Lorie Masters

130 years of being a public park “for the recreation and pleasure of the people” all for one egotistic and greedy person to steal it away for his rich buddies. If you are not paying attention, last night the NPS finally said the plan is final. A plan that calls for the expansion of golf to the entire peninsula. No more running. No more cycling. No more park. Just golf. Thousands of people. Access to the Cherry blossoms. A multipurpose space. 130 years of history. All washed away bc one dude who already has 16 golf courses demands he be gifted a 17th. This is a naked grab for public lands. How the f**k is this acceptable? @JaredHuffman @jamie_raskin @DonBeyerVA @glenniveymd @MarkWarner @AlsobrooksForMD @timkaine @ChrisVanHollen

A federal judge has blocked further tree removal at East Potomac with a preliminary injunction, and the opinion is a masterclass in calling out the government’s story. The opinion opens with “rarely, if ever, has the United States DoJ urged a federal court not to believe the sitting President.” The government has spent months saying no final plan, meanwhile they felled 500+ trees on a Saturday morning in October under the claim of “usual maintenance” Judge calls out the duplicity: “it makes zero sense for the agency to have cut down hundreds of healthy, mature, and non invasive trees” under the pretext of restoring the historic course while preparing for a massive overhaul on the presidents wishes. Wischer, that scheming and disgusting weasel, was found to be not credible - his characterization of the cutting as “‘cleaning up’ the course is borderline farcical.” Judge asserts that the Washington National Plan likely exists and likely final. The ending of the filing: “The Court earlier stated, ‘I am not the Lorax. I do not speak for the trees.’ The Court still does not speak for the trees. It speaks only for the rule of law. “

40K people got to see what we are fighting for today. And what are we fighting for? Access to space on public land. The desire to not see an entire multipurpose space converted to an upscale golf course. Real radical ideas… Let’s hope the MCM, and everyone else, can continue to use this park.

One of the saddest facts about the East Potomac situation is that it was being renovated - Trump’s problem is that it wasn’t being renovated by himself. The National Links Trust was raising private contributions, making much needed repairs, and had a world class golf architect lined up to do the upgrades for free. Those plans preserved the historic character, maintained affordability, and protected public access to the rest of the park. Would trees have come down? Yes. Would land be moved? Yes Would there be the uproar there is now? Absolutely not. If Trump had really cared about the people this impacted he would have worked with the NLT to expedite their plan. But he didn’t. And he doesn’t. This is not about giving the people a world class public course. It’s about giving himself a 17th.