TENNIS BUBBLE VOTED DOWN

Community Board 8 rejected the Parks Department"s plan to erect a bubble over the Queensboro Oval for year-round tennis. Softball and baseball players and some nearby residents oppose the plan because they use the oval, underneath the 59th Street Bridge, in the summer months. In an advisory opinion, the full board opposed the plan at its March 17 meeting by a vote of 32 to 2, with one abstention. Members complained that the city was taking away public space for private use, despite community concessions, like free hours of tennis. â??It"s just the fact that we"re getting so tired of the Parks Department giving away our parks, said board chair Jacqueline Ludorf in a follow-up interview. â??Why is it that we have so little space and you want to have it taken over by a tennis bubble all year long? Board 8"s parks committee already voted against the plan Feb. 19. At that meeting, ballplayers gave spirited testimony in favor of keeping the space open during summer months. At the March 17 full board meeting, Tony Scolnick, director of tennis at Sutton Place Tennis Club, which wants to extend its contract year round, delivered approximately 700 signatures in support of the plan. â??This is not about whether tennis is better than softball, or vice versa. Our discussion is about what is the best use for this property, Scolnick said, according to prepared testimony. â??We think this Parks Department plan simply makes good sense. In a statement, department spokesperson Cristina DeLuca wrote, â??Community Board 8 has offered its opinion on the matter of whether there should be year-round indoor tennis at Queensboro Oval Park, or whether part of the year it should be left open for softball. We will consider the board"s opinion, along with those of the wider community of neighbors and park users, both from the immediate area and from the wider city, as we decide how to proceed on this project. Ludorf said that a previous agreement with a developer dictates that the Queensboro Oval remain parkland. But DeLuca said the bubble would be a concession on parkland, and therefore conform with the agreement. The department is also considering covering the Central Park tennis courts with a bubble during winter months and charging up to $100 per hour to play there. Board 8 has asked for another review of that proposal once it"s finalized, after the Upper West Side"s community board raised questions about rates, noise and diesel generators. Board 8 backed an initial proposal for a Central Park tennis bubble plan in February 2009.