HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-13-2015 BW1 GarrettSubject: FW: Lights at Sinsheimer COUNCIL MEETING: —15
ITEM NO.:—_ _ W 1
From: Ann Garrett [annieoaks9@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2015 6:36 PM RECEIVED
To: Marx, Jan; Rivoire, Dan; Christianson, Carlyn; Carpenter, Dan; Ashbaugh, John
Subject: Lights at Sinsheimer JAN 13 2015
To SLO City Council members: SLO CITY CLERK.__;
I am writing to urge you to make lighting of the tennis courts at 5insheimer Park a
budgeted goal for 2015-2017. The City of San Luis Obispo needs to provide lighted
courts for its residents because;
• The City only provides eight tennis courts to its residents (six at Sinsheimer
Park, one at Islay Hill Park, and one at French Park), and not one of those courts is
lighted.
• The only lighted courts within city limits are at Cal Poly (which are intended
for use by students, not the general public) and SLOH5 (which are of poor quality
because they use very outdated technology).
• The City's parks provide lighted facilities for soccer, football, .rugby, lacrosse,
baseball, softball, basketball, roller hockey, volleyball, and horseshoes—but not
for tennis.
• The peak times for tennis court usage on weekdays are 8:00 a.m. to noon (for
those who are free to play during the day) and after 5:00 p.m. (for the majority
of players, who work during the day and are only free to play in the evenings).
• Once daylight savings time ends, those of us who can only play in the evenings
on weekdays have no City -provided courts on which to do so.
• Lighting the City's existing tennis courts (especially the multi -court facility at
Sinsheimer Park) is a much more cost-effective way of increasing usable hours
than would be the building of new, lighted tennis courts.
• Wealthy residents in the City can play on lighted courts at private clubs in
SLO or Avila, but middle class residents cannot afford private club membership,
so the City needs to provide lights for them.
• Modern tennis court lights are specifically designed to light only the courts,
preventing light pollution of the surrounding area. As an example, consider the new
lights at the Arroyo Grande High School courts (which anyone can turn on for free
with the push of a button).
• To prevent excessive noise late into the night, the lights could be timed to
shut off automatically at a certain time (e.g., 9:00 p.m.).
• Tennis players support a pay -as -you -play system for lights, if that proves
necessary. (Note, however, that we have found the coin -box system at SLOHS to
be very unreliable; a key system would work better. See the system for Soto Park
lights used by the Five Cities Tennis Association.)
For all of the above reasons, I urge you to please make lighting of the Sinsheimer
Park tennis courts a budgeted goal for 2015-2017.
9
Respectfully,
Ann Garrett
2712 Flora St.
SLO 93401