A project with giant bubbles powered by diesel fuel tanks is the newest unwelcome development on the Upper West Side.
The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation recently drafted a proposal to enclose Central Park’s outdoor tennis courts with bubble-like structures this winter, but local opponents say that the change could be aesthetically and environmentally damaging to the park.
Twenty-six courts, located at the north end of the park near 96th Street, are currently only open during the spring and summer months. The city, in conjunction with the Department of Parks and Recreation, has requested proposals to install 35-foot vinyl bubbles over the courts to be heated by generators. With the new structures, there would also be an increase in cost to use the facilities, ranging from $40-$100 per hour.
The local impact of the bubbles has been the subject of debate for weeks, and advocates are now circulating a petition in an effort to persuade the parks department and city officials to kill the plan.
Community Board 8, which represents the Upper East Side, recently retracted its support for the bubbles, and Mel Wymore, chair of the Upper West Side’s Community Board 7, said she does not support the project.
“My hope is that they’ll take this one off the table too,” she said, adding that it was an “ill-conceived proposal.”
Wymore said that CB7 has told representatives of all the buildings along Central Park West about the proposal, posted information on its website, informed parks organizations, and put the proposal on the agenda for the next Parks and Environment Committee meeting.
She also noted that the committee meeting, set for May 13, has been moved to an alternate location to accommodate the expected crowd.
Landmark West, an Upper West Side preservation organization, set up a petition online against the implementation of these bubbles.
“It needs to be brought to the attention of park officials,” Cristiana Peña, director of community outreach at Landmark West, said. Peña said that the petition, still online, has over 1,300 signatures so far.
Cristina DeLuca, a spokesperson for the Department of Parks and Recreation, said the department has no comment on the proposal or neighborhood opposition to it, though the proposal notes that environmental concerns are a priority, and states, “As the protector and provider of green spaces, Parks is deeply committed to respecting the environment. ... All proposed operational plans should include a detailed description of environmentally friendly practices planned for the Premises.”
Peña said that it is important to raise awareness about this potential development. In addition to emailing and calling as many people as possible, Landmark West has been reaching out to other parks organizations with a similar mission, she said, to form a coalition that now, among others, includes the Sierra Club and the Coalition for a Livable West Side.
Neighborhood residents have taken issue with the diesel generators that would power the heated bubbles. According to Landmark West, the bubbles would be heated by generators fueled by four diesel fuel tanks using a volume of 2,300 gallons of fuel each.
“The park is used by walkers, runners, joggers, and park lovers, and they will be breathing this,” Joan Bondell, who lives on Central Park West, said.
Neighborhood resident Francine Wilvers said that she opposed the bubble structures because they are unnatural in a park setting. “You hope to breathe in beautiful oxygen that the trees are producing,” she said, adding that this project would be “so unhealthy and offensive and contrary to what the park is supposed to be.”
Wilvers’ image of a Central Park with large bubbles is a grim one. “The park is a beautiful little jewel. It’s an oasis ... for people stressed out by the city and its demands,” she said, adding that “there is enough encroachment on the park already.”
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