Public Tennis Fees Might Double
Our friends over at McCarren Tennis just emailed to let us know that the Parks Department is planning to double the cost of playing tennis on public courts. Under the new plan which will go into effect barring a massive uprising, annual permits would increase from $100 to $200 and per-play fees from $7 to…
Our friends over at McCarren Tennis just emailed to let us know that the Parks Department is planning to double the cost of playing tennis on public courts. Under the new plan which will go into effect barring a massive uprising, annual permits would increase from $100 to $200 and per-play fees from $7 to $15. If you are not down with this, you can comment here. The folks at McCarren Tennis have detailed their frustration with the plan in an open letter here.
Photo by elbean3000
By slick on January 24, 2011 6:30 PM
“Frankly it doesnt strike me as that expensive. I would like to hear that some of the increased revenue goes back into the maintenance of the courts.”
Some? Why shouldn’t all of the revenus raised by user fees go to pay for the service provided? Otherwise you’re using tennis players to plug a hole somewhere else in the city budget. Meanwhile admission to public pools is free, and as the McCarren people point out, fees for grass ballfields, which cost far more to maintain, are a small fraction of what tennis players pay already.
Frankly it doesnt strike me as that expensive. I would like to hear that some of the increased revenue goes back into the maintenance of the courts.
bkhts – ironically, the McCarren Tennis people raised *private* money to redo all of those courts.
Playing tennis is becoming too expensive. Whatever the fee, the courts are poorly maintained and supervised. There are too many players trying for time on too few courts. At the new Brooklyn Bridge Park, there are no courts! With all that space they could fit a few in. Private tennis is expensive and now public courts will be too costly for people who enjoy the game & happen to not be rich what happened to public policy to encourage exercise for health? I have had a permit and thought $100 was a fair price for the season length.
Thanks for posting this. I checked out the proposed fees on their website and sent them a strongly worded note. It doesn’t seem right that they should more than double the cost of one sport while not touching those that cause more wear and tear on the parks themselves, including special events.
If the Parks Department wants to justify the cost increase; I’m all ears. In the meantime, there’s not even a mention of this on the page about obtaining Tennis permits on the Parks website.
i think the way the city runs the public tennis courts is completely BS.