The Observation Deck

Whatever happend to chain link nets?

I do not remember seeing crime at courts, just hundreds of kids, teens and adults shooting hoops.



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I have talked with at least a dozen residents in Ward 2 who have pointed to the need for a constructive outlet in which youth in Lakewood can engage. The lack of basketball hoops is usually the first thing that is pointed out as missing.

One person also asked why the rec department stops youth sports programs at 15 years of age. What are kids between 15 and 17 supposed to do, they asked? Some register for sports in Cleveland. Others make their own entertainment.

We will have basketball hoops indoors, I'm told. But if it's summer, I want to be outside under the sun, burning off energy in fresh air.

I was told basketball hoops were being used by roudy adults, who were displacing youth.

Rather than dealing with safety and nuisance issues in basketball courts, we took them down entirely. This may be cutting off our nose despite our face.

Mr, Bullock.
As you said, there were concerns by neighbors, especially those in the immediate area of Hardingl. Quite a few of them belileved that the harding courts did contribute to crime and vandalism in the nieghborhood.
I do not live in that immediate area and I cannot personally vouch for the authenticity of their complaints. I also believe some kind of solution can be worked out. I am merely pointing out that those who have removed the hoops were themselves reacting to resident's concerns.

I still find it hard to believe that the previous location of the basketball courts at Harding Middle School, the corner of the very busy intersection of Woodward and Madison, with plenty of traffic both foot and car, are no longer going to be built there, because of a very few residents complaints about safety.

That the problems with fighting, drugs, etc were so bad that the basketball courts that were scheduled to be replaced with the building of the new school, are now scrapped because of a few residents concerns and yet the request for outdoor basketball courts in Lakewood by many, many parents of the children, young adults, and adults who used those courts ALL THE TIME fall on deaf ears!

I still find it hard to believe that the police department could not keep a better handle on the events that happened at those courts with its very visible location. Rather than being proactive, they were reactive.

I personally feel that the police are relieved 'the problem' has gone away with the removal of all the outdoor basketball courts in the City of Lakewood.

There are many many residents who have some very good ideas about the outdoor basketball courts and ways to make them safer for all involved. It is just no one is willing to listen to us.

Dee Martinez wrote:Mr, Bullock.
As you said, there were concerns by neighbors, especially those in the immediate area of Hardingl. Quite a few of them belileved that the harding courts did contribute to crime and vandalism in the nieghborhood.
I do not live in that immediate area and I cannot personally vouch for the authenticity of their complaints. I also believe some kind of solution can be worked out. I am merely pointing out that those who have removed the hoops were themselves reacting to resident's concerns.

We must take the word of residents of the Harding and Madison Park areas who know only too well what's happening. If those who want the courts back have suggestions that include plans that would somehow negate the bases of the neighbors' concerns, they should bring them forth.

The Harding courts were for many years used successfully by adults during the evening hours. Times sadly have changed. We must now be primarily concerned with the very real concerns of local area residents.

It is truly disgusting and unacceptable that low life thug behavior in Lakewood and across this nation has brought us to the point where we can't even have basketball courts open. We need armed guards almost everywhere. Remember when there was no police officer in the library and maybe one at the high school?

Peace, quiet, and safety must take precedence over basketball. There are numerous other activities that teenagers can get involved in during the summer.

Tom Bullock wrote:I was told basketball hoops were being used by roudy adults, who were displacing youth.

Tom


Seems like a good place to keep them. Certainly seems better then spreading them out throughout our city.


FWIW



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There are numerous other activities that teenagers can get involved in during the summer.

Evidently you have no idea what it is like being the parent of boys(or girls) who love the game of basketball! Geese kids, times have changed, no more basketball in Lakewood....to much crime, drug activity.....You have adults who would rather give in and cave to the complaints of a few, rather than find proactive options so our city can have courts where kids and adults can shoot around or get in some good games of basketball. That is a total cop-out. You are telling us parents to tell our kids to find a new sport, a new passion. Honestly, that is just ridiculous!

