Boulder Parks is asking tennis and pickleball players for input on public courts
Hey all. As reported in our latest newsletters, we’ve started to see some progress from your efforts to advocate for better public tennis facilities in Boulder. (Recent resurfacing of Watson and Palo, a doubling of funding for court maintenance in the Boulder Parks and Rec (BPR) budget, calling out courts as a specific category for funding, etc.)
But here’s the most important gain we’ve garnered… BPR has decided to put together a Court System Plan focused solely on public tennis and pickleball courts in Boulder. Our courts have never received this kind of attention before, and it demonstrates that BPR and the City are taking these issues seriously.
What will the Court System Plan do? To quote BPR: “This includes the number of courts, use type for each court (shared or dedicated), capital investment, management, and programming. The plan will provide a balanced approach and identify priorities for the next ten years.”
Why is this different from other times?
To be clear, unlike all of the past open houses and surveys we’ve asked you to take part in… this one is ALL ABOUT COURTS. This is not mixed in with the BPR master plan. And your survey responses are not thrown in with those of the general public. This time BPR is asking the people who play and love tennis and pickleball to speak up directly about their concerns.
Come to the open house!
This is where BPR says they “will share background information about the process and hear feedback on our pickleball and tennis court system.” You can bet the pickleball players will show up here in force – and rightly so. This plan will affect the future of both sports in Boulder, and we should both be well represented. So be sure to help us stand for the tennis side of the equation, and help us work with both BPR and the pickleball community to come up with a well-thought-out and well-funded way to address all of our needs.
- Wednesday, October 4, 2023
- 6 – 7:30 p.m.
- At the OSMP Hub Community Room: 2520 55th St., Boulder, CO 80301
- Doors open at 5:45 p.m., Light snacks provided
Respond to the online questionnaire
If for some dire reason you can’t make it to the open house (for instance, a large object has fallen on you and you can’t get up) you can still sound off via an online courts-specific questionnaire once you’re rescued. BPR hasn’t provided the web address yet, but we’ll pass that on to you as soon as it’s available… Honestly, though, we really, really want folks to show up at the open house. Much more powerful in person.
Talking points
We all know the issues facing Boulder public courts, and you’ll have your own ideas. But we definitely want to make a case that the interval between resurfacing of existing courts needs to shortened, so that courts do not become disaster areas before they’re attended to. And that Boulder desperately needs more new courts to replace the ones we’ll be losing – and to catch up with thirty years of inaction.
Of course the best way to achieve this second point is to create a much-needed Boulder Tennis Center, a place with multiple courts – at least some of them covered – where tournaments can be held, tennis classes provided, and year-round, weather-proof indoor tennis played. A place that will in general serve as a focal point for the Boulder public tennis community, much like the ones in Steamboat Springs, Parker, Arvada, etc. We need to encourage Boulder Parks and Rec to be an active participant in this goal.
If you need more of a cheat sheet, please hop over to the Save Boulder Tennis page on our website. That will give you plenty to work with.
Thanks to all, and see you at the Open House!
The BTA Board
