Help LOBC help the kids!

[Peter Grossetti]

As an on-the-court and off-the-court volunteer for Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee (LOBC), I am pleased to bring to your attention an exciting opportunity to support Our City’s most precious resource … our youth.

Since 2009, Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee has been dedicated to bringing outdoor recreation back to our city. But more importantly, LOBC is about creating a healthy, safe environment and recreational activity for Lakewood’s young people.

In September 2010, LOBC installed and operated hoops at Kauffman Park, much to the delight of dozens and dozens of youngsters. Now, with the support of City Hall, LOBC turns its attention to Lakewood Park and the installation of the MVD Memorial Court, named in memory of Lakewoodite Mark Vincent Dickens whose promising life was cut short by cancer.

How can you help?
The high-quality hoops on a freshly-paved playing surface at MVD Memorial Court will be surrounded by a walkway built with personalized bricks containing the names and/or messages of supporters like you. You can purchase a brick (three different sizes available: $100, $500, $1,000) by downloading the order form from the Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee website http://lobc.org/buy-a-brick.html or by stopping by Harry Buffalo (18605 Detroit Avenue) to pick up a form. Can’t afford a brick? No problem. Donations of any amount will be gladly accepted. Your support demonstrates to the kids of Lakewood that you truly care about them!

About Mark Vincent Dickens
Mark was born in Lakewood and graduated from Lakewood High School in 1996. Like many young people in Lakewood, he grew up playing basketball in Lakewood Park for countless hours after school and throughout the summer. Just as they affected many other kids growing up in Lakewood, the courts were a large part of Mark's upbringing. Many of his long-lasting friendships and bonds were formed there. In 2009, after a two year battle with testicular cancer, Mark passed away one month short of his 30th birthday.

City Support
Mayor Summers, as well as six of seven members of City Council, have officially endorsed our plans (see attached letter of support) to construct the new hoops at Lakewood Park.

About LOBC
The Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee is a local non-profit organization that was started by Lakewood residents to help bring public outdoor basketball back to our city. LOBC is dedicated to making free outdoor basketball available to all of our residents once again.

Recreational basketball reaches far beyond “letting a kid be a kid.”
Your support provides many benefits for the youngsters LOBC serves:
- Social benefits: how to cooperate, how to follow directions; and how to respect for others;
- Psychological benefits: critical thinking, problem solving, and self-discipline;
- Physical benefits: fights childhood obesity (which has tripled in the past 30 years).

I encourage you to join me in supporting this effort. Thank you!

[Scott Meeson]

As an on-the-court and off-the-court volunteer for Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee (LOBC), I am pleased to bring to your attention an exciting opportunity to support Our City’s most precious resource … our youth.

Since 2009, Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee has been dedicated to bringing outdoor recreation back to our city. But more importantly, LOBC is about creating a healthy, safe environment and recreational activity for Lakewood’s young people.

In September 2010, LOBC installed and operated hoops at Kauffman Park, much to the delight of dozens and dozens of youngsters. Now, with the support of City Hall, LOBC turns its attention to Lakewood Park and the installation of the MVD Memorial Court, named in memory of Lakewoodite Mark Vincent Dickens whose promising life was cut short by cancer.

How can you help?
The high-quality hoops on a freshly-paved playing surface at MVD Memorial Court will be surrounded by a walkway built with personalized bricks containing the names and/or messages of supporters like you. You can purchase a brick (three different sizes available: $100, $500, $1,000) by downloading the order form from the Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee website http://lobc.org/buy-a-brick.html or by stopping by Harry Buffalo (18605 Detroit Avenue) to pick up a form. Can’t afford a brick? No problem. Donations of any amount will be gladly accepted. Your support demonstrates to the kids of Lakewood that you truly care about them!

About Mark Vincent Dickens
Mark was born in Lakewood and graduated from Lakewood High School in 1996. Like many young people in Lakewood, he grew up playing basketball in Lakewood Park for countless hours after school and throughout the summer. Just as they affected many other kids growing up in Lakewood, the courts were a large part of Mark's upbringing. Many of his long-lasting friendships and bonds were formed there. In 2009, after a two year battle with testicular cancer, Mark passed away one month short of his 30th birthday.

