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# Pro Se Santa Monica Do something about the homeless at Reed
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/pro-se-santa-monica-do-something-about-the-homeless-at-reed-editor/
- Published: 2003-09-05T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:51:36.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Westwood, #archive-import, Homeless

*By Joseph Hanania Santa Monica*

As a regular tennis player at Reed Park, I have found the police/park ranger’s lack of response to the homeless who camp there, seemingly 24 hours a day, galling. Wednesday was a particular telling example. A man was taking a tennis lesson on court one, when a bum stood just outside the court, repeatedly yelling at him, “Serve! Serve! Serve!”

The yelling was continuous and so loud — top of the lungs loud, in fact — that it disrupted play on the other courts, including mine, two courts over. And we weren’t the subject of this homeless man’s attention.

The man taking the tennis lesson asked the homeless man to move on, came off the court and tried pushing him off, and — literally — even went on his knees, calling him “brother” and begging him to leave, just so he could continue his lesson. The homeless man would neither leave, nor stop yelling.

Help was sought from the tennis office. The police/rangers were apparently called but didn’t show up. The homeless bum remained for as long as he wanted — about 15 minutes — until finally deciding to go on his way. This isn’t the first time tennis games have been interrupted at Reed Park, which charges each player $2.50 an hour for the privilege of playing on the courts. Nor have I mentioned that the lighting on those courts is abysmal — way below the standard of, say, Westwood and Beverly Hills.

What, exactly, are the park rangers supposed to be doing if not to foster an environment conducive to safe recreation? Why should paying tennis patrons have to battle this sort of thing on their own? And what if this bum, so intent for whatever reason on disrupting the lesson and play, had been wielding a weapon?

At the very least, could the city not create a zone around the tennis courts — as it did in the past by putting up a cyclone fence when Miles Playhouse was being renovated — preventing the homeless from camping out? Or perhaps plant some prickly shrubbery where the homeless prefer to camp, effectively keeping them out?

Obviously, the problem is not the entire homeless population, many of whom are down on their luck and not disruptive. But isn’t there a way to accommodate those unfortunates without having recreational opportunities for the rest of us repeatedly disrupted?

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 5, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090503.pdf?ref=smdp.com)