Oral Communications
Grace Schmidt
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From: Grace Toy [emaiI95014@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 21,20073:57 PM
To: Cupertino City Manager's Office; City Clerk
Subject: Four Proposals to Increase Revenue at Cupertino Sports Center
Dear Mr. Knapp and Ms. Smith,
Attached is the message which we delivered during the Oral Communications session of last night's City Council
Meeting.
Thank you very much.
Regards,
Grace and Tony Toy
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
3/20/2007 Oral Communications
by Grace and Tony Toy
Four Proposals to Increase Revenue at Cupertino Sports Center
We have been passholders at the Sports Center since our City purchased the complex 15 years ago. We would like to
report to City Council members that the operation of the Sports Center only benefits Lifetime Tennis and the Cupertino
Tennis Club. Taxpayers have been shortchanged millions of dollars. We have four proposals which will greatly
Increase our revenue:
1) Open up the reservation sheet, which is a business journal.
2) Court Use Agreement with Lifetime Tennis should be disclosed and monitored.
3) Do a cost/benefit analysis for the subsidies to the Cupertino Tennis Club, as 80% of the members do not live in
Cupertino.
4) Rotate in new staff for management.
Let us explain how our proposals will increase revenue. The Center has 17 courts. Lifetime Tennis rents a few courts
for teaching. The rest of the courts are for passholders like us. A major source of revenue is selling annual passes. All
passholders pay approximately $400 annually, including Tennis Club members.
Private clubs, such as Courtside, charge $2000 per year plus $1000 initiation fees. They are close to full capacity with
very steady membership.
Staff reports that we have over 1000 passholders. They include a 12-month span when 300 passholders dropped out.
They also include tryout special promotions, City employees using City dollars, etc. These are not profitable products.
The truth is that the Center never has enough business because passholders' courts have been taken away.
In the old days, the court reservation sheet was open to the public and kept in archives forever. Lifetime Tennis had
three courts. We saw many students use up passholders' courts which were reserved without any passholder's name.
3/21/2007
On top of that, during high season prime time, Club President and Team Tennis Coordinator also reserved many courts
through Team Tennis Priority Reservation to play personal matches.
Five years ago when we proposed court time management, the reservation sheet was covered up immediately and
shredded shortly thereafter. What was troubling was just how easily Lifetime Tennis and Club officials can get courts.
For example, on a quiet Saturday evening, front desk staff told us that all courts were fully booked. Planning
Commissioner Cary Chien overheard our conversation. The three of us went out to the balcony but we did not see even
one player out on the courts. It was spring break for students but "John Doe" had forgotten to cancel his weekly
reservations.
On another Saturday afternoon, Vice Mayor Kwok was surprised that there was hardly any passholder using the
facility. The following month after a bogus survey, staff announced extended weekend hours due to overwhelming
requests from passholders. When tennis parents pay a hefty $400 for each session, taxpayers have to pay for staff
overtime.
Council may ask why the Toys are the only ones who speak up. It is extremely complicated and cannot be explained in
one minute. We'll try:
- Our annual fees are only 20% of the competitors but we have the highest drop out rate. From a business perspective,
you know the level of satisfaction is extremely low.
- Staff has too much power. We have seen many unhappy customers being ignored, bullied, and punished. The
persistent ones receive a full year's refund and are happily playing tennis somewhere else.
- The public assumes that all proceeds from lessons benefit our City. We know this is not true.
- Staff irresponsibly passes out false information. For example, a senior staff member told us that the Club pays extra
court fees. We know this is also not true.
- Since no accounting has been released, residents do not know how much they are subsidizing the Center and how
much economic opportunity has been missed.
- Furthermore, 99% of Cupertino residents have never been passholders. Among the 1 %, they simply do not have the
insider information of how courts are being fixed when everything is covered up.
- A few Club officials have been around as long as we have. They absolutely know more than we do. They often
speak up at Parks and Recreation meetings, taking a lot of credit. They claim to represent all the passholders to thank
staff for doing a great job. In return, they were granted free courts to play with outsiders. They share joint ventures and
business referrals with Lifetime Tennis. They are allies who benefit from our system.
We have spoken up many times because we care about the economic well-being of our City. We sincerely ask Council
to accept and implement our four proposals.
1) There is a pot of gold on every court. The reservation sheet is a cash register which has the sales record. Please
open it up.
2) Lifetime Tennis is a renter. Their court use agreement should be disclosed and monitored to keep them honest.
3) 80% of Club members are nonresidents who overly use and underpay our City. Council should conduct a
cost/benefit analysis to see why taxpayers should subsidize them. Without their Prime Time Priority Reservation, the
Center would be able to accommodate hundreds more annual passholders.
4) Most managing staff have been holding the same position for over 10 years. There are just too many loopholes. It is
time to rotate in new staff and overhaul the system.
Finally, here's a bonus. 15 years ago, the complex was leased out for a million dollars per year. For two years, the Parks
and Recreation Dept. never collected a penny. Tennis is such a profitable "Lifetime" Business that we have seen the
owner of Lifetime Tennis for 15 years, consecutively.
3/21/2007
Thank you very much. Please contact us at emaiI95014@yahoo.comifyou have further questions.
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3/21/2007