Kingsport, TN loses its clout with Chamber of Commerce
The City of Kingsport apparently has lost its clout with the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce with the Chamber having their 17th Annual Golf Scramble at the Ridgefields Country Club instead of at the city owned Catskills Golf Course.
The taxpayer funded Catskills Golf Course located at the MeadowView Resort and Conference could use money since it barely breaks even. The City of Kingsport owns the golf course, convention center, and Eastman Chemical owns the hotel.
Parking would not be a problem because the parking lot almost always has a lot of empty spaces.
Kevin Harmon, Kingsport Chamber Golf Scramble chair and Kingsport Town Center general manager stated. “Ridgefields is one of the best golf courses in the state and always does a superb job of hosting the tournament.”
But, the Cattails website states that the Cattails Golf Course is “recognized as one of the top golf courses in a Tennessee region and was recently named the second best golf city in America by Golf Digest magazine”.
It is obvious we have a difference of opinions on which golf course is better.
The taxpayers have spent $25.7 million for the current MeadowView Convention Center and Cattails golf course. The City of Kingsport is Investing another $15.3 million to expand the MeadowView Convention Center. This make a total of $41 million that the taxpayers have invested (plus interest on bonds) and history has shown the City portion of Meadowview does not make money. This is certainly not a good return on taxpayers money.
Since the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce gets funding from the City of Kingsport, the least it could do is to support the city.