Tennis everyone?
Angry Upper East Side parents say their kids are being cheated out of riding their bikes and playing ball at an Upper East Side park after the city cut a back-room deal with a tony tennis club that allows it to occupy the grounds for an additional six weeks.
“I hate it,” said Jonah Keller, 9, whose twin brother, Aidan, won’t have access to the Queensboro Oval tucked under the 59th Street Bridge until the end of June, after the owner of the Sutton East Tennis Club dismantles the massive bubble that covers the entire acre-and-a-quarter field.
“There’s nowhere else where we can hit a ball, because you can hit it hard and there’s a backstop,” said Aidan. “We love to ride our bikes there because it’s safe. If I fall, I fall on soft red clay.”
The park, which is also used for adult softball and kickball leagues, initially held a September to April agreement with the tennis club. But now bureaucrats are letting the club stay through June 15.
The new deal between the city and club owner Tony Scolnick came as a shock to members of Community Board 8.
Two years ago, Parks had to cancel a contract which would have allowed the tennis club, which charges up to $195 an hour for courts, to extend its season year-round because of neighborhood outrage.
The extension would have been worth $1.9 million to the city
Now the ball is in the Parks Department’s court again.
“What they did is piggish,” said Bradley Cohen, whose son Boaz, 7, also plays ball and rides his bike there.
“There’s just no open space in the neighborhood. I taught my kid how to ride his bike at the park. It’s a shame that this is happening without any public comment.”
Parks Assistant Commissioner Betsy Smith explained they decided to extend the tennis season because the owner complained he had already “made a substantial investment to convert the bubble to a year-round operation.” She would not disclose details of the contract or how much the city would profit.
“Parks signed a contract they had no business doing and now they want the public to pay. You’ve got to be kidding. It’s greed, pure and simple.” said Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates.
