Game, set, match

Smooth playing surfaces and taut nets will greet area tennis players this summer as the Fairmount Park Commission finishes work on 10 new courts near the Pattison Avenue and Broad Street entrance to FDR Park.

"We’re happy about it," said Joe Leodore, a 48-year-old tennis player from New Jersey. Leodore’s been playing regularly for the past five years at the current courts, which sit under the shadow of I-95 in the park’s southwest corner.

Leodore and five other players were heading onto the courts at 10:30 Monday morning. "These courts are getting pretty bad," he said, noting the surface cracks bisecting both sides of the net at the closest court.

On the far courts, enormous trees hang over the south end of several playing surfaces where the nets are worn and sagging.

"The old courts are past their useful life," said Stephanie Craighead, director of planning and development for the Fairmount Park Commission.

She expects the new courts to be completed sometime in June, and said some of the old courts may be saved and restored.

According to Friends of FDR Park president Maria Mirarchi, as many as six of the 15 old courts could remain. The other space will be converted to a dog walk and a wetlands area, she said.

The entire project has been in the works for some time, as initial talks with the FPC began six years ago, said Mirarchi. "This isn’t happening overnight."

The project was approved in 2000, according to Craighead. The new courts, plus possible renovations to the old ones, will cost about $500,000, said Bob Previdi, an aide for Council President Anna Verna, whose district includes FDR.

Mirarchi said it’s about time.

"It’s really upgrading the level of the park," she said.

In addition to the tennis courts, two adjacent baseball-softball fields will be upgraded.

Leodore and a few other players, including George Helmer and Herman Lotstein, were concerned about access to the new courts during Eagles and Phillies games. Will tennis players be able to get to the courts if parked cars and additional traffic clog FDR?

"Hopefully the tennis players won’t be penalized by the sporting events," Leodore said.

Mirarchi and her Friends group are working on the parking issue with the FPC. "We did foresee problems and they’re being addressed," she said.

Not everyone is thrilled with the construction of the new tennis courts. Park user Al Nardi said he’s concerned about the impact the courts will have on FDR’s birds and plant life.

"I would like to see more accommodations for our wildlife," he said.

Meanwhile, plans for an environmental education center at FDR are on hold indefinitely, according to Mark Focht, administrator for the FPC’s Natural Lands Restoration and Environmental Education Program.

The planned 3,000-square-foot center was to be built on the site of the existing guard house and vacant horse stables near the park’s entrance west of Broad and Pattison, incorporating the stables into the facility’s architecture. Funding for construction was available and plans were approved in August 1999.

Soon after, the FPC conducted a sustainability study to see whether the centers — three others were planned for parks throughout the city — would generate enough revenue to cover their own operating costs.

"The study showed that the centers wouldn’t sustain themselves," Focht said. "Rather than build something we couldn’t maintain, we chose to put the project on hold."

Green-thumbing it at FDR

From 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, dozens of volunteers will descend on "The Lakes" for a healthy dose of necessary gardening.

Targeting invasive plants that have begun taking over the park’s native foliage, volunteers will be on a mission to root out the intruding vegetation and install native plants, according to Tom Dougherty, volunteer coordinator with the Fairmount Park Commission.

Dougherty will provide the gloves, bags and shovels, while more than 70 volunteers from organizations throughout the city will provide the sweat.

Local residents are encouraged to lend a hand, said Dougherty. Most of the work will take place in the park’s newly created wetlands area, formerly the site of the old swimming pool.

The cleanup is part of Philadelphia Cares About Fairmount Park Day, a citywide effort.

The goal of the event is to bring people out and "create a good feeling about the park," said Dougherty.

For more information about the cleanup, call Tom Dougherty at 215-685-0039.

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–by Brett Schaeffer