From Arthur Scherr. I had the opportunity to listen to the testimony by the unhappy neighbor who lives across the street from the Pickleball courts. While she says she’s being totally honest, she’s really exaggerating on every one of her points.
LISTEN>
For example, she claims that there are upwards of 60 or 70 players at a time. The busiest times are on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings during the summer when there are about 30 players at peak times. And since the Pickleball courts can only accommodate 12 players at one time, there could be as many as 18 other players just sitting around waiting.
The numbers generally begin to diminish after 10:30 and by noon everyone is gone. It is not unusual for more players to arrive in late afternoon, generally around 4 p.m., but it seems that this is more family time with young children learning to play. There are never more than ten to twelve players during late afternoons during any weekday in the summer.
As far as tournaments are concerned, to my knowledge there was only one tournament which was held during the latter part of August on a Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evening between 5 and 6:30, and Friday morning. There were no more than 20 players for each session, and perhaps another dozen people in the audience and/or working for the Margate Recreation Department.
On Thursday evening, after that particular session, pizza was delivered for the group and all festivities were completed by 7 p.m. The Margate Recreation Department employees were instrumental to ensure that everything was cleaned up very nicely afterwards.
As for the parking, it seems that the unhappy neighbor has two cars which are always both parked on Vendome Avenue, one on each side of the street, generally in the first parking spot. Nothing wrong with that at all.
The problem is that the unhappy neighbor places a bright orange cone in the spot directly in front of her home, on Vendome Avenue, when she is not using the parking spot. We’re not in South Philly where that seems to be an acceptable practice during a major snowstorm. Not clear why the unhappy neighbor doesn’t use her three car driveway when she can’t find a place to park. How is it that I’ve never had a problem finding a parking spot? By the way, half of the players either walk or ride their bicycles to the Pickleball courts.
As far as the noise is concerned, play does not begin until 8 a.m., never earlier, as per the posted rules of the Pickleball courts. I’m wondering about the noise coming from the pounding of basketballs on the basketball court right next door where it is not unusual for play to begin prior to 8 a.m.
In addition to that, there are far worse noisemakers (i.e. trash trucks, construction vehicles, other municipal vehicles, etc.) that seem to go up and down Monmouth and Vendome Avenues constantly.
Anyone reading this post who knows anything about Pickleball players knows that we are the nicest group of people on the planet and very respectful of their neighbors and the group in Margate is no exception. Perhaps we can introduce our neighbor to this great game first hand so that she can experience how much fun it is and we can convert her to being a happy neighbor. C’mon, give it a try, please.
For any of the Margate authorities who might be reading this post, bringing the Pickleball courts to this venue is the best thing you have done for senior citizens in Margate that I can think of.
As America’s fastest growing sport, it is likely to gain in popularity even more. My request is that you consider moving the basketball courts over and adding three more Pickleball courts to accommodate the likely increase in the number of players next summer. Hopefully, one of those new players will be our aforementioned neighbor.