Tennis-court expansion would overcrowd Golden Gate Park

An expansion is being proposed for the tennis courts in historic Golden Gate Park. Tennis courts may sound fairly benign, but this project would include a new multi-story building, 60-foot-tall lights, and a 40-foot-tall fence enclosing the entire complex. The project would also remove most of an earthen berm about 15 feet tall that separates the tennis courts from the AIDS Grove and provides sight and sound screening between the courts and the grove. The berm has probably been in place since the construction of the nearby pedestrian tunnels a century ago.

No one seems to win in this project. It promises to upgrade the courts, but the number of courts would be reduced, and players would pay increased fees. The park's plants and critters would suffer from the bright lights and fences. The department claims to be "giving back" some 2,000 square feet of "open space", but as far as we can tell, this means paved areas.

These changes are not needed. None of the city's other tennis courts has such towering fences. Soccer players and runners in the parks take showers at home; tennis players do not have a unique need for a shower facility in the park.

San Francisco parks should be as full of nature as possible. Buildings, lights, and fences should be minimized, if not totally excluded. The eastern end of Golden Gate Park is already very crowded, with the AIDS Grove, the Conservatory of Flowers, McLaren Lodge, the Bowling Greens, and the largest children's playground in the city. It doesn't need any more hard surfaces.

The tennis-court project is an example of the public-private partnerships that the Recreation and Park Department has been promoting for the last 10 years. While it sounds fine to use private money for the public good, there is all too often a price. The price with the department's other public-private projects, such as the Zoo and Harding Golf Course, has been less public access and higher fees.

It is time to stop using our precious park facilities for more construction.

WhatYouCanDo

Contact Recreation and Park Commissioners (415) 831-2750
fax: (415) 221-8034
recpark.commission@sfgov.org

Yomi Agunbiade, General Manager
Recreation and Park Department
(415) 831-2700
yomi.agunbiade@sfgov.org

Urge them to stop the tennis project and to protect the eastern end of Golden Gate Park from further development.

Pinky Kushner, vice chair, Sierra Club San Francisco Group