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with and use those great ideas he mentioned earlier because he is the guy who can turn this <br />around. <br />Chris Cobb, 215 E. Pokagon St., expressed his gratitude that these meetings are continuing and <br />that he is learning a lot about the golf industry. He stated it might be interesting to see how many <br />out of state golfers come to Elbel and if it would be financially beneficial to have an Indiana and <br />out of State rate because it is so close to the state line. Looking ahead it seems the number of <br />season passes being sold have not gone down too much but the number of season pass rounds <br />played has decreased significantly. He asked does that mean people are paying fewer rounds per <br />pass and does that effect funding for the individual courses. He also suggested looking into if at <br />any time these courses are at capacity and if there is a way to direct people turned away to the <br />other courses. <br />Don Cottons, 60189 Fellows St. South Bend, stated he has been playing Elbel since they built it. <br />There is a need for Golf Pros at each course and with the Olympics having golf this year it was <br />his belief golf participation will increase across the U.S. Raising the prices is not what the City <br />needs to do, rather there needs to be more attention on bringing people out to the courses Erskine <br />as well. It was his opinion that getting new tees at Erskine such as women's and senior's tees <br />would help make the game more accessible and fun. If people cannot reach the greens then they <br />don't want to play. <br />Kirby Whitacre, Director of Athletics at SBCSC, obviously Elbel is important to the South Bend <br />Schools and the students. He provided a letter from the Washington High School Golf Coach <br />which is now on record and available at the City Clerk's Office. He believed T.J.'s ideas were <br />great out of the box thinking and can provide the needed revenue for Elbel and the Parks <br />Department. Maybe the long -term solution is there needs to be more golfers in the community <br />and there should be marketing done towards kids. Golf is the only sport that does not have a pee- <br />wee program. <br />Jesse Davis, P.O. Box 10205 South Bend, profitability should not be the only determination <br />regarding Elbel, this is a quality of life issue as well. If the City wants to look at money spent <br />look at the millions that Smart Streets has cost or the millions that people want to put into the <br />zoo and other pet projects. Mr. Davis stated he never has golfed in his life but he has gone to <br />Elbel on numerous occasions and there shouldn't be fees for bike trails or walking trails. There is <br />still a $700 million dollar sewer project coming up so stop spending money on pet projects and <br />that has to do with the priorities of this city. These parks are great assets to this city. <br />Evelyn Emrich, Crumstown Highway South Bend, suggested adding an RV area at Elbel so it <br />would attract outsiders from around the country. This would utilize the clubhouse and the other <br />assets in the park. There needs to be programs where the whole family can come to Elbel while <br />dad plays golf. Do picnics or other activities for the kids to bring the entire family out and bring <br />revenues in. There also needs to be paved trails for senior citizens at Elbel. <br />Michelle Worth, 1785 Kessler Blvd South Bend, was curious about the numbers of how many <br />people use Elbel not as a golf course but just as a park. There are many people who use it for <br />cross country skiing, hiking, bird watching and other non -golf activities that cannot be <br />8 <br />