Kauffman hoops closed?

[Ryan Salo]

I think the city is confused

I agree 100%.

[marklingm]

I think the city is confused

I agree 100%.

+1

[marklingm]

Yes, we've been working on the plan for years now, and it has been approved since mid last year.
We still can discuss issues, but for some time now, we have established this meeting as a time to get our organization in order. We have plenty besides the hoops to work on and we desperately don't want to see the meeting sidetracked - time is precious, especially in an evening meeting at the library. If you would like to head up a committee to consider hoops at Kauffman, you would be very welcome, and that would be an appropriate action for this particular meeting

For those that have not followed the ongoing discussions about Kauffman Park, Plans and the good work of Friend of Kauffman Park...



See the entire document online at:
http://media.lakewoodobserver.com/media/docs_1361210202.pdf

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Jim and Dan,

According to Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers' statement to City Council on June 2, 2014:

Mayor Summers spoke on the issue of the Kauffman Park court closure. The Mayor stated that he closed the courts on May 21st due to a threat to safety. As Director of Public Safety, he had a responsibility to take action. He did not take the action lightly as he has supported outdoor basketball in the past. He noted the conflict of privacy issues and the public interest. The Mayor stood by his decision, stating that his reasons were valid and that after much reflection he would make the same decision today. He explained that he cannot and will not provide additional details about the threat due to privacy issues. He remarked on short term plans to set up hoops in Wagar Park. He stated that he looked forward to additional discussion on how the City can further expand outdoor basketball. The parks’ master plans will be re-visited in 2014. [Emphasis added.]

http://www.onelakewood.com/pdf/CouncilMinutes/2014/Minutes2014_0602.pdf

City Council President Mary Louise Madigan also:

[C]larified that Kauffman Park is not closed, only its basketball courts are.

http://www.onelakewood.com/pdf/CouncilMinutes/2014/Minutes2014_0602.pdf

Matt

[Nadhal Eadeh]

Matt,

Wagar Parks traffic will increase as kids begin to realize that there is an outdoor hoop to play at. Also, from our past experiences with Kauffman and Lakewood Park, July and August are usually slower times for the basketball courts. I'd imagine that Wagar Park will see a rise in usage as soon as school begins in late August.

After our groups (LOBC, KPF) met with Mayor Summers last week, we (LOBC) are confident that he will reopen the Kauffman Park basketball courts in the very near future. Again, as I stated earlier in the thread, we do not think that one resident should hold the park hostage for the neighborhood kids.

Nadhal

[Bill Burnett]

Are we putting too much time and effort into a dying hobby?

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_ ... tscenterFB

[marklingm]

Bill - The open hoops in Lakewood are full with families and residents whenever I go by Lakewood Park and Wagar Park. Of course, the one closed hoop at Kauffman Park is always empty due to that ongoing alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park."

Nadhal - Are you still "confident that [Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers] will reopen the Kauffman Park basketball courts in the very near future" given that Mike's silence has been deafening?

Matt

[marklingm]

After our groups (LOBC, KPF) met with Mayor Summers last week, we (LOBC) are confident that he will reopen the Kauffman Park basketball courts in the very near future. Again, as I stated earlier in the thread, we do not think that one resident should hold the park hostage for the neighborhood kids.

Any update, Nadhal?

[Ryan Salo]

I think Mike will pass the decision on to the next appointed mayor, Ed FitzGerald.

[marklingm]

Jim and Ryan,

I hear that two of the conditions for Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers agreeing to work with the LOBC and Kauffman Park Friends to bring basketball back to Kauffman Park are (1) no postings on The Observation Deck or articles in The Lakewood Observer and (2) no more public criticism of Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers by the LOBC and Kauffman Park Friends.

Today, Kauffman Park Friends posted the following on its Facebook page:

Kauffman Park Friends will meet in the main Library Auditorium, Tuesday evening, August 19, at 7 p.m. (The Auditorium is big for our purposes but it was the only meeting room available on the dates we were planning.)

We will discuss moving the Master Plan forward, and some events we'd like to schedule. We will also vote in a secretary, as Raul Montejo has volunteered to take that position.

I'm sure we will also spend some time discussing the basketball court situation. The Mayor has proposed moving it to its previous location adjacent to the play equipment. If you know any neighbors with property abutting that section of the park, please let them know. We'd like to get their input.

But it's my hope that we can deal with this topic as part of the overall vision for Kauffman Park, and not spend an inordinate amount of time on it.

I hope to see you there,

Dan Alaimo
[email redacted]
[telephone redacted]

Matt

[Nadhal Eadeh]

Matt,

I am confident that Mayor Summers will reopen the Kauffman Park basketball courts. With respect to your two points:

1. Nobody in my group has been told to not post on the Observation Deck or write articles for the Lakewood Observer.

2. Also not true. As I've stated in the past, one resident should not decide recreation policy for 52,000 residents. It's a bad precedent to set. Additionally, it's also important to note that we are one of the most densely populated communities in the area, so we have to strike the right balance with respecting neighbors/neighborhoods and park users. Basketball has always been closed earlier than the other activities in Kauffman park and is closed on Saturdays out of respect to the neighbors.

It should be abundantly clear that with Lakewood Park now open, traffic at the Kauffman Park hoops traffic have seen a drastic decline in usage. The teenagers that once crowded the park have been replaced by elementary aged kids from Lincoln and Grant.

Finally, as evidenced by Dan's Facebook posting, there has been a proposal to relocate the hoops to another area in the park. Again, as I've stated in the past, we (LOBC) have no plans to stop pushing for the reopening of the Kauffman Park hoops. We feel that Kauffman is a thriving park and a ideal location in the city. Moreover, the KPF group has put together an excellent Master Plan that we would like to see executed.

