The Issue:

On May 2nd, the San Francisco Rec and Park Dept (RPD) proposed to the Operations Committee of the Commission a "PAY TO PLAY ON PUBLIC COURTS" recommendation to discourage “no-shows”. The committee voted yes, advancing the proposal to the full Rec and Park Commission for a vote on May 16th. If approved there, it will then move to the Board of Supervisors for a final decision. If this recommendation is enacted, public reservable pickleball and tennis courts will no longer be free to use for the public.

Why It Matters:

Rec and Park is setting an unjustifiable precedent of monetizing our public courts under the guise of discouraging “no-shows”, which RPD has never been able to track and has no current capabilities for tracking. RPD’s fee is actually a use tax but applies only to reserved play and not open play.  This proposal represents the first time RPD has recommended taxing an individual sport.

Under this proposal, any reservable court will incur a per-hour fee, regardless of whether a net is supplied. Many Pickleball courts currently lack nets, meaning the public will be charged for incomplete courts, as well. Additionally, there is concern that this change could lead to RPD increasing reservable courts and decreasing open play courts solely to generate revenue from taxpayers who already support these public facilities through their tax dollars.

While the San Francisco Tennis Coalition supports this tax, many unaffiliated tennis players do not.  Pickleball players are overwhelmingly opposed to this tax, as shown by previous polling and email feedback..

Action:

Your engagement is critical in shaping the future of public court usage.

Please show your opposition to the RPD proposal, whether you are a pickleball or tennis player, by:

·   Signing the petition

·   Sending an email opposing the fees to BOTH:

1. recpark.commission@sfgov.org - (copy your Supervisor)

2. The Mayor - MayorLondonBreed@sfgov.org

 

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Sample Email:

Subject: Keep Public Pickleball and Tennis Courts Free

Body:

Dear [SUPERVISOR/MAYOR/RPD Commission],

I am strongly opposed to the $5 per hour fee to use public courts. It’s really a tax.

While the purpose of this proposal is to deter "no-shows," it is not based on facts —there is no meaningful data to prove that "no shows" are a problem. In addition, tracking capabilities do not exist to measure results, if this policy is enacted. 

This is simply an outrageous attempt by RPD to tax individual sport participants for the first time for an activity they enjoy and already pay for via their property and income taxes.

Please vote no to monetizing public courts.

Best,

[YOUR NAME]