Image: Argus Leader
As I suspected, this facility is only for the members of the Tennis Association, and if you want to use it, you better pony-up;
A consultant hired by the Sioux Falls Tennis Association has recommended charging $22 per hour to play at the seven-court Community Indoor Tennis Center. To be guaranteed court time, players would have to sign up for memberships that cost $30 a month per person or $50 for families; nonmembers would pay $10 per visit in addition to the court rental and could not reserve permanent court time.
These prices are outrageous if you want the ‘public’ to use the facility.
And what kind of usage does a facility like this expect to get?
Sioux Empire Fitness is one of two private businesses in the city that have indoor tennis courts. Owner Reid Hans said running a facility that is solely for tennis is difficult financially, partly because no one shows up when the weather is nice.
“It attracts 3 percent of the population,†he said.
So we are going to give $500,000 to a private organization that is going to charge a fortune for the public to use the facility so that approximately 3% of the city’s population can play tennis indoors?
Besides the blatant conflict of interest with the mayor’s wife, this is a total waste of tax dollars and I urge the council to vote against giving them the money. They will just have to work a little harder in fundraising and they can have their own private tennis club (that is what they are trying to do anyway by charging such a high public fee).