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by kasey_junk 915 days ago
There are dozens of public tennis courts within a 5 minute walk from my house that are all free all the time.

I’m sort of shocked to hear they aren’t free everywhere. Which park system charges for tennis?

5 comments

The one where there's too many people for two few courts.
Oh, the horror of interacting with other people and not being priviledged enough to cut the waiting line!
I think this is just an unfortunately reality of almost any public resource... my community just built a new pickleball complex, but there is still an opportunity for a private pickleball club that has an indoor space. Government is constantly caught in the middle trying to provide resources while also controlling costs and not wanting any project to look like a boondoggle or overspend.
I could look harder, but I think my local parks only have basketball courts and a large field. The biggest park in my town has a baseball field. Never had a public access tennis court.

There are tennis courts in town, but they tend to be part of clubs or whatnot, similar to golf courses. Not public parks.

Do you live in a densely populated area? There are free ones where I live too but I guess it might be different in the middle of a large city.
I am in Chicago
Why is your local government paying for construction and maintenance of tennis courts if they're not being used?
I think they mean "free" here in the sense of "not costing any money".
"all free all the time" implies there is no one using them.
Or they're always free of charge. I'm also used to there being dozens of free public tennis courts all over town, in multiple parts of the US, in both public parks and schools. I believe even the local private schools have courts that are open to the public.
There is no time when my local parks charge for using tennis courts.
The government does not have to charge for tennis courts, it simply has to have too few of them.