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Parks Department Kills Plan for Year-Round Tennis Bubble at Central Park

By DNAinfo Staff on April 29, 2010 1:06pm  | Updated on April 29, 2010 1:05pm

The Central Park tennis courts near 95th Street.
The Central Park tennis courts near 95th Street.
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Flickr/Bobcatnorth

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER WEST SIDE — For the second time this month, the Parks Department has retracted plans for a year-round tennis bubble — this time withdrawing a proposal to cover 26 Central Park courts with a 35-foot tall bubble.

Earlier in April, the department killed a plan to allow a tennis bubble to stay up year-round at the Queensboro Oval.

Residents of the Upper West Side fought against the plan to cover the courts near West 96th Street, which, if approved, would've allowed the bubble operator to charge up to $100 an hour for court rentals.

An online petition circulated by residents in opposition to the plan collected 1,200 signatures.

The Upper East Side's Community Board Eight revisited its approval of the tennis bubble concept in part due to the petition and community outrage over the proposal.

The board voted to take "no position" on the issue until the Parks Department provided more information.

The Sierra Club also opposed the Parks plan, saying the diesel generator the city planned to use to keep the bubble inflated would be an environmental hazard.

"It's a concentration of poison," said Moisha Biechman, part of the New York Chapter.