{"id":343608,"date":"2026-06-02T23:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/343608\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T23:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:33:08","slug":"residents-near-san-jose-park-plagued-by-pickleball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/343608\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents near San Jose park plagued by pickleball"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Jose is set to address concerns from residents who have complained for months about excessive noise and after-hours activity at a park in\u00a0their Berryessa neighborhood \u2014 all stemming from\u00a0pickleball.<\/p>\n

Umang Doshi, who lives across from the pickleball courts at Cataldi Park, said the constant popping of paddles hitting balls has dramatically affected daily life for him and other residents. With games going from sunrise until sometimes after sunset, residents have spoken out about increased traffic and what they describe as a lack of communication before the city converted part of the park into four pickleball courts and one basketball court in September 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot even sit on my sofa,\u201d Doshi told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight, adding that he has kept his windows closed for nearly two years because of the noise.<\/p>\n

Doshi said the city didn\u2019t notify residents before replacing the general recreation space outside their doors with the pickleball courts. Representatives for the Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services department did not respond to an inquiry about if the city notified residents about the changes.<\/p>\n

Residents have organized petitions and contacted city officials in response to the issues \u2014 and the city appears to have heard them.<\/p>\n

District 4 Councilmember David Cohen, who represents the area, said funding for sound-dampening barriers and fencing around the pickleball courts\u00a0has been requested as part of the city\u2019s upcoming budget<\/a>.\u00a0The city would also install locks to prevent people from playing after park hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been frustrating to all of us because the park closes at dark,\u201d Cohen told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cPeople just stay and use the courts at night even when they\u2019re not supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sound-dampening measures would be a relief for residents such as Felix Chen, who lives about a block from the courts where the sound from paddles hitting balls can still be heard. But he still has concerns about increased traffic, speeding and littering that he said stem from people coming to the park to play pickleball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real issue is the broader impact on an entire residential community and the city\u2019s failure to properly evaluate, mitigate and respond to those impacts despite repeated concerns from residents,\u201d Chen told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n

Some pickleball players welcome the proposed changes. Amanda Nguyen, who plays at Cataldi Park nearly every day, said her group typically follows park rules and leaves around sunset. She understands why neighbors are frustrated by early morning noise and acknowledged she has heard of some players arriving before the park is open.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not nice,\u201d Nguyen told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cIf I lived here I\u2019d be pissed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalvan Lu, a semi-retired player who visits the courts daily, said the park is an important gathering space for recreation and exercise. Lou said most players he encounters follow the rules and leave before dark. He added that the park has long attracted visitors for a variety of recreational activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople get together, have a good time (and) exercise,\u201d he told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n

Cohen said the city wants to balance residents\u2019 concerns with the growing popularity of pickleball. While he expects the funding request for sound-dampening measures to be approved in the budget for fiscal year 2026-27, which starts July 1, he couldn\u2019t provide a timeline for when the measures could be implemented.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very positive when I go to the park and I see a large number of people using space and keeping it active and popular,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cWe want our public spaces to be utilized.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"In-line<\/a><\/p>\n

For residents such as Doshi and Chen, the improvements can\u2019t come soon enough. But they said the controversy extends beyond noise and raises broader questions about how the city communicates with neighborhoods and plans recreational projects that affect nearby homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are city residents too,\u201d Doshi said. \u201cWe just want the city to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Maryanne Casas-Perez at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> or @CasasPerezRed on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jose is set to address concerns from residents who have complained for months about excessive noise and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[712,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-343608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-centerpiece","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}