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You had to smile, if ruefully, at the idea proposed by the University of New Mexico regents to develop the beloved North Golf Course into a retirement community.

Last time I checked, seniors love to golf. Talk about dark karma. Imagine a retirement home built on the site of a former golf course.

As bad omens go, this one could not be more ominous.

It also halts any doubt as to where the university and its leadership is headed on UNM North. Walking, biking, airing the baby? Nonissues. Being part of the community in a way that adds to the emotional wealth of the city? No, thank you.

This is getting ridiculous. The very idea of a retirement development on this site is as callous as it is dumb.

It's callous because it's very easy to picture exactly what the results will be: a gated, high-end retirement play land where the gilded frolic in the remaining green space.

The message could not be clearer: If you are in the UNM family, you get to enjoy the benefits of the Albuquerque outdoor life. The rest of you get to watch through the fence. Unless you are permitted in as the cleaning and groundskeeping crew.

Do we need this?

It's grotesque. This is exactly the kind of thing that creates divides, something Albuquerque has so far avoided in this part of the city.

I'd be very interested to hear at the next public meeting just exactly how loud the hue and cry has been from faculty approaching retirement, as well from as elder alumni, on wanting to retire within a stone's throw of campus.

Why the proximity? Why is it so important to be within walker distance of UNM? If this is important to faculty approaching retirement, then let's hear from them. Show us the demand. Otherwise, it's a classic case of creating a problem just to solve it.

Here's what really galls me here. Board of Regents President Jamie Koch said the regents discussed this a month ago - a month ago! - and that, "all of them were saying the North Golf Course needed to be developed," he said. "It was a good suggestion."

All of them? There was not one dissenting voice on the Board of Regents? How is that even possible? If that's the case, and we have no reason not to believe Koch, then everyone should be very much on guard here.

The obvious question is why? This is the approach to blight, a vacant area or some other problem. Not a venerable school institution with history and emotional value.

The idea that this plan would generate a windfall of $2 million to $3 million a year is ludicrous. It's a made-up number. Pure and simple. As economic opportunities go, it's an insult to common sense.

It's also an opportunity for new UNM President David Schmidly to go to the barn and saddle the white horse.

Back in February, acting UNM President David Harris heard the concerns of the community, demonstrated by an amazing protest. I guess we all know now where the regents stood in relation to an acting president.

You have to feel for Harris. I absolutely believed him on his promise not to develop the property. This, as they say, is a new day.

Schmidly, however, is not an acting president. He's the man now.

The dynamics between the president of the university and the Board of Regents is well documented. Schmidly might as well roll up his sleeves.

A dust-up had to happen sooner or later, but as issues go, he would have one thing on his side the regents do not: the community.

He must surely know the community is watching him rather closely in these early days. So far, the color palette signal from him has been rather red. As in Lobos red. He clearly is into inter-collegiate sports and the finances it generates for the university.

Fair enough. He's a sports guy. No argument here. This situation is a chance to see just how green he can be. And not just dollars.

This is Gene Grant's final column.