Dear Editor
Re: "Letters: Richmond mayor addresses pickleball court issue," Aug. 14, 2025
Mayor Brodie's letter to the editor leaves non-pickleball players with the impression that city has sufficient courts for existing pressures of the demand for court time. This is not the case at all.
Here is some factual data which represents the lack of resources as they stand now:
Drop-in sessions and lessons at the community centres
There are drop-in pickleball at six community centres, while true, fails to include the fact that players wanting to gain access to those sessions must be in line for one hour prior to the drop in session starting if they are to have any hope whatsoever of playing. Furthermore, for lessons, one must be ready to log-in the moment signup opens, otherwise, its hopeless. (other than a waiting list - which also fills up immediately).
Deferral of new courts at South Arm to 2026
In the mayor's letter, it was framed that new courts construction was deferred "to avoid disrupting the 2025 playing season."
Huh?
As all pickleball players within our city using outdoor courts know, there is no "playing season" — every season is playing season. This is an all-season sport within our city — the courts are used virtually everyday of the year (exceptions during an atmospheric river event, or snow on the surface).
Each and every day during rainy days, pickleball players are waiting for rain to stop and a small army of players get to work with brooms and squeegees to clear off the courts surfaces.
Lines at unused/underutilized tennis courts at South Arm
This is a welcome step towards addressing an underutilized taxpayer owned asset. Many times I play a game of pickleball at the dedicated pickleball courts for 10-15 minutes, then wait 30 minutes for my turn to come around again.
The system at the pickleball courts where paddles are grouped into sets for four and the next group proceeds onto the court for their turn.
I do not believe the tennis courts have such a system due to the fact that there is no waiting for court time. The city must take into account the tennis players need for playing surface and the demand for pickleball courts, weighed and balanced between these two user groups based upon demand.
Taxpayer-owned facilities are expected to service the taxpayers in the most effective manner, as the city has a fiduciary responsibility to manage the assets between the competing users.
Best practice stewardship and the related decision-making should always be evidence-based and have data that is transparent to all to ensure there are no hidden biases.
I request that the mayor direct city staff to obtain sufficient data points to conclude upon the allocation of facilities, indoor and outdoor, including the demand and number of people that can be served within the finite square footage available.
Such data will assist in greater understanding of the needs of our citizens of the city and provide the basis for decision-making that represents the needs of community.
Wendy Dobi
Richmond
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