Sports court takeover

With the private takeover of their beloved tennis and pickleball courts looming next week, a group of local senior citizens expressed overwhelming concern that they will not have open access to the courts anymore.

In March, the Herald reported that Hempstead Lake State Park decided to lease its pickleball and tennis courts to SportTime, a Lynbrook gym.

Dan Keefe, spokesman for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, ex-plained the reasons behind the decision. He said that during the past three years, about $1 million has been invested in the creation of pickleball courts, as well as the reconstruction of the hard tennis courts and clay courts.

“In keeping with these upgrades,” Keefe said, “State Parks entered into a partnership with a professional tennis operator to ensure the tennis and pickleball courts are optimally maintained and an improved level of service is provided to the public.”

The seniors said they have played on the courts for years and that the game provides a much-needed social and physical outlet for them. Now, with the outside contractor taking over, they expressed fear that it will make an otherwise recreational activity stressful.

“It was a real easy thing — we would come in and have our game and sign up and leave,” said Rhonnie Fischman, one member of a group of seniors who uses the courts.

“Now, it has to be three days in advance and SportTime owns it now and members are going to have more priority to get on the courts than us.

We paid $3 for an hour and a half of tennis and we looked forward to it. When you get to a certain age and you can use your body still, you’re happy about that. Now, this is a road block to our well-being.”

Keefe denied that members will get priority but added that although walk-ons are accepted, online reservations are preferred, allowing players to know the availability of their court in advance.

But that’s another roadblock, Fischman said.

“I know there are some people at this age who are uncomfortable using their computers, so some of them said, ‘Can you sign up for me?’” Fischman said. “It just all happened without our knowing about it and now all of a sudden it’s before us.”

Another aspect of the plan that irks some players is the implementation of a system that allows courts to be reserved for the entire season, where there was no such system before.

“One thing that I don’t care for is that I understand you can reserve a day and time for the entire season,” Harriet Kalish, another player, said. “If you want to play at 9 a.m., for example, you used to be able to stay in your house until it was time to leave without worrying about getting in line. Now, it’s whatever’s left after the reservations are made.”

When asked why she doesn’t simply make a reservation for the season, Kalish said, “I don’t know if I want to commit for the full season and pay my money upfront for four months.

If I were going to do other things, I might not want to lock myself in for all that time. And it’s not just my schedule I have to think about — it’s everyone else on my team. If someone wanted to go away for a few weeks, we have to try to find someone to take her place.”

Fischman said that despite the challenges created by the plan, she understands the potential benefits for the state.

“I guess what it is, is they feel it would be more profitable if it’s run by professionals, which is kind of a sad story about our government,” Fischman said. “‘Hey, privatize it and it will go better.’”

Keefe said that the partnership will allow for substantial capital improvements to the facility, including renovations to the men’s and women’s locker rooms and an upgraded clubhouse/welcome center. Additionally, it will allow for new programs, including adult tennis lessons and children’s summer camps.

Fischman added that something about a private company operating a facility within a state park still doesn’t sit right with her.

“It is a state park and it feels like the state should belong more to the people,” Fischman said, “especially since we used this facility for about 10 years and the fact that we’re the customers and we had this forced upon us.”

Fischman said that they fought the partnership but admitted that it already appears to be a “done deal,” as SportTime’s website states that the facility will be opening on May 2.

“We wrote to all our legislators and [Gov. Kathy] Hochul and [U.S. Senator Charles] Schumer,” Fischman said. “We went to the parks commission; we went to everybody. We were nicely organized for people who had other things in their lives to do.”

SportTime could not be reached for comment as of press time.