From the Daily News:The closing of Tennisport, a private club in Long Island City, on July 31 will make the already difficult task of finding court time in Queens even more tricky.
This is the latest of a steady decline of tennis venues in the borough - a sad irony for the home of the U.S. Open, one of four Grand Slam events in the world.
If the city doesn't intervene, tennis aficionados could be facing a "love" match in their search for playing time, advocates said.
Because many public courts are crowded and not open year-round, organized tennis suffers when a private club like Tennisport closes...
"For the most part, real estate becomes a little bit too prime for property owners to run tennis courts where they can build condominiums instead," [Justin] Hogh said.
Tennisport is housed on city property and will be forced to close its doors to make way for a $175 million development that includes 5,000 units of middle-income housing and a high school.
The club has 500 members, but is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and allows leagues in its 24-court facility just about every evening.
9 comments:
The Parks Dept. is almost completed with its renovation of the Memorial Fields in north Flushing.
www.nycgovparks.org/parks/Q086/facilities/tennis
You need a permit to play and when the courts are finally opened, you might find that you have to schedule time around a private contractor who provides tennis lessons to their clients. This ties up several courts at a time. The sign that I saw outside the courts was confusing because it was primarily written in Korean or Chinese. I called CB#7 about this a couple of years ago when I first noticed this and I was told that it is legit.
This seems like shoddy reporting. Cityview Racquet Club just opened an 80,000 sq.ft. tennis center in Long Island city minutes away from Tennisport. Its bigger, newer and has much better amenities. Nothing has been lost here.
Queens once had plenty of sports, including golf, horse racing, and shooting.
Only the Aqueduct racing track remains in the borough, and no private golf clubs are left. Creedmoor hasn't seen shooting competitions in decades.
Now, tennis is also disappearing from our borough's landscape.
I called CB#7 about this a couple of years ago when I first noticed this and I was told that it is legit.
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NYC Parks are public property open to everyone.
Posting anything that restricts this space to any ethic racial group is not only offensive, but illegal.
Contact Dorothy L in Parks and let us know her response...
Give it up already with the Condos. They are finished, put a fork in, they're done. Why wreck a flourishing business for more nonsense?
Of course, many of the tennis players are of the social class that feels that only the rich count, so maybe it is just that this happen.
NYC Parks are public property open to everyone.
Posting anything that restricts this space to any ethic racial group is not only offensive, but illegal.
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I'll keep an eye out to see if this occurs when the facility reopens.
What does eminent domain have to do with this story? This is city owned land.
Are you new to Queens? How the did you think it became city owned land?
Maybe you should educate yourself.
Are you new to Queens? How the did you think it became city owned land?
Alright, I'm man enough to admit it. My bad.
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