USTA Parkland Alienation Bill Introduced Without A Sponsor

Queens/Albany

With just ten days left in the State Senate and Assembly session  "no name" proponents quietly introduced legislation this afternoon to alienate parkland for the United State Tennis Association expansion NYC Park Advocates has learned.

And we mean quietly. The Bill,   S 5663 was introduced without a sponsor, a distinction reserved for legislators unwilling to take responsibly for the legislation.   

"That seems like a way around accountably,"  commented one chief of staff for an Assembly member. 


Relates to leasing of property in the environs of a tennis stadium and center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the borough of Queens and to replace certain descriptions of property subject to such property lease and to rededicate certain property as park land.

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Sponsor: RULES Committee: RULES
Law Section: New York City Administrative Code
Law: Amd S18-128, NYC Ad Cd

S5663-2013 Actions

• Jun 3, 2013: REFERRED TO RULES

S5663-2013 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S5663

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the administrative code of the city of
New York, in relation to the leasing of property in the environs of a
tennis stadium and center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the
borough of Queens and to replace certain descriptions of property
subject to such property lease and to rededicate certain property as
park land

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill repeals paragraphs 1 through 3 of subdivision c
of section 18-128 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York
and replaces them with new paragraphs 1 and 2 to indicate new metes
and bounds subject to lease for a tennis stadium and center.

Section 2 of the bill adds a new subdivision d to section 18-128 of
the Code to set forth metes and bounds of two tracts of land being
removed from the tennis stadium and center lease and rededicated, as
park land. Further, it provides that the USTA National Tennis Center
Incorporated (defined as "NTC" in section 18128(a)) may be granted
permission to make exclusive use of the parcels described in new
subdivision d of section 18-128 for the dates of the U.S. Open tennis
tournament, qualifying tournament and for the set up and removal of
structures and equipment associated with the tournament.

Section 3 provides that the act shall take effect immediately.

REASONS FOR SUPPORT:

This bill would amend the Administrative Code of the city of New York
to provide for a .68-acre expanded boundary for the tennis stadium and
center, Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a public tennis
facility that is part of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens and to
remove from the boundaries permitted to be leased a total of 1.56
acres. The approval would allow for the disposition of 0.68 acres of
City property by long-term lease to the USTA National Tennis Center
Incorporated ("NTC"), an affiliate of the United States Tennis
Association Incorporated and operator of the tennis center, to
facilitate the improvement and expansion of the tennis center. The
area to be added to the leased premises for the tennis stadium and
center consists of approximately 29,534 square feet (0.68 acres) of an
existing park, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and is located along the
southern boundary of the tennis center. The premises currently contain
a landscape border to the tennis center, a park pathway and pathway
median with trees. The park pathway is one of three pathways used by
park patrons to stroll and recreate within the park. The two remaining
pathways will not be affected by the project. The parcel will allow
for the shift of the grandstand stadium and the southern tennis courts
with a fenced, landscaped border to improve safety and circulation, an
essential part of a plan to sustain the long-term viability of the
tennis center as a world class spectator venue and outstanding public
recreational facility.

The NTC proposes to return to the City two parcels of park land that
are currently part of the premises alienated and leased to the NTC.
The replacement park land totals 1.56 acres, comprising a 0.75-acre


landscaped area and 0.81 acres of space for active recreation and
containing 5 tennis courts. These parcels are currently included in
the parcels leased to the NTC. The parcels contain practice tennis
courts used during the US Open and other major tennis tournaments.
The two parcels being removed from the leased property are:

(1) A 1.31-acre parcel located southeast of David Dinkins Circle,
occupied by five tennis courts and 0.5 acres of landscaped areas.
When not in use by the NTC, these courts are used by the City Parks
Foundation, a not for profit organization that provides free and
accessible arts, sports, education and community-building programs
within New York City parks, for lessons, hourly rentals, tournaments,
leagues and special events. A portion of this parcel located along the
eastern edge of the tennis courts is alienated but not included in the
tennis center lease. The area included in the lease is 1.16 acres.

