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I will not be able to attend because I'm out of the country.
Has anyone walked the tennis courts at night? I will be more than willing to meet someone there after the 19th of May. It would be more helpful if someone stood on the other side of the courts while I serve to them so they can get the full experience of how bad the lighting is.
I don't know how these were measured but anyone can see there are multiple large dark spots. In the same way you don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows, you don't need foot candle.measurements to see how dark the courts are. These are the worst lit courts that are run by the city or county that I've seen.
I've noticed that the area between courts 1 and 2 is better lit than the actual court 1 itself. Maybe the foot candle measurements were taken there. As I said in my previous email, facilities have one type of light so courts are lit evenly. Even the table below shows that court 1 is the worst lit court. Worse than the pickleball.courts. The foot candle measurements are vastly different from courts 1 and 4. This is why every other facility in Gainesville uses one type of light, so that the courts are lit evenly.
The lights were implemented in phases. When the lights were initially installed there were no lights in the middle, only on the ends of the facility. How this oversight happened I have no idea. Then some glorified bicycle lights were installed in the middle and they were a slight improvement.
As I said previously, I've emailed Betsy about this issue multiple times and nothing has been done and there is no plan as far as I can tell to fix the issue.
Thank you for your time,
Noah
Mr. Weller: There is a Community Information Session on Tom Petty Park tomorrow night: - Wednesday, May 8th
- 5:30 P.M. to 6:30 P.M.
- Library Partnership Branch
- 912 N.E. 16th Avenue
At this session, staff will be discussing the planned park upgrades. Those include: removal of the existing racquetball courts, the addition of eight dedicated pickleball courts, seating areas with a pavilion and site furnishings, a pedestrian entrance from the Northeast 16th Avenue crosswalk, re-routing the multi-purpose trail for ADA accessibility, renovating and enlarging the restrooms, upgrades to the landscaping and code-required modifications to the park’s stormwater management basins. If you are interested in providing input for the Tom Petty Park Improvements, please plan to attend the meeting to receive the presentation from Wild Spaces / Public Places staff. The presentation will include the approved concept plan. As to the lighting at Northside Park, it was upgraded when the park was upgraded. The following table shows the lighting levels in Foot-candles (Fc) for the various courts: 
As you can see, the lighting levels on Tennis courts 2-4 is brighter than the lighting on the 4 pickle ball courts. Please feel free to contact Wild Spaces & Public Places Program Director Betsy Waite or myself if you have any additional questions regarding this meeting. Sincerely, Philip R. Mann, P.E. | Special Advisor to the City Manager for Infrastructure and Capital Projects
City Manager’s Office | City of Gainesville
Office 352-334-5010 |
email mannpr@cityofgainesville.org Note: Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public-records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing. From: Noah Weller <lefist@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 7, 2024 9:49 AM
To: citycomm <citycomm@gainesvillefl.gov>; Mann, Philip R <mannpr@cityofgainesville.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Additional pickleball court proposal Dear City Manager Curry and Commissioner Chestnut: To me six pickleball courts at Tom Petty Park seems to be a fair and just proposal. It doesn't make sense to me to have to extra courts that wrap around the tennis courts. Six courts are more than what is at North side Park. While it is great that the pickleball players have this opportunity to improve their experience, this is not the case for tennis players that want to play at North side Park. The lights at North side Park are atrocious. As a tax payer it is infuriating to see an expensive renovation make the playing experience worse. You can't see at night because there are huge dark spots on the court. I have played tennis in developing countries with better lighting. It doesn't make any sense that there are three different kinds of lights. Every facility uses one type of light for even lighting. Why didn't someone at the city or county go to Westside or Flavet to see how tennis courts are supposed to be lit? I don't understand how this situation has not been resolved years after the renovations have been completed. I have emailed Betsy Waite about this multiple times and the lighting situation is still terrible and I'm not aware of a plan that will improve the lighting
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mann, Philip R" <mannpr@cityofgainesville.org>
To: "Mann, Philip R" <mannpr@cityofgainesville.org>
Cc:
Bcc:
Date: Wed, 1 May 2024 18:21:46 +0000
Subject: FW: [EXTERNAL] Tom Petty Park improvements - information session
The City of Gainesville’s Wild Spaces & Public Places program and the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department will be holding an information session on improvements at Tom Petty Park. Tom Petty Park Improvements Community Information Session Library Partnership Branch 912 NE 16th Ave. Wednesday, May 8, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Planned park upgrades include: removal of the existing racquetball courts, the addition of eight dedicated pickleball courts, seating areas with a pavilion and site furnishings, a pedestrian entrance from the Northeast 16th Avenue crosswalk, re-routing the multi-purpose trail for ADA accessibility, renovating and enlarging the restrooms, upgrades to the landscaping and code-required modifications to the park’s stormwater management basins. For more information, contact Pete McNiece at McNiecePR@gainesvillefl.gov, or 352-393-8544. |
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| Wild Spaces & Public Places Your Half-Cent Sales Tax at Work |
This project is being funded with the Wild Spaces & Public Places half-cent sales tax. Collected from January 2023 to December 2032, the sales tax will continue to acquire and improve lands for conservation, wildlife habitat, water quality, and recreation, and to operate and maintain parks and recreational facilities. To sign up for updates, please visit www.gainesvillefl.gov/wspp. |
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Gainesville City Commission: Harvey Ward (Mayor), Ed Book, Cynthia Chestnut, Desmon Duncan-Walker, Bryan Eastman, Reina Saco, Casey Willits |
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| Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department | Wild Spaces & Public PlacesPO Box 490, Sta 24Gainesville, FL 32627 | | 
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