The Loop
Protesters are living in a tree to halt the construction of a New Orleans golf course
A new $24.5 million golf course is set to be built in the heart of New Orleans. Sounds great, right? Well, not to many protesters living in the area.
Two people took their unhappiness with the project to the extreme by living in a tree on the property in an effort to halt construction, according to WDSU News. Supporters told WDSU that the man, who would only be identified as "Lloyd," and the woman, who would only be identified as "Heart," have been living in a tree in City Park since Friday.
Heart finally caved on Tuesday afternoon and came down. She was cheered by gathered protestoes.
"We need to start caring for ourselves and nature is part of that," she said. "So let's be bold and take care of everything, everyone."
But Lloyd remains in the tree. We're guessing he's not a big golfer. Here's a news report from New Orleans' CBS affiliate, WWL TV:
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City Park officials said they would not force the protesters off the property and they hope Lloyd will come down voluntarily. He has to, right? How long can you possibly live in a tree?
"As long as they're not disturbing anything or disturbing the construction site, we are just going to keep them isolated in the tree and we'll carry on building the golf course," City Park CEO Bob Becker said.
Organized by the City Park For Everyone Coalition, protests of the new course have been ongoing for weeks. Supporters want the area to remain open and free to the public.
"To privatize this and make it solely for golf, I mean, I don't know how someone else can think that's not ridiculous and hilarious," said protestor Rebecca Kaplan.
However, the land was formerly part of the City Park Golf Complex before Hurricane Katrina flooded the area.
"The park has historically had great courses. The tournament in New Orleans was historically played here. So we thought it would be appropriate to have a moderately priced course and a course that was first-class," Becker said.
Construction for the new 250-acre Rees Jones course is underway and is scheduled to be finished by February 2017. We'll have to wait and see if Lloyd's tree winds up being part of the final design.