re: Johnny Bright Playground UPDATE: Will NOT move fwd w Tennis facility

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The Jefferson Parish Council announced Wednesday morning that it will no longer pursue a $16 million professional-grade tennis complex at Johnny Bright Playground following backlash from the community.

Hans Liljeberg, the Jefferson Parish Council member who represents Metairie, said during opening remarks at a Wednesday meeting that the parish would no longer pursue the construction of a 30-court tennis complex on the property of Bright Playground with nonprofit Split Sets.

"I have come to the conclusion that while a USTA tennis hub, basketball clinic and sport performance and injury prevention arena is a great project for Jefferson Parish, Bright doesn’t want it," Liljeberg said.
Parish officials said they would work with Split Sets to try to find another property for the facility, but that the nonprofit may already be engaging with other parishes about bringing the plan there.

The Parish Council had approved a non-binding letter of intent last month, giving the nonprofit six months to raise the funds necessary to move forward with the facility. The letter was met with sharp criticism from neighbors who said they were excluded from the planning process and that their previous recommendations were ignored.

Several attendees at Wednesday’s council meeting wore blue “SaveBright” t-shirts.

The proposed facility was part of a larger push by Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng's "Recreation Reimagined" initiative to repurpose some of its playgrounds in response to dwindling recreation attendance in recent decades.

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