CONGRATULATIONS to newly reelected trustees: Ernie Brass, Kevin Lynch, Ray McGuinness, Gary Robinson, Neil Sawicki, Darrell Webster, Bob Debevec, Alyson Scott, and Cindy Girdler. Officers: Ernie Brass, Pres.; Jeffrey Shibley, V.P.; Bob Debevec, Sec.-Treas.

WELCOME to new members: Eagle Advertising, 1172 Belrose Road, Mayfield Heights 44124, Dale Fellows, President; Lake County Public Libraries, 111 Middle Ridge Road, Madison 44057, Nancy Currie, Director, Madison Library; Torque Transmission, 1246 High Street, Fairport Harbor 44077, John Rampe, President; Leadership Ideas LLC, 6909 Royalton Road #302, Brecksville 44141, Ronald Victor, EdD, President; and Citizens Bank, 8283 Mentor Avenue, Mentor 44060, Stephen Timko, Branch Manager.

A Fairway to Play On
Some places are turning golf courses into parks

Union County, New Jersey, decided to shut down the municipally owned Oak Ridge Golf Course earlier this year. Suddenly, 67 acres were up for grabs. The county turned the whole site into a public park for biking, walking, and an archery range.

It was a good trade, environmentally speaking. Golf courses consume vast quantities of water and take a lot of pesticide to keep 18 fairways looking neat and green. For the county, converting the golf course into Oak Ridge Park was a money saver. The 72-year-old course needed at least $5 million worth of improvements. In its last year of operation, it turned in a $410,000 loss.

More golf-to-park conversions may be coming. The sport of golf has been hit hard by the economy, as duffers balk at paying the high greens fees charged to some private courses. Meanwhile, cash-strapped local governments are cutting back at municipal courses. In 2006, for the first time in recent memory, golf-course closures exceeded openings. In 2008, according to the National Golf Foundation, only 2 new courses opened, while 106 closed.
E-mail jbuntin@governing.com 12/09

Grandview golf course near Middlefield was acquired by the Geauga County Park District not to be used as a golf course. “It was losing money as a golf course” was the response to the inquiry why it wasn’t being continued as a golf course. Other area golf courses closed in collective memory are: Tamarac, Parkview, Landerhaven, Fairway Pines, Casement, Orchard Hills, Vinks, Meadowlands, River Bow, and Willoughby golf course, near Bobicks. Know of any others? (Dave Gilmer)

Could roads be the next source of
renewable power?

There are more than 4 million
miles of paved roadways in the United States. Increasingly, renewable energy advocates are looking at all that asphalt and seeing a lot of untapped potential. What if the nation’s highways and streets weren’t just a way to get from here to there? What if roads actually could be used to generate electricity?

It’s an idea that’s being explored in much of the world. A company in Japan is trying to capture the vibrations from traffic driving over a bridge and convert the energy to electricity. Engineers in Israel are testing a method of producing power by embedding special crystals in asphalt. (The pressure from passing cars causes the crystals to vibrate and produce tiny electric fields.) A researcher in Houston has proposed capturing the tailwind behind cars using rows of small turbines housed in roadside barriers.

An electrical engineer from Idaho envisions paving roads with 12-foot-square solar panels. Scott Brusaw already has built a prototype, and his work got a big boost in August from the federal Department of Transportation, which awarded his company a $100,000 research contract to develop a full-scale model for testing. The potential is staggering. If all roads in America were paved with solar panels, they would produce three times as much energy as the country currently consumes.

Heat from the panels could be used to melt snow and ice, eliminating the need for snowplows. LED lights in the panels could be used to send information to drivers or to change traffic flow by virtually re-striping the lanes. And an electric road could conceivably power electric vehicles while they drive.

Tacoma, Wash., has offered itself as a solar-road test market. Public works director Richard McKinley invited Brusaw to the city to present his idea, which McKinley calls “one of the most green and sustainable concepts out there.” It’s not so difficult to imagine a city trying it with a parking lot first - and if that works, seeing where the road leads from there.

- zpatton@governing.com 11/09

Women a majority in U.S. Workplaces

For the first time in recorded history, women outnumber men on America’s payrolls. This benchmark is bittersweet, as it comes largely at men’s expense. Because men have been losing their jobs faster than women, the economic downturn has at times been referred to as a “man-cession.” “Important milestones remain to be achieved, but women’s surpassing 50 percent of employment is something that historians will note for years to come,” said Casey Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago who has been tracking the recession’s effects on both sexes. According to seasonally unadjusted data released by the Labor Department, women held the majority of nonfarm payroll jobs in January. Women’s slender lead was highest last month, when they held 50.3% of the nation’s nonfarm payroll jobs in the raw numbers.

( back to top )