Tennis Bubble Pushback at Queensboro Oval

Opponents of the plan to turn the Queensboro Oval into a year-round tennis club won a small victory Feb. 19 when Community Board 8"s Parks Committee unanimously rejected the proposal. For the summer months, the Queensboro Oval, under the 59th Street Bridge, is an open public space primarily used by permitted baseball and softball leagues and East Side families. But the Parks Department wants the Sutton East Tennis Club, which erects a dome over the space during colder months, to have a 12-month contract for the space. Ball players and park supporters called this privatizing public land. â??They"re selling public open space that the community uses, said Jessica Bondy, who was handing out pro-park signs at the committee meeting and whose brother is a board member. â??It"s a space the community benefits from. I learned to ride a bike there. In the hour of contentious public testimony, the debate often broke down into baseball and softball players versus tennis players. Each side argued that the other could go to nearby ball fields or tennis courts, and each side countered that they cannot and should not have to take such a step. Baseball enthusiasts, little league coaches and nearby residents waxed nostalgic about their days on the field playing catch, baseball or riding bicycles. â??All we"re asking is for summer months. This is a public field, said Rudy Braxton, a postal worker who gave his testimony among chants of â??Rudy from his fellow softball players in the crowd. But tennis supporters said the space was underutilized and mostly vacant. Extending Sutton East Tennis Club"s contract to cover the entire year would benefit more members of the community that want more opportunities to play tennis. â??Aside from groups and leagues that use itâ?¦ the park was mostly underutilized, said William Castro, Manhattan borough commissioner for the Parks Department. â??Instead of having just softball, hundreds of kids get to have top quality tennis instruction during the summer. Robert Drake, an Upper East Side resident, has been employed at the club for the last nine seasons. During the summer, Drake said, he and fellow employees are a drain on unemployment benefits. â??Please consider allowing Sutton to remain open all year round on behalf of employees and tennis players, Drake said. The plan to extend the tennis club contract would also offer 120 hours of access each week for youth groups, and would move the Yorkville Youth Athletic Association to a new Randall"s Island field. The city stands to make $1.9 million under the new contract, with increased revenue in following years. Before the committee members voted on the resolution, Castro indicated that the Parks Department will take the board"s opinion seriously when deciding the contract"s fate. The full board will make its final decision on the committee"s resolution that calls for the contract to be canceled at its next meeting. There was confusion among board members as to whether the contract was still under consideration. After the board"s Parks Committee met in January about the Queensboro Oval, board members said Castro called to inform them that the department had canceled the contract, according to the meeting minutes. But a Parks Department official said that while the idea to cancel the contract with Sutton East Tennis Club had been raised, the department wants community input before a final decision is made. Ultimately, the committee members felt that public land is too precious on the Upper East Side to give up to a for-profit entity. â??We live in an area that is so full. The Community Board has less open space than any community board, said Barbara Rudder, the committee co-chair. â??We are jealous and greedy and we want more, we don"t want less.