(2) A 0.25-acre landscaped parcel located just beyond the eastern end
of the bank of six tennis courts to the east of the Passerelle.

With the proposed changes, these two parcels of park land would no
longer be alienated land and would be returned to Flushing
Meadows-Corona Park for recreational use under the jurisdiction of the
Department of Parks and Recreation. The tennis center lease would also
be amended, so these parcels would not be part of the tennis center
premises. Other than the tennis courts, the replacement park land is
not fenced, so the landscaped portions of these parcels would be
available as passive open space, accessible to any member of the
public. The NTC would have no control over these parcels, except
during the US Open when they shall have up to 30 days of use of the
five tennis courts. The NTC would remain responsible for maintenance
and repair of the tennis courts on an annual basis, so that they
continue to be available in good condition for public use.

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation supports the
amendments proposed in this bill, including the addition to the leased
premises of the 0.68-acre parcel as part of the property described in
section 1 of the bill and the removal from the leased premises (and
the re-dedication as park land) of the part of the property described
in section 2 of the bill. In addition, the NTC is committed to
financially support Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and will work with
the Department of Parks and Recreation to facilitate park improvements
to compensate for the 0.68-acre parcel to be added to the NTC leased
premises.

Accordingly, the Mayor urges the earliest possible favorable
consideration of this proposal by the Legislature.

S5663-2013 Text

                      S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
  ________________________________________________________________________

                                    5663

                         2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                              I N  SENATE

                                June 3, 2013
                                 ___________

  Introduced  by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- read twice and ordered printed, and
    when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

  AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the  city  of  New  York,  in
    relation to the leasing of property in the environs of a tennis stadi-
    um and center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the borough of Queens
    and  to replace certain descriptions of property subject to such prop-
    erty lease and to rededicate certain property as park land

    THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
  BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


    Section  1. Subdivision c of section 18-128 of the administrative code
  of the city of New York, as amended by chapter 442 of the laws of  1993,
  is amended to read as follows:

    c. The tracts of land referred to in subdivision a of this section are
  more particularly described as follows:

    All  that certain lot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and
  improvements thereon erected,  situate,  lying  and  being  in  Flushing
  Meadows-Corona Park in the borough of Queens, city and state of New York 

  bounded and described as follows:  

Parks Dept. Extends Private Tennis Deal Through 2017 - CB 8 Rejects Encroachment On Ballfield

Parks Department Rejects Community's Demand To Restore Seized Ballfield Time In The Fall

Overstaying Its Welcome. Without notifying the community, once again, the Bloomberg administration struck a deal to allow the Sutton Place Tennis Club consession to extend its season whereby displacing park users in a community that has the least amount of park and open space in the entire city. The consession is located in the Queensboro Oval Park softball field under the 59th Street Bridge at York Avenue in Manhattan. The tennis concession charges the highest price of any tennis concession on NYC park land - up to $ 195 per hour. (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on photo to enlarge

Betsy Smith, head of revenue and marketing for the Parks Department is scheduled to appear this evening at 6:30 pm at a special CB 8's Parks committee meeting. The agency has refused to answer a number of questions relating to the deal.

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

Irate ballfield users and Community Board 8 members were informed by the Parks Department just two weeks ago that the agency had granted the city's most expensive tennis concession on public parkland an additional six weeks to operate in another behind closed door deal orchestrated by the Parks Department's revenue division.

Without notifying the community the Bloomberg administration struck a deal to allow the private tennis club to extend its season whereby displacing park users in a community has the least amount of park and open space in the entire city. The Sutton Place Tennis Club concession charges the highest price of any tennis concession on NYC park land - up to $ 195 per hour.

The secretly negotiated deal allows the tennis club bubbles to stay up for an additional six weeks each year until 2017.

