Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)
For Tim Mazzoni, Bridges Golf Course in Mounds View fits him like a tailored golf glove. Not too hard on his aging knees, a good practice range and pleasant staff, which helps when you spend part of almost every day there.
The 68-year-old retired University of Minnesota professor is one of many regulars who don't want to see the 9-year-old course paved over for a new Medtronic complex. Mounds View leaders are trying to convince the Fridley-based medical products company to locate more than 1,000 high-paying jobs there, and Bridges is part of the package.
"Whoever designed it did a good job in making it for players with all different skill levels," Mazzoni said. "I think I was there from almost the very first day it opened."
Patrons of the course say the city is being mesmerized by dollars signs while ignoring the benefits of recreational activities. Golf, Mazzoni said, helps foster a sense of community, and losing Bridges would cut the area's recreational options.
"What I would ask the (city) council to do is broaden the range of values they take into account when they make a decision," Mazzoni said.
For development officials, Medtronic would give the somewhat blue-collar, residential city a chance to bring in one of the region's largest white-collar employers. They would also rid themselves of what some see as an albatross. Over the years, Bridges has landed in every hazard in the business book: too much debt, labor issues and debatable decisions.
The course was unable to pay off its debt with its revenues and had to borrow from the city; it rejected a proposal to install billboards years ago before recently embracing such a plan; and the course manager was fired after questions were raised about incentives paid to course employees.
After striking a deal with Clear Channel Outdoor to build six billboards on the course, Bridges is expected to become self-sustaining next year, superintendent Mary Burg said. The course sells more rounds than any public nine-hole in the region, she added, and since it charges more per round, the course makes about twice what its competitors earn in gross revenue. But millions in debt won't likely be paid off until 2017. At that point, Burg said, the course would make $400,000 a year.
Even now, she said, none of the financial woes affect taxpayers' pocketbooks.
Other accolades:
* The course's driving range has been named the best grass range in Minnesota.
* Last year, head pro Ken Manthis won the Professional Golfers' Association Junior Golf Leader Award for the best youth golf program in the state.
* Bridges is the home course of the 2004 Special Olympics girls golf champion, Katie Timmer.
But none of the awards is likely to stop Medtronic from moving in, if it wants to.
"From what we understand, it would be the largest single development for Medtronic in the world," said Jim Ericson, the city's community development director. Ericson said the specific financial benefits of having Medtronic aren't clear yet, and he admitted that the golf course might give the city better returns in the short term.
But Ericson noted that a project on the order of, say, $100 million is hard to argue with. Not only would the city eventually benefit from property taxes, but Ericson pointed out that employees would spend money in Mounds View.
Burg and others, however, argue that the city could put itself in a huge financial hole if it helps Medtronic locate there.
