A new low
Posted 2 years, 7 months ago at 16:22. 0 comments
I was somewhat dismayed to read in the local paper today that the city had lowered the basketball net at a downtown park. This change was nominally made to make the park more child-friendly, but also had the “side-effect” of disbanding the large groups of non-white basketball players who frequently used the court.
In the interests of full disclosure, I’m whiter than white bread, and I have barely shot a basketball in the past 5 years, but during my high school years, I did play basketball a fair bit, and even played at St. Luke’s, the park in question, a few times. The competition was always fierce, and yes, the players were mostly black, so I can’t help but feel that this was racially-motivated.
The official arguments put forward by the city for lowering the net don’t really hold water. Despite being a downtown park, the park is not that small, and there is ample area beside the basketball court that is already set up for children with various play structures, sand boxes, and even a wading pool during the summer. I haven’t played there in over a decade, but players were always mindful that children were nearby and tongues were largely held in check. With regards to the public urination, profanity, and drug use mentioned in the article, perhaps things have gone downhill since I played at St. Luke’s. If that is the case, I would think that a better solution would be more rigorous monitoring of the park, rather than dispersing these problems and associated individuals to who-knows-where-else…the devil you know, and all that. As it stands, all you’ve done is eliminated yet another cheap, well-used, outdoor recreation alternative for downtown residents.
I’m not very impressed with my city’s government today.
Update: The city bowed to public pressure today (2006/04/21) and will be reinstating the basketball net at the proper height.