Sources told A Walk In The Park that Tony Scolnick/Sutton East Tennis Club had threatened to sue the City/Parks Department over the cancellation of a 2009 contract that would have allowed the tennis concessionaire to operate on the ballfield year-round.

According to Betsy Smith, head of revenue and marketing for the Parks Department and Mayor Bloomberg family friend, the reason for the extension was because the concessioner made a "substantial investment" to convert the bubble to year-around.

Despite repeated attempts the Parks Department has refused to provide any documentation of investments made, or answer when the contract was signed, or how much in additional revenue the City/Sutton East Tennis Club is expected to receive. A copy of the Sutton East Tennis Club six week extension agreement has also not been made available.

Last week Community Board 8 took a strong position against the Parks Department's actions and approved a resolution by a vote of 36 to 0.

In a April 23rd letter to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, (below) the Board pointed out that the Parks Departement agreed in 2010 to honor "THE PUBLIC’s desire to maintain the Queensboro Oval Park as a public space for sports leagues and for the use of the community at large for four straight months each year. " They also stated that the public should be compensated for the six-weeks of lost access to the Queensboro Oval this spring by extending public access to the park by six weeks this fall and revert to the original agreement of four consecutive months.

The Parks Department however has rejected this.

A Parks Department spokesperson said that the tennis bubble will stay up until June 15 every year through 2017, when their current contract expires, and that they do not plan on offering extensions of ball field permits through the fall.

Questions have been raised once again why the community was only finding out about this deal now, when since at least December 2011 Sutton East Tennis Club has been advertising tennis through June 14th, long after the ballfields are supposed to be available to the public.

This lack of transparency is particularly inflammatory considering the last time the issue of the extending the tennis concession surfaced in 2010 was when the agency's revenue division struck a behind closed door deal to allow the private tennis club on public park to go from seasonal to year-round. The Community Board vote came five months after the concessionaire had already signed a contract with Parks. Opponents of the plan charge they had not been properly notified of the proposal.

For over 40 years, The Queensboro Oval Field, located along York Avenue under the 59th Street Bridge in Manhattan, has been a home to baseball, softball, soccer, football, schools, leagues, families, joggers, and children learning to ride bikes and pick-up recreation activities in a beloved public park. It has been and continues to be a vital resource for countless people.

Betsy Smith is scheduled to appear this evening at 6:30 pm at a special CB 8's Parks committee meeting. (See Below)

Queensboro Oval Park Ballfield (Image: Google)

For much of the year, the Queensboro Oval park under the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge is rented out to a concessionaire to operate a tennis bubble. But for the past several years, every spring the giant bubble is dismantled to make way for softball and baseball leagues. This year, however, the Parks Department has decided to shave six weeks off the ball-playing season and give that time to the Sutton East Tennis Club, a move that has some Upper East Side residents seeing red, according to Our Town.

Two years ago, the Parks Department backed off of a plan to allow the tennis bubble to remain operational all year after strong opposition from the community, allowing sports groups access to the space for four months every summer. The community didn’t find out about the recently determined extended tennis season until it was announced at a Community Board 8 committee meeting two weeks ago, and the full board strongly condemned the move, resolving to ask the Parks Department to extend the baseball permit season by six weeks into the fall to compensate for the lost time.

“I feel that it is a slap in the face to the parks committee, to CB 8, to the users of the field and to the people of the community board, not only 8 but 6, and other residents of the city who have seen this grow and grow and grow—this beast taking over a public park in your community,” said resident Bradley Cohen at the meeting.

Cohen said he couldn’t get an answer for weeks on why his request for a permit for ball playing was delayed, even though the Parks Department was in the middle of negotiating this new arrangement.

Parks Department Assistant Commissioner Betsy Smith, who has agreed to attend the upcoming CB 8 Parks Committee meeting on Thursday, April 26 to answer questions, said in a statement that the reason the Department decided to extend the tennis season was that “the Sutton East Tennis Club had already made a substantial investment to convert the bubble to a year-round operation based on the execution of the contract amendment and its registration by the comptroller.

