more articles like this

Las Positas Tennis Courts
updated: Jan 14, 2013, 5:31 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

What is happening at the Las Positas tennis courts. The courts used to full of players and now no one is there?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 363465	2013-01-14 05:37 PM
Hmmm..... cold... maybe??
EZ2	2013-01-14 05:42 PM
Charging too much to use the courts
COMMENT 363472	2013-01-14 05:50 PM
Libertarian takeover of government owned property. Praise Galt...
COMMENT 363483	2013-01-14 06:14 PM
I thought tennis was a Spring/Summer activity.
COMMENT 363492	2013-01-14 06:36 PM
They have raised the daily rate considerably. There are cheaper even free courts why pay their fees? Plus the traffic noise is strangely amplified and it can be LOUD! That said, I'm up for a game or two. Hey edhat can we get a place to post for potential tennis/other sport partners?
COMMENT 363499P	2013-01-14 06:57 PM
Where are the free courts? I want to play!!
COMMENT 363507	2013-01-14 07:37 PM
Uh.... 35 degrees out!
COMMENT 363512	2013-01-14 08:12 PM
Free courts are all high schools after school hours or in the morning before school starts, oak park has a few on the backside at the end of the grassy area..There are more but I'm to full from dinner to use my brain at the moment. Rackets up!
COMMENT 363514	2013-01-14 08:24 PM
Muni courts are great and if you want to meet other tennis players take a clinic from Brad Dilbeck, a great coach and great person. There are other coaches and choices of clinics at different times of the day. I have met some lifelong tennis friends at these clinics. Not sure it's ever too cold to play, but maybe the courts have frost and are slippery in the early morning lately. Before all the money issues at LP, there was a group that used to just occupy the courts for long periods without regard to letting others use them. It was a free for all and without monitoring or enforced rules. There were also problems with the transients in the area. I think due to the isolated location and no one to enforce rules or collect money it was just more trouble than it was worth. We have so many courts at Muni and Pershing that are usually empty I don't know what all the fuss was about.
COMMENT 363516	2013-01-14 08:34 PM
It's never too cold to play tennis in Santa Barbara! My undertstanding is Pershing is free to use when SBCC is in session and the courts aren't being used by the the college or for other reserved activities. When SBCC is on break (as it is now) the standard city daily permit fee applies except for Mon and Wed which are free days. That's what the fee collector told me. I usually play at SBHS but they've been locking up the courts lately, so it's hit or miss when they're open. I heard some of the SBHS tennis coaches are zealous about keeping the courts in good shape (skateboarders and hockey players do create damage) but the coaches need to keep in mind the SBHS courts are public too and paid for by taxpayers.
COMMENT 363563	2013-01-15 07:11 AM
This post is just another trolling attempt to get people to spew more vitriol against Elings Park. It's getting old, we get it, you don't like Elings.
COMMENT 363566	2013-01-15 07:28 AM
It's never been free to play on the City Courts. If you stay there long enough a monitor will come around and make you pay the daily fee or ask to see your annual pass. The Annual Pass is $120 or something like that. If you get lucky enough to be there during a time when the monitor is at the other courts, then they are free. It's pretty rare, though. At LP they gave the courts to Elings and they jacked up the fees to $500 or something like that. So everyone goes to Pershing or High School or Muni.
COMMENT 363574	2013-01-15 07:57 AM
Oak park courts are free 566 and City owned.
STRAY	2013-01-15 08:19 AM
More participation in sports like tennis should be encouraged, if we're really serious about tackling our nation's lurch towards obesity. Having some fees are obviously necessary for maintenance and to repair vandalism. But for heaven's sake, these tennis courts are already built! Keep the fees to the minimum if you want to encourage use and develop younger players. Or tennis will go the way of golf....a rich man's sport.
COMMENT 363586	2013-01-15 08:20 AM
Goleta has a few free courts in parks two. The one in the Evergreen Open Space looks a bit sad, but is almost always empty.
COMMENT 363637	2013-01-15 09:38 AM
