Tennis players might find it easier to get a court at Plummer Park if the West Hollywood City Council adopts a recommendation that will come before it on Tuesday.
The city’s Department of Human Services and Rent Stabilization, which includes the city’s recreation services employees, is proposing that the city modify its contract with iTennis to leave two of the seven courts open for public play, make two of them available for reservations and allow iTennis to use no more than four of the courts for tennis lessons.
The recommendation was requested by the City Council after long-time tennis players objected that iTennis, with whom the city has contracted to manage the courts, was reserving them during peak hours for its own use to offer tennis lessons — a major source of its income.
iTennis began managing the Plummer Park tennis courts in January of last year and reserving some of them for tennis lessons from 3 to 8 p.m., peak hours for tennis players. It also allowed players to reserve courts during the week, when previously they had been available on a first-come, first-served basis. According to the city staff report, iTennis gave tennis lessons to 450 people last year and 6,548 made court reservations. The three tennis courts in West Hollywood Park are not reserved.
Currently tennis courts in Plummer Park can be reserved Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and on weekends from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Reservations are limited to two hours per session. When they are not reserved or being used by iTennis for lessons, the courts are available to anyone. The fee charged for use of the courts is $5 per hour for residents and $7 an hour for non-residents.
The staff report recommends that on weekends the courts be open to all from 7 to 10 a.m. daily at no charge. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., two of the courts would be available for open play, two could be reserved and three to four could be used for lessons. All courts would be available for open play from 7 to 10 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, all seven courts would be available for open play at no charge from 7 to 8 a.m. From 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., four to five courts would be available for reservation, with two set aside for iTennis lessons. All courts would be available for open play from 7 to 10 p.m. That means iTennis would not be able to use the courts for more than nine hours a day for lessons. According to the staff report, it now averages four to six hours a day.
The staff report recommends raising the reservation fee to $8 an hour, which is the fee charged by Los Angeles for use of the courts in nearby Poinsettia Park and the lower end of the fee structure that Beverly Hills applies for use of its courts.’
The open court and court reservation hours wouldn’t apply during special events, such as iTennis’s monthly round robin tournament, which requires four courts.
The City Council will consider the staff recommendation at its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the City Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd. south of Santa Monica.
I agree with Rudolf….another example of Pay…Shop….Pay…Play…west hollywood…PAY…PAY….PAY
Is it April Fools yet? What an absolutely horrendous plan, that will increase revenue for iTennis and the city while confusing and frustrating all players to the max. Lessons on 4 courts??? Why is a for-profit company from Pasadena taking our public courts hostage? Yes, cynical in the extreme.
This is not only a dreadfu plan,l and unnecessarily complicated, but cynical in the extreme: this staff report is merely an excuse to raise the price per hour of playing in Plummer Park. Who is asking for this price increase? Who suggested this?