That's like telling me after 32 years of being a runner that I can no longer go for runs in the City of Lakewood because of the crime and rowdy thug teens and adults, that it is just not safe anymore. I'd move before I gave up something I have enjoyed for so many years!!!!

Where are the departments of youth and human services? Dottie Buckon, Mary Hall...... why are you absent from this converstation.

Who at city hall is responsible for making recreation opportunities in our parks safe and accessable to all ages?

As the leadership continues to hide in silence on these issues, citizen anger, fear and frustration continues to build. I hear it everyday now, from people I never expected to vent such.

It is my contention that youth and human services need to begin doing urban social work, stretching resources to that end, and redefining themselves within Lakewood's devolving socio-economic environment.

If the issue is out-of-town thug terrorists occupying our space, were strategies to exclude these visitors considered?

The caged court provides the perfect opportunity to control entry. Install turn-styles. Open during restricted hours. Restrict free use to residents.

Reserve the majority of the time for residents only.

Hold restircted hours for non-residents. Non-residents will need to apply for a season pass. The application process will involve a criminal backround check, thumb print etc.

This will discrourage your thug element, while still allowing law abiding outsiders to play on lakewood courts, for a fee(as it should be). Regulate like the pools do, perhaps within the same complexes.

To play off Ms. Kinsella's suggestion, build courts that are fenced within the complex's of both Madison and Lakewood Park pools. Concentrate regulation efforts, security personel and community recreation compounds where resources can be leveraged to maximum use.

If Lakewood is going to successfully negotiate the issues accompanying downward socio-economic transition, it's not a matter of turning off the spout here, closing a door here.

We need to reconfigure institutions. We need to challange the many micro-buracracies of city hall to do their best to continue providing the services that once make Lakewood the greatest value in the nation.

Without a safety wise, value driven plan for 21 century Lakewood recreation, young families will continue to bleed out of the 'Wood.

Frank Murtaugh wrote:Peace, quiet, and safety must take precedence over basketball. There are numerous other activities that teenagers can get involved in during the summer.

I would love to see the statistics - did crime really go down since the removal of the hoops. Are there less thugs on the streets of Lakewood now. Have drug dealers gone elsewhere. Did they leave Lakewood because we have no hoops?

What activities have youth services and recreation department provided for the teens to do this summer?

My daughter and her friends played at the courts before the hoops were removed. Its not just about boys and thugs playing.

I have been making a lot of calls to different folks in the city about exploring basketball options for the youth and I heard something interesting.

I spoke with a pastor of a new church in Lakewood that was having a youth outreach night. He had not been to Madison park since the hoops were removed and he planned on letting the kids shoot some hoops, when he arrived and saw the hoops gone he drove home and got a portable hoop and brought it up to the park. This was at 7:00pm on Wednesday night. I guess by 7:30 the cops showed up because neighbors called the police. The pastor explained what he was doing and that he was responsible for the kids but the officers made him pack up and leave.

Any thoughts? Can the police now stop folks from playing corn hole or any other games at the park if the neighbors call? I guess about half the kids were black, do you think the neighbors just don't like basketball or is there a race problem here? Are there no freedoms at public parks?

Does anyone know what is now going to happen to these vacant courts? Sounds like the ones at Harding will be removed, but are there plans for Madison? Just keep it an unusable lot? Robert

What a shame! Here we have a wonderful pastor reaching out the the teens and still his actions are shot down.
I have spoken to over 100 teens this summer so far about basketball hoops in Lakewood. They are begging to get some back. Begging and pleading! They just want to play basketball!!! I assured them there were many adults who cared and we would do all we can to get some OUTSIDE hoops back up in Lakewood.

Can anyone from City Hall give us an "official" post as to exactly why the hoops were taken down?

It seems the thread is doing quite a bit of guess work.

Mark Allan Crnolatas