City Support
Mayor Summers, as well as six of seven members of City Council, have officially endorsed our plans (see attached letter of support) to construct the new hoops at Lakewood Park.

About LOBC
The Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee is a local non-profit organization that was started by Lakewood residents to help bring public outdoor basketball back to our city. LOBC is dedicated to making free outdoor basketball available to all of our residents once again.

Recreational basketball reaches far beyond “letting a kid be a kid.”
Your support provides many benefits for the youngsters LOBC serves:
- Social benefits: how to cooperate, how to follow directions; and how to respect for others;
- Psychological benefits: critical thinking, problem solving, and self-discipline;
- Physical benefits: fights childhood obesity (which has tripled in the past 30 years).

I encourage you to join me in supporting this effort. Thank you!

Peter,

Just out of curiosity, why didn't Monique Smith sign the letter of support?

Scott Meeson

[Peter Grossetti]

Scott - You're asking the wrong Lakewoodite. Look forward to your support!

[Stephanie Toole]

Scott,

Monique Smith has publically stated that she will not support free outdoor basketball in The City of Lakewood us less the courts are babysat, ummm I mean, supervised during the hours that they are open for the residents to play.

[Teresa Andreani]

I've spent some time talking with the kids playing basketball at Kaufmann. My experience has been really positive! They really appreciate having a place to gather with their friends to play ball. They have a place in our community where they can feel safe and accepted because the people who formed LOBC cared enough to make this happen for them.

I've found them to be terrific, good humored, typical kids who want what I wanted when I was little -- a place to play with my friends.

I'm grateful to Steph, Art, Jordan, Nadhal, Peter --- everyone involved with LOBC --- for being champions for kids in our community.

[Stephanie Toole]

Something the folks in Lakewood need to realize is that when the CITY and SCHOOLS removed ALL of the outdoor basketball courts, we took something healthy away from our community that has worked for over 50 years in Lakewood- OUTDOOR BASKETBALL.

Instead of removing every single hoop in the city out of fear, the residents should have been given the opportunity to PROACTIVELY come up with a solution to ensure THOSE and ALL the courts were being used first and formost safely and appropriately by Lakewood residents.

It could have been done. It should have been done.

It is being done now at the Kauffmann Park hoops. LOBC volunteers supervise the courts several hours a night.

They are packed on a nightly basis. Indicating the tremendous need for more hoops in and around our city.

There should be HOOPS in every neighborhood AGAIN, where the youth can safely ride their bikes to play, get exercise, blow off steam and the energies our kids are blessed with.

They should be given the opportunity to foster reslationships with other kids, learn to get along, problem solve, etc.

Childhood obesity is at an all time high.

We as a city should be doing ALL we can to get our kids, teens, young and old, out moving ang getting fit.

[Melissa Page]

LOBC Thank you for all your hard work and attention to this. I agree it is too bad it had to come to this. Thanks for not letting it go.

Charlie and I will be contributing to the brick fundraiser.

-Mel

[Peter Grossetti]

Mel and Charlie - Thanks so much!!!

[Peter Grossetti]

Here is another way you can help LOBC help the kids: copy this opening post and email it to all your friends in Lakewood.

We are particularly looking for Lakewood HS alum to come through for us by honoring their fellow LHS alum, Mark Vincent Dickens ('96).

[Peter Grossetti]

I am happy to report that we have a received the first $1,000 donation in support of this project.

Many, many thanks to our very good friends at First Federal Lakewood! (Take a look in the dictionary under "good corporate citizen" and you'll find the First Federal logo.)

Any other local businesses want to step up to the free throw line and toss a grand into the hoop? All donations are welcome!

It's for Our City's kids!

[Teresa Coyne Andreani]

Great news & thanks to First Federal of Lakewood!! One more reason to be proud to bank at the hometown bank!!

[Peter Grossetti]

Be sure to stop by and visit our LOBC "mobile hoops" at The Lakewood Summer Meltdown Street Party on Saturday, July 21.

