Cedarvale residents win their fight to keep public tennis courts open to the public

This spring, we wrote about a neighbourhood battle brewing over restricting access to city-owned tennis courts in Cedarvale Park to members of a private “community tennis club.” According to a recent Toronto Star story, the would-be Cedarvale Tennis Academy and Club gave up on its proposal in late April in the face of fervent backlash at community meetings and petitions. However, despite the defeat—things got so contentious that the organizers even refused to let the paper use their names—the community club model is actually quite common in Toronto. Out of the 184 public tennis courts in the city, 69 employ the club model, using club dues to maintain the courts. The downsides include wait lists and membership fees—and furious residents who feel that all members of the public should be able to use city-owned courts. [Toronto Star]