“It was therefore prudent to address the legitimate concerns raised by the concessionaire, and we reached an agreement with them to extend the indoor season by six weeks,” she said. She also called the ball fields “vastly underused.”

A Parks Department spokesperson said that the tennis bubble will be able to stay up until June 15 every year through 2017, when their current contract expires, and that they do not plan on offering extensions of ball field permits through the fall.

“I object to the Parks Department citing the investment that the tennis club put into the bubble, because the tennis club knows full well how the community feels about the availability of the park to the neighborhood. Calling for the need to be compensated for making improvements is disingenuous,” said board member Sarah Chu at the meeting, a sentiment that many others echoed.

The Community Board also voted to ask the Parks Department to require that the tennis club restore the park to its original state when they dismantle the bubble, and many members expressed dismay over the way the Department handled the entire situation.

Geoffrey Croft, who runs the watchdog group NYC Park Advocates, said it’s particularly frustrating because many community members fought so hard against the tennis bubble being allowed to stay up year round and thought they had secured their summer space.

“We successfully fought back against that, and now we find out about another underhanded move, that the city is trying to give this guy a deal because his contract from two years ago fell apart,” Croft said.

Meeting Date:

Thursday, April 26, 2012 - 6:30pm

Meeting Location:

New York Blood Center

310 East 67th Street (First-Second), Auditorium

New York, NY

1. The Parks Dept.'s Betsy Smith will explain the Parks Dept.'s decision to reduce by six weeks this spring the public's access to the Queensboro Oval at E. 59th St.

Margaret Price and Barbara Rudder, Parks Committee Co-Chairs

April 23, 2012

Hon. Adrian Benepe

Commissioner

Department of Parks and Recreation

The Arsenal

830 Fifth Avenue

New York, New York 10021

Re: Discussion of the Parks Department's plans to extend until mid-June a tennis facility's use of the Queensboro Oval at East 59th St.

Dear Commissioner Benepe:

At the Full Board meeting on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, Manhattan Community Board 8 approved the following resolution by a vote of 36 in favor, 0 opposed and 2 abstentions and 1 not

voting for cause:

WHEREAS Community Board 8M passed a resolution in February 2010, stating that it unequivocally opposes extending the use of the Queensboro Oval—which is public parkland— to a privately owned year-round franchise tennis facility, and maintains that the Oval must be made available for public use for four contiguous months a year; and

WHEREAS the Parks Dept. agreed in 2010 to honor THE PUBLIC’s desire to maintain the Queensboro Oval Park as a public space for sports leagues and for the use of the community at large for four straight months each year; and

WHEREAS the Parks Dept. has extended, without prior notice to the community, the terms of a private tennis facility’s use of the Queensboro Oval for an additional six weeks each year, thereby shortening the public’s ability to use the space by six weeks, and

WHEREAS the Queensboro Oval is typically left in disrepair when the tennis facility dismantles its “bubble” facility; therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED that Community Board 8, Manhattan, reaffirms its positions stated in its resolution of February, 2010 and urges the Parks Dept. to honor its agreement with the community to maintain the Queensboro Oval as public land for sports teams and the public at large for four contiguous months each year.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that CB8M asks the Parks Dept. to compensate the public for six-weeks of lost access to the Queensboro Oval this spring by extending public access to the park by six weeks this fall and revert to the original agreement of four consecutive months starting in 2013, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that CB8M urges the Parks Dept. to ensure that the Queensboro oval lessee restore the field to its proper parkland condition after the tennis bubble is dismantled.

