Just to make it clear, I never said that the neighborhood brought it upon itself by allowing inappropriate behaviour at the basketball hoops that used to exist at Jordan Park. Neighborhood residents cannnot be held responsible for the behavior of people in the park, unless it is their own kids. If this comment was a reponse to my posting, it unfairly distorts what I said.
Just like 2600 Knox residents, people living in the immediate vicinity of a local park have the right not to be inflicted with fighting, drinking, loud bad language, wielding of knives and weapons, etc. This is what the immediate neighbors at Jordan Park were concerned about. There needs to be effective strategies for making sure that outdoor basketball courts do not become magnets for this type of behavior. If those strategies do not exist. then expect the immediate neighbors of parks to continue to fight the installation of outdoor basketball courts. The unusual and unintended partial solution that has been implemented in Jordan has been the demolition of the houses closest to the former site of the basketball court, thereby forcibly removing the people complaining the loudest about the courts. The biggest difference I have noticed is that most city parks the same size as Jordan located in more affluent areas have full-service park buildings and staff able to monitor what is going on at the basketball courts. Jordan Park has no building and no staff. Jay Clark Cooper > It'd be very easy to point-out that yes, the kids in Jordan could walk to a > park closeby (say farview) to recreate, or that the neighborhood brought it > upon it's self by allowing inappropriate behaviour at the basketball hoops > that used to exist at Jordan Park. However, I've visited parks in more > affluent neighborhoods of the City enough to know that such inappropriate > behaviour exists at these parks as well. The difference is that the > residents (in those neighborhoods) wouldn't stand for the removal of > recreational facilities because of it. > > Dennis Plante > Jordan > REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