[Peter Grossetti]

Councilmember-at-Large Monique Smith questions Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee's qualifications/planning/decisions and Mayor Summers' efforts to help. Her letter, in full, (source: onelakewood.com) to be presented at the September 4, 2012 City Council meeting:

Dear Members of Council:

We have received communications from the mayor informing us that his office has agreed to allow a private local advocacy group, The Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee (LOBC), to build a basketball court at Lakewood Park. We have not seen a written, formal plan for what has been proposed but some information has been shared over the course of the year including the recent communication that city funds may be used to complete the project that was originally proposed to be fully funded by LOBC. By way of this letter, I would like to request that the details of this private public partnership be documented in writing and shared with council and the public more formally so that we can all fully understand the plan and have the opportunity to share feedback on this unique partnership and parks initiative.

I am interested in understanding details such as:

- how the plan evolved?

- the projected timeframe for the project, including start date and be completion date

- a definition of goals and target population that we are attempting to serve (e.g. young children, teens, adults, boys, girls, Lakewood children, all of the above?)

- where the court (presumably a converted tennis court) will be located

- how and why a particular park was chosen as the location for this new program

- how and why the specific location of the court within the park was chosen over other locations

- how much community input was gathered on the choice of court location from those who live near the park and who regularly use nearby facilities such as Foster Pool, The Lakewood Catholic Academy pre-school playground, other tennis courts and the Kids Cove playground area

- what the hours of operation for the new court will be

- how and when the court will be supervised

- who will supervise, and how will they be trained or screened appropriately

- what the original financial commitment from LOBC was

- what the original financial commitment from the administration was

- a current projection of total costs to the city including labor, materials and funds

- whether other private groups may begin to submit proposals to build activity-specific facilities on public parkland

- Why this initiative has been chosen as a higher priority than other improvements that have been needed or requested by the public and council or outlined in the parks Master Plan

Because this information was not documented or measured in the pilot stage of the outdoor basketball court program at Kauffman Park, questions still remain for some members of the community about how to best manage an activity like this I believe that documentation of all expectations and commitments associated with this partnership will benefit everyone involved.

More broadly, I think this initiative presents an opportunity to think about the overall alignment of the city recreational programming efforts, currently managed by Lakewood Public Schools, and the Public Works/Parks planning efforts, currently managed by the city. I would like to take this opportunity to invite the Mayor Council and the Lakewood School Board to discuss the larger issue of how recreational programming can best be executed to meet our community current and future needs a subject that is so critical to families who are deciding which community to choose as their permanent home. For example, how can we work together to develop and supervise drop-in recreational activities such as outdoor basketball, in a way that maintains safe and successful programming for everyone, and what criteria should we use to prioritize initiatives such as new basketball courts when other improvements and investments may be wanted and needed by the community?

As our city continues to make itself more marketable and desirable by focusing on economic development and housing improvements, we should also take time to understand the recreational priorities and expectations that today’s residents and potential residents may have when choosing a community in which to live. Please refer this communication to an appropriate council committee to discuss the above questions about the city outdoor basketball plans with the Administration. I look forward to this discussion and to future conversations about parks and recreational program planning.

Sincerely
Monique Smith
Councilmember-at-Large

[Peter Grossetti]

Attached is a May 2012 study conducted by Lakewood resident Colin E. McKay that researched former Mayor Tom George’s 2007 decision to remove basketball courts from Lakewood public parks. The scholarly research cited states that non-profit organizations such as Lakewood Outdor Basketball Committee are born from necessity; they attempt to fill gaps in public service that the public deems necessary. McKay concludes that the overwhelming financial and vocal support of LOBC by the citizens of Lakewood is evidence that the residents of the City are enthusiastic about basketball courts returning to the community.

[Michael Deneen]

The dog park and skate park were also developed with public/private partnerships with citizens groups (the term "private advocacy group" implies corporate lobbyists or some other nefarious outfit).

The Dog Park had FIDO (now Friends of the Lakewood Dog Park), which paid for the materials of construction and continues to provide volunteers to maintain the park nine years later.

Lakewood Skaters Association worked with the city on the skate park.

Although it was before my time, CCLAS spearheaded construction of the Animal Shelter in the early 1980s. The group continues to provide volunteers and funding to this day.

Unless I'm mistaken, Kauffman Park and Madison Park have citizens' groups.

Other notable "private advocacy groups" that are actively involved with Lakewood recreation/health include Bike Lakewood and LEAF.

Come to think of it, our schools couldn't operate without "private advocacy groups" such as the PTA and booster organizations.