In 2011 the NYC Parks Department doubled the price of a regular adult season tennis permit form $100 to $200. During the 2014 season, the courts at East River Park had bathroom facilities and a working water fountain. Most of the courts had decent nets on them. The courts had some pretty big cracks in several places, but overall, you could still play there. Toward the end of the season there was a half-hearted and amateur attempt at repairing the cracks by pouring cement over them. However, it was a very poor and sloppy job, and there were actual blobs left in some areas actually enough to trip over. In some places the messy white cement job make it impossible to see some the lines including the center service line, rendering them useless for match play.

By the beginning of the 2015 season, the cracks had reopened, and the nets are badly torn and tattered. Many have buckled up, have no center straps, and are really in very poor repair. These seem like courts one would find in a forgotten borough, or in a city where they don't charge a fee for permits. But with the steep increase in permit costs, there has been what appears to be NO investment whatsoever in maintaining these courts. The bathrooms have been out of service since the beginning of the season, and the water fountain is also out of service. These are basic standards a park of this size should have. There are many players who have paid the permit fees and are very upset and dissatisfied with the way these courts have been utterly neglected. We demand that some of the money go toward fixing these courts, new nets at the very least. Either that or anyone who lives within the area should be issued a refund for the cost of the season tennis permit, as none of the funds are being allocated to this facility.

Please sign this petition so we can put some pressure on the decision makers who run the New York City public parks to get some basic services and badly needed repairs done to the only major pubic tennis court facility in lower Manhattan. Uptown has several facilities which are well maintained including Central Park, 119th Street Courts, and 96th Street Red Clay Courts on Hudson River. There's no good reason why downtown should be this neglected, especially since we pay the same $200 fee as citizens who live or play uptown.