N. Caldwell Residents Have No 'Love' for Tennis Rule

A large group of upset residents gathered at the North Caldwell council meeting Tuesday night to speak out against new potential restrictions at the municipal tennis courts. 

Following a long rally, their point was made.

Considering the community's adverse reaction to amending an ordinance regarding sales of merchandise and services on public parks and lands, Councilman John Chiaia motioned to table the ordinance.

"I come from the school that for every person that comes to a council meeting there's probably another 10 to 100 people that haven't," he said. "And this is a very large showing of people."

The governing body proposed an ordinance earlier this month that would prohibit solicitation on public property—targeted at tennis lessons given by private instructors on municipal courts—after receiving complaints that more than 10 pros have "set up shop there and are running a business," according to Councilwoman Cynthia Santomauro.

Instead of establishing a business on privately owned land, these tennis pros are taking advantage of the municipal courts, she pointed out.

"What's happening is these people are coming and tying up the tennis courts—taking away time from you—and expecting to not pay the town any money even though they were using them, and they were the main reason our tennis courts were being over-utilized and now need repair," said Santomauro, chairman of the recreation committee. 

A membership fee of $65 a year is required to use the courts, however, many residents, non-residents and the tennis pros fail to pay the fee.

The membership fee is revenue that goes toward maintaining the quality of the courts which, Councilman Frank Astorino explained, comes at an extremely high cost.

Improving cracks in the court costs several thousand dollars, a new net is $300, and the cost of keeping the lights on at night runs $16 an hour, he said.

The borough has installed a coded lock on the courts so that non-members cannot enter. While several residents felt the lock was insulting, Mayor Mel Levine assured residents that it was also a safety issue.

According to Levine, he's personally witnessed "seedy people" hanging around the courts at night and felt it was dangerous. 

What frustrated residents most was that the amended ordinance would prohibit the instructors from soliciting on public property, which would prevent them from providing lessons for a fee.

Instead, residents interested in receiving lessons on the municipal courts would need to enroll in the borough's new tennis program with municipal-hired instructors.

However, residents felt this stipulation limited their options.

"I understand the liability that exists if a pro is involved in making money on public property and somebody gets hurt, but...I don't think it's really fair," said Mark Feldstein, a North Caldwell resident for 34 years and tennis member for 10 years.

"Tennis is a two-person sport, and as a member of the town courts, if I wanted to improve my game and work with a pro, why can't I take my friend, who I may pay a little money to, and hit the ball with him? I want to use who I want to use. It's a free country and I should have the right to do that." 

Residents applauded this sentiment. Those opposed to the ordinance all agreed that the governing body was taking an extreme measure and felt concessions should be made.

The governing body agreed to table the ordinance and to consider some adjustments that would be a fair compromise.

"We have a significant program planned for the town, I've heard it, I love it, I'm all in favor of it," Chiaia said. "I think we're against the loitering of pros, we're against the solicitation, we're against how much they monopolize the courts, we're against the balls going all over those screens.

"We need to look closer at how we can tailor this ordinance to bring order as we wish, but not make it so that someone will get a fine for bringing their friend or their pro to the courts."