Sincerely,

Nicholas D. Viest Margaret Price and Barbara Rudder

Chair Co-Chairs, Parks Committee

Read More:

East Siders Fit to Burst over Tennis Bubble

Our Town - April 26, 2012 - By Megan Finnegan Bungeroth

Queensboro Oval Park Ballfield /Tennis Privatization Fight Heats Up - Again

A Walk In The Park - April 15, 2012 - Geoffrey Croft

Community Board 8 Rejects Year Round Tennis Concession

A Walk In The Park - March 18, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft

Upper East Side Land Grab As Parks' Looks to Sell Ballfield to Tennis Concessionaire

A Walk In The Park - February 17, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft

Randall's Island Sportime John McEnroe Tennis Academy Charity Scam

Prices for the John McEnroe tennis academy on Randall's Island range from $3,600 to $4,800 for 34 weeks of two-hour lessons. The famed tennis player (above) with a student, teamed with up Claude Okin, the managing partner of Sportime New York to create the tennis academy. (Photo: Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)

Randall's Island

You cannot be serious — about John McEnroe’s tennis charity.

The former Wimbledon champ’s nonprofit, the Johnny Mac Tennis Project, promises to serve scholarships to “expose young athletes . . . to the sport of tennis” and touts its programs in city schools.

But the real beneficiaries are elite players on the junior circuit who are getting their lessons and travel costs comped at Sportime, the for-profit Randalls Island tennis club where the John McEnroe Tennis Academy is located, according to the New York Post.

Sportime started the Johnny Mac Tennis Project in 2011 to create a cash stream to subsidize its top players, whose lessons the tennis club had been providing at a discount in order to build its prestige, according to a Sportime insider.

“It’s really a scam,” said the insider. “All the money goes to the for-profit business. Now we get reimbursed for our good deeds.”

The Johnny Mac Tennis Project raised $266,826 in 2012, and $242,625 of that was lobbed to Sportime so it could fund lessons for 20 players, tax records show.

The “charity” was the brainchild of Claude Okin, the owner of the Sportime chain of clubs, and Mark McEnroe, the tennis champ’s younger brother who was the general manager of the Randalls ­Island Sportime club and president of the separately incorporated nonprofit, the insider said.

The source said that John McEnroe had to be persuaded to sign on and that he donated no money to the effort at its inception. He is on the nonprofit’s board of directors.

John McEnroe did not return a call for comment. A spokesman for Sportime said John had always supported the charity and has donated his time and artwork from his collection to benefit it.

Sportime opened its 20-court Randalls Island center in 2009. John McEnroe lent his name to its academy program in late 2010 and gets $750,000 a year to teach there. The charity was then founded in March 2011.

Mark McEnroe admits the charity was “set up to find the very best kids we could find.”

“In our efforts to build our academy, we wanted to find a way that we could pay our bills and train the best kids and at the same time expose lots of other kids — like the hundreds of kids who come here in our community program — to the game,” said McEnroe who is now Sportime’s corporate development officer.

But while those community programs are done in the name of the Johnny Mac Tennis Project, their cost is paid by Sportime. The tennis center’s pros teach the kids on Randalls Island or at local schools.

“We didn’t have a lot left over to offset those costs,” Mark McEnroe said.

Three East Harlem youngsters got Sportime scholarships through the charity’s community outreach programs, but they were doled out only in the last six months.

In 2012, the nonprofit spent $45,470 to buy tickets to a World Team Tennis program featuring John McEnroe and resold them as its main fund-raising event.

This year’s Aug. 21 fund-raiser features current star Novak Djokovic and tickets go for up to $500.

Among those who have benefited from the fund-raising is Noah Rubin, the 18-year-old Rockville Centre, LI, player who just won the junior title at Wimbledon.

Rubin received $32,200 from the Johnny Mac Tennis Project in 2011 alone, records show.

Jamie Loeb, the 19-year-old national college player of the year from Ossining, was pursued by John McEnroe and given a scholarship by his charity when she signed on to his academy in 2011, said her mother, Susan Loeb.

“They offered her a full ride,” she said.