Nadhal

[marklingm]

Nobody in my group has been told to not post on the Observation Deck or write articles for the Lakewood Observer.

Nadhal,

Maybe it’s just semantics?

I understood that, when Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers met with the LOBC and Kauffman Park Friends, Summers demanded a ceasefire from posting, writing, and criticizing until Summers was able to reach an agreement with the alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park.”

As an agreement has not been reached between Summers and the alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park,” it was my understanding that the ceasefire still exists.

But, based upon today's Facebook post from the Kauffman Park Friends, it appears that Summers has, in fact, capitulated to the alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park.”

Matt

[Michael Deneen]

I understood that, when Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers met with the LOBC and Kauffman Park Friends, Summers demanded a ceasefire from posting, writing, and criticizing until Summers was able to reach an agreement with the alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park.”

I was at that meeting, and this is not true.
He did ask that we not publicly discuss specific details regarding "The Neighbor" due to confidentiality issues.
However, at no time did he make any requests or demands about posting on the broader issue of Kauffman Park hoops.
He also did not ask or attempt to censor any negative comments.

I wrote an article on the Kauffman issue a couple months ago.
I have asked others to do the same, because exposure in the print issue is far, far, far, more visible than the Deck.

However, to the best of my knowledge, none of the folks I asked have written a column (unless JOB is censoring the issue, which is EXTREMELY unlikely).
I strongly suspect this is due to family and work time constraints, not interference from City Hall.
I have faced a lot of time constraints of my own in recent weeks, so I have not followed up with the potential writers in question.

[Jim O'Bryan]

(unless JOB is censoring the issue, which is EXTREMELY unlikely).

Mike

I do not edit other people's words or stories.

Editors on the paper, edit for mostly grammar, punctuation and in some rare instances for length.

The project is based on, "If you are willing to put your real name on it, we will help get it out."

So much for your conspiracy on me editing things out.

.

[marklingm]

Mike,

I love The Observation Deck!

Now, before you allege that “[t]his conspiracy is another example of how the Deck is sometimes like the Alex Jones Show,” let me explain how my information was presented to me.

After Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers met with the LOBC and Kauffman Park Friends, I communicated with someone who was at the meeting. Maybe it was different meeting than the meeting you attended. Maybe it was the same meeting.

I asked this person to post about the meeting on The Observation Deck. My recollection is that this person said, “no” because two of the conditions for Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers agreeing to work with the LOBC and Kauffman Park Friends to bring basketball back to Kauffman Park are (1) no postings on The Observation Deck or articles in The Lakewood Observer and (2) no more public criticism of Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers by the LOBC and Kauffman Park Friends. There was apparently a three day ceasefire.

So, time goes on.

Negotiations between Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers and the alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park” continue to take place.

No further posting, writing, or criticizing takes place as the ceasefire is extended.

Yesterday, at approximately 11:34 a.m., I send the following quote to my source to confirm that everything in the post is accurate:

I understood that, when Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers met with the LOBC and Kauffman Park Friends, Summers demanded a ceasefire from posting, writing, and criticizing until Summers was able to reach an agreement with the alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park.”

As an agreement has not been reached between Summers and the alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park,” it was my understanding that the ceasefire still exists.

But, based upon today's Facebook post from the Kauffman Park Friends, it appears that Summers has, in fact, capitulated to the alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park.”

Yesterday, at approximately 12:26 p.m., my source responds that the above quote is accurate.

So, yesterday, at approximately 1:04 p.m., I post the above quote.

You say that the above quote isn’t accurate.

My source says that the above quote is accurate.

But, because my source didn’t backup my post and you posted an alternative version, I will go with your version as I wasn’t at the meeting.

A note to all you readers out there – including City Hall and Friends: If you don’t like or agree with what Jim and I - as well as others - post here on the The Observation Deck, then come out of hiding and share your version(s) of the facts with Lakewood.

Share your stories.

Be like Mike!

Thanks, Mike.

Matt

[Jim O'Bryan]

But, because my source didn’t backup my post and you posted an alternative version, I will go with your version as I wasn’t at the meeting.

A note to all you readers out there – including City Hall and Friends: If you don’t like or agree with what Jim and I - as well as others - post here on the The Observation Deck, then come out of hiding and share your version(s) of the facts with Lakewood.

Share your stories.

Be like Mike!

Thanks, Mike.

Matt

Mike Deneen, Matt Markling, All

Thank you. This is exactly what we were hoping for when this project started. A resident reports what they see or hear,
and other people join in to make it right, make it understood, and make it relevant to the reader.

I have spoken to many of the people involved in these meetings, and Mike Deneen, seems to have the right understanding
of what went down and was said. At the same time, I have seen the text messages to Matt Markling and it is easy to
understand how Matt came up with his version of events.

All of this, is a fact finding process. When City Hall releases spin, and misinformation, which was rampant when we sat
down to put this project together we found out all we could do to find the truth was to take the comment, publish it,
and see who was willing to collaborate, add to it, or say it was false. The ONLY way to assure some sort of accountability
was by using real names.

12 years later, the Deck is still taking information, boiling it down, checking it for accuracy and publishing the results.

The more people that join the conversation, the better and faster the truth comes out. Those that say otherwise have
something to hide, or ar so deeply concerned over control of the message they do not dare enter a place of FREE and
OPEN CIVIC DIALOGUE. Those who say it is negative, go look at the first three pages,nearly 100% positive, with
great observations, images, conversations and positive reflection from Lakewoodites about Lakewood.

GARY, GARY I think we have a Kumbaya Momemt!

No, closer to...




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