SOUNDING OFF:

The sign on the gate of the 12 tennis courts at OCC reads, “The OCC Tennis Facility is reserved for scheduled physical education classes, team events and approved rentals. The court is therefore subject to closure during these times.”

I take that to mean that if it isn’t one of those times, the courts will be open for use by the public. Often they are, but often they’re not. Last week I ran into a coach while hitting a tennis ball against the wall on one of the three remaining handball courts.

“Hey coach, how come the courts are locked?”

“Good question. I don’t know. Go in the office over there and ask the lady with the keys to open the courts.”

“When are they going to remove this fence so the rest of the handball courts can be used?”

The college chained off 10 handball courts to put in 52 totally unnecessary parking spaces. The huge parking lot on Monitor Way, about 30 yards away at most, is only full Saturdays and Sundays when the swap meet is open.

“They’re not going to take the fence down.”

The coach listened to my complaints and said, “I’m on your side. We know the courts have always been heavily used by players in the evenings and on weekends, but the admin people don’t see it that way. At a meeting, one said, ‘This is a school, not a park.’ ”

Being from the Midwest, I’ve always thought of public schools’ athletic fields as playgrounds for the community. I used to think of OCC in the same way.

Now, maybe the tennis, racquetball, and handball players don’t bring in enough money to be considered as part of the community. Maybe the tennis courts will be open, maybe they won’t. Maybe OCC is no longer a community college.

Maybe the money they get from the swap meet, the students, and the on-campus Starbucks makes them a private school. Maybe no more taxpayer dollars will be needed.

BOB DUNBAR lives in Costa Mesa.