Read More:

McEnroe’s ‘scam’ charity for elite players, not poor kids
New York Post - August 2, 2014 -  By Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein


Randall’s Island Tennis Expansion FCRC Hearing Abruptly Canceled
A Walk In The Park - December 15, 2011 


Sportime's Randall's Island Tennis Expansion Opposition Heat Up
A Walk In The Park - December 9, 2011 - By Geoffrey Croft 

Queensboro Oval Park Ballfield /Tennis Privatization Fight Heats Up - Again

Upscale Tennis Land grab Rears Its Ugly Head Again.

SHUT OUT- ACCESS DENIED. Jonah and Aidan Keller stand outside the Sutton East Tennis Club, which normally would vacate their local park under the Queensboro Bridge in April. (Photo: J.C. RICE)

“I hate it,” said Jonah Keller, 9, whose twin brother, Aidan, won’t have access to the Queensboro Oval tucked under the 59th Street Bridge until the end of June, after the owner of the Sutton East Tennis Club dismantles the massive bubble that covers the entire acre-and-a-quarter field.

“There’s nowhere else where we can hit a ball, because you can hit it hard and there’s a backstop,” Aidan told the NY Post. “We love to ride our bikes there because it’s safe. If I fall, I fall on soft red clay.”

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

Irate ballfield users and Community Board 8 members experienced Deja Vu this week when they were informed by the Parks Department that the agency had granted the city's most expensive tennis concession on public parkland additional time.

Ballfield permit holders who use the popular park under the 59th Street bridge in Manhattan had been kept in the dark as to why they hadn't yet received their permits. Now they know why. Tony Scolnick's Sutton Place Tennis Club was granted an additional six weeks to run his private tennis concession club in yet another behind closed door deal orchestrated by the Parks Department's revenue division.

The Parks Department said the agreement was already "signed and in effect."

Overstaying Its welcome. Deja Vu All Over Again In Queensboro Oval Park Tennis Privatization Fight. Queensboro Oval softball field under the 59th Street Bridge at York Avenue. The Sutton Place Tennis Club concession charges the highest price of any tennis concession on NYC park land - up to $ 195 per hour. Without notifying the community, once again, the Bloomberg administration struck a deal to allow the private tennis club to extend its season whereby displacing park users in a community has the least amount of park and open space in the entire city. (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

Queensboro Oval Park Ballfield (Image: Google.)

Questions were raised once again why the community was only finding out about this deal now, when since at least December 2011 Sutton East Tennis Club has been advertising tennis through June 14th, long after the ballfields are supposed to be available to the public.

This lack of transparency is particularly inflammatory considering the last time the issue of the extending the tennis concession surfaced in 2010 was when the agency's revenue division struck a behind closed door deal to allow the private tennis club on public park to go from seasonal to year-round. The Community Board vote came five months after the concessionaire had already signed a contract with Parks. Opponents of the plan charge they had not been properly notified of the proposal.

Sources told A Walk In The Park that Tony Scolnick/Sutton East Tennis Club had threatened to sue the City/Parks over the cancellation of this contract.

After the Community Board vote in 2010, Tony Scolnick, the director of Sutton East Tennis, told the New York Times, “We do feel that we have an enforceable contract.” He also repeatedly said that to me as well.

Since signing the contract, Mr. Scolnick told the New York Times, in 2010 he had obtained a $300, 000 loan to equip the site with air-conditioning.

According to Betsy Smith, head of revenue and marketing for the Parks Department and Mayor Bloomberg family friend, the reason for the extension was because the concessioner made a "substantial investment" to convert the bubble to year-around.

In an April 6, 2012 email to Barbara Rudder, co-chair of the parks committee, Mr. Smith said this deal is a "fair and appropriate compromise" considering Scolnick's contract to extend his tennis concession to year-round play was cancelled in 2010. (Betsy's revenue division negotiated the deal) The plan was defeated after community outrage. Community Board 8 voted 35 to 2, with two abstentions to reject it.

