Cataldi Park is a beautiful park originally built as a neighborhood park for local residents and families. It was designed to provide a safe, family-friendly space for children and adults to enjoy recreational activities.

Now, the pickleball courts are attracting players from different cities and neighborhoods, creating large crowds far beyond the park’s intended capacity and severely disrupting the lives of nearby residents.

Historically, this park provided a lively family atmosphere with children playing ball, biking, roller skating, dancing, and young parents with strollers. The narrow strip of land was ideal for safe recreational activities. Years ago, city staff recognized the dangers of overcrowding and downsized full-court basketball to reduce gang activity and preserve the park’s family-friendly character. Today, that same principle has been ignored. Instead of a safe space for children, the park is dominated by adults, loud music, trash, and unsanitary behavior.

Ongoing Impacts to Residents

• Constant disturbance: Pickleball play begins as early as 5:00–6:00 a.m. and continues past 10:00 p.m., often until midnight or later, creating 18+ hours of nonstop noise daily and causing sleepless nights.
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  Overcrowding and nuisance activity: Crowds frequently exceed 60 people during peak hours, bringing cars, motorcycles, spectators, loud music, litter, urine bottles, and pee in bushes, creating an unsafe and unsanitary environment.
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  Unauthorized modifications: Players have installed green cloth wind barriers, added benches, and created 2–3 temporary courts in the tennis practice area—resulting in as many as 7 pickleball courts total, far beyond the original setup.
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  Noncompliance with park rules: Players consistently ignore posted signs and restrictions. Despite repeated enforcement attempts and countless neighbor complaints, violations continue daily.
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  Loss of access for children: Kids cannot safely use the park for tennis, skating, or other activities due to large crowds and loud, sometimes abusive language from players.
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  Parking and traffic chaos: Dozens of cars block Bethany Avenue and nearby streets during peak hours, leaving residents unable to access their homes.
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  Loss of livability at home: Persistent noise and large crowds prevent residents from opening windows or enjoying their yards. In summer, families are forced to rely on air conditioning, resulting in high utility bills, stress, and sleepless nights.
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  Health and quality-of-life impacts: Chronic noise, stress, anxiety, and sleepless nights have become part of daily life.

Lack of Proper Process

• Despite countless emails, daily complaints, calls to 311, and documentation shared with Councilmember Cohen’s office and the San José Police Department, the situation has not improved. Occasional police interventions have not resolved the problem.
• The pickleball courts were installed without neighborhood consultation, noise evaluation, or consideration of proximity to homes, and this has severely diminished residents’ quality of life.

Our Demand

We, the undersigned, demand the immediate removal of the pickleball courts at Cataldi Park and the return of basketball to half-size to restore safety, peace, and livability to our neighborhood.