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Home My WebLink About3/4/2020 Item 4, Backman Wilbanks, Megan From:Vickie Backman < To:Advisory Bodies Subject:Pickleball cutback proposal comments SLO Parks & Rec Commision: I have lived directly across the street from French Park, and have a full view of the baseball filed and the tennis court since 1992. The tennis court has NEVER been well used by tennis players in all that time. It was generally empty, used more by children playing games and running RC cars than anything else. Pickleball became popular at French Park about five years ago, and now I play occasionally. In fact, four families on my block of 11 homes play occasionally or regularly. I now recognize many other people who live in my neighborhood when I walk my dog - they also have taken up pickleball! The new courts at French Park are lovely and receive tremendous usage daily. I know the pickleball club members use them every morning. What is interesting to me is how many community members use them in the afternoons, including youth players. Any afternoon I walk my dog through the park, I see people on the courts. There is a huge overrun of people playing that daily spills down onto the tennis court. These are not only pickleball club members, but community usage, including whole families. I do not understand why the city would cut off community usage of the tennis court at French Park for pickleball. In fact, I think it should be converted to pickleball courts. There are far more tennis courts available in the city parks than pickleball courts, even though the usage of community park tennis courts is generally sparse. One tennis court can be used by 16 pickleball players at one time, instead of 2 or 4 tennis players. Its time to embrace pickleball as an excellent way for the community to get exercise and social contact with neighbors. There is a perfectly fine tennis court over in Islay Park less than one-half mile away. When I drive that way several times a week, I rarely see people playing tennis there. It seems reasonable to ask the few but vocal tennis players to actually use these other courts. Please leave the French Park "tennis" court available for pickleball usage all the time. Vickie Backman Poppy Lane, San Luis Obipso 1