"This, Barbara, seemed a fair and appropriate compromise given the legitimacy of the concessionaire's position, and the legality and appropriateness of the agency's original decision," Ms. Smith wrote.

In a follow up statement on Friday, Ms. Smith said by the time Parks decided not to move ahead with the plan, "the Sutton Avenue Tennis Club had already made a substantial investment to convert the bubble to a year-round operation based on the execution of the contract amendment and its registration by the Comptroller. It was therefore prudent to address the legitimate concerns raised by the concessionaire, and we reached an agreement with them to extend the indoor season by six weeks."

Ms. Smith did not provide any details or proof of any investments made. A copy of the Sutton East Tennis Club six week extension agreement was not made available at the community board meeting. When asked for a copy the Parks press office said to FOIL for that information, a common delay tacit used by the administration.

When repeatedly asked to provide a breakdown of any investments and/or any related costs alleged by Scolnick, the Parks Department's press office refused to respond. Messages left for Mr. Scolnick at Sutton East Tennis Club were not returned.

The Parks Department was also asked when the contract was signed, how much in projected revenue the city/Sutton East Tennis Club stood to gain from extension, whether the extension for only for one season and would the six weeks be given back for ballfield use in the Fall as the community board is requesting. We also asked them to comment on whether Tony Scolnick/Sutton East Tennis Club had threatened to sue the city/DPR over this issue and if the agency had any such discussions.

The press office refused to respond.

"From the point of view of the Community Board we hoped that our conversation that our responsiveness to your concerns would be seen as a positive compromise to address competing interests over the use of this parkland, " Mr. Smith wrote to Ms. Rudder.

Apparently not. On Wednesday evening the Community Board firmly condemned this latest action. They

reaffirmed their strong resolution passed two years ago and added language in a new one that requires the seized time be restored in the Fall.

Ms. Rudder said her proudest moment as a board member came, "miraculously" when the board nearly unanimously voted down the original extension agreement.

The agency sent Park District manager Mark Vaccaro to face the angry crowd.

"I can only give a little bit of information," he began.

"My understanding is that the changes that were made in the contract with the tennis bubble were done through our revenue and legal department, not our permit department," he said.

"Legal and revenue I understand worked out a new contract that was six weeks longer with the tennis bubble."

He said it was above his "pay grade" to know what that involved.

Vaccaro said there are a limited number of ballfields but a huge number of permits. He said there were a number of existing permit holders that lost slots but they have been offered different times at different fields.

"Yeah in Siberia," an irate permit holder interrupted.

Al Morales who's has been playing there for thirty years, said he was offered a permit in Inwood Hill Park in at the tip of Manhattan on the Westside.

Mr. Vaccaro focused on the permitted league play but ignored the loss of open space issues and did not address the numerous non-permitted activities that occur in the park.

He could answer any financial or legal questions.

Joe Namath slugs softballs under 59th Street Bridge in 1969 wearing stylish pants. (Photo:Garrett/NY Daily News)

A dozen members of the public spoke passionately against the extension, including three members of the Bondy family. An elderly woman who said she played tennis there was the only person to spoke in favor of the extension.

"Revenue controls the tennis bubbles," Mr. Vaccaro responded when a number of the audience asked why the bubble was being allowed to stay up. "I don't know why they did it, as I said it's not what I do."

After applying for permits in January as he normally does, long-time ballfield user Bradley Cohen became concerned and suspicious that he and others had not heard back from the Parks Department Permit Office months later. He decided to pay the permit office a personal visit where he was told permits were being delayed.

On March 22, Bradley Cohen wrote to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe but he said he never received a response.

"I do not know why this is suddenly an 'issue' again. I see this as another attempt by the tennis concessionaire to monopolize this field," Mr. Cohen wrote.

"They already have 8 months out of the year and now want to take away from the 4 months that we have left to play softball., Additionally, the fact that we were not notified of this delay until now (and only because I personally went down to the DOP office) is also a concern."

