The lights at the Mccarren Park tennis courts were installed by Mccarren Tennis Center, a private company awarded a 15 year lease of the public park space. They were first turned on May 11th, 2021, and will remain operational every night until 11:15 pm, regardless of court usage. MTC claims that, as part of their contractual agreement with the city, they were obligated to light 3 of the 7 individual courts after repeat requests from the public.
The LED flood lighting that has been chosen is not directional lighting and is shining directly into every nearby window at least 7 stories high. Cheap, directional shielding would focus this lighting only onto the courts and potentially eliminate this problem entirely. Michael DiRaimondo, co-owner of the MTC, believes their contractual obligation is now satisfied, and he is content to leave the lighting how it is.
If you’re a nearby resident negatively affected by this lighting and would like something to be done, please consider filing a complaint at the links below:
311 Park Maintenance Complaint (choose ‘Structure - Outdoors’, then ‘Court Lighting’)
Please also join our local WhatsApp group full of your bright light averse neighbors, so we can gauge local interest and organize a petition to the NYC Parks Department / Council Member Stephen Levin. You can do so at this link or through this QR code:
