Rosa Michnya feels like she's losing part of her childhood -- losing the place where she, her siblings and her neighborhood friends spent countless joyful summer evenings and weekend afternoons.

Michnya, a Lexington Park native, played the unique and intriguing miniature golf course at Roosevelt Boulevard and Stanwood Street throughout her youth in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Then she moved away. Fifteen years later, in 1990, she returned to her old neighborhood and re-established residence there.

She went to Roosevelt Boulevard and Stanwood Street and found that the old miniature golf course was still there, too.

Michnya and some old friends relived their childhood outings on occasion. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Michnya caught word of plans to rip out the course and build a state liquor store in its place.

Now, she feels her neighborhood and her memories of her youth will never be the same.

"We felt incredibly lucky to have this in our neighborhood," Michnya said. "This is better than anything down the shore.

"I think it's a very unique and charming part of the neighborhood. . . . The owners don't seem to have any sense of how important this is to the community."

The golf course is owned by prominent Philadelphia-area real estate developer Mark Mendelson. He's had the property since 1980.

Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board officials expect that by September 2001, when their existing lease on a nearby state store expires, they will be moving into a new, larger facility on the site of the present-day golf course.

GOLF COURSE IN THE HOLE

According to Mendelson, a principal in a private company (U.S. One Associates) seeking to acquire and redevelop a portion of the former Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry, the golf course was built in 1934 but has fallen on hard economic times in recent years.

"For the last six or seven years, it didn't make any money. It lost money," Mendelson said.

Michnya believes patronage of the course has dropped because of the owner's unwillingness to maintain it. The intricate holes of the course, which operates under the name "Jolly Mon Jungle Golf," contain numerous large animal sculptures, many with moving parts.

According to Michnya, who played the course once this summer, at least a third of the mechanized obstacles are now inoperable. Meanwhile, a simulated stream with running water has been left to dry.

"I was disappointed because nothing was working," she said. "That's what turns people away. They'd rather go up to Burholme (Golf). It's maintained."

Michnya also is critical of the hours of operation of the course. The place was closed throughout the work week last week and no hours were posted. Michnya says that she was told by employees that the course opens on Friday and Saturday nights, weather permitting, during warm weather months.

TROUBLE PAR FOR THE COURSE

Mendelson, whose 21-year-old son, Seth, will be in charge of the construction project, contends that costs prohibit proper maintenance of the golf facility. "We've had so much vandalism," he said. "It was built in 1934, and everything is handmade. The giraffe took me eleven months to get, and it cost $6,000." Mendelson added that someone stole a gorilla sculpture from the property, which has been robbed "several times."

What's more, he says, real estate taxes have doubled in recent years, to $10,000 a year. A city government official contacted by the Northeast Times placed the figure at $5,017.90 a year.

Regardless, according to city records, Mendelson failed to pay up on the property taxes in 1996, '97, '98 and '99. Mendelson has been sued twice by the city and once by the School District of Philadelphia over tax issues.

As of last week, a city government source said, Mendelson still owed $23,000 in back taxes and was entered into an agreement to repay them.

Mendelson confirmed that he still owes taxes on the property and that he has agreed to a repayment plan. He blames his tax delinquency on billing confusion and oversight.

"The city sent the tax bills to the golf course during the winter when nobody's there," Mendelson said. "We didn't even realize the tax bills were not being paid. We have a lot of real estate."

LIQUID ASSETS

Among those real estate holdings are other state stores. Mendelson owns the 10,000-square-foot Wine and Spirits Shoppe on Franklin Mills Circle, near the Franklin Mills mall, as well as one in Flourtown, Montgomery County. In the past, he owned a former state store at 9551 Bustleton Ave., which became a controversial issue for neighborhood residents because of its proximity to the Lower Dublin Baptist Church.

Mendelson recently sold a state store property in Lansdale, Montgomery County, according to a source in the state's Liquor Control Board. As a matter of law, private businesses cannot actually own state store operations. But they do own the buildings in which state stores operate, leasing the space to the state.

State stores are established based on the population and product demand in an area. Currently, a state store at 8200 Roosevelt Blvd., in the Pennypack Shopping Center, serves the same area targeted for Mendelson's new store.

There are about 80 state stores in the city and about 200 in the five-county area.

The lease for the existing location expires in September 2001. Joseph James, store operations leasing manager for the LCB, says that the state is currently paying the Metropolitan Management Corp. $15.55 per square foot per month in rent on the existing store, which is 2,860 square feet.

Mendelson's new store would be 4,000 square feet, James said. The lease agreement has not been finalized and James would not quote a figure. But he did say that Mendelson is getting approximately $25 per square foot per month at the Franklin Mills location.

James defended the rate by pointing out "it was custom built to our specifications. It's free-standing. And there were land acquisition costs."

James added that stores in the 4,000-square-foot range draw between $10 and $20 per square foot, depending on location.

Mendelson landed the state store deal after his offer was selected by the LCB over the offer of the landlord at the existing location. According to James, size was the determining factor. Officials from the Metropolitan Management Corp. did not return telephone messages left by the Times last week requesting comment.

PERZEL UNAWARE

Ironically, state Rep. John Perzel (R-172nd dist.), the state House majority leader whose legislative district includes the golf course, says he was unaware of the state store project, although local legislators are usually consulted by the LCB when opening new locations.

As a rule, Perzel says, he has not experienced community opposition to state stores in the past. In fact, he said, "people are all up in arms" whenever the state tries to close down a state store.

Perzel is very familiar with the property owner, too. The legislator acknowledges that Mendelson has been a financial contributor to his campaigns in the past, although not this year.

One Philadelphia Inquirer article from March 1999 reported that Mendelson gave $10,000 to Perzel on Nov. 12, 1998, shortly after the legislator won his 11th term.

At the time, Mendelson was accumulating his tax debt on the miniature golf course property.

"I don't do lien searches on people's properties before accepting contributions," Perzel said on Friday. "I don't think you would, either."

Perzel is running for a 12th two-year term in the state House against Democrat challenger Mark Chilutti. Both candidates are Lexington Park residents.

Meanwhile, their neighbor Michnya continues to lament the pending passing of a local landmark and hopes for an 11th-hour reprieve. At one point, in fact, she says she even gave Seth Mendelson her phone number to meet and discuss ways to save the course.

"I hate to see it go. I tried so hard to talk them into reconsidering," Michnya said. "It's like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. I wish there was some way to convince them to let someone else give it a try."