Fears over the steady encroachment of pickleball courts into public spaces across NYC triggered confusion over a potential new court on the Upper East Side and fervent calls to hold the line against the trendy new sport.
In the latest pickleball dustup, an avid tennis community and parents protective of their kids’ play space say they’re worried about the possibility of another park getting pickleball courts — even though the Parks Department says that plan isn’t in the works.
There is, in fact, a renovation planned for John Jay Park, which for years has been a community gathering place for children and their parents to relax and play between 76th and 78th streets along the FDR Drive. The planned $1 million renovation will re-do the concrete floor, repaint the basketball and tennis courts and build an accessible ramp for the park.
There is no pickleball court in the works, say city parks officials.
But that hasn’t stopped the fear from taking root.
Some Upper East Siders are worried that, as the sport gains even more popularity in the warmer months, that the game may eat their favorite parks and that the newly-painted pickleball courts at nearby Carl Schurz Park will serve as a blueprint for John Jay Park.
Pickleball is currently at the center of the city’s age-old problem of making space for its 8 million residents and their hobbies.
“My fear is that once the renovation starts, they may do something,” Luca C.M. Melchionna, a lawyer who lives nearby, said. “… They may, during the process of renovations, change little things. Painting a pickleball court would be very easy, especially because you just need probably $10,000, $15,000, not more than that. It’s a small amount of money compared to the budget that they have at their disposal.”
John Jay Park has a playground, swimming pool, handball wall and open space for kids to play. After two recent new pickleball spaces have opened in the area — one in Carl Schurz Park just a few blocks north, and…
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