Ballplayers also bitterly complained that the city long ago allowed the fields to deteriorate. They also said dedicated maintenance mitigation funds from a nearby building were not allocated there.

Many asked where the money was.

For over 40 years, The Queensboro Oval Field, located along York Avenue under the 59th Street Bridge in Manhattan, has been a home to baseball, softball, soccer, football, schools, leagues, families, joggers, and children learning to ride bikes and pick-up recreation activities in a beloved public park. It has been and continues to be a vital resource for countless people. It is the only publicly accessible lit, non-asphalt field available for miles. Even though this community has the least amount of park and open space in the entire city, Mayor Bloomberg and Betsy Smith are attempting to displace children and the community by taking away this park.

Critics of the plan say what began with a 'for profit' tennis club enclosing the park in a bubble for 6 months of the year has morphed over the years to the community losing more and more time as private tennis group has slowly encroached on this community’s public space. The large tennis bubble eventually expanded to 8 months without community consultation or approval.

In an apparent attempt to deflect strong criticism that the community was unaware of the Parks Department's original deal in 2010, Mr. Smith pointed out that they had notified the community board twice of their plans to go to the Franchises and Concession Review Committee (FCRC ).

"no one from the community attended," she wrote.

Her comments are also meant to infer that the public could have somehow influenced the outcome of the obscure mayoral appointed FCRC committee.

Instead of first making a presentation to the community board to gauge interest they instead negotiate and finalized the behind close door deal with the concessionaire and then notified the Board when they were presenting before an obscure - to the general public - mayoral controlled committee. The general public was not made aware of any extension until after the contract had already been signed, some five months after the November 9, 2009 FCRC hearing.

Apparently this is also what they meant by a "fair resolution."

Manhattan Parks Commissioner William Castro publicly stated on several occasions in 2010 that the city would listen to the community in making its determination.

"It's in your face arrogance," CB 8 board member said afterwards. "The city does not have to abide by our feelings."

As justification for the land grab City officials have desperately tried to portray the ballfields as "vasly underutilzed," an assertion that is strongly dismissed by park users.

Preservationists also complain that the unsightly tennis bubble detracts from the landmarked bridge. The National Register of Historic Places added the Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, to the list of City landmarks in 1978.

Parks As Cash Cows

The Bloomberg Administration is increasingly relying on these Parks Department revenue deals to help make up short falls in the city's general budget, while, it should be noted, they continure to allocate a fraction of the funds the agency needs to maintain the parks. The Parks Department is responsible for 91% of all concession revenue collected from city agencies according to the City Comptroller.

According to the City's Independent Budget Office, in November 2011, the Bloomberg Administration introduced another initiative for the parks department to generate $13 million in revenue annually beginning in 2013. Although lacking in specifics, the proposal to generate $13 million in annual revenue is relatively ambitious IBO writes.

Currently, the parks department is responsible for collecting $72.6 million from concessions, fees, permits, and fines (called miscellaneous city revenue). The new proposal would be a 17.9 percent increase over the department’s revenue for 2012.

A proposal to generate $2 million a year from an indoor tennis center at Central Park, introduced at the same time, was also abandoned in November 2010 after public outcry.

No city agency or private group should be allowed to unilaterally make land use significant land use decisions without community participation and consultation. Communities must have meaningful input regarding public lands. Judges have repeated ruled that significant land use designs must go through the proper reviews.

Read More:

Bubble trouble for kids at play

New York Post - April 15, 2012 - By Cynthia R. Fagen

Upscale Tennis Center Serves Up Rematch in Fight Over Use of Park

DNAinfo - April 13, 2012 By Amy Zimmer

Community Board 8 Rejects Year Round Tennis Concession

A Walk In The Park - March 18, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft

Upper East Side Land Grab As Parks' Looks to Sell Ballfield to Tennis Concessionaire

A Walk In The Park - February 17, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft