage carts.
If you did - you would know these facts - (1) every time this matter is discussed at Park Commission meetings, local neighbors come out an complain about speeding coming down from the golf course and have asked the city to do something about it - which they have not, (2) there have been golf cart accidents that have occurred over the years that have damaged the carts with people injured (alcohol could be part of this problem since golfer are known to sneak alcohol onto carts, (3) the clubhouse has been cited twice in the last 10-11 years for selling alcohol to underage people - they can't even control alcohol in the clubhouse let alone being able to do this with 18-19 year olds operating beverage carts.
Oh NO! No credibility. What shall I do, what shall I do? How will I ever sleep again? ☹️
If you're implying that only "neighbors" have credibility here, I disagree. Stakeholders like club members and other regular players - the majority of whom are Melrose residents - as well as the entire city's taxpayer base contribute to Mt. Hood's success and have a voice.
This isn't "your park" sir, it is "our park."
‘John from Melrose’: Today? Corned Beef, of course!!
Nicely done, Geezer. Hope you enjoyed!
This isn't "your park" sir, it is "our park."
With all due respect, no neighbor anywhere - not just Melrose - ever wants anything to change in their neighborhood. That's the definition of NIMBY, right?
As for somehow morally eroding our youth, that's been Melrose's MO for opposing fun roughly ever since it incorporated.
Not that it's prescient, but I would argue that Melrose youth already drink more alcohol in that park than any golfing crowd ever could!
And, while I'm here, a couple of isolated underage servings during the first Obama administration, years ago, seems like a stretch as far as not allowing a drink cart.
People just want to enjoy a cold beer while they play, it's not an assault upon property rights, morality, human decency, or anything else. Just a beer while we play.
As for somehow morally eroding our youth, that\'s been Melrose\'s MO for opposing fun roughly ever since it incorporated.
Not that it\'s prescient, but I would argue that Melrose youth already drink more alcohol in that park than any golfing crowd ever could!
And, while I\'m here, a couple of isolated underage servings during the first Obama administration, years ago, seems like a stretch as far as not allowing a drink cart.
People just want to enjoy a cold beer while they play, it\'s not an assault upon property rights, morality, human decency, or anything else. Just a beer while we play.
As for somehow morally eroding our youth, that's been Melrose's MO for opposing fun roughly ever since it incorporated.
Not that it's prescient, but I would argue that Melrose youth already drink more alcohol in that park than any golfing crowd ever could!
And, while I'm here, a couple of isolated underage servings during the first Obama administration, years ago, seems like a stretch as far as not allowing a drink cart.
People just want to enjoy a cold beer while they play, it's not an assault upon property rights, morality, human decency, or anything else. Just a beer while we play.
So, you’re a Prohibitionist? That didn’t work out real well last time we tried it!
Your characterization of someone wanting a couple of cold beers on a golf course as a corrupting influence on our youth and a menace to our fair and noble town’s safety is the demagoguery here. On the contrary, I am the voice of reason as it’s hard to see a beverage cart being a challenge to Melrose’s civic well being.
And the city gets some much needed revenue too!
And the city gets some much needed revenue too!
Thank you, John! and Thank you, Myron!
As a public space, citizens should not have to deal with any more drunken fools than it does already here. Mt. Hood is not a private club, and as a public park, basically, selling alcohol absolutely should be forbidden. Perhaps the mayor would like to set up a pot cart while he's at it! Maybe the mayor wants to make another few thou by having an over-the-counter drug cart, along with plenty of Mt. H-emblazoned water bottles that teens could buy to fill with vodka (that they carry with them in school).
This mayor and his craven supporters will quite literally do anything to lubricate his financial wheels, having mastered lesson #1 from his most recent predecessors.
Since I pointed out the absurdities of your corrupting influence and safety menace arguments, it now moves on to the corruption argument.
Can't say I'm a big fan of the Mayor - a little too showy with his suburban progressivism for my tastes - but I don't know how you've extrapolated a beer cart to "satisfy[ing] his special interest groups" or "lubricat[ing] his financial wheels." That's quite the stretch!
The fact is it's a single beverage cart at Mt. Hood. Not a pot cart, or a cocaine cart, or whatever else your puritanical minds can dream up. Not doling out vodka shots to teens, not fueling drunken rampages through the streets. Just a beverage cart, as seen on thousands of golf courses all across America. No, the revenue isn't going to make any real difference. It doesn't matter - it would be fun to have and it would make a little money. That's all.
As H.L. Mencken said "Puritanism Is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
Can\'t say I\'m a big fan of the Mayor - a little too showy with his suburban progressivism for my tastes - but I don\'t know how you\'ve extrapolated a beer cart to \"satisfy[ing] his special interest groups\" or \"lubricat[ing] his financial wheels.\" That\'s quite the stretch!
The fact is it\'s a single beverage cart at Mt. Hood. Not a pot cart, or a cocaine cart, or whatever else your puritanical minds can dream up. Not doling out vodka shots to teens, not fueling drunken rampages through the streets. Just a beverage cart, as seen on thousands of golf courses all across America. No, the revenue isn\'t going to make any real difference. It doesn\'t matter - it would be fun to have and it would make a little money. That\'s all.
As H.L. Mencken said \"Puritanism Is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.\"
Can't say I'm a big fan of the Mayor - a little too showy with his suburban progressivism for my tastes - but I don't know how you've extrapolated a beer cart to "satisfy[ing] his special interest groups" or "lubricat[ing] his financial wheels." That's quite the stretch!
The fact is it's a single beverage cart at Mt. Hood. Not a pot cart, or a cocaine cart, or whatever else your puritanical minds can dream up. Not doling out vodka shots to teens, not fueling drunken rampages through the streets. Just a beverage cart, as seen on thousands of golf courses all across America. No, the revenue isn't going to make any real difference. It doesn't matter - it would be fun to have and it would make a little money. That's all.
As H.L. Mencken said "Puritanism Is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
Thank you TBSports. While I disagree with, well, almost everything John and Resident have to say on this issue, he is right that the “No Fun in Melrose” crowd will show up at the hearing.
Therefore, it’s up to the rest of us to email our alder-people and Mayor to express our feelings. Please do so and, who knows, at least they’ll be made aware there is another constituency out there that takes a more non-absolutist view towards relaxing Melrose’s Victorian mindset.
If golfers are already doing BYOB, then the rationale for having a beer cart is weakened, as potential revenues have to be netting against risk-costs of potential liability.
Little do these people know that the clubhouse had had 2 violations serving underage people in the last 10 years, having their liquor license pulled for awhile, just imagine how many may be served on the golf course when beverage cart staff are roaming the fairways trying to make an extra buck in tips! This is not only a stupid idea but dangerous for those people who live near Mount Hood.