To 514: It was never a free for all at LP. There was a sign up chalkboard that worked very well. Pershing and Muni also had chalkboards, but the one at LP was the only one regularly used because of the popularity of the courts. The most heavily utilized public courts in SB were given to Elings, which has coveted them for years as a potential revenue stream, for $1/year. Elings, which likes to boast being the largest private park in the US, is bleeding red ink. Elings director Danny Vickers is fervently hoping the tennis courts will erase some of that red ink. He´s publicly said he has a 'handshake deal' with Oceanside Tennis Academy who has offered to pony up $100,000 if they can have the courts to build their private business. Nancy Rapp, Parks and Recreation director who has sat on the Elings board as an advisor for years, is the sorry public servant largely responsible for this public give a way.
COMMENT 363662	2013-01-15 10:10 AM
Yeah, not sure how/why the two biggest city courts ended up right next to the freeway (Hwy 101-Eastside & Hwy 225-Las Positas). I live across the street from San Marcos high but unfortunately those courts are locked up after school and weekends because of too many taggers. Ah, what a great society we live in. The government workers need their pensions so we can't afford to keep the libraries open on Mondays, and we can't keep the tennis courts open because too many feral immigrants like to spray/mark their territory there. What a happy state of affairs.
BRIT2437	2013-01-15 10:47 AM
The city gave away tax paid for property to Elings Park for $1 per year for 18 years plus a 10 year option to renew. Elings raised the fees by 315% and now the courts are empty. You can read all about this on the following web site: www.laspositastennis.com.
COMMENT 363708	2013-01-15 11:50 AM
Other free courts in Goleta. From countyofsb.org Open Space Description: 4 tennis courts, connects to University Circle via trails and foot bridge. Open Space Features: Benches or picnic tables; playround. Location: In Goleta, 5400 block Cathedral Oaks to 600 block Kellogg Ave. Hours: 8:00 AM to Sunset
COMMENT 363737	2013-01-15 01:01 PM
I don't think Oak Park has been resurfaced in years which is why good players don't normally go there. You have to be ready to receive some bullets if you go there and hit hard. For the casual player it's probably ok. If there are a bunch of players in town how hard would it be to collect $20 from each and get someone to resurface the courts? Maybe the City would drop their annual pass fee down to anyone that contributed?
COMMENT 363763	2013-01-15 02:11 PM
Its cold brah. Confirmed.
COMMENT 363872	2013-01-15 06:04 PM
@37 I think LP courts are very nice especially for those that live in that general area. I do think there was a certain morning group that thought they owned the courts and were unwilling to get off so others could play after they had exceeded the 1 1/2 hrs allowed for doubles. Many of us who would have liked to play at LP finally started driving the extra distance and playing at Muni. Hey, no big deal though Muni courts are great especially with the sound wall and the resurfacing and lights and great coaches. Tennis players in general are pretty darn nice people as was the group at LP, maybe they were just a bit overzealous.
COMMENT 363876	2013-01-15 06:09 PM
3737.... $20 a head to resurface the courts would require aaaa lllllooooootttttt of heads. Of course we want to pay less to get what we want but wouldn't run a business on what we'd expect to pay for the service. ie... we're a bunch of hypocrites and want someone else to work for a rate we wouldn't work at if our lives depended on it.
COMMENT 364009	2013-01-16 09:13 AM
How could the city just allow a public facility to be given away? This is alarming. What would happen if they gave away other parks, our beaches, East Beach volleyball courts, Los Banos pool or other, to private organizations? Doesn't seem possible but clearly if they can give away public tennis courts then what next City?
COMMENT 364050	2013-01-16 10:56 AM
Way too expensive now. Elings is charging nearly as much as a private club, such as Polo Club or Cath Oaks Club, especially when you compare a family membership at those clubs vs what it would take to get all members of my family Elings memberships. Not only that but add in the ridiculous fee anytime the lights are used and its ludicrous. I figured it would be a ghost town after the grandfathered memberships expired at the beginning of the year. Why pay 5 times what it costs at the city courts when there is practically no difference or added value at LP? I would consider paying the membership fee AFTER the new clay courts and other improvements are done, but until then it makes no sense.

16% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.

*** One comment was removed from this thread by the Edhat Board Nanny for violating Edhat Comments Board policy. Click Here to see it.